Patty

A/N: Sorry it took so long! I guess I lied about break being productive. ANDMy computer is being SUPER EVIL and wouldn't let me make a new document so I had to figure out a way to type this. Then I realized I could re-upload an old chapter and delete then rewrite it in the Edit/Preview place. Yay:)

Chapter 4: Red Hair, Just Like Me

One night, when Patty was 3, Megan and Patty were sitting in bed, reading one of the Animal Stories. Megan was reading and Patty was turing the pages and interupting her mother. That night, they were reading the story about the Midnight Ball, where all the animals danced and sung and ate and drank until midnight, when the ball ended. At one page, a large picture of all the animals dancing happily, Patty pointed to the picture.

"Mommy, look! The fox has red hair like me! We're twins!" For when she was three, Patty did indeed have bright red hair.

"She does have red hair, you're right! But I don't think you're twins!" said Megan playfully.

"Yes we are mommy! I know she's my twin sister! We have the same hair!" cried out Patty, believing her mother was serious.

"All right, all right. But if she's your sister, why doesn't she live with us? And why is she grown up when you're only 3?" This stumped Patty, but only for a moment. She quickly came back and responded spunkily.

"She's my sister and we got separated at birth because she was a fox but she could talk and dance just like a person so they sent her away to live in my book! And in my book people grow up faster than here!"

"Ohhh, so that's what's going on," said Megan, pretending to have had a moment of understanding.

"Yep," said Patty with a grin. "And now I know she's my sister, we can act like twins too! I want to be just like her!" And with that, Patty got out of bed and walked over to her closet.

"Whoa, there missy! You have to go to bed!"

"I will, just hold on! I neeeeed to put on my purple dress!" Patty pulled her purple dress off the hanger, and took off her pajamas and pulled it on instead.

"Why?" asked Megan, confused.

"Becaaaauuuuse, Mommy!" said Patty in a tone that meant, Why don't you know already! "Mrs. Fox wears a purple dress!"

"Oh, yes, of course! How silly of me! And now,"Megan said, grabbing her child and plopping her into bed, "It's time for us to finish this story and for you to go to sleep!"

"Oooookkkkaaaay, mommy," sighed Patty.

So they finished the story and Patty went to sleep. Megan and Phil allowed her to go a little crazy with her "twin" thing, because Megan had heard that it was good for children to let them pretend, so long as they didn't go completely wild. For about 4 months, Patty really believed that the fox was her twin, and even after that, she kept up the game for fun. It faded over the years until it was forgotten, but it still had a profound effect on Patty's life. The fox always wore purple, which became Patty's favorite color, and seemed ro always be whispering behind her hand to someone about what someone else had done. Patty was always telling her parents, in hushed voices, about what had happened to Mike at preschool or why Sarah had blue hands that day. The fox loved to dance. She danced at the Ball and through the forest and taught all the rabbits to dance, too. By the time Patty was five, she was in a ballet class for little girls, and later took all sorts of classes after finding she really did enjoy dance.

So that's how an imaginary fox became Miss Patty's role model in younger days, and how it stuck with her until she died.