wildflower

[bulrushes]

On the doorstep of a little house in Forks, Washington, a basket is placed.

The doorbell rings.

There are footsteps, and then there are not.

Comments

[asmyown]

With that out of the way, Lynn heads to her study and sits down nearby.

"Enjoying the book?"

[bulrushes]

"The bunnies are going to find somewhere else to live," says Astrid gravely.

[asmyown]

"They are," she agrees. "Hopefully they'll find someplace better. Let me know if you have any questions about it, all right?"

[bulrushes]

"I've been looking up words," Astrid says.

[asmyown]

"That's clever of you! I can explain words, too, but also concepts. It's hard to look some things up in the dictionary, they're hard to reduce down to simple words. Let me know if you find one of those."

[bulrushes]

"Why can bunnies only count to four?"

[asmyown]

"Well, they're bunnies. Perhaps no one ever taught them how."

[bulrushes]

"Then why can they count to four?"

[asmyown]

"They might have figured it out on their own, or someone started teaching them and was interrupted."

[bulrushes]

"Okay."

Back to bunny adventures.

[asmyown]

Lynn smiles a bit, and then - back to grading essays.

[bulrushes]

A police officer comes by to ask questions.

He's not any more able to elicit memories of parents, name, or a previous address from Astrid than Lynn was. He takes the basket and blanket away as evidence, determines that the girl is probably safer and more comfortable with Lynn for the time being than she would be in any sort of formal custody, and asks if Lynn doesn't mind holding on to her for the time being.

[asmyown]

She doesn't mind at all.

"Do you want something to eat?" she asks, when the police officer has left.

[bulrushes]

"Okay."

[asmyown]

"What would you like, then?"

[bulrushes]

"I don't remember what foods there are. Can I see?"

[asmyown]

"Of course," she says, and then she leads Astrid to the kitchen to pick out foody items.

[bulrushes]

Astrid turns out to consider a lot of food not food. There are currently no leftovers that meet her criteria in the fridge. She identifies raw white button mushrooms, apples, bananas, lettuce, strawberries, grapes, raw broccoli, a cucumber, sweetened coconut flakes, and carrot juice and orange juice as potential food.

[asmyown]

Lynn... Is confused by this. But she'll abide by these bizarre dietary standards, little kids sometimes have strange preferences.

She slices up an apple for Astrid, plops it down in front of her, and then starts trying to figure out dinner plans that follow the preferences.

[bulrushes]

Nom nom nom apple slices.

[asmyown]

Well that seems to work out all right, doesn't it.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do for dinner," she admits. "Are you willing to go on a trip to the grocery store with me, pick things out?"

[bulrushes]

"Okay."

[asmyown]

Lynn writes up a list of all of the things Astrid considers food. She's willing to play ball with this sort of thing, no need to make her eat anything she doesn't want to, but Lynn's going to make sure that she gets proper vitamins and nutrients.

"Ready to go?" she asks, when the list is made up and the apple slices are finished.

[bulrushes]

"Mm-hm!"

[asmyown]

And then, off to the grocery store! Exciting! Look at all of the edible things!

"Keep in mind," she informs when they get there, "That a lot of these look different when cooked."