A Sequel to my very first Gaia blog entry....

The Whispering Wind, Part 2

            Marie woke with sunlight on her face. Her eyes sprang open and she sprang from the bed. Finally! She thought. The storm was open. Marie threw open the window and let in her friend Breezelle. The yard below was covered with dew that sparkled like diamonds in the morning sun. Marie could see the gables of the house across the street. Despite the early hour, there was a hubbub of commotion in the driveway.

            The day before the big moving van had come and unloaded quickly during a break in the rain. Marie's father had been there to unlock the doors. The semi truck had backed right up to the door and the big, burly moving men had rushed big pieces of furniture into the front door under army-green tarps. What kind of family would it be? Marie had no way of telling. Then not one, but three cars pulled, each one stuffed with a jumble of kids and boxes and each one pulling a bright orange U-haul. People piled out, along with two dogs and dashed into the house just as the rain started to fall again. Marie barely got a glimpse of a little girl with black ponytails running inside behind her mother.

            Now Marie saw the same lady directing several big boys in the unloading of the U-hauls. They would disappear into the house at regular intervals, so Marie was unable to even tell how many there were. Marie dressed quickly and raced down the hall.

            "Where are you going, young lady?" Marie's mother called from the kitchen.

            "The new family is outside .." She began.

            "Get in here and have some breakfast," Mother ordered. "Don't you think they would like some time to get settled?"

            Marie sighed and she heard Breezelle echo her sigh. "I only wanted to help," she began.

            "They have five big boys to help. You would only get in the way. After breakfast we'll make some cookies and take them over this afternoon. How would that be?" Marie's mother had that tone in her voice that Marie knew she was not really asking. Making cookies was one of her favorite things to do, but of course the baby had to be feed first and other chores had to be done. Then there was lunch while the cookies cooled. It seemed to take forever.

            But as she walked across the street with her mother and the baby, carefully holding the plate of cookies, Marie suddenly felt shy. The big house across the street was different in every way from their own home. Their house was a new, low slung ranch house made of gold bricks that blended in with the ripening grain in the fields all around. The house they were approaching was the old farmhouse, three stories tall, with a jumble of additions and porches on every side. It was painted a bright blue with white trim that stood out from the apple trees that surrounded it. And, as they were invited in, Marie could see that this family was as much of a jumble as their big house.

            "Excuse the mess! Hi! I'm Ellen!" boomed the lady Marie had seen earlier. "Glad to meet you!  Thanks for the Cookies! Come on, boys show yourselves to your new neighbors!"

            The new family gathered around the kitchen table where Marie had set the plate of cookies. Ellen continued to boom out, "Here's our basketball team, " she announced, introducing the five big boys. She rattled off their names, and Marie was not sure who was who: " Dustin, Danqual, Shawn, John-Michael, and David. And here," she added, hugging the little girl that stood in her shadow, "Is our little cheerleader, Jenny. Jen, why don't you take Marie up to see your room."

            Marie was glad to escape the noisy kitchen and was surprised to find herself in a room that was in perfect order. The bed was made with pink, ruffly bedspread that matched the curtains. Dolls lined the top of the bookcase and looked down at the two girls solemnly. These were not the kind of dolls you played with. The closet door was shut tightly, but the window was open. Marie was glad to be touched lightly by Breezelle.

"You have a nice room, " Marie said. " I hope we'll be friends." She really meant it, but even as she said it, she wondered if it would be true.

Jenny shrugged and said, "This house is noisy."

"You have lots of brothers!" Marie said, thinking that's what she meant.

Jenny just looked at her blankly. "No, she said. The room is noisy."

Over the next few days, Marie took Jenny to see her house and the garden. They walked through the apple orchard with Jenny's dog, Barkly. Marie tried to tell Jenny about Breezelle, but the new girl just looked at her with wide, fearful eyes.

"Breezelle? Who's that?" Jenny asked timidly.

Marie was disgusted. It was as bad as talking to her parents about Breezelle. Would no one ever understand? It made her just a little bit mad at her parents, too. Why did grown-ups think that just because someone was your own age you'd automatically be friends?

That night as her mother was tucking her in, Marie asked, "Do you think you are going to be friends with Jenny's mom?"

"Well I certainly hope so!" Mother laughed. "After all we are neighbors!"

"But she's nothing like Aunt Mary!" Aunt Mary was a close friend of the family for ages. Marie was named after her.

"Well, no, but that doesn't mean we won't be friends. And it doesn't mean I'll stop being friends with Mary, either. Let me tell you something Marie, in this world we need all the friends we can get."

" But, Mom, " Marie began, looking for the words to tell her about Jenny.

"Shh, now listen, Marie. I want you to think for just a minute. I know you have been lonely out here at our new house and you have been looking forward to the new family moving in. You can't order your friends out of a catalogue to fit just so. You have to learn to be friends. Now, don't you think that little girl across the street needs a friend just as much as you do? Believe me, Marie, people all over the world have much more in common than they do differences.

Fine, thought Marie, I'll be a friend with people all over the world before I ever become a friend with that little sissy Jenny.

But the next morning Breezelle seemed to be urging her out of bed and across the street for more try. It was an especially beautiful day. Once she was allowed to go out, Marie headed across the street. Shawn and John-Michael were playing 1-on-1 in the driveway. Shawn said, "I wouldn't go in there if I was you. Jenny had a bad night."

"Shut up, Shawn," John-Michael said. "Maybe what she needs right now is a friend."

Marie felt pangs of guilt about her mean thoughts earlier.

But Jenny was sitting at her kitchen table meekly cutting out paper dolls with the same dumb expression she always wore.

Paper dolls, thought Marie, how lame! But what she said was, "Can I play, too?"

The two girls sat quietly cutting carefully around the frilly clothes of the Victorian figures. Breezelle came in playfully blew one of the frilliest of dresses around the room.    

            Marie laughed, "I agree! who would where such a goofy outfit!"

            Jenny gasped, "Who are you talking too? A ghost?"

            "A ghost! No, it's just Breezelle, the whispering wind."

            "You talk to the wind?" Jenny's voice had a little tremble in it.

            "Not just any wind," Marie tried desperately to explain. "It's the little whispering wind."

            Jenny looked like she was going to cry. "You made that up," she said angrily.

            "Well," Marie admitted, "Maybe I did. But there's no need to get mad. Sometimes Breezelle is the only friend I have."

            Jenny lowered her voice to a whisper; "There's a ghost in my closet. Danqual just laughed at me, and David said he would get rid of it. But Dustin said it was all in my imagination. And he ought to know. He's in College."

            "Oh," said Marie. At first she didn't know what to say. That explained a lot! Finally she took Jenny's had and said, "You know not everything you make up is bad. Maybe it's friendly ghost."

            "Maybe," Jenny whispered a tremble still in her voice.

            But Marie was on a roll, "Look, you like all these old fashioned dolls and clothes. Maybe it's an old fashioned girl who wants out of the closet to be by your old fashioned dolls. If it's your imagination, why can't it be what you want it to be? Why don't you try sleeping with your closet door open?"

            The next day Jenny was the one knocking on Marie's door. "It worked," She told Marie. "I slept all night and didn't hear a thing. Thank you."

            "Great answered, Marie, "And guess what! We're going into town today. Want to come? I can't wait to introduce you to some real girls our own age."