"Wonder how much trouble I’d get into if I looked for people I knew … No. Don't be ridiculous." Jane sighed and quashed her grumbling. The last thing she needed was to be caught talking to herself. Even in a town that regularly produced odd incidents, she didn’t want to risk catching anyone’s attention. Or worse, being remembered. One of the first lessons Beau had taught her was to blend in, to avoid notice. To be a watcher, rather than the watched. The safe, responsible use of her Gift depended on it.
More memories crashed down on Jane as she turned the corner onto the street where Divine's Emporium sat near the dead end. Instead of the usual metal highway guardrail barrier at the high point of the slope, Neighborlee had a pretty wooden gate, and signs pointing to paths people could take to walk down to the park below. Jane studied the building as she walked down the street, remembering bits and pieces. The multiple shelves of penny candy in old apothecary jars. The big brass cash register. The book room. The vintage clothing room, where children could play dress up as much as they wanted. Funny, how it never occurred to Jane until now that adults who came into the shop during their play never seemed upset. Angela, the owner, protected their fun.
"The Wishing Ball," she whispered, and her steps slowed as she remembered the globe just about the size of a bowling ball, dark metallic rainbow swirls, sitting in a stand shaped like a coiled dragon. She had loved simply gazing into the Wishing Ball, on the counter next to the cash register. Jane had always imagined someday the soft swirling of colors in the ball would resolve into images that would answer the questions that haunted her young mind. Who her parents were, how they had lost her, so she had been found, a little more than a year old, sitting by the side of the road just inside Neighborlee's borders. Like the other children, Jane had made her share of wishes on the Wishing Ball. Many had come true, but they were easy wishes: what she wanted for Christmas, to pass an upcoming test, for the bullies to leave her alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment