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Village Children |
| Written by Salliy Millys | |
| Thursday, 31 January 2008 | |
My older sister's name is Tessa. She will be having a child in November. My little sister is named Esa. She loves to play in the water on summer days and mother and father watch her. I work in the field, garden, and do house chores too. Right now I was working by the lake washing clothes. My friend Katara walked up to me. She looked like she was worried. I asked her what was wrong. " Oh nothing" she said and begam washing fruits and vegtables. When I was done I said good bye to Katara. I went walking down the dirt road in my skirt and long sleeved baggy top, no shoes so my feet swolen with blisters, and my long dirty blonde hair in a braid down my boney back. When I arrived back to the village the sun was loosing light and I could tell it was almost supper time. I took the clothes into our one story house. Esa was there playing with her rattle. Mother was in the kitchen cooking potatoes and carrots with ham for dinner. " Where is father and Tessa?" I asked. " They are at the flinggy dear" my mother said. The flinggy was where we cut Fing. That's our main source like wood to some people. So I ran to the flinggy as fast as I could. I just love to watch them work. I'm too small to work there but everyone else who's my age can do it. I saw father and Tessa even with her big belly working. Tessa was helping some 11 year olds haula box of Fing to the river. I saw the boy's fingers start to slip so I yelled " Tessa watch out!" She couldn't here me so the heavy heavy heavy load slipped and fell onto Tessa's belly! She tumbled to the ground and a cloud of dust rose from the ground. She lay on her side. Father rushed over to her and so did I. " Get away!" father yelled at me. " I just want to help Tes.." I began. " GET AWAY QUINCY!" he yelled at me with a red face and truned to Tessa. I ran home with tears running down my checks. Mother let my head rest on her stomach and let me cry at the same time she was crying too. We didn't know if Tessa was alive or not. Father came in the door late the next morning. He looked tired and restless. His eyes flaming red and swolen from crying. A big lump formed in my throat and I knew what was comming. My eyes began to fill up with soft tears. " Tessa's unborn baby isn't with us any more" my father said. WOW! That was not what I was excepting. But my father wasn't done. " Neither is Tessa" he said sadly. There went my only chance of a cousin. Esa walked up to the crying trio and hugged mother's leg and said " Don't cry mommy" but mother cried anyway. That night I couldn't sleep so I snuck into Esa's bed. " Hey!" she whispered. " Hey" I whispered back. She poked me with her index finger, and hard at that. " Get out of here" she whispered to me. " I can't sleep" I whisperedto her. " Oh did you have a night mare cause I have nightmares sometimes but not today..." Esa whispered. She whispered stories to me for an hour and I fell asleep. I woke up to an empty bed. Esa always woke up early so she could be the first to breakfast. I didn't feel too hungry so I put on my dress and tied my mini. vest. I tightened my braid and set out to the vendors. I walked from vendor to vendor until I found a flower vendor. " How much for one rose?" I asked. " Four silver coins or one gold coin for 3 roses" said the tall vendor. I dug into my pockets. I had three silver coins. " I don't have that much. I was going to buy my dead sister a rose" I said to the vendor. " I don't even get giving flowers to dead people. I mean they don't even say thank you and they don't even use them. It's just I waste of money that's all" the vendor said and turned around. I sighed and walked away letting her hurtful words sink in. I probably passed a lot of vendors but none with stuff I could use. Then I saw it. Straight ahead was the vendor I needed. It was the bakery vendor. I walked up to the bakery vendor. " Hello " I said. " Hello" Said the man behind the counter. He wasn't alone. There was a girl my age behind the vendor too. " How much for a muffin?" I asked. " That'll be half a silver coin my lady" The man said. " I'll take four" I said giving the man two of my coins. His hand was sweaty but probably from the heat. "Anything else I can do you for?" He asked. " Yes how much for a loaf of bread?" I asked. " One silver coin" Said the girl this time. " I'll have one please" I said as we exchanged money for bread and muffins. " Thank you" I said as I walked away. " I'll see you around the village" she said. I gave her a puzzled look. " I'm new here. I saw you this morning comming out of your house. I live a crost from the pond by your... I mean our houses " she said. " Hi. Name's Quincy. See you around uh..." I began. " Maridith" she said. I smiled. " See you around Maridith " I said. " See you around Quincy" she said as I walked away. My family was so proud of me for getting those muffins and bread. That night we had soup and a muffin. I told mother about Maridith and her family. " Oh yes I saw the young girl earlier this morning. She and her father were setting up the vending things they needed. " said mother. " Does she have a little sister?" asked Esa. " I'm not sure" I said sipping my water. I wasn't sure if she had any friends either. Well I was her friend so she has someone. " We should show them around town " said Esa. " Good idea Esa. Quincy why don't you and Esa show Maridith around tomarrow morning?" mother asked. " Sure, that'd be great. I can introduce her to Katara and Glessa and all the other village children I know" I said. I got realy excited then and I couldn't wait for tomarrow. That night really late I was still up. I just wasn't tired. I rolled over and shut my eyes. Nothing happened as sleep wise. I tried to read a book but we children wern't taught how to read. Tessa taught Esa and I a few words but other than that we just knew shop names. We never were taught how to write or read or do math and other school things. I've wished and hoped there would be a school here in the Village but nothing yet. Only Church where we just talked and we never read from the bible because we didn't know how to. I finally fell asleep thinking of what school would be like. Next thing I knew light was bursting through my window and it was morning. I ran to the bathtub. I striped from my pj dress and jumped in the tub. I scrubed hard on my body. I combed out my hair and tied it up in a low pony tale instead of a braid. I put on a skirt and short sleeved top. I put on a pair of soft, thin slippers and ran to get Esa. She was outside jumping rope. " Come on Esa" I said to her. She and I ran to Maridith's house. When we got there we knocked on her door. Maridith opened the door. " Hello Quincy and.." She began. I half laughed. " This is Esa my little sister" I said. " Oh hi Esa" She said. She had on a light dress and her black curls down. " Do you guys want to come in?" she asked. " Um Maridith.."I said. " Yes?" she asked. " We were thinking we could show you around this morning and maybe have a picknic lunch by the pond today" I said. " Oh yes that would be nice" she said. " Great. Lets go!" Esa and I said. We walked with Maridith to the town and river and all the places. " Maridith, want to meed my friends?" I asked. " Oh yes I would!" Maridith said. I had never herd her sound so excited in the two days I knew her. I went to the pond because on break days that's where every kid went in the summer. I saw Glessa and Katara there in the water . " Glessa, Katara Hi!" I yelled and waved. Maridith, Esa, and I ran to the pond. " Oh Hi Quincy and Esa. Who's your friend Quincy?" Katara voice got low when she asked who Maridith was. " I'm Maradith" she said. " Nice to meet you Maridith. I'm Katara" She said with a straight face. " OK HI" said Maridith. " Maridith, I'm Glessa" Glessa said smilimg and glad to have someone else here. " She's new. Maybe we all could hang out sometime?" I asked. Glessa and Maridith accepted quickly and Katara said she was going to be busy. When we were walking to the streem to have lunch I told Maridith about work. " Do all kids do it?" she asked biting a bit of bread. " Not all. Just ages 5-16. How old are you?" I asked. " 13. My birthday was last month" Maraidth said. " So was mine! I'm 13 too" I said. " How old are you Esa?" MAridith asked. " Almost 4!" she said skipping stones. " Wow! So next year you can work in the Flinggy with Quincy and I " said Maridith. My faced turned hot. I didn't tell Maridith that I was too weak and small to work there and that Esa was NEVER to work there because of Tessa's accident. " Oh I'll never work in the Flinggy!" Esa said skipping stones still. " Why not?" Maridith asked me. " Well the truth is... I never was strong enough to work in the Flinggy and I won't ever and neither will Esa because we have an older sister" I said. " Oh can I meet her?" Maridith asked. " No" I said tears comming. " Why not? Is she shy?" Asked Maridith. " She's dead. She had an accident in the Flinggy the day before I met you" I said. Now I was cying. " Oh Quincy I'm sorry" she said tears in her eyes too. I sniffed. " Don't cry too Maridith" I said wiping my eyes. " No I should. I wasn't honest either. You See I had an older sister and younger brother who died in the Flinggy the night I met you" she was sobbing hard. I knelt down beside her and said " We can do it". She repeted me but with hicups " We..." Hicup"...can do..." Hicup. She took a drink, wiped her eyes and said " We can do it together Quincy" and hugged me and I let her. Copyright 2008 Salliy |
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