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]

"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."

[bulrushes]

"I can still tell if they're food," Astrid says confidently.

It turns out she can't tell reliably through packaging - looking at a can or a sealed bag often leaves her unsure - but she okays virtually everything in the produce section and most of the grains and legumes and spices in the bulk aisle when given examples of them without packaging in the way. Pasta is fine except egg noodles. Vegan chocolate is okay; milk chocolate isn't. No meat, no fish, no dairy. Juice is fine, all kinds.

[asmyown]

That is - interesting, but Lynn picks up on the preferences reasonably quickly. If Astrid wants to be a strict vegan, that's fine by Lynn. She can figure out how to cook at least one dinner with this knowledge, and from there she can look things up on the internet.

"If you'd ever like to try anything else," she says, as she picks up rice and pasta and various fruits and vegetables, "let me know and I'll get it for you. As it is, though, I won't try to make you eat things you don't want to."

[bulrushes]

"The other things aren't food," says Astrid placidly.

[asmyown]

"How do you know?"

[bulrushes]

"I just - can tell."

[asmyown]

"Huh. All right, then you can stick to being vegan. And you won't ever have to eat things that 'aren't food.'"

If this were some sort of preference for 'candy only' or 'only potatoes' Lynn wouldn't be this lenient. In this case, though - the preferences are bizarre for a three year old, but workable, since it's possible to make good meal plans for a growing young girl with vegan-only items.

Food items are bought, and then they head back home.

[bulrushes]

Astrid goes back to her book.

[asmyown]

Lynn puts away groceries, and then starts looking up vegan meals. Idly, she suspects that her previous caretakers were strict vegans and dragged Astrid along for the ride. That's hardly Astrid's fault, though, and Lynn is not going to shell-shock the poor girl any more than she already has been. Bizarrely specific preferences, go.

She checks up on Astrid once that's done.