Hey, Nukia here!
My summary is still bad, I think I will change it later when I get a feel for The Wammy House Memories and understand where my plot is going. This fanfiction is a side story to Beyond This Love.
I wrote this chapter pretty quickly, it flowed from me and I think my first few chapters will be slow. But thank you for the reviews, favorites and the alerts! Also to the unknown people who read my fanfictions, I promise it will pick up at some point!
Chapter 3
I've lived at My Great Aunt Thora's cottage for nearly a month now and I really like it here sometimes, but not when my Aunt scolds me. I accidentally knocked one of her bird ornaments off her Victorian Cabinet in the living room well I was playing airplanes a few days ago, she sent me to my bedroom for the day and she made me eat green beans with sprouts for my lunch. I didn't mind eating them though, I actually like vegetables. Rose made me some cheese sauce to go with them, she sneaked me some when my Aunt wasn't looking.
My homeschooling is going well too, I like my home school teacher and she let's me call her by her first name when my Great Aunt Thora is not around. Her name is Jane Couldrey, she told me she teaches at a local orphanage called The Wammy House not far from the cottage. But today is weekend, so I get to have two days off from my lessons and have some fun.
The date today is the 18th of December, in a few days time it will be Christmas. I'm help Rose out in the kitchen today, she told me that this evening my Aunt Thora is hosting a dinner party for a few of her business contacts and old friends. So Rose had to cook them a four course dinner and I asked if I could help out in the kitchen.
" Okay my love, now I want you to carefully beat the sugar and egg yolks together until they're fluffy..." She smiled as she placed a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon down in front of me at the kitchen table. " I've got to see to my cream mixture on the stove, I've got to make sure that it doesn't burn or curdle..."
" Rose, what else are you making for the dinner party?" I asked
" Well my love, I'm making French Cuisine for Great Aunt's guest this evening..." She replied. " I've got to make French toast with onions, Cuisses de Grenouille à la Provençale and Beef Bourguignon. I've brought some very nice bottles French wine called Anjou to go with the courses, they came all the way from France..."
" What is Cuisses de Grenouille à la Provençale?" I asked.
" Well done Elizabeth, you said that perfectly!" She smiled and picked a little white salt shaker from the table. " The translation for Cuisses de Grenouille à la Provençale is Sautéed Frogs' Legs, it's a delicacy in France..."
" Frogs?!" I gasped. " Great Aunt Thora is going to eat frogs!"
" Don't worry my love, they're not frogs from the pond in the garden..." She laughed.
" And what is this?" I asked as I peeped into the bowl and chewed at my bottom lip. " Does it have frogs in it to?"
" That's Crème Brûlée, there's no frogs in that dish..." She replied. " Now I want you to beat the sugar and egg yolks together, I need to check on my cream mixture..."
I nodded my head at Rose and began to beat the ingredients together, I love spending time with Rose. She let's me help her out in the kitchen sometimes, we made some homemade strawberry jam in the week and tomorrow we're going to make some apple crumble for our Sunday Dinner dessert with custard.
" Rose, who is going to Great Aunt Thora's dinner party?" I asked. " Am I invited?"
" Oh just some people, you don't need to know their names..." She replied and continued to mix the cream mixture in her saucepan. " I'm afraid you're not invited my dear, but you can host a tea party if you like in your bedroom..."
" But I won't have any guests!" I pouted and watched Rose remove her saucepan from the stove. " I will be all by myself, I can't throw a tea party without guests!"
" That's where you are wrong young Elizabeth, I've got a surprise for you..." She smiled. " You will have at least one guest at your tea party this evening, one of Miss Havisham's guests is bring a young boy with him..."
" Really?!" I asked and dropped my wooden spoon into the mixing bowl. " No foolies?"
" Yes no foolies my love!" She joyfully laughed and walked over to the kitchen table. " I'm not sure what his name is yet, but he's around your age and lives at The Wammy House so I have heard. He will be accompanying Mr Wammy, your Aunt as arranged for you to have a play mate from now on. She thought the company would do you some good, you can't be spending all of your childhood with old biddies like us..."
" Does that mean he's an orphan?" I asked.
" Yes..." She answered.
" Can we adopt him please?" I asked and dipped my finger tip in the bowl's mixture. " I always wanted a Brother, but not Sister because I'd have to share my toys with her and my clothes!"
" Oh Elizabeth!" She laughed as she placed her saucepan down on metal pot stand on the kitchen table and smiled. " You're such a delight to have around the house, you come out with the most amusing things sometimes! Why don't you go and tidy your bedroom before they get here, I'll make you an array of sandwiches for your tea party. I've also prepared a very special dessert for you and your guest too. An old family recipe of mine, my Mother use to make it for me when I was a little girl. I've also got some of those strawberry jam cupcakes left still from Friday, I'll whip some cream up for their toppings..."
" What is the special dessert you have made?" I asked.
" You'll have to wait and see my love, it's a surprise!" She replied. " Now go and get changed into something smart, your guest will be arriving in an hours time. I'll bright him to your bedroom when he arrives, I'll also bring your dinner up to your room too..."
" Okay!" I smiled.
I climbed down from my chair and skipped out of the kitchen as I sucked the mixture from my finger tip, this should be fun. I'm going to have a friend at last, but I hope he likes me and doesn't pull my hair like some boys use to do when I use to go to my old school in Oxford. I quickly ran up the stairs and walked into my bedroom. My room was pretty tidy, I didn't really have many toys and mostly spent my free time drawing in my note-book or reading some of my favorite fairy tales.
" Why do you build me up, buttercup, baby just to let me down and mess me around!" I sang loudly as picked my red ball up from the floor and walked over to my wooden white toy box. " And then worst of all you never call, baby when you say you will but I love you still, I need you more than anyone darling!"
" Elizabeth!" I heard my Great Aunt Thora yell from her bedroom across the hall. " Would you please keep your singing to a certain level of volume! I am trying to finish reading my book in peace, I can not concentrate with your infernal racket!"
" I'm sorry Aunt Thora!" I yelled back.
I sighed and put my ball in my toy box, I hate when my Great Aunt Thora yells at me for singing. My Mummy use to sing Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations to me when I use to wake up in the night from bad dreams, I miss her more than anything and I wish I could have her back for Christmas day.
I tidied up the rest of my bedroom and Rose brought me a little coffee table up to my bedroom, she told me I could borrow it for the evening. I chose a red dress to wear for my tea party with some white tights, I tied my hair up into a ponytail, I laid out the coffee table and placed two of my cushions from my bed on the floor so we would have something to sit on.
Rose brought the food she had prepared for me and my guest to my bedroom, it all looked great. She had made a big plate of sandwiches, there was also the strawberry jam cupcake with whipped cream toppings and chocolate biscuits with chopped strawberries on them. I helped her to carry a bottle of cherryade up the stairs well she carried her surprise dessert she had made for me, it was strawberry flavoured jelly with gummi bears in it. I've never had gummi bear jelly before, but it sounds nice and can't wait to try it.
Rose had left me in my bedroom well she went to answer the door, she had told me that my guest should be here soon with his guardian Mr Wammy. I've only met Mr Wammy once, he gave me an orange flavoured lollipop and told me to call him Watari. He seems like a very kind man, he's really tall and wears a black Trilby hat.
It wasn't long until Rose returned to my bedroom with my guest, I gave him a smile as I jumped down from my bed and did a little curtsy to him. I watched him itch the back of his head as he raised one of his eyebrows at me, I think I've just embarrassed myself in front of my tea party guest.
" Okay my loves, I've got other guest to attend to..." Said Rose as she walked over to my bedroom door. " If you need anything I'll be down in the kitchen, just keep the noise down and remember to have some fun!"
" Okay Rose!" I smiled.
I watched Rose close my bedroom door behind her, I looked over at my dinner guess and watched him rocking on the heels of his feet. He had blond spiky hair and pale blue eyes, he was a lot taller than me too. He was wearing a blue long sleeved shirt, black jeans and blue sneakers, he wasn't really dressed smartly for my tea party like I am.
" Hello, my name is Elizabeth!" I smiled and twirled my ponytail around my finger. " What's your name?"
" You can call me A..." He replied.
" Like the letter A from the alphabet?" I asked and walked over to the coffee table. " Don't you have a real name?"
" It's a secret, I'm not allowed to share my true identity with you or anyone else..." He replied.
" Oh, okay..." I sighed and sat down on my cushion next to the coffee table. " Come and have some sandwiches with me, my Great Aunt's Thora's housekeeper Rose made them for us. There is some strawberry flavoured jelly too, she put gummi bears in it!"
" Gummi bear jelly, I might have known..." He tutted and put his hands in his jean pockets. "I thought I'd escape the Wammy House's dinner menu for this evening, but it seems like it's followed me here instead..."
" Don't you like jelly?" I asked.
" I do like jelly, but I thought I'd be getting something warm to eat..." He replied as he looked around my bedroom and itched the back of his head again. " Some homemade cooking for once would have been a treat, you know? That's why I agreed to come, I wanted belly ache from a full stomach for a change and not from badly cooked food..."
" Oh..." I pouted.
" But it's nice to see another kid my age though, I get lonely sometimes at the orphanage..." He sighed and picked one of my teddy bears up from my bed. " Even if you're a girl and have pretty pink fluffy stuff in your bedroom, don't you have any exciting toys with flashing lights?"
" I don't own many toys anymore, most of my toys got left at my old house in Oxford..." I replied and crossed my legs. " My Great Aunt Thora doesn't want them cluttering up her cottage, she brought me some paints and colouring books though. Would you like to do some drawing with me?"
" Maybe later, do you have any sweets?" He asked.
" No, I'm not allowed to eat many sweets because they are bad for your teeth..." I answered.
" To bad, good job I brought some with me to share with you then!" He smiled.
I watched him take a white paper bag from his jean pocket, he threw my teddy bear back on my bed and walked over to my bedroom window. He drew back one of my blue curtains, he placed his paper bag down on the window sill and claimed up onto my toy box. He placed his hands on the glass of the window and pressed his face up against it, I bet his face looked funny from the other side of the window.
" What are you looking at?" I asked.
" I'm looking at the stars..." He replied in a muffled voice. " I wanted to see if my Mum is looking down on me tonight, she is the brightest star in the night sky. That's what Watari told me anyway, he knows a lot of interesting things about mechanics and stuff..."
" Really?" I asked and got up from my cushion. " Can I have a look too?"
" Sure, there is enough room for the both of us on the toy box..." He replied and pulled his face away from the window. " You can't see them though, that's the only downside about them being in the sky. It's like that glass you see in shops sometimes, they can see you through it and you can't see them on the other side. But they're watching you and keeping you safe from bad things, do you get what I'm saying?"
" I think so, it sounds nice being watched over from the sky..." I smiled.
I walked over to my window and climbed up onto my toy box, I wonder if he his right about our Mummy's looking down on us from the sky. I like the idea if she was watching over me from the sky because I miss her more than anything in the whole wide world. My Mummy's friend Bella once told me that the stars are the eyes of the angels, they watch over you well you are sleeping and protect you from the closet monsters. I rested my chin on my hands as I looked up at the night sky, there sure is a lot of twinkly stars out tonight.
" Is your Mum in heaven too?" He asked.
" Yes, she died because she was very sick..." I replied and blew my fringe away from my eyes." She had Pneumonia, it means she had poorly lungs. I did not get to see her much when she was sick, I was not allowed to visit her in the hospital without wearing a mask over my mouth. What happened to your Mummy?"
" A bad man called the Midnight Slasher murdered my Mum, my big Sister and my dog..." He quietly replied.
" That's horrible..." I said quietly and looked at him sitting next to me. " Did the police catch him and put him jail for you?"
" No, he his still out there somewhere..." He sighed.
I looked back up at the night sky and bit at my bottom lip, I hope they catch the bad man for A soon. We sat in silence for a while, I don't really know what to say to him because I've never had a boy for a friend before. I think boys like football and rocket ships, that's what my Mummy once told me when I was about 5 years old.
" Would you like a toffee?" He heard him asked. " I won't tell anyone, it could be our little secret..."
I turned my attention to him and slightly nodded my head as I bit at my bottom lip. I'm not meant to have any sweets before my dinner, but no one will know if it's our little secret. He gave me one of his toffees, it was wrapped in pretty gold paper. I'm going to save the toffee wrapper and make a princess crown for my peg doll later.
" So, what are the grown up's eating?" He asked.
" French Cuisine, they are having some fancy wine called Anjou to go with their food..." I replied and opened my toffee's wrapper as I giggled. " They are going to eat frog's legs, the recipe was called Cuisses de Grenouille à la Provençale. I don't think frog's legs would taste nice though, they only have little legs..."
" That's gross!" He chuckled. " What else are they having?"
" French toast with onions, Beef Bourguignon and Crème Brûlée..." I smiled and popped my toffee in my mouth. " Do you want to eat now? My tummy is talking to me..."
" Sure, I'm pretty hungry too!" He replied.
We both climbed down from my toy box and sat down at the coffee table, the food that Rose had prepared for us looked delicious. She had made many different kinds of sandwich fillings, it was hard to choice which sandwich we were going to eat first. I ate most of cheese sandwiches and A managed to eat all the ham salad ones. He eats like a pig, he got salad cream all down his chin and on shirt. I helped myself to another cheese sandwich and laughed at him when he let out a loud burp, boys are gross. But he was funny though for a boy, he told me many stories about the adventures he use to have with his German Shepherd dog called Maxwell. I told him about the pen I found in the toilet on the train, I washed it and gave it to my Great Aunt Thora for a present.
" Do you want some gummi bear jelly or a strawberry jam cupcake?" I asked.
" Not right now, I'm going to explode!" He replied and lay back on the floor. " That was the best meal I've had for ages! They don't make food like that at The Wammy House, I normally have foods like sweet filled pies and sweet chicken marinade. They serve a lot of meals with sugar in them at my orphanage, I miss the simple things like vegetables and ham sometimes..."
" What are sweet filled pies?" I asked as took a big bite of my cheese sandwich. " Do they taste nice?"
" They have different kinds of fruits in them with pork, I don't really like them much..." I replied.
I placed my sandwich down on my plate and licked some butter from my finger tips, I'm getting pretty full myself now. I crawled over to A and lay down next to him on the floor, I guess I could do with a little rest before I had some gummi bear jelly. We both stared up at my bedroom's ceiling, my Great Aunt Thora had brought me some silver hanging stars for my bedroom as a moving in present. I liked them, they sparkled and reflected on my room's walls when the sun comes through my bedroom's curtains first thing in the morning.
" What's it like at your orphanage?" I asked.
" It's alright I guess..." He answered. " The gardens are pretty big there with many different types of flowers, it's good place to play hide and seek too. You should come and visit it sometime, I bet if you asked your Aunt nicely she would let you come and visit me..."
" Would you like me to visit you?" I asked.
" Yeah, you're my friend..." He replied and sat up. " That's if you want to be my friend, I haven't really got many friends at the orphanage. There is one boy, but he sits in his office all day eating strawberry shortcake and solving crimes. He's not like you though, he his very rude and looks like panda with dark circles around his eyes. I call him the panda detective, but other people call him L..."
" I bet it's fun eating cake all day, I wish I could do that..." I smiled. " Does everyone at your orphanage have letters for names?"
" Not everyone, just a selected few..." He replied.
" What happens to your real names then?" I asked.
" They get forgotten I guess, I don't think anyone at the orphanage goes under their real names anymore..." He answered as he took a strawberry jam filled cupcake from a plate on the coffee table. " You see, we all have alias names there and never get called my our first names or surnames. I get called A, but I also get called Alternative by some people..."
" Do you think I could have alias name to?" I asked.
" I guess you could, but why would you want to change your name?" He asked.
"I don't know, I thought it would be fun..." I smiled.
" Alright, do you want this cupcake?" He asked and held the cupcake towards me. " I was going to eat, but I don't want it anymore..."
" Okay!" I replied.
I got up from the floor and took the cupcake from his hand, I helped to make these cupcakes yesterday with Rose. They looked really pretty, we pipped homemade strawberry jam into them and Rose topped them off with whipped cream not long ago. I took a big bite out of my cupcake and licked some cream from my finger tips, they were delicious. I walked back over to my cushion by the coffee table, I sat down on it and placed my cupcake down on my plate. I watched A help himself to some of the gummi bear jelly, he kept smirking at me for some reason and I don't like it.
" I've just thought of an alias name for you, it could be silly though..." He laughed slightly and spooned some gummi bear jelly into his mouth. "I'm going to call you SJ, I think it suits you..."
" What does SJ mean?" I asked.
" It means strawberry jam, I've taken the first letters from each of the names and came up with SJ... " He replied as he laughed loudly and dropped his spoon in his bowl of gummi bear jelly. " You've got strawberry jam and cream mustache above your upper lip!"
I slightly pouted as I wiped the strawberry jam and cream away from my mouth. My Great Aunt Thora always told me that it was rude to laugh at people at the dinner table, but we're not at the dinner table and I guess it was a bit funny if you think about it. I smiled weakly at him and got up from my cushion. I walked over to my bedside table, I pulled a tissue from my tissue box and wiped my hands on it. I turned my attention back to A when I heard him sniggering, I hope he's not laughing at me still.
" Do you want to bounce on your bed?" He asked.
" I don't think we're allowed to do that, we could get into trouble..." I replied and threw my tissue into my pink plastic bin by my wardrobe. " I've got board games under my bed, do you want to play snakes and ladders?"
" Nah, that's boring!" He sighed.
I bit at my bottom lip as I looked around my room and sighed, I wish I owned some interesting toys. I picked one of my teddy bears up from bed, I gave it a hug and walked over to my dressing table. I looked at my reflection in my mirror and giggled when I noticed A pulling a silly faces at me from the coffee table in the corner of my mirror.
" Don't make faces or the wind will change and you'll stick like that!" I smiled and placed my teddy bear down on my dressing table. " Do you want to explore my Aunt's cottage? We could go and visit Rose in the kitchen, she may let us try some of her Crème Brûlée she was making or we could try some of those frog's legs..."
" You'd try frog's legs?" He asked.
" Yes, they could taste juicy with all the hopping they do. Also I've never tried French Cuisine before, it could be fun trying new foods..." I replied and placed my toffee wrapper on my teddy bear's head. " We can bounce down the stairs like frogs to, but very quietly in case my Aunt Thora hears us..."
" Alright, I guess that could be fun trying some French Cuisine..." He chuckled.
" Let's go then!" I smiled.
We both left my bedroom, I quietly closed my bedroom door behind and looked down the stairs when I heard classical music playing from the dinning room. My Great Aunt Thora always played music when she was eating or reading books, she told me music can be tranquil for your soul. I looked over my shoulder when I heard a shuffling sounds coming from behind me, I laughed when I saw A dancing with his arms wrapped around himself and bobbing his head to the music.
" What are you doing?" I whispered.
" I'm waltzing, that's what they do at dinner parties..." He replied.
" You're a silly boy!" I smiled.
" And you're a silly girl, but you don't see me complaining about it..." He smirked and took hold of my hand. " Let's go and try those frog's legs then before they hop away..."
" Okay..." I nodded.
We both took hold of stair's banisters on each side of the stair's walls, we both carefully jumped down each of the steps of the stairs together and made frog noises with each jump we made. I giggled and covered up my mouth when A licked his tongue out at me, I think I'm going to like having a boy for a friend.