about
, Lance said with an equally bemused lift of his shoulders.
“What has a nutcracker to do with Amariyah?” and the name flowed prettily from Tirla’s lips.
“Nothing, I believe. But Amariyah is the child we have come to find. Now if you will all be quiet.” Carmen put a finger on the face of the child sitting so solemnly between her parents and closed her eyes.
Tirla closed her eyes, too, so she wouldn’t inadvertently distract the finder. That was one parapsychic courtesy that she always observed. She was also fond of Carmen, now that she saw the great benefits that had come of Carmen finding her in the first place.
“She’s quite a ways from here,” Carmen finally said.
“I can
not
understand what you could have been thinking!” Sister Kathleen was saying, shaking with frustration and anger. She was holding a dusty Amariyah away from her and the girl, usually so self-effacing and gentle, was trying to twist free, flailing her arms. To go right back to tearing more hair off the scalp of the hysterically weeping Lila, curled up in the wreckage of what everyone in the orphanage knew was Amariyah’s garden. All the other girls were ringed about the little tableau, well out of range of either Amariyah’s or Sister Kathleen’s retribution, staring in round-eyed, openmouthed fascination.
“I was thinking she has killed my garden,” Amariyah cried. “She is still rolling in it. You are surely seeing that much!” Too tightly held in Sister Kathleen’s capable firm grip to pull more of Lila’s luxuriant tresses from her head, the furious little girl now kicked dust at her victim with her bare feet.
From the corner of the main building, Sister Epiphania came rushing to discover the cause of Lila’s continuous shrieks. Epiphania paused a moment, taking in the incredible scene of the prostrate Lila and her colleague holding the struggling Amariyah.
“Oh, dear Lord, oh dear Lord, save us,” Sister Epiphania chanted as she rushed forward to succor Lila, who screamed in terror when ’Phania touched her. She had her eyes tightly closed, as much against the dust Amariyah was kicking at her, as because she knew she had been caught doing something wicked. “Lila, dear Lila, it is I.”
The voice reassuring her, Lila opened her eyes enough to see that she was safe. She clung to Sister Epiphania, shrieking out that she would never be married now, with all the hair pulled from her head.
“Nonsense,” Sister Kathleen said, coping with Amariyah’s flailing. “Do take that …” Kathleen firmly closed her lips on the adjective she was going to apply to the malicious Lila, paused, and rephrased her sentence, “thatchild and bathe her scalp. She’s by no means badly hurt. Certainly not enough to keep caterwauling.” Although, she thought candidly to herself, who would marry such a mean-spirited creature was moot.
Soothingly, Sister Epiphania managed to get Lila to her feet and led her away through the circle of watching children.
“Now, Amariyah, let us deal with you,” Sister Kathleen said in her firmest no-nonsense voice. “I cannot believe that you, of all the children here, would display a vicious streak!”
“She ruined my garden!”Amariyah suddenly collapsed, sinking into a pathetic bundle, tears streaming down her dusty face as she picked up first this clump of greenery and then that. She held them to her mouth, in the age-old gesture of grief, completely bereft. She did not scream, she did not sob, but the tears kept pouring out of her sorrowful blue eyes in a manner that totally unnerved Sister Kathleen.
“Oh, my dear child, do not take on so.” The nun pulled the little girl up, broken plants and all, stroking the tangled hair, rocking the slender body in her arms. “You can replant the garden,” she said encouragingly.
“It is the dry season,”Amariyah wailed, though she surrendered to the motion of Sister Kathleen’s body. “Nothing will bud or bloom in the dry season.
, Lance said with an equally bemused lift of his shoulders.
“What has a nutcracker to do with Amariyah?” and the name flowed prettily from Tirla’s lips.
“Nothing, I believe. But Amariyah is the child we have come to find. Now if you will all be quiet.” Carmen put a finger on the face of the child sitting so solemnly between her parents and closed her eyes.
Tirla closed her eyes, too, so she wouldn’t inadvertently distract the finder. That was one parapsychic courtesy that she always observed. She was also fond of Carmen, now that she saw the great benefits that had come of Carmen finding her in the first place.
“She’s quite a ways from here,” Carmen finally said.
“I can
not
understand what you could have been thinking!” Sister Kathleen was saying, shaking with frustration and anger. She was holding a dusty Amariyah away from her and the girl, usually so self-effacing and gentle, was trying to twist free, flailing her arms. To go right back to tearing more hair off the scalp of the hysterically weeping Lila, curled up in the wreckage of what everyone in the orphanage knew was Amariyah’s garden. All the other girls were ringed about the little tableau, well out of range of either Amariyah’s or Sister Kathleen’s retribution, staring in round-eyed, openmouthed fascination.
“I was thinking she has killed my garden,” Amariyah cried. “She is still rolling in it. You are surely seeing that much!” Too tightly held in Sister Kathleen’s capable firm grip to pull more of Lila’s luxuriant tresses from her head, the furious little girl now kicked dust at her victim with her bare feet.
From the corner of the main building, Sister Epiphania came rushing to discover the cause of Lila’s continuous shrieks. Epiphania paused a moment, taking in the incredible scene of the prostrate Lila and her colleague holding the struggling Amariyah.
“Oh, dear Lord, oh dear Lord, save us,” Sister Epiphania chanted as she rushed forward to succor Lila, who screamed in terror when ’Phania touched her. She had her eyes tightly closed, as much against the dust Amariyah was kicking at her, as because she knew she had been caught doing something wicked. “Lila, dear Lila, it is I.”
The voice reassuring her, Lila opened her eyes enough to see that she was safe. She clung to Sister Epiphania, shrieking out that she would never be married now, with all the hair pulled from her head.
“Nonsense,” Sister Kathleen said, coping with Amariyah’s flailing. “Do take that …” Kathleen firmly closed her lips on the adjective she was going to apply to the malicious Lila, paused, and rephrased her sentence, “thatchild and bathe her scalp. She’s by no means badly hurt. Certainly not enough to keep caterwauling.” Although, she thought candidly to herself, who would marry such a mean-spirited creature was moot.
Soothingly, Sister Epiphania managed to get Lila to her feet and led her away through the circle of watching children.
“Now, Amariyah, let us deal with you,” Sister Kathleen said in her firmest no-nonsense voice. “I cannot believe that you, of all the children here, would display a vicious streak!”
“She ruined my garden!”Amariyah suddenly collapsed, sinking into a pathetic bundle, tears streaming down her dusty face as she picked up first this clump of greenery and then that. She held them to her mouth, in the age-old gesture of grief, completely bereft. She did not scream, she did not sob, but the tears kept pouring out of her sorrowful blue eyes in a manner that totally unnerved Sister Kathleen.
“Oh, my dear child, do not take on so.” The nun pulled the little girl up, broken plants and all, stroking the tangled hair, rocking the slender body in her arms. “You can replant the garden,” she said encouragingly.
“It is the dry season,”Amariyah wailed, though she surrendered to the motion of Sister Kathleen’s body. “Nothing will bud or bloom in the dry season.
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