[stylist] Workshopping: Lucy and Lithe Chapter Four

[Shelley Alongi]

Z I love your story. I love Lucy's use of language it's so sincere :-) save your hands for the story.

shelley Queen of Bells out Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 22, 2015, at 12:33 PM, Miss Thea via stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Chapter Four
> 
> Alone With Her Choice
> 
> 
> 
> Lucy spoke little at dinner. Every time she looked at the new furs and warm clothes, she felt guilty. 
> 
> “Don’t look so glum, Lucy,” her mother pleaded. “We’re sorry we can’t take your friend. We know she’s being abused, and we wish …”
> 
> Lucy put a hand over her ears. “Mom, please.”
> 
> “Take your hands off your ears, Lucy. That’s very rude,” her father said. “I should think you’d be thankful that we’ve found a new home, that we’re all going to live, that these people are taking us in, sight unseen. Do you not understand how huge that is?”
> 
> "You know, if it were me, I'm not sure I'd want to take in a strange family, much less a strange species. Yet this Andorphian family are taking us in, no questions asked." Her mother put in.
> 
> “I am thankful. What do you want me to do, just forget about Kim? Forget we’ve been friends since I started school? Forget all the times she’s come to school sad and angry and scared?”
> 
> Her parents sighed. Dinner continued with a pall over it.
> 
> “If it’s about the application, about the one kid thing, you can … take Kim instead of me.”
> 
> “Lucy!” her mom cried.
> 
> “And just what would you do?” her father demanded.
> 
> “Oh, I’d go live with someone.” The sirens cut her off.
> 
> After the all-clear, her father’s eyes bored through her. “Somewhere else to live. Lucy, you’re being unreasonable. Understandable, yes. You want your friend, especially since her parents are mean, but you’re our child, not Kim.”
> 
> Lucy was too scared to give words to the plan forming in her mind. She didn’t have the heart to tell them she wouldn’t be around.
> 
> She wouldn’t even tell Kim.Since Kim would be with them the morning they were to leave, they would find her … She couldn’t finish the thought. But her parents would indeed have one child. Kim.
> 
> All through the next day, Lucy fought to keep down her gorge. She fought to concentrate on school, and act as if everything was okay. If Kim were the only child around, and she, Lucy, was not, her parents would take Kim. She knew that. Dad hated Irwin Carson, Kim’s father, as much as she did. She’d heard them talking about him and his wife when she was in bed, but not asleep.
> 
> Kim would have great parents, and she and Lithe would be sisters.
> 
> On trembling legs, Lucy entered the store on the corner, a small, gloomy place called Happy Endings. She darted through the aisles, reading packets and bottles, nearly dropping one in her fright. 
> 
> “Shit,” she whispered, as she read the effects of the liquid inside. ‘Instant and painless’ it proclaimed. It cost a fiver. It would do nicely. 
> 
> She joined the long line-up. Some adults were alone, some with their families. Little kids smiled at her as if they were at any shop, as if it was a special day out.
> 
> Don’t you dare cry, Lucy told herself as she inched up toward the cashier. And you can damn well stop shaking, too. This is for Kimmy, so she can have some kind of good life.
> 
> She placed the bottle on the counter. 
> 
> “You got a note from a parent or guardian for that, kid?”
> 
> Lucy shrugged, torn between frustration and relief. If the guy wouldn’t let her buy the stuff, then she could … Shut up, she told herself. You’re doing it, and that’s final!
> 
> “Sir, my parents told me to get this. Mom and Dad … they’re on heroin, and they’re too out of it to write a note. But I don’t dare go back without it.” The tears and shaking happened, despite her stern self-scolding.
> 
> The man sighed. “Goddammit.” It was little more than a whisper. “I’m real sorry, kid. Never mind the money. Just take it.”
> 
> She scooped it up, dropped it in her purse, and fled, the cries of frightened kids behind her. If only she hadn’t cried. Now, she’d frightened them. Dammit!
> 
> Her purse weighed a ton. She trudged home.
> 
> “You’re late, princess,” her father greeted her.
> 
> “Missed the school bus.” She kissed her dad.
> 
> “Did you go to work today, Dad?”
> 
> “Well, Lucy Week’s over. Back to the grindstone.”
> 
> “Yup. See ya. Homework time.”
> 
> He looked at her quizzically. “You want to do your homework?”
> 
> “Well, like Mom says, early to start, early to finish. Then I can watch some movies or something.” They never watched TV, not with every channel filled with bombs and death.
> 
> Dinner passed pleasantly. “Please pass the stew?”
> 
> “My goodness, we’re becoming a little lady all of a sudden,” Dad said. 
> 
> “Well, Lithe is an earl’s daughter. I ought to clean up my language and manners and stuff.”
> 
> “That’s a fine idea, Lucy,” her mother said.
> 
> Now, this is a scene in a movie, Lucy told herself. You eat dinner, talk nicely, help with the dishes, then walk normally to your room.
> 
> It was all she could do not to flee.
> 
> Once in her room, she did as much homework as she could stand. Her handwriting sucked, all trembly and stuff. It would have to do. Next weekend, her parents and their one child would be leaving for Andorpha, and Lucy would be watching them from above. She hoped.
> 
> She touched the rosewood desk, traced each scratch with her finger. The pretty wood smell had long since vanished. She sniffed anyway, and remembered. She handled the iThought, held it to her heart before putting it down again.
> 
> “You’re next, Baby Kitty.” She picked up the toy cat, and cuddled that. She touched each picture on her bedspread, Disney princesses all. She counted and looked at every white lamb and kitten her father had painted on the ceiling. She opened her closet, breathed in the bit of wood smell there was, and began to pack her clothes, keeping only what she’d need. 
> 
> What should they find her in the morning they were to leave? Ah, her pink PJ’s with the little white roses down the arms.
> 
> She laid them out on the dresser. She would wear them next weekend when Kim was here.
> 
> Kim. She stopped dead. When they found her, not alive, how would that make Kim feel? They wouldn’t have time to bury her properly. They’d just have to take Kimbo and go. But … but … what if Kim was sad her whole life? What about Mom and Dad?
> 
> As if her thoughts summoned him, Dad knocked, opened the door, and stood in the doorway. “Another letter from Andorpha, princess. It’s for you.”
> 
> “Me?”  
> 
> “Yeah, you. Catch.”
> 
> She caught it. 
> 
> “Well, aren’t you going to read it?”
> 
> “Sure, Dad, I’ll read it later.”
> 
> He sat on her bed. “Got the boys writing you already? No way. I want to hear this.”
> 
> What else could she do? Anything but compliance would make her dad aware something was wrong.
> 
> “Hate to disappoint you, Dad,” she said, upon opening it. “It’s not from a boy. It’s from Lithe.”
> 
> “You mean it’s not from a boy this time.”
> 
> “It says, ‘My Darling New Sister, 
> 
> “I wonder if you could send me a picture? Please tell me more about yourself. I have enclosed pictures of myself and the rest of your new family. I should like to see you and your parents, whom I shall surely be thrilled to call aunt and uncle. The little boy is our brother, Woo. Wooey is four, and he is so excited that you are coming, he cannot sleep. I understand you are about my age? Then you must be eleven, for that’s how old I am. My Lady mother, is so thrilled to be your auntie, and my father, the Earl, is so looking forward to being your uncle. It is all we can talk about.
> 
> “Please hurry to us, Lucindelah. Love, Lithelah.”
> 
> “Lucinde-what?” Lucy asked.
> 
> “She called herself Lithelah. Maybe ‘lah is a suffix meaning sweetheart or little. Little Lucy, little Lithe.”
> 
> “Yeah, maybe. I thought she was eight, like me.”
> 
> “She thought you were eleven, like her. Bet there’s lots of surprises waiting on Andorpha. I’m getting excited myself. Let’s have a look at those pics.”
> 
> “Hey, Dad, how come every time we see them, they’re all covered in fur?”
> 
> “I don’t know. They’re inside a house, it looks like. Why would they be wearing fur inside? Maybe they’re just on their way out. It is cold there, you know.”
> 
> “Wooey’s cute,” Lucy said. 
> 
> “He sure is. They sure like to match, don’t they, all of them in white fur?”
> 
> “Yeah. Lithe is lovely. I wish she’d take her fur hat off so I can see what color hair she has. How long will the trip take?”
> 
> “A few months.”
> 
> “That long?”
> 
> “Yes. Andorpha’s way out there. Besides, while we’re on the way, we can try to learn more. Maybe the space ship has a computer or a library or something.”
> 
> “Uh, Dad?”
> 
> “What?”
> 
> “Look at Lithe. I have a feeling that fur doesn’t come off. And that hat, with the pointy ear flaps? Bet that ain’t a hat. I think it’s her real ears.”
> 
> Mom came into the room. “Let me see.”
> 
> “Oh my God,” she whispered. “You’re right. We really are going far from home aren’t we, Jim dear?”
> 
> He gave her a brave smile. “That’s right, Donna honey.”
> 
> “It’s just … I just never realized how … alien it really is.”
> 
> “You think Lithe would let me pet her fur?” Lucy asked, then remembered.
> 
> It would be Kim petting Lithe’s fur, not she.
> 
> 
> 
> Thea Ramsay
> Wellness Coach
> Herbalife Distributor
> www.GoHerbalife.com/thea-ramsay/en-CA
> <Thea.vcf>
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