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]

"I do! I think some of them might be very difficult for you to read, but I do have a few children's books for someone your age."

Because she is a masochist and couldn't bear to throw them away, even when she stopped having a child.

[bulrushes]

"Can I see?"

[asmyown]

"Of course."

She leads Astrid to her study.

There are bookshelves on almost every wall, and there are a lot of books. Mostly novels, though there are a set of encyclopedias and a few dictionaries, too. The shelves contain Chaucer to Shakespeare to Mark Twain to J.R.R. Tolkien, and beyond - and there, on the shelf, looking rather out of place are brightly colored children's books.

"Later, when I'm not about to go call the police, I will read you some of the others if you'd like me to. Or you can try to read them yourself, though I warn that it might be a bit frustrating."

[bulrushes]

"Thank you," says Astrid, and she starts browsing titles.

[asmyown]

Lynn retrieves the children's books and puts them in a place Astrid can reach, and then she heads off to make a phone call.

A lot of the books are hard for Astrid to reach, but not all of them. There's one book with rabbits on the cover, and the author's title reads, 'Richard Adams.'

[bulrushes]

Astrid pulls the rabbit book and finds a place to sit with it and begins reading it. Bunnies!

[asmyown]

It turns out to be about bunnies! They're leaving their home because one of the bunnies had a vision about the home's destruction, and they'd like to find a better home anyway.

(A dictionary is also in reach, if Astrid requires it.)

[bulrushes]

Astrid does get the dictionary eventually to look up the occasional word - but it's pretty occasional.

[asmyown]

While on the phone, Lynn checks up on her visitor. She notices the choice of book, and then the lack of frustration with it.

She approves. She thinks she likes this little child.

And then, back to explanations to the police department.

[bulrushes]

The police department will be sending someone around presently.

Astrid is still reading.

[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?"