The Fountain Girl

Chapter 7

"I still don't know why-"

"Just close your eyes and follow me..." Katie whispered, gently holding my arm and leading me forward. My foot landed on the familiar carpeting of her room. My room didn't have carpeting. My nose was sensitive to dust.

I heard the jingling of keys and a soft metallic click. A lock? She let go of my arm and told me to open my eyes. I braced myself and looked. And almost fainted in doing so.

Lying on Katie's plush, purple bed was numerous pennies and dimes in a silver tin box, probably collected within a few years, with Alexander Hamiltons and Andrew Jacksons strewn in between them. The money must have totaled to more than five hundred dollars.

I shook my head, "No-no, this is too much..."

"Come on. It's my gift to you."

"No...no... Anna's my responsibility, not yours..." I muttered, my mind still blown over all the money that lay before me.

"Then how's this: I'll take half and you'll take half."

"It's still a lot of money, Kate."

She smirked.

An hour later Katie and I were walking to my house, with bags in our hands containing all the diapers and toys and other necessities for Anna. Katie was already psyched to meet Anna.

Anna was sleeping on my bed when we entered the room. She was sucking her thumb, like all the little kids do, and her feet were curled under a fold in the quilt. Her hair dripped into her mouth and her saliva stained my bed cover.

Katie contained her scream of joy. Her mouth filled with air the way it always did when she was excited. She tiptoed across the wooden floor towards my bed and scooped Anna up in her arms, careful not to make too sudden movements. She handled Anna like a professional baby-sitter, rocking Anna back and forth gently.

Anna woke up a few minutes later when I came in with powder milk for her to drink. She opened her eyes slowly, yawned, and the sleepiness in her eyes slipped away. She saw Katie sitting beside her on the bed and almost yelled, had I not quietened her with my finger on her lips. Obvious teardrops began to form in her eyes.

"Anna, Katie's a friend, okay? A friend. Say 'friend'."

"Fre...Fren."

"Good job, Anna!" I complimented her and fed her the milk. While she was drinking, Katie gave me a look that said 'how did you do that?'

"Do you like Katie?" I asked Anna after she finished her milk. Katie smiled and I looked at her, nodding my head in hopes that she would do the same. She did.

"I saw that, Ryan." Katie said to me.

"Hey, she really likes you."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, who wouldn't." I said, without earlier thought. Katie looked and me and shied away. What did I say wrong?

We both patted Anna back to sleep and crept out of the room. I shut the door quietly and sent Katie to the door. "Thanks so much for the money, Katie."

"Hey, what are best friends for, right?" She replied.

"I'll repay you someday," I told her.

"I'm sure you will," she smiled. She turned around to descend the porch steps. She briefly muttered something as she left that I couldn't hear properly.

"What was that?"

She whipped her head around to face me. "Nothing!" She was blushing.