Try Begging

Episode 232

As the snow that had been falling all day stopped, the once quiet slums came to life. While the adults grabbed shovels and brooms, the children grabbed sleds and snowballs.

Grace sat on the steps in front of her house and shared cheap coffee with the ladies who lived on the same alley.

"Where did you buy it?"

The middle-aged woman sitting behind her poked Grace's shoulder and asked in a muffled voice.

"yes?"

"Uh... last year?"

"Oh, where did you live?"

The woman nodded.

"It's a long way from here."

Grace looked down the slope, stammering words and chatting with her neighbors, whose language she could not quite understand.

On the dock below the road, workers were constantly moving sacks, while a flock of seagulls flew over the dark blue sea beyond.

This was the immigrant district of the port city where she had previously lived with Ellie. Grace brought Ellie back here as soon as the new year began. It was a choice she made because she thought that having familiar faces around her might help the child find stability.

And fortunately, it was an excellent choice.

A child who was playing among the neighborhood kids, who were about a foot taller than me, and chattering in Norwegian, ran towards Grace.

"mama."

"mom."

"Ellie, please."

"This is coffee."

Grace brought a cup of tea from the house on the second floor. The child gulped down the tea, which had quickly cooled down due to the cold weather, and then stopped her from running away. She must have been so absorbed in playing that she didn't even notice her runny nose.

"Ellie East Drane!"

As soon as she wiped his nose with a handkerchief, the child ran toward the children, shouting something Grace didn't know. The child who was about to get on the sled stopped and gave up his seat for Ellie, perhaps because it was his turn. Grace laughed.

Ellie instantly turned back into her old self.

A month and a half had passed since that day. These days, Ellie no longer caused any trouble at night or insisted on being tied up with her mother.

The younger you are, the faster your emotional wounds heal.

"Ellie had a dream. It was a really, really good dream, but then it turned into a bad dream."

Has the wound healed or is it just covered up?

But I was afraid so I didn't bother to look into it.

It wasn't just that day that the child believed it was a dream.

"In my dream, the prince was Ellie's father."

Even my father believed it was a dream.

But these days, she hasn't even talked about her dreams. Maybe she's completely forgotten. Come to think of it, Grace also has no memories of when she was three years old.

I heard that the man woke up dramatically. He was discharged from the hospital at the end of last month. But Grace did not return.

When he woke up, Ellie had already forgotten about her father. Grace had been through hell with the child until then. She didn't want to relive the shock of that day for the child who had finally found stability.