To Have A Home



Delilah sat on the bench peering anxiously around her. The police had been pretty thick lately & she couldn't afford to be recognized. The last thing she needed was some do-goober realizing that she was the runaway on those posters all over town. Even though she had cut & colored her hair, she was still afraid she looked too much like herself. She would die before she'd go back home. Home...once that had been a happy word. Home with Mum & Dad, all of the sitting around the kitchen table talking & laughing about their day. Until Dad was called away for work & never came home. Delilah has never actually known what her Dad did for a living. She imagined he was a spy or something, since her parents were always so hush-hush about it.

They had waited over a year for him to return. Then, her mother walked out of the bedroom one morning clutching a letter, no expression on her face. Delilah's first thought was "How did she get a letter at this hour? The postman doesn't run until late afternoon." Then, Delilah caught her mother's eye & suddenly she knew...knew that their hope was for nothing. He wouldn't be coming back...dead, & not even a way to return his body home. She'd never see him again. And life would never be as good as it was.

About a year later, Mum had remarried. Her step-father was a gruff man, nothing like her Dad had been. There was no laughter in the house; no giddy morning conversations full of jokes & teasing. Mum didn't even smile anymore. Delilah never understood why Mum did it. She surely didn't love him. They barely talked. But he had money, something they had lacked ever since Dad had died, & he made sure they had what they needed. But not a stick more. Delilah hated him. He would scream at her when she was sure she was doing nothing wrong. It wasn't her fault that things happened...weird things that no one could explain. Her mother had always just accepted that sometimes her toys would come to her or that the dishes were suddenly washed when no one had been in the kitchen. But not him. It all offended his sensibilities, & he took it out on her.

As if life could get no worse, Mum had died only a few months after remarrying. Left alone with her step-father, a man who hated her, didn't want her...life became nothing short of a nightmare. She felt like a slave. He made her do all the work around the house, expected his dinner be ready when he arrived home, & gave her no thanks. She wasn't allowed to have friends over; in fact she wasn't allowed to have friends at all. She found herself alone, locked in mutual hatred with her step-father.

Finally, she knew it all had to change. So, one night she packed a small suitcase that had belonged to her father & she snuck out. She walked all that night, trying to get as far away as possible. Finally, as dawn approached & she was exhausted, she found herself standing by a large old drainpipe behind a coffee shop in the next town. She climbed in where no one could see her & settled down to sleep. It had been her home ever since.

Every day since, she had wondered the town, trying to avoid notice. She had managed to scrape by, especially since the coffee shop seemed to toss out a lot of almost new food. She looked quite a bit worse for wear, dirty & a good bit thinner than she had been, but she was free.

With a look at the sun beginning to set on the horizon, she got up to go "home." A sound like the flapping of wings stopped her. She turned & saw nothing. With a sigh, she walked across town back to the drainpipe.

Just as she settled down to eat her dinner (tonight she had found three croissants, still in the package) she heard the sound again. She looked toward the entrance to the pipe & there sat a small grey owl.

"Whoo!" It said, then began making its way toward her.

"What? What do you want?" She was frozen. She wasn't really afraid. More shocked than anything. As the owl came closer, she realized it was carrying a letter. It stopped a foot away from her and held out its leg to her, waiting for her to remove the letter. She reached forward slowly & untied the little bit of string that held the paper. With a hoot, the owl turned & headed out of the pipe. Taking flight as soon as it was clear.

Delilah looked at the letter. The address on the outside made her eyes bug out a bit.

Ms. Delilah Grater

Drain Pipe behind Ye Olde Coffee Hound

London



She tore open the letter & read it through quickly. Then, shaking her head a bit, she read it again. Finally, she read it a third time, out loud.

Dear Ms. Grater,

I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. Your first term begins September 1st. Please be at the London Station, Platform 9 3/4 on August 30 to meet the train to the school. Your supplies have been taken care of. We look forward to having you join us.

Minerva McGonagal

Deputy Headmistress

Delilah was in a state of shock....School? Wizards? And she had never heard of Platform 9 3/4. She spent a lot of time at the train station, as people tended to drop a lot of change there, but never had she seen any signs to that one. She pondered it all through the night. By morning, she had decided that she would go. She didn't have money to pay for any school, but they said her supplies were waiting for her, so maybe she didn't need any. She didn't know how or why, but she knew it would be a place to stay, with a warm bed & real food. The worst they could do is send her away, & maybe they'd let her take a bath first.



To be continued.........