He Shall Give His Angels Charge Over You

My family were attending a High School football game, and were sitting high up in the bleachers. My little sister–a skinny little thing–was seven years old. When the home team scored a touchdown everyone stood up and cheered. She did too, and as she did, she slipped through the narrow gap between the seat of the bleacher and the footrest. My mother saw her go, and watched helplessly as her daugher fell nearly 100 feet to the ground below. Furthermore, she watched, almost in slow motion, as my sister’s small body was headed for the large concrete footer for the beams that held up the bleachers. Then at the last moment–just before her head hit the concrete–my mother said it was as if someone simply shoved the little girl sideways, and my sister landed, unharmed, on the soft grass next to the footer.