Hi, do you want editing tips on this?
Shelley J. Alongi
Home Office: (714)869-3207
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To read essays on my journey through the Chatsworth train accident,
Metrolink 111 or other interests click on
http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smshowauthorbox.cgi?page=&author=AlongiSJ&alpha=A
updated July 2, 2009
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Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 9:09 PM
Subject: [stylist] A deafblind girl (chapter 1)
Chapter 1:
A testimony by Fiona the fader (8th June, 1997)
It’s not every day you witness a mother attempt to murder her child in
a public place. So naturally the police assumed I was making the whole
scene up, but I will stick to what I saw. I'll swear to it in court if
only someone would take my word seriously enough.
My working companion and I were selling flying carpet rides beside
Stilosarka underground railway station, when the attempted murder took
place.
“Come on folks! Ten dren for a ride on our magical flying
carpet!” my companion shouted as various people passed us. I’m a very
quiet gal, so I let my companion do all the shouting, and I just
operate the carpet.
Our enterprise had gone off to a flying start when I spotted
an undersized,
malnourished child. She was wearing thick glasses that greatly
magnified her frightened eyes. She was grey-skinned like us, and
dressed in boy’s clothes, but I later learnt she was a girl called
Nadia Murat.
Despite her tiny size I could tell she was much older then she
looked. It made me wonder if she was one of us.
Nadia was being dragged along by a gaudy hard-faced woman, wearing fur
trimmings.
"Want a ride? It normally costs 10 dren but I can reduce it to 5
dren for you" I told Nadia in sign language. I figured she was deaf
as I had spotted her cochlear implant. I was quite keen to practice
my signing skills with her.
"My son doesn't sign!" Nadia’s mother told me tartly.
"Yes I do," the child contradicted in sign language. She gave a yelp
of pain as her mother pinched her. The woman yanked her away from us as if
we had some sort of contagious disease.
I bristled. Who did this woman think she was? I am a mother too, and
I can manage my brood without hurting them in the process. I don’t
hold with that sort of thing.
"Be quiet. Witches like that have absolutely no dignity. Look how
dirty they are. They aren't even wearing shoes!” I overheard the woman
say, as the child was dragged off to the side of a sheer drop into the
underground station below.
"We don't need that thing today. Today you are going to jump."
The woman announced. She was referring to a long greasy pole that
some people used for sliding down into the station below.
I had been about to let on my next group of passengers but I indicated
that they should wait. I had a shrewd suspicion I would be needed for
other things. I watched Nadia and the woman closely just to see what
would happen next.
"What!" Nadia cried.
"You heard what I said. I'm sick to death of you and your pathetic
little ways. Your father and I are both witches so you must have
inherited our witchcraft too. So come along now. We're late"
I witnessed the wicked witch cast a concealment charm. It stops
most people from noticing anything suspicious. I’m very
familiar with that particular spell as I use it quite frequently
myself and so do my kids. As a result I’ve grown quite immune to the
affect.
I saw the woman discreetly shove Nadia over the sheer drop, into
the station below.
Nadia gave an ear-piercing scream as her body hurtled towards the
ground. She was definitely not floating in the way that witches
normally do. I dived over the side of the drop myself. Grabbing
Nadia's shirt, I slid an arm around her waist as
she floated downwards at a less scary rate. Despite the rapid
deceleration the child gave a cry of pain as her body hit the ground.
"I'd use the pole in future, if I were you. You are obviously not a
witch," I advised on landing. I was trying to lighten things up a bit,
but by the stunned look on her face I don’t think she had taken in
what I had said at all. She was staring in horror at the remains of
her cochlear implant which was now smashed on the platform near her
feet.
“I’ve already told you that he doesn’t use sign language. Be off
and mind your own business before I call the police.”
“I make it my business when people try to murder their children.”
I retorted. This woman had a right nerve. I felt it should be me who
was threatening her with the police after what I had just witnessed.
Just then a pale-skin police woman, with long ginger hair,
grabbed my upper arm. She wore the dark red uniform of the Darthrilan
police force.
I started. I'd been so intent on saving the child, then arguing with
the mother that I
hadn’t even noticed the police appear on the scene.
“It’s her you should be arresting not me!” I told her pointing to
where the woman and child had been. They were no longer there. The
woman had literally yanked the child off her feet and ran. I saw them
boarding a train that had just pulled into the station.
“Never you mind. We want to know where your trading licence is.”
The police
woman replied tartly.
“But I do mind very much. Aren’t police officers supposed to do
something when parents start murdering their kids in public places?”
“That’s enough; we don’t have time to listen to your stories today.
We want to know where your licence is.”
The police are obviously discriminating against me because I'm only
three foot seven inches high and a fader (meaning I can vanish at
will), but I'll admit fading is a notoriously unstable branch of
magic.
I feel ever so worried about that girl. I was determined to find
out more about her, and offer her my protection. I'm certainly not
going to let the matter rest until I see justice done.
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