A/N- Another Montfermeil Christmas piece! Because I no longer have The Javvie Clause to get me into the spirit, and because school finally let out for the holidays! And because I'm procrastinating from the next chapter of The New Production.

La Chassure

I was going to bed when Ponine reminded me about the shoes, and so I put one of mine next to hers. Then I laughed because my shoe wasn't as big as her shoe and the way it was it looked like a person with two different sized feet had taken off their shoes there and left them there and I laughed. I told Ponine but she didn't laugh she said I was silly. Sometimes Ponine pretends she is so much older than me when really she is not but she puts on airs like that. I suppose all grown ups put on airs too because Maman and Papa do sometimes and they tell us to look pretty and dress proper and show off for strangers sometimes when the strangers have nice clothes on because then we will get new things.

We get new things anyway every month when the Lark money comes and Maman goes shopping and then sends another letter for next month and always says she needs more anyway because the prices of dresses these days are far too much and what can she buy with what she gets anymore?

In the winter the shops get set up and me and Ponine can go look at them and see all the toys and we wish sometimes there was more money because then we could get all of the pretty things there are and sometimes there are dolls which are much prettier than ours. Our doll she is old and she has some places where her skin looks like wood because it chipped off but Maman gives us bandages and we put them on those parts and then the doll just looks like she fell off the table and that is better than looking poor. When the doll falls off the table then she needs someone to help her get better and me and Ponine take care of her.

We put our shoes out that night and then we laid down in the bed and we started talking about what we would buy when the money came in our shoes in the morning. Me I said I wanted a doll that didn't fall off the table but Ponine said I was silly and said that little piece of money wouldn't buy a doll as good as the doll we had and I was dumb to want a new doll when the one we had was perfectly fine. Ponine puts on airs sometimes and acts like she is so grown up when she is not. Sometimes I hit her, but then she hits me and it hurts and Maman always tells us to stop.

We were talking in the dark when Maman came in and lit the light and said, "My dears, you haven't undressed! You'll get your pretty dresses all crinkled for tomorrow!" It was cold but Maman told us to so we got back out of our beds and took off the pretty dresses and then she unbraided Ponine's hair and smoothed mine even though with the curls I can't braid mine really. And then she kissed us and said goodnight and told us to go to sleep soon so we can get the presents in our shoes and I was excited.

I thought I was sleeping good, but I heard a floorboard creak and then I woke up and saw something moving in the dark in our room. My bed is closer to the door so I could see and I saw that there was something moving and that it was the Lark. She was coming in and I thought she was going to steal our presents and I started to wake Ponine up but then I saw she was holding one of her ugly shoes in her hand and that was not coming over to our shoes. The Lark went over and put her shoe in the corner probably so Maman wouldn't see it in the morning and she stopped and looked in our shoes, then turned and she left.

I woke up when I felt Ponine shaking my arm and at first I wanted her to go away. I wanted to go back to sleep because my bed was warm and it was cold out from under my covers. So I pushed her hand off of me and told her to go away because I wanted to sleep. She stopped for a second and I pulled the blanket up over my nose because it was cold too and then all of the sudden it was gone and I curled up in a ball in the cold air of our room. "Ponine!" I wailed, "Gimme back my blanket!"

"Zelma, you idiot, get up!" she yelled back, "We hafta look in our shoes!"

I was so excited when I remembered that I jumped up off my bed and forgot all about how cold it was and I couldn't feel my fingers or my nose. But then me and Ponine ran over to the big fireplace and got our shoes and we found money in them! I had a pretty coin that I don't know how much it was and Ponine had one too and then Maman came downstairs and said they were gifts from Père Noël. She told us they were worth ten but I didn't know how much that was so I just nodded and looked happy. Then Maman told us to get dressed because there were still customers and we couldn't be seen without our clothes and it was bitter cold, didn't we know.

I pulled on my new dress that Maman got me with the last bit of the Lark money and Ponine had one too and we put both our shoes on and Maman braided Ponine's hair again and smoothed mine again and then told us to hurry so we wouldn't be late for breakfast. I had my coin in my pocket and every few minutes I reached in and touched it and it made me happy that it was there because it meant I was a good girl.

Maman left and Ponine left and I followed her, but then Maman was in the hallway by the Lark's bed and was yelling at her because she was still asleep and she was an idiot and why wasn't she working already and go to the well now! Then I remembered how last night the Lark had put her shoe there by the fire and I thought that surely the Lark was not a good girl because Maman always hit her with the strap so I went back to the fire and saw the Lark's shoe and looked in and it was empty. Maman told the Lark to hurry up because she had to go to the spring and get water before anyone came and so the Lark jumped to her feet and put on one shoe and then she came into the room all lopsided where I was to get the other one.

The Lark ran over to her shoe and looked inside, then she picked it up and turned it upside down but only a clump of dirt fell off and there was no money in it. Then the Lark looked up and saw me watching her and her eyes got all wide like she thought I was going to beat her.

"I'm going," she said and turned to leave.

"You didn't get a present," I told her.

She nodded and started to go again.

"Why not? Were you bad?"

The Lark looked at me and her eyes were very sad and her shoulders were all drooped down like she didn't really want to stand up but she had to and she said, "I can't be good. I didn't get a present and I won't."

And she went into the kitchen and picked up the big bucket and went out to the woods. I looked at the money in my pocket and I went over to Ponine and I told her the Lark didn't get anything.

"That's because she is no better than a servant," Ponine said. She was putting on airs again.

"Why not? Isn't she a girl like we are?"

"Yeah," Ponine said, "but her Maman doesn't love her."

"Then why doesn't our Maman love her?"

"Because the Lark is stupid and she doesn't do anything right," Ponine said.

"If we lived with her Maman, would we get presents?"

Ponine shook her head. "We don't live with her Maman, because her Maman is a good-for-nothing, just like she is. The Lark doesn't get a present because nobody cares for her."

I thought about that but I wasn't really sure, because shouldn't somebody care for everybody? And then I said, "Can she play with our doll sometimes?"

"No!" Ponine said, "because she isn't good enough! God, Zelma, you're as stupid as her! Maybe you aren't really my sister! Maybe you're the Lark's sister, and you shouldn't get a present either!"

I hit Ponine then, and she hit me back, and then I pulled her braid and then she pushed me down. Maman came in and told us not to fight today because it was Christmas but I didn't care. Then Maman told us to make up and she left and so I frowned at Ponine and I told her she was mean.

"I'm not mean, I'm right," Ponine said. "Maman says the Lark isn't a real person, that she's just a servant."

"And I should be mean to her too?"

Then the Lark came back from the woods and she had filled the bucket but she had spilled some coming back and she was all wet and shivering and her lips were blue. She came into the room and looked at me and sort of smiled, but I remembered what Ponine said and so I ignored her. Her smile went away and she went under the table and started knitting my socks for when it got even colder.

After all, that was what she was good for.