[stylist] Chapter 10, Lucy and Lithe

[Miss Thea]

Chapter 10

Stars and Snowscapes



Lucy leaned against the seat back as the car sped her into the unknown, to her new home.

“Music, your lordship?” asked the driver.

“Yes, please,” all but Lucy cried.

Soon, the car filled to bursting with a lush orchestra, whose strings and harps accompanied a lady singing about a secret love. Lucy gaped. She’d never heard anything so lovely. She sat, wide-eyed, as the words flowed over her. The lady sang about a friendly star and how dreamers tell them about their love. She finally declared that her secret love was no longer a secret. The strings and harp played by themselves, before she sang the chorus again. A sigh escaped Lucy. 

The children on each side of her sang. Even little Woo knew the words. When the lady sang that her secret love was no longer a secret, Woo held and kissed Lucy’s hand while Lithe held and kissed her other hand. 

Lucy felt overwhelmed. What did they want of her. A lyric made her look up.

“Hey! What would you guys know about golden daffodils? It’s certain you’ve never seen one.”

“We’ve seen many,” Lithe said. “Would you like to see them? They’re down below in the hydroponics lab, together with all the food we grow.”

“You have a garden?”

“Oh, yes, rose-filled and lovely.”

“Under your house?”

“Yes, and springs and fountains, too. That’s our way of sticking it to the curse.”

“The curse!” Lucy leaned forward. 

“Well, why else would a planet have nothing but winter, my sister? There’s a curse on it.”

“I’ll show you my book,” Woo said. “I know how to end the curse. You and me drink the holy bond, and boom! No more curse.” Woo held Lucy in his small arms.

“Wooey,” Lithe warned, “that’s just a story. There’s no evidence that the curse can be ended. It’s just a fairy story.”

“Is not, is not, is not!”

“Now, my darlings,” Mrs. Dearheart called back. “How could you? You’ll give our Lucy the wrong idea about how we live.”

“Is there really a curse, Mrs.—I mean, Lady Dearheart?”

“But of course. It is said, but only in children’s books, that a Lanugite who willingly marries an Andorphian will end the curse the moment of their bonding. Only in children’s books, I fear.”

The next song was even more romantic and sensuous than the last. Though the sun shone half-heartedly on the drifting snow outside, there was nothing half-hearted about the way the family sang each love song. 

Lucy noticed something else. There were no heartbreak songs. Not one. Each song was more adoring than the last. Singers invited their loves to ‘share my world’, while a man sang that it was for sure he would love her all the way.

“You’re listening to kLuv radio, Andorpha’s favorite love station. Call in with your requests and dedications. Here’s a song for you new bondmates.” A singer started to sing about young love. 

“They say forever boy and girl …” the family sang.

“We’ve got Caress on the line. What can we do for you, sweetheart?” asked the deejay. 

“Today’s my party, and I want to dedicate a song to my intended,” said a girl no older than Lucy.

“Oh my. This is a day you’ll never forget. What’s your bondmate’s name?”

“Adore. I’m drinking the bond with him today. I love that boy.”

“Is he a fine, fine super fine boy?”

“Yes.”

“Is that your friends and family I hear in the background?”

“unh-huh.”

“Happy bonding, Caress. Here’s your song, and don’t forget. You’re fasting till after you’ve drunk that holy drink.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you very much.” She heard the child call, “Adore, it’s our song coming up.” The girl had turned away from the phone, but Lucy heard it loud and clear. On the radio, the phone conversation gave way to the song.

 “He’s a fine, fine, super fine boy,” said the singer.

“Hey. That voice doesn’t sound Andorphian at all. It sounds like a black lady from Earth,” Lucy said.

“All the songs you heard are from Earth so far. We have our own songs,” the earl explained, “but we also archive songs from other planets.”

“Oh.” Lucy said, watching the car’s slow progress through the drifting snow. She remembered once driving to Grandma’s for Christmas in Hamilton. She recalled with shame that she complained as Daddy had tried to get the truck through the snow. The Andorphians weren’t complaining at all. They talked tenderly to each other and sang along with the music on the radio, as if it were Christmas Eve or something. Yet, the only unusual thing about the day, from their side of it, was her, Lucy.

“I have to ask. What’s this holy bond drink?”

“Oh, I remember mine,” Lady Dearheart said with more romance in her voice than Lucy had heard from an adult. She thought of little Rosalind. The kid would have oooh’d and aaaah’d over everything. They would have made quite a pair.

“I was no older than you, Lucindelah. Hero and I were of an age. I’d always liked Hero, and the moment I started crushing on him, my father called me to his side and told me the good news. Hero was willing to be my bondmate. You have to fast from suppertime the night before, because the drink is so potent and so holy. Lithe, darling, have you made up your mind yet?”

“Yes, Mother, I have.”

“Took you long enough, eh, my dear?” The Earl said,fatherly teasing in his laugh.

“Oh, Daddy …” Lithe also chuckled. “A girl has to be sure, you know.”

Lithe was so cute, Lucy thought. Tears stung her eyes. The Earl and Lady Dearheart were obviously good parents. 

I’m sorry, Mommy. I’m sorry, Daddy. You’re not here, and they are.

“Why, Lucy mine, what’s the matter? Wooey, give her here.”

The boy released the embrace he’d been holding, and Lithe gathered Lucy to herself. “Mother, Father, something’s wrong with Lucy.”

“Stop the car,” the earl said. They pulled over to the shoulder of the road.

“You don’t  have to stop the car,” Lucy said, her voice shaky with tears. “I’m not dying. I just miss my folks. Doc said to let you guys love on me, but if I do that, what will my real parents think? They’ll be mad at me, for being a traitor.”

The earl’s voice was as soft as his fur. “My dear Lucy, if I were your daddy that died, I would not be mad at you. You need love. Love Above decided to let us be your parents. He took yours to a beautiful place, where they can watch us and woe betide us if we don’t do our best. Eh, my dear? Eh, kids?”

They all agreed. Lucy lifted her head. “I’m getting your fur wet,” she said to Lithe.

“I’d rather the tears, darling sister. Snow sticks.”

They all laughed.

“Look, sis, we’re nearing home. It’s there, on the top of that hill. At night, you can see the stars and the distant lights of Romantic City, where the palace is. That’s where my intended lives.”

They drove the last few miles in cuddly silence, while the adults’ voices came softly back to them. Sometimes they murmured love at each other. Lucy decided she liked mush. It made her feel safe. She closed her eyes and fell asleep against Lithe, who only held her tighter.

Lucy sighed. There were no sirens any more. There were no teachers who turned into scary shapes. There were no family tensions. There was just love. Before she drifted off, she heard Doc in her mind: “Let them love on you, Lucy.”

A tear escaped her closed eye. For the first time in her nine years, she was safe.



Thea Ramsay
Wellness Coach
Herbalife Distributor
www.GoHerbalife.com/thea-ramsay/en-CA
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