Chapter 3 - Get A Life
***
"Give it back!"
"Would you like your jar of lard, Fat Girl?"
"Shut up and give it back!"
The boy giggled, bouncing the jar from palm to palm, dodging the smaller girl's desperate attempts to retrieve it. She snarled at him and lunged at his face, fingers clawed.
A hand came down on the boy's head, and they both froze.
"What's going on here, Jim?" Miss Susan said.
Jim's mouth dropped open. "I..." He stared at the small glass jar in his hand. "Here," he grunted, dropping it into the girl's waiting hand.
"THANK you," she grumbled, snatching it out of the air and secreting it somewhere about her person.
"What do you say, Jim?"
"'M sorry..." he mumbled.
"What are you sorry for?"
"F'r t'k'n' her jar..."
"Whose jar was it?"
"Hers..."
"Should you have taken it?"
"No..."
Miss Susan smiled grimly. "Now. What do you say, Jim?"
"'M s'rry f'r t'k'n' y'r jar what wiz y'rs an' I shouldn't've t'k'n' it b'cuz 'tisnt m'n, cuz 't's y'rs, cuz..." He paused, at a loss. "Cuz... cuz... cuz..."
Miss Susan gritted her teeth and patted him on the shoulder three times, very firmly. "That's okay, enough, enough, Jim."
"Cuz..."
"JIM..." He shut up. "Good. Now. Illa, what do you say?"
"I forgive you for taking MY BLOODY JAR THAT IS VERY SECRET AND SPECIAL AND MIIINE," Illa said, very calmly. Then she hit Jim in a very calm way. Then he said "Cuz... ow." Then she kicked him.
Miss Susan led them to their seats, where they would be read a story, pausing at Illa. Illa was a girl who needed someone. The side of Susan that was not Miss Susan felt the... the HOLE as clearly as though Illa had no head.
The girl sat, and took the jar out of her pocket. Susan watched her inconspicuously while "looking for a book to read". Illa slowly turned the lid, reached inside, and pulled out... some white fabric.
Susan wondered...
***
Illa listened to the story with only one ear, just enough to call up any key points if asked. With the rest of her brain she concentrated on her little piece of white fabric, which she was pulling and gathering together in a very... careful... way. She shook the string out of the bottom of the jar, and wound it around the fabric slowly, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth.
It began to resemble a person.
"'Hello, Illa,'" the small girl murmured to herself in a low, soft voice, so like and unlike her own. She stared, unseeing, at the handmade doll on her lap. "'Let me give you a different life. It will be so... easy.'"
***
In a white world on the edge of the universe...
***
"Give it back!"
"Would you like your jar of lard, Fat Girl?"
"Shut up and give it back!"
The boy giggled, bouncing the jar from palm to palm, dodging the smaller girl's desperate attempts to retrieve it. She snarled at him and lunged at his face, fingers clawed.
A hand came down on the boy's head, and they both froze.
"What's going on here, Jim?" Miss Susan said.
Jim's mouth dropped open. "I..." He stared at the small glass jar in his hand. "Here," he grunted, dropping it into the girl's waiting hand.
"THANK you," she grumbled, snatching it out of the air and secreting it somewhere about her person.
"What do you say, Jim?"
"'M sorry..." he mumbled.
"What are you sorry for?"
"F'r t'k'n' her jar..."
"Whose jar was it?"
"Hers..."
"Should you have taken it?"
"No..."
Miss Susan smiled grimly. "Now. What do you say, Jim?"
"'M s'rry f'r t'k'n' y'r jar what wiz y'rs an' I shouldn't've t'k'n' it b'cuz 'tisnt m'n, cuz 't's y'rs, cuz..." He paused, at a loss. "Cuz... cuz... cuz..."
Miss Susan gritted her teeth and patted him on the shoulder three times, very firmly. "That's okay, enough, enough, Jim."
"Cuz..."
"JIM..." He shut up. "Good. Now. Illa, what do you say?"
"I forgive you for taking MY BLOODY JAR THAT IS VERY SECRET AND SPECIAL AND MIIINE," Illa said, very calmly. Then she hit Jim in a very calm way. Then he said "Cuz... ow." Then she kicked him.
Miss Susan led them to their seats, where they would be read a story, pausing at Illa. Illa was a girl who needed someone. The side of Susan that was not Miss Susan felt the... the HOLE as clearly as though Illa had no head.
The girl sat, and took the jar out of her pocket. Susan watched her inconspicuously while "looking for a book to read". Illa slowly turned the lid, reached inside, and pulled out... some white fabric.
Susan wondered...
***
Illa listened to the story with only one ear, just enough to call up any key points if asked. With the rest of her brain she concentrated on her little piece of white fabric, which she was pulling and gathering together in a very... careful... way. She shook the string out of the bottom of the jar, and wound it around the fabric slowly, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth.
It began to resemble a person.
"'Hello, Illa,'" the small girl murmured to herself in a low, soft voice, so like and unlike her own. She stared, unseeing, at the handmade doll on her lap. "'Let me give you a different life. It will be so... easy.'"
***
In a white world on the edge of the universe...