A teacher becomes worried when one of her best students starts arriving at school late every single day and she can’t get in touch with her family.
Every morning, Miss Martin liked to come into school early and get her classroom ready for her second graders. Then she’d walk to the front gate and see them arrive — many on the school bus, others with their parents.
Miss Martin would usher her brood into the classroom and the day would begin. But then she started noticing that one of her favorite students, a particularly bright little girl called Debbie McKay, always arrived late, and alone.
Miss Martin decided to ask Debbie why she was always late, but the little girl looked frightened and embarrassed, so the teacher decided to contact her parents.
She called Debbie’s mom’s cell phone, then her dad’s, but there was no answer. She saw the girl arrive at school on foot two more times and noticed that she devoured her school lunch, and sneaked bread rolls into her pockets. The child was obviously going hungry.
Something was going on, and Miss Martin decided it was time to take action. First, she spoke to the headmistress. “Mrs. Dalton, I think Debbie may be abused, and she is definitely neglected. She even steals food from the cafeteria. We need to help her!”
Miss Martin noticed that something wasn’t right with Debbie | Source: Unsplash
Mrs. Dalton agreed and the two women decided that perhaps it was time to ask for help from the police and Child Services. In order not to alarm Debbie, the police decided to send a plainclothes policewoman to trail the little girl home after school, and what she discovered left her in tears.
The policewoman saw Debbie walk three blocks and head for a large grey paneled van parked in a side street. Debbie opened the van door and went in. The policewoman sneaked up and peered inside.
There was a mattress in the back of the van, and pillows and bags and boxes with what looked like clothes. Lying on the makeshift bed was a pale thin man and Debbie was feeding him a roll and giving him a carton of milk to drink from.
She saw that Debbie was always alone | Source: Pexels
Debbie saw the policewoman peering into the van and screamed and the policewoman immediately tried to calm her down. “Please don’t be scared, Debbie. I’m a policewoman...
