Ms. Cline turned out to be more interesting than you'd imagine. She became my sort of babysitter, watching me when my father wasn't around. As I got older, she continued to wear the same black clothing everyday. Black t-shirt, black jacket, black army pants, and black boots. Her curly, red hair cropped neatly into a bob stayed stashed under her hat, coming out only occasionally. Turns out she's from somewhere called Scotland. I had no idea where that was so she took me down and introduced me to the house library. We made our way to the first floor of the mansion and stopped in front of a set of large oak doors. I held my breath, hoping for a big reveal of a massive library that I didn't know was here. Instead, she opened the doors to reveal a not-so-impressive square room, about the size of my small bedroom. Grey, metal bookshelves lined the walls and an old, worn couch sat in the center next to a coffee table. We strode around the room, observing the rows of books and discovered there was a good variety. Some extremely old classics like Anne of Green Gables and War and Peace. Some books were newer, published in the last five years or so. Ms. Cline called me over to where she stood over a stack of big, flat books. The one on top said World Atlas. She lifted it from the stack and carried it over to the couch. We sat side-by-side as she flipped through the pages, my feet swinging back and forth to the rhythm of the pages turning. Finally she found the section she was searching for and held it up so I could see. It was a picture of a green blob on a blue background, with curved lines crossing every which way. The word Scotland was printed across the blob in bold. Below, the word England was also printed in bold.
"This is Scotland," said Ms. Cline, pointing to the word Scotland "my home."
"Is Scotland far away?"
"It's very far. All the way across the ocean. Sometimes it feels like worlds away."
"Oh," I said, pausing to think, "why aren't you there now?"
"I came here to help."
"With what?"
"I'll tell you when you're older." She said sternly, and that was that.
