Blowing in the Wind
A/N There will be a small portion of this in French. Thanks again, Agniece. The French part of this has the English translation at the bottom of the chapter.
Chapter Four
Excerpt from Chapter Three
The young woman had been more than polite before leaving the living room, inviting Lilly to join her while she went through some old trunks and found items to donate to the local orphanage. "With your help, we can get the donations to the orphanage sooner than the good Father and my mother are expecting," had been Audra's exact words, as she explained the Barkley Matriarch was already at the orphanage.
~oOo~
"I can't thank you enough, Victoria." Father Thomas smiled as he and Victoria stepped out of the orphanage and stood on the porch that wrapped itself around the building. For the better part of the morning, the two of them had spent reorganizing the storage rooms, where they put the donations the orphanage had received already; knowing they had more items coming. "I feel badly about taking you away from Audra; I know she could have used some help too." He never would have sent for her if his previous helpers hadn't had to leave due to a family emergency.
"Don't worry about it. It was no problem; Audra more than understood and fully supported me when it came to my coming to help you. She should be here in an hour. Is there something else you need help with until..." Victoria started to ask when she saw Audra driving their wagon toward the orphanage. The good father and she were both surprised, though they were curious as to who the black haired woman with Audra was.
"I don't think you have time to do anything besides handle donations." Father Thomas chuckled as Audra stopped the wagon not two feet from her mother and the good Father.
"Apparently not," Victoria chuckled, and then turned to Audra, asking who her new friend was.
Audra smiled and introduced Lily. "Heath hired her husband a few hours ago; she's been helping me ever since."
Victoria smiled, as did the good priest. "It's nice to meet you, and thanks. I didn't like the fact that Audra was going to have no help this morning, but I couldn't stay."
"It was a pleasure, Mrs. Barkley." Lily said as she climbed out of the wagon. It had been too. With Steve being employed now, Lily had wanted to be of some use also. Especially since keeping busy meant having her mind on something besides the reason she and her husband had traveled to Stockton in the first place. "I was more than happy to be of service to Audra."
Due to her French accent, Father Thomas-thinking about one of the orphans-spoke up. "You are from France. How long have you lived in America?"
Lily chuckled. She got that question a lot. "My whole life." She chuckled even more at the shocked looks that came upon Father Thomas's and Victoria's faces. "I was born in a French community in New Orleans and then, later, my parents moved to the Sierra mountains where my father took up his love of trapping. One would think my French accent would not have remained so strong, but it has."
Upon hearing that, the good priest did the one thing he tried for the most part to avoid; he made an assumption. "Oh, I guess you do not speak French then."
Lily, who could have quit a teasing streak in her, smiled from ear to ear as she replied, *"Non, je ne parle pas français. Pourquoi vous me demandez cela?"
She, along with Audra, started chuckling when Victoria rolled her eyes and the good priest got a look that said 'when am I going to learn?' Though all of them, including the priest, laughed after he-without thinking-said, "Huh?"
"I am sorry. I should have answered you in English." Lily smiled and then asked Father Thomas if there was a reason he had wanted to know if she spoke her parent's native language.
Father Thomas turned and looked towards a huge Pine tree that stood roughly twenty feet from the south side of the orphanage. A young blonde haired girl who was ten years old sat underneath its branches, probably taking refuge from the heat within the shade provided by the tree. "It is her," he jutted his chin forward just a little as he looked upon the young girl. "She is a recent addition to our orphanage. Other than the fact that she was with an older gentleman when their wagon went over the side of a hill, we know nothing about her, and she does not talk. That is, she has not talked much. When she has, it sounds like French to me."
Lily caught on quickly and started beaming. "I will talk to her. That is," she looked at Victoria, "If you do not need my help first?"
Victoria, who had already tried to talk to the young girl before going to help Father Thomas wasn't about to tell Lily that her help was needed more elsewhere. "Audra can help us, go ahead and talk to the young child."
Lily smiled and then walked briskly past the orphanage and up to the young girl who was simply staring off into space, as if she saw nothing at all. Lily felt her heart go out to the little one. Maybe, she hadn't lost both her parents, but Lily still remembered how she'd felt the day her mother passed away. It had been the worst day of her life. "Puis-je m'assoir?"
The young girl snapped out of her daydreams and stared at Lily. She had not thought anyone 'in this town' knew the French language, and she'd felt quite isolated because of it. That, and the loss of her family, was overwhelming her. To hear someone, ask if they could sit down in the French language shocked the orphan greatly. "Oui," she replied in the affirmative, though she couldn't stop staring at Lily, even though she kept telling herself it was not polite.
Lily sat down beside the young woman and introduced herself, and then asked for her name as well.
"Paulette," The young woman answered after a moment of hesitation.
Even though the good priest had told Lily what had happened, she wanted to see what the young woman would say. "Qu'est-il arrivé?"
Again, Paulette hesitated, but then answered slowly, "Je voyageais avec mon grand-père, il était en train de m'emmener habiter chez ma tante et mon oncle, mais moi, je ne veux pas vivre avec eux. Ils ne sont pas ce que pense mon grand-père, mais il refusait de me m'a dit que ma tante était une femme bienveillante, et qu'elle me traiterait bien."
""Et vous savez differemment?" Lily asked, keeping a concerned eye on the child.
Paulette nodded. "Lorsque nous lui avons rendu visite, elle m'a frappé et elle a menti au sujet des contusions sur ma joue, il l'a cru ."
Lily felt anger swell up inside her. No one should do that to a child, or to anyone else for that matter. "Parlez-tu pas anglais?" Being able to talk for herself would help the young woman greatly. At least, Lily felt strongly it would make a huge difference.
Paulette shrugged her shoulders and admitted she could speak the language a little bit, but that was a struggle for her. Lily and she continued to talk in French for a good thirty minutes before Lily excused herself. Though, before taking her leave, Lily promised to visit Paulette more and the young girl had both promised to work on her English, if Lily would do all she could to make sure Paulette was not turned over to an abusive home.
A/N The reply to the Father Thomas and the conversation between Lily and Paulette in English:
"No, I don't speak any French. Why do you ask such a thing?"
"May I sit down?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"I was traveling with my grandfather; he was taking me to live with my aunt and uncle, but I do not want to live with them. They are not what my grandfather thinks they are, but he would not believe me. He said my aunt was a good woman and would treat me well."
"And you know different?"
"When we visited her before. She hit me when no one was looking and then lied to my grandfather when it came to how I got the bruise on my cheek. He believed her."
"Do you not speak any English?"