Page 46 - North Star Literary & Art Magazine

“And why aren’t you allowed to talk about it?”
“Sweet mother of god, there you are!” The woman cried out, grabbing the child and clutching her to her breast before another word could be uttered.
“Heavens! I’m so glad I found you! Are you hurt? How did you get over here?”
The child didn’t seem capable of replying, and Fifi was going back to nagging the girl, licking her hand for more attention, but then the woman shoved the dog away with a screech, and the man picked the child up, right off the porch.
The man raised a finger at her, his voice indignant, shouting at her like her husband used to.
“Get that filthy animal away from her! Don’t you know those things carry diseases?” “You’re not supposed to go anywhere without us, remember? Let mama walk you
home.”
She wanted to bite her tongue, but the man and woman were nauseating her.
“And why can’t that child walk herself home?”
No one spoke, and the woman was already carrying the sweet little child back into the
glass house, her hand waving goodbye.
The man waited until the woman and child were out of earshot before he raised his
finger to her again.
She had half a mind to push that finger right off her, but she held her peace.
“I don’t know what you were thinking, talking to our child like that.”
“Forgive my intrusion, but I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re upset about. Sure,
the child ran off, but there was no harm done. We tried to call you, but there was no answer! She looked dead tired, so I got her a glass of water and she had a slice of pie. I was just trying to do what was best for her,” she told him.
The man grew even more infuriated if it were at all possible.
“How can you sleep at night when you were letting her do all those things on her own.” “Pardon?”
“Playing around with that dog? Drinking water? Eating sugary stuff like pie? What’s
next? Letting her walk home on her own two feet? You honestly think that’s what’s best for
her?”
She could only listen to the man, her mouth agape.
“Well, I’ll have you know that my wife and I are the only people who know what’s best
for her. We were looking all over for her and you had us worried sick. Shame on you.” And that was that. The man turned on his heel and went back to the glass house with the woman and child.
She never thought she would hear from them again, and that was just fine. She was relieved in a way. They might be some of the strictest parents she’d ever met, but at least they cared about her. At least they were taking care of their sick child.
They took some time to do that. They hadn’t talked to her for months.
But that wasn’t the last of them. Not by a longshot.
She got a letter in the mail from that glass house.
It was an invitation to the child’s seventh birthday party, enclosed in a little red enve-
lope. She marked the date, about three weeks from now, on the calendar in case she might forget. Meanwhile, she set aside a little time to get out of the house and go find a birthday
44 FICTION