The Lost Children Charity Anthology including We Sustain by MaryAnne Kolton

Lost Children Charity Anthology is the brainchild of Fiona (McDroll) Johnston, Thomas Pluck and Ron Earl Phillips.

It came about after a challenge was put out by Fiona on Friday Flash Fiction.  She offered to donate £5 for every entry towards   Scotland's Children 1st

Thomas then threw his hat into the ring and matched the donation, with his money going to PROTECT in the USA.  All in all there were over 45 stories.

Then came the idea of using 30 of the best stories and putting them into this anthology.  The great thing about this is that the money earned from the ebook goes to the above charities.

Many thanks to Fiona, Thomas, Ron and all the contributors.  Also, special thanks to Danielle Tunstall for donating the cover photo, and Thomas' better half, Sarah, for designing the book cover.

Remember, you're donating to 2 great charities and getting to read some incredible stories that will stay with you long after

you read them

 We Sustain
by MaryAnne Kolton

Tangled, dark hair, long linen skirt, white shirt and oversized sunglasses, she stood out in the crush of starving people.  Another international celebrity bringing an entourage of paparazzi, into the blistering desert sun.  Hoping to get the rest of the world to pay attention, however scant, to the scenes of death in Somalia.

As she walked through the heat scorched village, touching a head here and a hand there, she thought of her own son.  Plump, healthy, with skin like ripe peaches safe at home in the care of his father and nanny.  So few with so much and so many with so little, she thought, not for the first time.

Where is the God that sorts things out this way?  What was He doing?  She was here attempting to draw the eyes of the world to this catastrophic reality of decimation.  Hard to maintain one’s faith in this arid, dusty place where the sounds of happy, carefree little ones are replaced with moans, murmurs and the silence of starvation.  Even the mothers of these children cannot summon the energy necessary to wail and keen and mourn the passing of their boys and girls.  Many are barely alive themselves having walked for days in sweltering temperatures without food or water to get here.

The flies are everywhere.  Flitting across staring eyes, crawling into open mouths and up noses.  Buzzing, swarming, anticipating the feast to come.

She was being led to a tent clinic.  Inside, a few good people doing what they could to help.  Feeding resistant skeletal faces a life saving paste, hydrating, holding, rocking.  For many it’s too late.  She’d have to convince her husband and others to donate more money.  What else could she do? 

A tiny girl pulled again and again at her skirt and she sat to take the child on her lap.  The little one rested her head on the woman’s chest.  Without thinking, the famous woman opened her shirt and gave the baby her breast.  She had milk.  She would give them milk.