Chapter 3.......Review, please!
Butterfly
Chapter 3
Standard Procedure
"We'll take her," Clarissa declared ten minutes later. Though I was still in shock, I couldn't help but
feel that I'd been bought.
Kaolinite smiled somewhat stiffly. "There *is* the matter of signing a few papers..." She said, her
voice strict and slightly irritated.
Clarissa shook back her golden curls and replied in an equally haughty voic, "Lovely, then. Hotaru,
possibly you could wheel me outside? It's such a beautiful day, and I'm not all that heavy." She clasped
her hands, gazing at her lap, and looked for all the world like a little girl with her diminitive cherub
features: All big, pleading innocent blue eyes and golden baby-doll curls.
"Um, sure," I mumbled, looking uncertainly at Kaolinite. Her face looked stiff and plastic, a
Barbie-Doll smile frozen on her heavily lipsticked mouth. "These papers require both signatures," she
announced, appearing to be forcing the words from those fascinatingly bright lips. Clarissa waved
her hand as she gestured for me to wheel her chair to the door. I stood, unsure. Kaolinite smiled
tightly and motioned for me to take Clarissa up on her request.
"It's not standard procedure..." She began, her voice strained. "But carry on." She shouldn't have
bothered. Clarissa and I were already out the door.
* * *
"I want you to tell me all about yourself!" Declared Clarissa as I pushed her wheelchair across our
somewhat shabby garden. "I mean, I know the basics, of course. But I want to know about *you*,
Hotaru." I blinked. No one had ever wanted to know about *me* before.
"For example, what do you like to do? Have you ever had any training in the arts?"
"The arts?" I asked, feeling foolish, stupid, clumsy.
"Acting...Singing...Ballet, perhaps?"
"Oh, no," I said, shaking my head. "I'm not that lucky, ma'am."
"Oh. Well...You will be. You'll be that lucky," she announced with an intensity that scared me. "Oh,"
she added after a moments reflection. "Do you like music?"
I paused. "Yes, I do like listening to it. We don't get many chances to, though, with living in the orphanage
you see."
Clarissa nodded. "It must have been very hard for you," she replied, studying me intently.
I stared at my hands, folded in my lap. I had stopped her chair at a bench and, at her request, sat
down on it. "It was."
There was a long stretch of silence and then she muttered, "Where on earth is that man?" As if on
cue, the door to the orphanage swung open and Theo hurried out. He saw us and a big smile graced
his face.
He came over, laid a hand on my shoulder. "You're ours," he said simply, both of us watching Clarissa
beam. She looked so happy, I expected her to jump from her wheelchair and spin me around. As I
watched her radiant face, Theo smiled down at me and pulled me close. "Let's go home," he said kindly.
Butterfly
Chapter 3
Standard Procedure
"We'll take her," Clarissa declared ten minutes later. Though I was still in shock, I couldn't help but
feel that I'd been bought.
Kaolinite smiled somewhat stiffly. "There *is* the matter of signing a few papers..." She said, her
voice strict and slightly irritated.
Clarissa shook back her golden curls and replied in an equally haughty voic, "Lovely, then. Hotaru,
possibly you could wheel me outside? It's such a beautiful day, and I'm not all that heavy." She clasped
her hands, gazing at her lap, and looked for all the world like a little girl with her diminitive cherub
features: All big, pleading innocent blue eyes and golden baby-doll curls.
"Um, sure," I mumbled, looking uncertainly at Kaolinite. Her face looked stiff and plastic, a
Barbie-Doll smile frozen on her heavily lipsticked mouth. "These papers require both signatures," she
announced, appearing to be forcing the words from those fascinatingly bright lips. Clarissa waved
her hand as she gestured for me to wheel her chair to the door. I stood, unsure. Kaolinite smiled
tightly and motioned for me to take Clarissa up on her request.
"It's not standard procedure..." She began, her voice strained. "But carry on." She shouldn't have
bothered. Clarissa and I were already out the door.
* * *
"I want you to tell me all about yourself!" Declared Clarissa as I pushed her wheelchair across our
somewhat shabby garden. "I mean, I know the basics, of course. But I want to know about *you*,
Hotaru." I blinked. No one had ever wanted to know about *me* before.
"For example, what do you like to do? Have you ever had any training in the arts?"
"The arts?" I asked, feeling foolish, stupid, clumsy.
"Acting...Singing...Ballet, perhaps?"
"Oh, no," I said, shaking my head. "I'm not that lucky, ma'am."
"Oh. Well...You will be. You'll be that lucky," she announced with an intensity that scared me. "Oh,"
she added after a moments reflection. "Do you like music?"
I paused. "Yes, I do like listening to it. We don't get many chances to, though, with living in the orphanage
you see."
Clarissa nodded. "It must have been very hard for you," she replied, studying me intently.
I stared at my hands, folded in my lap. I had stopped her chair at a bench and, at her request, sat
down on it. "It was."
There was a long stretch of silence and then she muttered, "Where on earth is that man?" As if on
cue, the door to the orphanage swung open and Theo hurried out. He saw us and a big smile graced
his face.
He came over, laid a hand on my shoulder. "You're ours," he said simply, both of us watching Clarissa
beam. She looked so happy, I expected her to jump from her wheelchair and spin me around. As I
watched her radiant face, Theo smiled down at me and pulled me close. "Let's go home," he said kindly.