Chapter 3 - Harper
Harper is no way near as bad as Toby has become. She is quieter now, which, unlike Toby, scares Todd because now it adds to her Noiselessness. I try to take care of her like I did with Toby, but he let me comfort him, and she tries to stay away from me. Well, I guess we all have our different ways of mourning.
Yesterday I saw her on the swing in the back garden, her face still, like a china doll. She didn't react as I walked over - lost in thought, probably. The swing was lulling, swaying back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. "Hey, Harper," I said slowly, not wanting to shock her. Still, she didn't respond or give me any sign that she'd heard me. The swing was now moving so slowly that it almost wasn't moving at all. I sighed. "Look, I know you're sad, okay," She looked up at me briefly and then down at the floor again. "But you can't let Manchee's passing affect you as much as it is. We will all miss him dearly, but we must move on. It is the way of life." I didn't expect her to respond, and she didn't. I walked back to the house.
Sometimes I see her crouched down by Manchee's grave in the back garden. The china doll look is still plastered onto her face - I don't think she can move it. She hasn't spoken to me or Todd much since the night, but she has no problem communicating with her brothers. She, like I did, tries to comfort Toby every night before they go to sleep. He is getting worse with every night. Gus, on the other hand, doesn't yet seem to understand what happened to Manchee. I could hear him talking to Todd in the kitchen the other day, and it pained me when I heard him ask, "When is Manchee going to wake up?" I couldn't bring myself to listen to Todd's answer.
I went into the children's room the other night, and both the boys were asleep. Harper had her little night light on, and she was reading a book she had about training dogs. She wasn't crying, like it held memories for her with Manchee, but seeing her completely straight-faced was just as bad, even worse. I went and sat next to her.
"What are you doing, darling?" I asked. "Daddy and I thought that you were all asleep."
She looked up from the book. "I'm going to train Acacia and Tito to be circus dogs when they're older," She said. She didn't have any emotion in her voice.
"That's a very good idea," I responded, smiling. "A very good idea. But you need to go to sleep now, okay?" I tucked her duvet in and fluffed her pillow. "Put your book away now." I kissed her forehead and switched her night light off as she put the book down. She smiled back up at me and I closed the door as I went to my own bedroom.