She's Grey

Chapter Six

    11 YEARS AGO

"Scoot over Lily!" The boy naggs.

The small girl eats her ice cream as she shuffles over on the flat rock that sat at the edge of the pound. "Sorry," she murmurs with a giggle.

The little girl wears her hair in ringlets with bows today and the boy notices. Instead of telling her she looks nice, he pokes his fingers through the ringlets and tugs.

"Hey! What was that for?" The girl cries.

The boy mocks her and laughs, so the little caramel haired child takes her ice cream cone and makes a pink stripe on the boys splotchy cheek. Immediately, the girl falls in a laughing fit at the boy's bewildered expression. She goes tumbling off the rock, cackling uncontrollably. Her tiny little feet are kicking and her tiny pink fingered hands clutch at her tummy as if her laughter will explode out of her belly.

Suddenly, the girl feels something cold fall on her face. When her hand makes contact with the ice cream that the boy had dropped on her, she gets up with her childish energy and chases him around the pond. They laugh and laugh with glee as they chase one another, so happy, so free.

The adults watch from afar by the picnic.

"I await the day when they marry." Mrs. Anderson snickers from her spot on the picnic blanket. She's brushing Bells hair.

    "Theyre going to drive each other crazy." Mr. Anderson chuckles as he flips over one of the paddies on the grill.

    "They already do." Says Mrs. Anderson, tears filling her eyes with laughter.

    "He's the only boy I'd allow." Mr. Garcia says from beside Mr. Anderson.

    Beside Mrs. Anderson, lounging in a lawn chair, Mrs. Garcia rolls her eyes behind her sunglasses.

    "Betrothed at such a young age." Mrs. Anderson sighs and then she's laughing again when she sees Alex fall and Lina's tiny body tumble over him. She was small for six years old.

    "Mum, should I go break them up?" Bell asks.

    Mrs. Anderson watches them for a while and once she sees Lina pulling at Alex's hair she laughs. "Yes dear. Go save your brother."

    The 16 year old goes running around the pond towards the children, just as the sun begins to fall behind the hills.

                        ~~~

    "Mama, when are we going to have another picnic?" Little Lina asks her mom as Mrs. Anderson brushes the little girls hair.

    "I don't know, Dear. Papas really busy." Mrs. Anderson begins to braid her damp curls.

    The little girl sighs in her pink robe and smiles.

    " I want to have one every day!" The child exclaims.

    "Well, when you're older, you can have all the picnics you want." Mrs. Anderson says. After braiding the rest of the girls hair, she kisses her cheek and tucks her into bed.

    Once the lights off and the doors closed, she waits a few beats until she hears the knock at her door. She rushes over in her pink monkey slippers and opens the door slightly. Alex is outside the door in his blue pj's and his hair meshed atop his head.

    She giggles and they sneak downstairs to the playroom. Lina insist on playing Barbies and of course Alex obliges. They sneak and get cookies and soda from their favorite maid. She would never tell. Once all of their energy is worn they separate to the different wings of the house. The Anderson's lived in the East wing and the Garcia's in the West.