I do not own the characters
"My darling, in order to win you must be ruthless. You know what ruthless means?"
Maura nods
"The world is a hard and dangerous place. It's not for the faint of heart. The weak get no-where and only the strong will thrive."
"Jane, do you understand what I'm asking of you?"
"You want me to be sweet when my aunties and uncles and grandparents visit."
Angela sighs, "Preferably I would like you too be sweet all the time. The world is already riddled with so many monsters, we don't need anymore."
"Why are people so mean and uncaring?"
"What do you mean Janie?"
"The kids at school pick on me cause I don't have stuff like they do and I walk to school and my shoes have holes and I keep outgrowing all my clothes and they laugh and say I look stupid and goofy."
"What kids?"
"Ma!"
Angela takes a breath and counts down from five calming herself.
"So must I be selfish?"
"You must be more than that, young Maura. You must be harsh and cold and uncaring. But especially cunning."
Her little button nose scrunches in confusion.
"But daddy, that won't be fun."
"Being kind in an unkind world is not fun. You will get taken advantage of and pushed around and everything you have will be taken from you."
Maura clutches her doll a little tighter in her arms.
"Sweetheart, people who have no real love in their life or in their heart tend to want to hurt others to make themselves feel ok. They believe that what they have is more important than who they are becoming and the message they are sending."
"But they have everything...why do they wanna pick on me and Frankie?"
"Because they never learned what is really important, Janie, somewhere along the way they decided that people were less important than possessions. But you're so smart my beautiful brave girl, you can teach them the right way."
"How?"
"People with less money money must be feared because they will always be looking for a way to cripple you. We have to lock it up and protect ourselves."
"With security guards?" Maura whispers
"Yes dear. The poor are jealous and think we don't deserve what we have, they want us to sink to their level of wealth or they wish to take what we have."
"But we would be ok even if we loose a little bit. Right dad?"
"Wrong. For them, a little is never enough."
"But...what if they...really really needed it?"
"They don't deserve it Maura. They don't earn it, they are lazy and horrible people that don't care about you."
"Are they all like that?"
"Yes."
"You can teach them by showing them the right way. By loving them even when they hurt you. Because we both know the bullies are just people hurting on the inside. And they are afraid."
Jane bites her lower lip in thought.
"Give if you can too. Share with those in need because stuff is just stuff and can always be replaced, but people can't be replaced. Be gentle and be kind with your words because they do more harm than guns and knives. Bring joy into the world with your joy and laughter. And hug everyone because hugs make people happy."
"Arg...I hate hugs Ma." Jane whines
Angela chuckles softly and cups Jane's cheek.
"Show kindness, because without it the world would be a lost cause with everyone fighting for everything and everyone in it being sad, lost and lonely."
"But some of them are nice to me. They can't all be horrible."
"Some people out there will pretend to be nice to trick you. And there is the occasional naive good person that thinks they don't need money too. Charity workers and the like. But they aren't 'our people'. We stick to our own Maura."
Maura frowns in concentration as her ten year old brain races to understand.
"There has to be another way." She starts softly, "A way that money doesn't matter so much. That people can be friends without living in fear. Without jealously. Without deception."
"There isn't Maura, this has always been a problem for people like us."
Jane smiles a bright and freeing smile
"I will Ma, even if I'm the only one in the whole world who does."
"That's my girl."
"Well, Maybe I can find a way. A way for things to be different. Better. Where the value of everything doesn't come with a price tag. Where the world isn't so dangerous and we can have more fun." Maura pauses to take a deep confident breath ignoring the fact that Arthur Isles had walked out of the room, "I want to try, even if I fail...I want to try!"
thanks for reading
will leave the title as it is...thank you for your comments so far.
:)