19An idea that's been rolling around my head for about a week... I'll update this and Paradise, Heaven and Utopia alternatively, okay?
I smiled at her. Deciding I'd like to help her achieve her dreams, I reached out with my mind and started to probe at the edges of hers. Slowly I made my way toward the area where fantasies are kept...
"Doctor, the patient is flatlining!" True enough, the beep-beep-beep was slowing down.
"Move out of the way!" She moved forward and gave the patient some kind of medicine, then performed several medical procedures that I didn't recognize. The beeping sped up again. "She's going to live, but don't slow down!" She called.
I pulled away from her mind and cocked my head at her. "Hey, Fauna, have you ever considered being a doctor?"
Fauna looked shocked. "A-Ashling, where did you get that idea?" Aha! She doesn't think she could do it!
I shrugged. "You seem like a... A healing sort of person. I think you'd make a good doctor." The key is to give them confidence. It's the most important step to helping them fulfill their dreams.
"Really? You think so?" I nodded. "The truth is... I've wanted to be a doctor since I was very little. When I was six and my brother was ten, he had some very important surgery... He was always my hero, so the doctor that saved his life became my hero too. It's been ten years since, but... I always thought it would be amazing to save lives like that."
I smiled at her encouragingly. "You could be someone's hero one day," I told her. She beamed at me.
"Y'think? Wow... That would be pretty incredible. What would it be like to be someone's hero?"
Before I could answer her, the bell rang and the day was over. Picking up her books, Fauna smiled at me again and said, "See you Monday Ash! You can be sure I'll be thinking all weekend about what you said!"
I grinned inwardly... I love helping people.
x0x
On the walk home, I thought about Fauna. She looked so happy when I told her she'd make a good doctor; it made me happy too. Helping people is my favourite thing in the world... It's so rewarding. I swear, just a smile is worth a week's hard work. I'd do just about anything to help the people around me to achieve their desires.
As I passed through the market district, I stopped by a small stall that one of my neighbours ran when she waved me over. "Ashling!" she greeted happily. "It's good to see you, dear... Oh, don't you look just adorable in that school uniform!"
Glancing down at the white-and-red blouse and red mini-skirt, I shrugged. "Thanks?"
She laughed. "Tell your godmother that I'm free to come to her picnic on Saturday."
"Will do!" I said as I walked off again with a wave. My next stop was to go to the pet shop to buy dog food for my puppy, Connell. I stopped to pet the cat that lived at the store – her name is Flute – bought a bag of puppy food, and headed back out.
x0x
As I stepped through the little gate out front and closed it behind me, a smallish blob of black, white, and orange-brown came hurtling toward me. I dropped my schoolbag and the food and leaned down. "Hey Connell!" I greeted him. The little Bernese Mountain Dog puppy jumped into my arms and I picked him up, rubbing noses with him.
I carried him around to the backyard, where my godmother was working in the garden. Putting Connell back down, I looked around: there were piles of pulled-up weeds strewn across the grass, I could see at least three spades, and Connell had been chewing on a pair of old gardening gloves (which he was presently making his way back to).
"Had a good day, Arlette?" I asked my godmother as she crawled out of a tulip bed.
"Oh, Ashling, hello dear. Yes, I've had a fine day, and you?"
I suppressed a giggle as I saw the amount of dirt on her nose. "It was good. Oh yeah, Mrs. Spencer said she'll come to your picnic."
"Oh, that's good to know. Have you got any homework, darling?"
"Yeah, I've got some English. I'll go do that now..." I slid the glass door open and stepped into the kitchen, shutting it behind me. I started to slip my shoes off, then realized I'd left my bags out front and put them back on. I went back out through the front door to get my stuff.
I bent over to pick them up, and when I stood back up I saw something interesting: a moving truck coming down the lane, followed by a little blue car. I paused, curious; to my excitement, I saw a girl about my own age sitting in the back of the car. I ran back into the house, dropped my bags, and hurried out back.
"Arlette! Arlette!" I cried, aflame with curiosity and excitement. I love meeting new people. "There's a new family moving in down the street! They have a daughter my age!"
"Is that so?" I nodded and told her what I had seen. She stood up and started to gather her weeds into a paper bag. She dropped the bag into the composter, put her spades and gloves away in the shed, and came into the house. She washed her hands and face and went into the dining room, where dozens of jars of homemade jam were sitting on the table. "What should we take them, Ash?"
I looked around indecisively. There were so many possibilities! Arlette makes all sorts of jam: strawberry, raspberry, grape, blueberry, she even sometimes makes marmalade. Finally I picked up a big jar of grape jelly. "How about this one?" I asked.
"That looks good to me," Arlette said. "Put Connell on the lead and we'll take him along."
Arlette took the jar from me, and I whistled for the puppy. He came bounding toward me, and I clipped the leash to the metal loop on his collar and led him out the door.
We walked down the street and arrived in time to see the family start to show the movers where to put the first boxes. I looked at the girl, trying to get an idea of her.
She had black chin-length hair that shone almost purple, a white button-down top, and a white knee-length skirt with a blue stripe around the bottom. She had light skin, like she didn't get much sun, and clear sky-blue eyes. She held a cage in both hands, and I wondered what sort of pet she kept in it.
Arlette walked up to the girl's parents, but I stayed a few feet back to watch. I saw the girl glance at me, but when she realized I was watching, she looked away shyly.
"Welcome to the neighbourhood!" Arlette presented them with the jar of grape jelly. "It's homemade... Oh, do you like grape?"
The girl's mother smiled. "Thank you! Yes, grape is wonderful..." She took the jar and passed it to her husband. Then she offered her hand, which my godmother shook. "I'm Arlette Samson," My godmother introduced, "And this is my goddaughter Ashling Meyer. Oh, and this is Connell," She added as the girl's father reached down to pat Connell's head.
"I'm Eileen Dreservin," The girl's mother said, "This is my husband, Eric, my daughter, Alanna, and this is my father-" She pointed to an old man leaning against the car. "-Maxwell Thicket."
I stepped toward Alanna as Arlette got into a conversation with her parents. "Good to meet you!" I said happily.
"G-good to meet you t-too," She said quietly, blushing slightly. Wow... She's pretty shy.
Searching for conversation, I peered at the cage in her hands. "What have you got there?"
"I-I keep rats..." She smiled a little.
"Wow, that's cool!" I said, because it was. I always thought rats would be kinda cool.
It appears I chose the right icebreaker, because she brightened immediately at my positive reaction. "I have a couple of boys right now... Um..." She put down the cage and knelt beside it, clicking her tongue. I got down to my knees next to her to watch as two long, smooth shapes came out of a chewed-up Kleenex box: one was shiny and brown, the other what I recognised as something called 'hooded' (mostly white with a black head and a black stripe down his back). They poked their noses right up to the side of the cage, black eyes watching and whiskers twitching. Alanna smiled and reached a finger through the bars to stroke their muzzles.
"They're cute," I said. "What're their names?"
"The brown one's Frazzle and the black-and-white one is Toof," She replied. "I'd take them out, except I can't do it outside and I can't go inside yet." She sat down on the grass, smoothing her skirt. I was glad that she was feeling more comfortable.
"So where did you move from?" I asked her.
"We lived in British Columbia," She said.
"Wow, you've come a long way! Have you ever been here before?" She shook her head. "Well, I can show you around if you like," I offered.
"Oh – that- that would be very good of you," She answered, quiet again. Oops, was I moving too quickly? I didn't mean to make her uncomfortable.
"Well, I'd like to be friends," I told her with the warmest smile I could muster. "What school are you going to?"
"U-um, I think it's called... Um... C. I. P-Portland...?"
"That's my school!" I said happily. "So you won't be all alone, okay?"
"O-okay," She smiled. There we go!
We went into her backyard and sat on the patio and talked for several minutes, because I had loads of questions. I learned that she loved rats, reading, red, ravioli and music (there goes the alliteration...). I decided that I really liked her, and that I would try to read her dreams.
I reached out and began to pry at the edges of her mind, but before I could get any further, she gasped, dropped to the ground in a classic kowtow, and exclaimed, "I offer you my services, Mistress!"
...Okay, I wasn't expecting that reaction.
Muahaha. Cliffy.
...Sorta. XD
Anyway, please please please tell me what you think of it!