The Girl On The Dock by G Norman Lippert

Author:G Norman Lippert [Lippert, G Norman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

One the day before Petra's last trip out to the dock, she went up to her room and stood before her window. The ratty curtains were still drawn, cutting the gloomy afternoon light in half so that the room was a cave of shadows. Downstairs, Phyllis stomped and slammed, clanking dishes as she prepared dinner. Petra could see through the dingy lace of the curtains; Izzy was out in the garden, picking the last of the season's berries, staining her fingers in happy colors and occasionally sucking the juice off them, unsmiling. Petra simply watched.

It can't go on this way.

The thought came to her from the back room of her mind, but it sounded like her own voice this time. She nodded slightly to herself. It was true. The simmer of Phyllis' anger was still steadily rising, fuelled by her fear of Petra and her desperation to force her out of the household for good. And yet, Petra couldn't just leave. Not yet, not while Izzy still needed her.

It isn't Izzy you are staying for.

Again, the voice was her own. Either the voice in the back room of her mind had finally faded away, or it was getting good at disguising itself. The words rang true, though. Izzy wasn't the reason Petra had stayed. Izzy was soon destined for a life of manual labor and drudgery, forced into it by her own hateful mother. Certainly Izzy was not the smartest girl in the world, but she was not hopeless. Her simplicity had, in fact, been beautiful in its way. Petra knew that there were schools for children like Izzy, schools with caring teachers that knew how to teach children who had learning disabilities. Those schools cost money, as Phyllis had once tersely pointed out, putting the subject neatly to rest, but Petra knew better. The money wasn't the issue; Phyllis wouldn't have spent it on Izzy even if she'd had it. Phyllis simply didn't believe Izzy had any potential for school. It was almost as if Phyllis blamed her daughter for being born the way she had, and intended to punish her for it. As far as she was concerned, the work farm provided the only real option for the girl. Thus, in less than two days, Izzy would be sent away, most likely for the rest of her life. Izzy no longer needed Petra to defend her and look out for her. In fact, if that had been Petra's task, she had failed miserably at it.

It can't go on this way.

Petra sighed shallowly. Finally, she turned her back to the window and walked across the room. She knelt and drew something out from under her bed. It was the black box from the hollow tree. It felt heavy in her hands as she lifted it and placed it on the bed. Kneeling there on the floor, she was nearly eye-level with it. The gloomy light of the room glinted on the polished lid.

Petra opened it.

She knew what was in it, and yet the sight of it always made her shiver.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.