Wendybird

The Gift

  The room is empty. The girls must have woken hours ago. At the far end of the room, the large glass window shines daylight in. I sit up and stretch my muscles. My head feels better and I decide it's time I get up. I step onto the cold ground and hurry to the bathing room. I clean myself quickly because the water isn't warm enough to relax in. Once my hair and body have been scrubbed real well, I rush back to my bed. I open my drawer. My wardrobe is small. It consists of two long sleeved wool dresses, two stays, two pairs of white cotton drawers, and two pairs of white cotton stockings. I pull on my undergarments and then my printed, blue flower pattern dress over that. I comb out my damp hair with my old bristle brush and tie it into a long side braid. My only shoes are black leather boots with a flat sole. They come up to my ankle and are a little too snug for my feet. I tie them up and stand ready to head downstairs.

  The dining room is bustling with noise. The kids are all in good spirits. I'm glad. As I enter, Mary jumps out of her seat and exclaims, "Wendy!"

  The other kids jump up too and surround me excitedly. Each of them seems to have something to say. They all speak at once and I giggle trying to take it all in. I'm touched by all the young boys vowing to defeat the bad guys. I lift my gaze causally and notice Peter sitting at a corner table. He's smiling at the commotion happening around me. I quickly look away.

  From behind me, Juke enters the room and shouts, "What is going on in here?"

  Everyone scatters to their seats and fall silent. No one looks up for fear of the tone in Juke's taut voice. I roll my eyes and quietly take a seat beside Tiger Lily. I smile at her and she reaches to my good hand and squeezes.

  Juke proceeds to enter the room and pace the floors. Boards creak loudly beneath his heavy frame and the veins bulge from his sweaty neck, "So then, does anyone wish to explain the ruckus in here?" No one speaks a word, "Oh come on now, you were all so anxious to talk before I came in. What happened to that eagerness? Well, I think we all know better now, don't we?" He crosses his arms over his bulging stomach and concludes, "I better not hear another peep out of this room, understand!"

  And then it happened, a loud and sudden sneeze. I close my eyes recognizing the squeak of a sneeze. Juke slowly strides to Mary's side and stares down at her trembling body, "What was that, Mary," he inquires in a harsh tone.

  Mary shakes her head and insists timidly, "Nothing, I'm sorry! I couldn't hold it in any longer."

  Juke pulls her to her feet by the collar of her dress and says, "We have ways to deal with insubordinate children."

  Juke pulls her from the room. Everyone sighs and quietly gets back to eating, glad it wasn't them. I feel guilty to be the cause of Mary's troubles. She only wanted to show me kindness. They all did. I should have quieted them right away. No, I should have quieted Juke. He's been terrorizing us far too long. I feel the grip on my hand tighten and turn my head to Tiger Lily, confused.

  Quietly, she says, "If you show emotion towards Juke, these children will follow suit. Be careful."

  I'm beginning to grow weary of her attempts to control my emotions. How can I help but feel anger towards all the injustices happening. I pull my hand out of her grip and say, "I'm fine. Juke deserves a good beating for that, though."

  "I know, and trust me; he'll get what he deserves someday. Everyone does. Now isn't that time though."

  "You sound like Peter; he came to visit me late last night."

  Tiger Lily raises an eyebrow and says, "Oh did he."

  I nod and reach for a sandwich from the wooden platter. After swallowing a bite, I continue, "Yeah, he wanted to apologize in person. It was like you said, he felt guilty. I got angry and told him to leave though. I don't understand what's going on between you two, but I don't like it. You know the kind of person he's been to me. I won't ask what's happened, but know I trust that you would never betray me that way."

  "And what way is that?"

  "The way of befriending a boy who's trampled over my happiness for a year straight."

  I'm hoping she'll open up. Assure me that she'd never do such a thing. But she just bites into her sandwich. Sipping some water from her cup, she swallows and says, "Well, I'm glad I have your trust."

  That ends our conversation and we both eat in silence. I can sense Peter eyeing me all through the rest of the meal and I'm glad when we leave for our afternoon assignment. Today the boys are fixing broken boots. The girls have barrels filled with dirty boots. So we begin the tedious task of cleaning off the mud and dirt. Then we move on to polishing them to a shine. The staff doesn't give us lessons on reading, writing or math. In fact if it wasn't for Tiger Lily arriving with the knowledge, no one here would know any of it. She spent our free time teaching me and guiding me through the phases of reading and then writing. After I started to get it down, I began to teach the other girls. I wish we had books to learn more, but I take what I can get. We don't have much free time each day, so I usually only get around thirty minutes to teach one or two girls a day.

  Once the boots are finished; Canary dismisses us till supper. Today I'm teaching Lola. I rush up to my bed to get the teaching supplies. I keep the scraps of paper and small books we've put together under my mattress. Tiger Lily and I work hard to find supplies to write on and spare pencils from the staff. So far none of the staff even realize we can read. Of course, they prefer to view us as totally senseless.

  When I arrive at my bed, I'm surprised to find a package lying on top. It's wrapped in brown packaging and has a small note attached. I open the note and read,

  "Meet me at the food drop, tomorrow, 4:30."

  -Pan

  I've never heard that name before. I wonder who could possibly want to meet me. Also, why does Pan think I would sneak out at the possible cost of solitary confinement? I tear open the packaging and lift out a long, midnight blue velvet gown. The sleeves run down the side of the dress. At the bosom of the gown is a soft ribbon tie crisscrossing beautifully over the soft material. I'm speechless. I've never in my life seen a gown so royal. I hold it over my plain flower pattern dress. I close my eyes and envision myself walking into a great ballroom with this on. I see the trail of the gown behind me and all eyes entranced by my beauty.

  The sound of footsteps begin echoing up the stairwell. I flash open my eyes and stare down at the gown. I can't let anyone see this. I hurriedly fold it and shove it under my blankets. I pick up the note and reread it once more before crumpling it in my dress pocket. I can't possibly meet this Pan, especially outside of the orphanage. But I realize staring at the blankets; I can't help but meet Pan.