A Rainbow in Your Eyes

Chapter 3

The next morning, Irielle allowed her mother to fret over her. “I’m so sorry, Princess. I must go with Daddy! Please promise Mama, you won’t go out outside again. Nene was so worried yesterday! You know what Dr Morgan said, stay home, stay save, stay clean and you’ll stay healthy! Those swans and that water, brrr, they’re so dirty! I can’t bear the idea of you going there!”

“Yes, Mummy.” Even as she made the promise, she crossed her fingers under the table to make sure her mama didn’t see. Looking over the table, she remembered Brian’s hungry way of eating. And where she usually would just ignore the food, she was heaping her table. Her mummy, thinking she was going to finally eat something, was just overjoyed, not noticing when she slipped pieces of food away inside the backpack she had hidden by her feet.

Used to being alone, she wasn’t surprised when her mother came rushing back moments later dressed in a business outfit before smothering Irielle in kisses, suppressing the tears so as not to ruin her make-up before she left.

Slipping from the chair when her parents had left, Irielle grimaced at the floofy dress and white stockings her mother had made her wear. The previous night, her mother had been very upset to see how she had ripped her other dress apart. Even her father had had a few choice words to say to her, and she had had to bite her lips to keep the tears from falling. She didn’t like being scolded; she was only a little girl after all!

And with her parents gone, she was going to change her clothes! She wasn’t going to stay in this horrible dress for the whole day.

“And where are you going?!” Nene’s strict voice sounded up.

Turning to the other woman, she put on her prettiest face. “I’m going to play with my doll house, Nene.”

“Oh, ho, my name’s not Nene if that’s what you’re gonna do. I may be old, but this Nene has raised my own 5 girls and when they looked like you look now, Nene knew they were doing for trouble!”

“It’s LOOKING for trouble, Nene, not doing.”

“Gmf, I’m telling you; you’re not looking, you’re already doing. Now, Nene’s eyes are looking very closely for you, and you don’t go making no trouble for your Nene today, baby girl, okay?”

“Yes, Nene, I’m JUST going to play with my doll house. I PROMISE!” With extra emphasis on the last word, Irielle waited for Nene to give her permission before she ran as fast as she could to the dining room table, where she grabbed her pack and rushed of to her bedroom.

“Nene’s going to take a rest now, okay baby girl? You be a good girl now!” The nanny called after her.

With the door safely closed behind her, she ripped off the dress, tossing it without thought or care in the corner of the room. Quickly she slipped her only pair of long pants on, which were her winter night clothes, before she looked out the window. Luckily, her mother had refused her to take a bedroom in the first or second story, worried her girl might fall out a window. This made slipping out easier.

Irielle dropped the heavy bag out the window before slipping after. She had to carefully wait for Jasper who was cutting the grass nearby, before she could safely get away, her body bent over by the weight of the bag.

Where Brian had been watching through the fence he was surprised and, strangely for himself, excited when he noticed the small frail little form emerging from the house slipping and hiding with a bag way too big for the owner’s form. When he was sure she wasn’t being followed, he moved quickly to the same spot they had met the previous day.

He didn’t tell Gus about their meeting the previous day, nor that he was coming back again. He knew his friend would tell him he was crazy, and maybe he was. Why was he, a 15-year-old boy, so interested in a little kid? He couldn’t answer it. He just knew that the previous day had been one of the very few good ones in his entire life and that her sunken eyes in a snowy face, clearly ill, had stayed with him most of the night.

And then, he couldn’t wait to spend more time with her again. It wasn’t just the food, although he had tried to convince himself it was, it was more, something about her herself. And so, he came.

When she finally reached their meeting spot, she looked whiter than a ghost and out of breath. Her little form shaking from the effort of carrying the bag. She was pulling it the last bit until she was at the hedge with him, where she dropped down, taking some big gulps of breaths.

“You okay?”

“Just tired.” Then suddenly she was beaming, and it felt like his heart could explode and that her smile brought the sunlight with it. “Look, I brought you stuff. Food, lots of it! And a blanket and some clothes. They might be too big, they were my daddy’s, but he doesn’t wear them anymore, and if you like, I can bring you more.”

“No! No.” Repeating the word softer when he saw the sudden scared look in her eyes, he shook his head, swallowing past the sudden lump. “It’s okay. I just needed food.”

“Okay...” When she looked sad, he found himself quickly explaining.

“It’s just that, I don’t want ya parents to know or realize somethin’s wrong, ya know? Maybe they’ll come lookin for me, and then you’ll have trouble, ya know?”

When she nodded her understanding, he slowly sank down, taking the sandwich she handed him again through the hole in the fence. After taking a bite and swallowing, he looked at her again where she was looking at the swans.

While waiting for him, she took out a garden scissor, and he watched in fascination as she cut the small opening larger. From the way sweat formed on her forehead he knew she was struggling, but when he tried to reach for the scissors she pulled it from him, sticking out her tongue at him and making him laugh.

“So why do you wear that thing on your head?” He asked, pointing at her head.

Slowly reaching up, Irielle absently toyed with the cloth Nene had bound over her head that morning like she had done so many mornings before. Mama couldn’t bear being in the same room with her until Nene had finished with it. She hated the fact that Irielle didn’t have nice long hair like other girls.

“I don’t have hair.” She whispered back.

Being insensitive as boys his age he shrugged, then pulled it off in a quick move. Shock registered on his face as he looked at her. “What? Where did it go?!”

Patiently, as if she was talking with a much younger child, she explained, “I TOOOLLLDDD you, I’m sick. So, the medicine makes my hair fall out. But Dr Morgan said I’m better now, and I’m to stay home and rest.”

For the rest of the afternoon, the two sat there, next to one another in the hole they made together, chatting, and they repeatedly met for the next few months, every day when possible and when the weather allowed.

And in the time that followed, Brian found that it had become the highlight of his world, the few minutes or hours spent sitting next to a rich little girl from a world so different from his own, but he loved every minute of it.