The Girl Who Owned a City by O. T. Nelson

Author:O. T. Nelson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.
Published: 0100-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Part 2

Having things is something, but not everything.

Earning the values for your life is more than just something, it is everything.

Chapter 10

“What’s the matter with Lisa?” they all wondered. “She just sits there thinking.”

But actually she didn’t think much about anything during that next week. Jill took care of them both … And Lisa just sat there, though sometimes she would wander by the lake and—other times she’d talk to Todd … usually in their bed, at night. But most of the time, Lisa did nothing.

Her thoughts were all jumbled. “I’m such a fool,” she said at the beginning of too many private sentences. “I talked about changing things and now things have changed me. I thought I could do anything … but look at me now. I made such a big deal out of what I would do, and now I’m just another orphan.”

Jill was good to her. She was patient And that’s what Lisa needed most of all.

The other children couldn’t understand her reaction to the fire. She had faced much bigger problems and hadn’t been discouraged. Why now?

Lisa was beginning, vaguely, to form an answer for herself. She wanted to believe in the things she used to talk about. Before the fire, everything had seemed very simple to her. “Why not?” used to be her favorite answer to anyone who questioned a wild plan of hers. When the old problems had come up, she understood what had to be done and was confident. But now she doubted her understanding of everything. Most of all, she doubted her plans and her ability to think clearly … She doubted herself, and she had lost her confidence. And so she waited, and thought.

Lisa became more and more interested in Jill’s children. They were interesting. She studied them carefully. They liked Jill for her kindness. And she really was kind to them.

But still there was something wrong … They didn’t play as they had in the old days. There was something troubling them. They wandered about a lot … and whined for attention or treats. They wanted to feel useful. Lisa could sense that by the way they smiled when they had a new idea. “Jill, let’s make a garden. The flowers would make everybody happy.”

And Jill would say, “Yes, we’ll do that in the spring when it’s warm.”

Once a little boy invented a harmless weapon out of wood-scraps he’d nailed together, and Jill told him, “You have a good idea there. Show me how it works.” And she patiently watched him demonstrate it.

But it seemed to Lisa that the children quarreled too much. There were very few toys, and they fought constantly over the favorites. Even Jill lost her temper now and then, when her words about sharing were ignored.

“Sharing? Maybe that’s part of the problem,” Lisa thought one morning. The idea roused her into action at last. There were enough toys so that each child could have at least two or three each, but they all clamored for the same beat-up “popular” ones.

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