Disclaimer: Dear BBC, I do not own you.
"Well come on! Supper's ready!" Jennie's mother called from inside the house. I was helping Jennie carry a pail of water to her mother. "Hurry up!"
The supper was pottage. The contents: a small amount of cooked vegetables and bits of diced meat that may just have been mouse. Poor thing, I thought.
There was little conversation at supper, holding off until just before bed. Jennie and I were chattering like little birds, and several times her mother and father had to tell us to be quiet and sleep. But very, very late in the night, the vital question came.
"Ellie, are you going to leave again?"
I looked down, despondently. "I'm so sorry Jennie…but I must. There's nothing left for me here…and if I stay with you-there's barely enough to feed one child, let alone two. I can't be a burden on your family, Jennie."
"So-so you are leaving?" She was close to tears. "And you're not coming back?"
"Jennie, you have so much to learn," I went to embrace her as if she were my own.
"No!" She pushed me away. "You're leaving' and you're not coming' back, I thought you were my friend…and you just leave me!" She sobbed.
"Oh, Jennie…" I started. "I'll be back, I promise. I'll be back when it's warm again, alright? I'm not going to leave you."
"You p-p-promised; like your p-Papa did," Jennie continued.
Oh God.
"Your Papa p-pr-promised you so many things," She sobbed. "A-an-and he never g-got t-to them, h-he never did."
"I'm not like my Papa, I'm not," At me saying this, she came closer. "I won't leave you, alright?" She nodded through a tearstained face. "Now come on, come over here." She walked towards me and collapsed into my open arms. "Calm down…it's alright. I'm not going to leave you forever."
"Promise me…promise me you'll come back…" Her small fists clung to my dress.
I sighed and stroked her hair. "I promise, now promise me. Every night look at the sky whether it's light or dark, just look up and think of me. 'Cause, chances are, I'm doing the same, alright?"
"I promise, I promise, Ellie." Jennie replied. "I promise…"
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