Revamped!
[Combined Chapters - Let It Snow + Holiday Season]
Crystal Hepburn: Let It Snow
"Girls!" Sister Jasmine sings as she walks into our room.
We're all half-asleep and we all look at her through our bedsheets as she spins in the middle of the room. Nobody responds to her so she laughs to herself and makes her way over to the window. Sister Jasmine opens the curtains in one fluent motion and we're all hit with this bright light. It's too much to be the sunlight. Once our eyes adjust, we look out the window and it's snowing. Big, fat white flakes fall from the sky, almost resembling the clouds. All the girls, including me, jump out of our beds and look out the window with excitement.
"It's a snow day!" Sister Jasmine cheers excitedly.
"Can we play outside?" A girl asks.
"Of course we can! Get dressed girls, breakfast is ready."
After we get dressed, the other girls run down the stairs in a small stampede. I slide down the railing and when I'm almost at the bottom, someone picks me up and spins me around. I scream with glee and then I'm back on the ground. I look up and see Sister Catherine on the stair step above me with her hands on her hips. She doesn't look happy. I put my hands on my hips and mimic her expression towards me but with more mockery. She's trying so hard not to smile.
"What have I told you about sliding down the railing?" She asks me.
"It's unladylike," I reply in my best version of her voice.
Sister Catherine jokingly messes my hair. I straighten it as I follow her in the kitchen. I take a plate and am served some sunny side up eggs, toast, and two strips of bacon. I get a glass of milk and take a seat beside Fiona who lightly smiles at me. Sister Dominique says that Fiona could stay as long as she wants to. Most of the girls want to get adopted right away, but Sister Dominique says that if she has to get adopted, then we have no other choice. Sometimes there's no option if you want to go with the family or not. The thing about adoption is that the family usually picks the girl they want. The Sisters always make sure that the family is good and then the child would go with them. I wonder if some of the girls that left here wanted to go with the family they got. What if they had no choice? Those thoughts didn't occur to me until now.
After breakfast, we all get dressed for the outdoors and have to line-up to go outside. This is because the Sisters check that we're dressed properly and warmly. I get to the front of the line and Sister Catherine looks at me the same way she looked at me earlier today when I slid down the railing.
"Will you put on a jacket?" Sister Catherine asks me. She's not asking as a suggestion, she's asking as a command.
I look at what I'm wearing: a thick, baggy grey hoodie, jeans, boots, a scarf, a hat, and mittens. No coat.
"I don't need a jacket," I tell her. "I don't get cold."
"Crystal," Sister Catherine states in a tone that says we are not arguing. "Put on a jacket."
"No," I argue anyways.
She gives me a nasty glare. I whine as I go over and put on a jacket. I give her a fake smile as I run outside. I hide behind a tree, take off my coat, and throw it over a branch. It's not that cold. I better remember to grab that before I I get back inside. I run around until I feel something hit my back, causing me to fall face-first into a snow bank. I roll on my back and see Fiona with a few snowballs in her arms. She's giggling.
I laugh as I make my own snowball and throw it at Fiona. Fiona ducks and it hits another one of the girls. I would apologize but she throws one right back at my face. The other girls look over and start adding to our chaos.
I guess that's the snowball effect of an actual snowball fight.
All of us girls freeze as someone accidentally hits Sister Jasmine with a snowball. I think that was me but I won't say anything because I don't think she knows it was probably me, so I don't want to just throw a possibly unnecessary apology. All of us girls drop our snowballs and try to look innocent. Sister Jasmine brushes the snow off of her and kneels down. It looks like she's saying a prayer but before I know it, she has her own pile of snowballs.
"C'mon, my Sisters!" Sister Jasmine exclaims before pelting us with her own snowballs. Eventually, Sisters Catherine and Dominique join her. Even though they're only three Sisters against a bunch of energetic little girls, they're spry (and winning).
"Face it," Sister Dominique starts once we're all defeated, "we'll always be in charge here. You girls aren't getting rid of us that easy. Now, who wants to make a snow angel?"
-o-
"Why are we hiding?" Fiona asks me.
"One tip for being in the orphanage: avoid everyone this time of year," I reply. "They're all busy and loud up there. Down here, it's peaceful."
We're currently hiding in the basement. The orphanage uses it as a storage for mostly non-perishable canned foods, old paperwork, extra clothes and linens, and decorations. Or, for Fiona and I, it's a hiding place.
"Christmas isn't for another three weeks," Fiona says. "Why does everyone here get all excited already?"
"The Sisters say it's to get in the holiday spirit early. Kind of like a 'be positive' thing," I say. "That's why they decorate early. And, adoption and fostering is higher this time of year. Apparently, adults like it when the orphanage is red, white, green, and covered in snow. Parents adopt or foster now because according to them, 'there is no better gift for an orphan than a brand new home'. Adoption is more common than fostering, though. The parents think it's cute watching kids run around in their snowsuits."
"Is that also why you hide here?"
"Yeah," I whisper.
I don't want any families to see me. I don't want them to think I'm cute. I don't want to go home with new parents. I don't want to be in their family portraits. I don't want to slide down the railing at their house. I want to stay here. Even though the Sisters wouldn't give me away, I can't take any chances because what if a family places their claims on me and I'll have no choice.
"What were your parents before they - ?" I choose not to finish that sentence. I hope Fiona understand what I'm asking.
"Teachers," Fiona replies. "My mom taught gym and my dad taught English. What about your parents?"
I shrug my shoulders. "I never knew my parents."
Before Fiona could react, I hear Sister Catherine call for us. She says that she knows we're hiding in the basement for no good reason and to get the box of awning decorations. I get up from the floor and find the light switch on the wall. When the light turns on, I open the storage closet and pull out the box with eh according label. Fiona helps me carry it up the stairs. We place the box down on the dining table because I actually have no idea what an awning is.
"Where are we going to hide now?" Fiona whispers to me.
I smirk. "Wherever you want."
-o-
Later, Sister Dominique drags me to go to the grocery store with her. She likes it when someone is by her side to read the list out loud to her. The aisles are full of families who have shopping carts full of only a few or one item of a product which is measly compared to our cart full of bulk. For instance, we had to buy thirteen canisters of hot chocolate powder.
"This is going to be your second Christmas with us," Sister Dominique says as she throws a pack of gum in the cart for herself. I nod my head and sneak a chocolate bar for myself. She looks at me and pretends not to notice.
"How many of us will be here this Christmas?" I ask. With all the girls getting adopted, I'm curious about how many will actually be there to open gifts.
"My two Sisters and ten little girls," she responds. "That's thirteen of us."
Oh, it's smaller this year. Last year there were over twenty of us. Now that there are fewer girls, there are more gifts for the other girls. We get nothing extravagant but small items like stationary, plushies or books. They're cute, practical, and are always acceptable for a child to bring to their new family when they get adopted.
"It's nice to have a small group once in a while," Sister Dominique states putting loaves of bread in the cart. "I grew up with a lot of siblings. Family reunions were huge. I didn't know the name of half my relatives. On the bright side, I have a lot of nieces and nephews."
"Do you know all their names?" I ask.
She shakes her head. "I'm a terrible aunt. Especially since I have to start sending them cards and gifts for the holidays."
Later, as Sister Dominique is paying for the groceries, I take my chocolate bar and begin breaking it into little pieces before eating it. I look at the exit and see a little green thing hanging from the top of the door. Underneath the green thing is a couple kissing. I look away awkwardly and watch Sister Dominique put the grocery bags in the cart. She looks at me, sees the couple, and smiles back at me as she mockingly covers my eyes before taking me off to the side to stop staring at them.
"What?" I question. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"I know what's in that little mind of yours," she replies.
"Why do people kiss under that green thing?" I ask as we begin heading towards the exit.
Sister Dominique stops and places me right underneath the green thing.
"It's called mistletoe, Crystal," she begins explaining. "It's from a Norse myth. Mistletoe was said to be the sacred plant of Frigga, the Queen of Asgard - or Queen Mother, I should now say. When Frigga's parents died, she shed tears that turned into mistletoe berries, so Frigga kissed everyone who passed under the tree on which it grew. From that time on, anyone who stood under the mistletoe receiving only a kiss meant no harm could come to them."
"Who's Frigga?"
"Mother of Thor." She leans in closer to whisper to me. "He's now the King of Asgard."
Hearing that name brings back a snapshot memory of when I first saw Thor. "Fascinating. I want to be protected by her."
Sister Dominique picks me up and gives me a big kiss on the cheek. I squirm a bit and hug her around the neck.
"I'll always protect you, my dear," she tells me.
[OKAY! So I was planning to have Crystal ask about the origin of the mistletoe, so I typed her asking the question and then went to Google to see the origin. When I read that it was a Norse myth involving Frigga, I was so happy because it could work in this case given that she's Loki's daughter (so Frigga's granddaughter?) Although I changed the myth a bit just so it could fit with what the MCU has given me to work with.]
