Tuesday 23 December 2014

Chapter 34 - Gen 2 - Tapestry




I do not know what else to do other than to lie silently on the bed holding Crystal, who is sobbing her heart out.  While I am trying not to let the way that I am feeling show.  I actually feel like crying myself!

It is at times like this that I do really feel like the idiot, because I never know what to say!!  So it is best that I just say nothing!  I am scared of putting my foot in it, saying the wrong thing, and making her feel even worse than she already does.

The hospital was pretty grueling as well as frightening for Crystal.  I was a little shocked by what she had to go through, and here was stupid me thinking it would be just a simple x-ray!!  Some of the things they were doing had my eyes watering and I was only watching what they were doing to her.  I am glad I am not a woman and I never have the worry about having to visit, or have my body invaded by the gynecology department at the hospital!!


I had no choice but to watch most of what they were doing to Crystal, even when I did not want to, because she would not let them anywhere near her, or touch her, unless I was right next to her and holding her hand.  Winter ended up having to do a lot of the tests because Crystal felt more comfortable that way.  Luckily Winter being a doctor, she could do most things, otherwise I dread to think how much longer we would have been at the hospital, because of the performance Crystal might have put up, like she started to do with one of the other doctors she did not know.

It has shocked and surprised me by how quickly she has reattached herself to me, she is clinging to me almost like I never wiped her memories away in the first place, and we have just carried on from where we left it in Rainbow Valley.  She has also adjusted quite quickly to life in Sugar Valley, in that she does not get hysterical around strangers anymore, I think she understands that everyone in this town will treat her like a normal person and not a colourless freak.  While she does not scream at everyone like she used to, she is still very shy around anyone that she does not know.

I was the one who actually felt like the freak on show today.  This is the first time that I have ventured out of the house since the day of our return, and I really should have thought about that before I left the house with Crystal and Winter.  Of course, everyone knows who I am, if not personally, they know who's Son and Grandson I am, especially here at the hospital where my Dad and Grandparents work and where I am pretty famous amongst the medical staff, my baby pictures, STILL being on the wall in the baby unit.   I have always got very annoyed with it all!!

Mine and Honey's abduction is all that the whole town has apparently talked about while I was away.  The abduction, Honey being found and not me, and then the tragic loss of Honey and the baby, my return and of course all the gossip and speculation around River.  We have kept the town fairly entertained in our absence.




So of Course, now all eyes are on me again, especially my bruised and battered face, and it is making me feel very uncomfortable.  At one point I felt like screaming at everyone to just leave me alone.  Total strangers and people who have never bothered to even speak to me before, have something to say suddenly.  Something about my loss of Honey and the baby, asking after Vanilla, saying they are glad to see me home, mention of Manderine or River ... Blah blah blah.  I wish they would all shut up and mind their own business, it is over now and I just want to forget about it all, not be constantly reminded, especially about Shadow, by wagging tongues.

Even the nurses and one of the doctors would not shut up, River being their favourite topic of conversation within the hospital, nobody can believe that he is my Dad's long lost Son.  I think that Winter could see that I was getting a little annoyed with it, like she was herself.  I am a little astonished by it all.  No doubt tongues will be wagging later - did you see him with that colourless girl.  Maybe coming out in public with Crystal to this hospital appointment so soon after my return was not such a very good idea, after all!!!  I wish something else would happen to take the attention off me.   Berry help me if my music career does ever get put into action and take off, I am going to HATE the attention that it will attract.

I was a little upset by what the doctors told us, as Crystal was.  While they say, as far as they can see from the internal scan, that all of her reproduction organs are perfectly formed, they are basically dormant and not working, hence the lack of periods that have never started.  It might be because of the years of malnutrition that her body has suffered, but there is a further complication, she has cysts on her ovaries which bring their own set of problems, and this also could be the reason why she is not having periods.  

At the moment they can not say if her periods will ever start, or what is causing her not to have them at all, however, if her body stays like it is now, then she will never be able to have any children.  They are running a load of blood and other tests and have put her onto a special diet and a course of medication to see if they can kick start her ovaries into action and start her menstrual cycle off.  All we can do now is wait until her next check up when they might have a better idea of what is causing her not to be having period.  On her next visit she will also have to have another internal scan so they can have a look to see if anything has changed.  Of course, we might see something happening before her next check up, hopefully she might have a period - IF she is lucky, but Winter says not to hold our hopes up.




Crystal understood everything that they were telling her at the hospital.  I could see that it was really upsetting her and the flood started while we were inside the hospital and she cried none stop all the way home.   All I could do was hold her because I know there is nothing I can say or do to make this any better for her!!  The journey home seemed uncomfortable and felt like it took longer than it has ever taken before.  Winter, who stayed fairly quiet, while she was driving, kept taking quick glances in the drivers mirror at us sat in the back of the car.  I began to get the feeling that she was actually watching me and how I was coping with it all, rather than Crystal.

I phoned Sunny to let him know that I am back but told him there is no hurry for him to come rushing round if he and Ruby want to keep Vanilla for a little longer.  I could do with a little space to talk to Crystal uninterrupted, but I did not like to ask Sunny to actually keep her for an hour or two longer.  I feel a little like Vanilla, being a baby, might be rubbing Crystal's face in it a little, so soon after her news, and Vanilla crying is probably the last thing she wants or needs to hear right now.

I took Crystal, who was still crying, into the bedroom and lie down on the bed with her.  I really do not know what to say to her so I stay quiet and just hold her.  She asks for her teddy bear, but I have to remind her that Vanilla is looking after her teddy, which starts her crying even more.  I noticed when we walked into my room that Sunny had swapped the teddy bears over.  He had put my orange teddy back into Vanilla's cot and taken Crystal teddy with Vanilla.  I wander why he is so interested in Crystals teddy bear!?

Suddenly Crystal starts thumping my chest, I think in anger.

"Your Mom said now I am in Sugar Valley, my lack of colour does not matter anymore!  She said I can live a normal life like everyone else!"  she snaps at me almost like she is shouting at me because I have done something wrong.  "She said I could have a better life, get married, have children, follow my dreams, and do all the things that very few of us colourless people get to do."




"And you still can!"  I smile at her. 

"No I can not!! I still am not normal!!  How can I do these things when I am broken inside!!"

Oh Berry!!  I guess that is one way to describe it.

"Things get broken all the time, and they get fixed."  she frowns at me  "Which is what the hospital visits and medication should do hopefully, mend your inside."  I smile at her again.  "IF your periods do not start and you can not have children, it does not stop you from doing all the other things."

"It does, I am broken!!  I want my own babies and who will want me if I am broken!!"  I laugh at her doe keep saying that she is broken, which annoys her.

"I am broken in the head, that is why I take so much medication every day, my problems can not be fixed!!  Hopefully yours can."  I smile at her as she pulls a face at me.  "I do not care if you are broken inside and we can not have any babies, I will still want you!"

"Well I care because I do not want to be broken, I want my own babies!"

She starts to cry again




"Hopefully you can have your own babies when your problems are fixed!  You just need to give the medication time to work and the hospital to find out exactly what is wrong with you inside, then hopefully they can make it better!!"

Whatever I say to her it does not stop her from crying.  I have to be very careful with what I do say to her, Winter has already warned me not to give her false hope, not to tell her that her problems will definitely be sorted out and she will be able to have children, because Winter says she does not know if that will happen.    

"Crystal please stop crying!!  You heard what they said at the hospital - getting stressed out can also stop your periods."

She lies there shaking her head and says that she wished she was still in the woods.  This surprised me a little, and I ask her why she would even want to go back to that life?  She says that this life is too complicated and upsetting for her, she liked it when she was ignorant before I showed her this new life.  The only worry she had back then was finding food and the bad people chasing her around in the winter. Crystal thinks that she was never meant to have a normal life and that is why she is colourless and now broken to stop her from being normal.

"Crystal, that is just rubbish!!"

I snap at her because I am a little irritated.  She has now given me something else to worry about, that she might try to run off back to her old life again, if and when it all gets too much for her.  She tried to go back to her homeless life once before in Rainbow Valley, last time I knew where to go looking for her, but if she tries to do it here, I do not even know where I would even start looking for her!

"You heard what they said at the hospital, you are still a little under weight, they think it could well be just the malnutrition that has stopped your periods and they will start when your body is stronger.  That is what your special diet is for, to build you up.  It is probably your not normal life that has caused this problem!!" 

"What about if they can not fix me?  Are you going to run off and find someone who is not broken when you want more babies?"  this makes me laugh a little.

"No Stupid!!!"  I laugh at her  "I love you!!  We have Vanilla, and if you can not have babies, we can adopt them, there are lots of colourless children out there that get dumped like you were, that need a home."

I think that Crystal is going to start protesting to something that I have just said, she starts to pull a face, so I start kissing her so that she can not say anything.




We had hardly been alone for very long, when there is a knock at the door, which really irritates me.  The moment we start kissing, we are disturbed, I feel like telling whoever it is to get lost and leave us alone for a while, I jump off the bed a little annoyed.  This is supposed to be my bedroom and I can not get a minutes privacy in here!!

The door opens and Sunny walks in.

As soon as Sunny walks into the room with Vanilla, I notice that he also has Crystal's teddy bear in his other hand.  Crystal also spots it and leaps off the bed and snatches the teddy off him then throws herself back on the bed and continues with her crying, which she had only stopped for a short time.

"Tapestry, I am not in a hurry to dump Vanilla back on you, but we seriously need to talk about that teddy bear of Crystals."  Sunny says quietly as he stares over at Crystal now lying on the bed again crying, or is it that damn teddy bear that he is staring at.

"Can it not wait until later.  Crystal is very upset, she has not had very good news at the hospital."  I pull a face at him and he frowns.

"It is nothing too serious I hope!!"   he says and I roll my eyes at him   

"Women's problems, she might not be able to have any children in the future, it has upset her obviously."



"I am Sorry."  he glances over at Crystal sympathetically

Sunny is quiet for a moment then he goes and places Vanilla down in her cot.  I thought maybe he would go and leave it for another time, however I was wrong, he glances at Crystal again before he turns his attention back to me.  He looks a little awkward, embarrassed even.

"I'm sorry Tap, I know this is probably not a good time, but I am not going to rest until I sort this out!!  I seriously need to know where she got that teddy bear from?!"  he glances over in Crystals direction again.  "I had a good look at that teddy bear while you was away and I nearly fell over, because this is not the first time that I have seen that particular teddy bear before."  I frown at him   

He starts to explain that he had an identical twin brother, who faded when he was a teenager, Saffron broke his neck falling out of a tree that they were both climbing, trying to untangle a kite from the tree branches.  As they were identical, their parents used to treat them sometimes like they were one person, especially when they were younger, and it used to drive them mad because they were two totally different people personality wise. They used to be bought identical things, dressed in identical clothes and had their hairs cut in exactly the same way and nobody could tell them apart most of the time, even their parents used to get them mixed up sometimes.

The teddy bear being a perfect example they both had the same identical teddy bear.  He says that if I take the dungarees off the bear, I will see it has a name embroidered on the shirt.  He says his Grandmother did that because Sunny and his brother used to get their teddy bears mixed up so she embroidered their names on the shirts. 




Sunny hands me a photograph, that he pulls out of his pocket, and I stare at it for a moment.  The photograph is of two little boys, who I presume are Sunny and his brother, who look identical and are holding two identical teddy bears.  I glance over at Crystals bear, and it does look like it is the same bear that is in the old photograph.

"That actual teddy bear was my brothers."  he points over at Crystal's bear.  "The name "Saffron Shine" is embroidered on his shirt, mine obviously had "Sunny Shine" on it.

This makes Crystal sit up, she obviously must have been listening to our conversation.  She frowns at Sunny as she wipes the tears off her face, then she starts to undo the buttons on the dungarees and undress's the teddy bear.  What he has said also sends my head spinning because I have heard the name Saffron Shine before.  Not only does one of Sunny's boys have that name, but it is also the name of the teenage spirit that used to hang around Crystal when she was a child, I am not sure why I have never thought about that before.

"Do you know Saffy?"  she frowns at Sunny  "He is my friend, he used to look after me, but he has gone now, he went away to find someone and never came back."

Sunny gives Crystal the strangest look, he is highly confused, especially by Crystal knowing that everyone called his brother Saffy instead of Saffron.  I start laughing for a moment, even though my head it doing somersaults.  This is very bizarre!!

Crystal sits rubbing her hand on the shirt, then she holds it up so I can see the shirt.  I can see that there appears to be two words sewn onto the shirt, but I can not read the words, I just have to take Sunny's word for it.  I doubt very much that Crystal can read the words either.  I know that River is teaching her to read and write but she is still on very basic words, she still does not know the alphabet properly yet.




 I have to explain to Sunny that Crystal sees and communicates with spirits just like I do, she also sees Cosmic and Storm.  I tell Sunny that when she was a child she says she had a spirit looking after her who's name she says was Saffron Shine, she called him Saffy.  The spirit used to help her fight off the vampberry's that were chasing her, Jazz thinks they were trying to catch her because she is silent to them like I am.   I know that I can have this conversation with Sunny because he knows about Jazz and the vampberrrys and that Cosmic and Storm are lurking around in spirit form, just like my Dad does. Sunny looks a little shocked for a moment.

"So how did you find out she sees and talks to ghosts like you?"  he frowns at me

"Storm was with me in Rainbow Valley."  I smile at Sunny  "Crystal had a right go at Storm for bad mouthing her, he was being quite nasty about her dirty homeless appearance thinking she could not see or hear him."  we both laugh for a second

I explain that I chased her all over town, trying to catch her, because I have spent my whole life knowing and see Cosmic and being told that I am an idiot and ghosts do not exist.  I have never come across anyone who sees them before so I wanted to speak to her because she is like me - she can see and hear them too.

"Did you say vampberrys have been chasing her since she was a child?"  he frowns at me  "So she knows about the vampberrys?"

"Yes, but I do not think she understands what they actually are!!  She just calls them bad people, and that is not going to give them away is it!!"  I start laughing  "Actually, I doubt you would know but, my spirit friends are not around at the moment."  he frowns at me  "Jazz has sent Cosmic and Storm ghost hunting in Rainbow Valley and Amber Meadow, trying to track down this spirit of Crystals.  Jazz has got it into his crazy head that he is your brother's spirit, and if he is and he has not passed over, I expect he will come back with them." 



"This is just TOTAL madness!!"  Sunny is very confused as well as head blown.  "My brothers teddy bear and his spirit with Crystal, do you not find that just a little too mad to believe!?"

I do, but I am beginning to wander if the spirit was following Crystal because she has his teddy bear, which is just stupid!!  Crystal would not have been able to read the name embroidered onto the shirt because she can not read, she has never been taught to, so I doubt she even knew his name was there.  It is even stupider to think that the spirit could actually be Sunny's brother.  That would be one mad coincidence, too hard to believe. 

"So HOW and WHERE did she get my brother's teddy bear from?"

"As far as she knows, her parents.  When she was dumped outside the childrens home in Amber Meadow, all she had was that teddy bear and a note saying her name is Crystal."  Sunny is really frowning at Crystal now.  He is screwing up his face and shaking his head.

"What is wrong?"  I ask him

"I don't know, but I have got bombs going off in my head!!  Her name, her coming from Amber Meadow, her having my brothers teddy bear, now possibly his spirit."  he glances over at Crystal for a moment  "How old is she Tap?"  he asks me without taking his eyes off her, I wander why he is asking me instead of her.

"She does not know how old she is, when she was born, her surname or even what colour her parents were, it is only presumed they are yellow because of that teddy bear."  Sunny pulls a face at me  "However, Winter told me earlier, her age has been estimated medically, they think she is in her late twenties, possibly thirty."

I guess his brain is ticking, his forehead screws up into frown lines as he starts to count quietly under his breath.  This confuses me a little, his eyes widen for a second, he says twenty eight, then walks over to the bed to where Crystal is now sat just quietly listening to our conversation.


  

"Crystal I need to know everything you know about yourself?"  she frowns at him suspiciously.  "I need to know HOW you have got my brothers teddy bear."

She sits there telling Sunny nothing that I have not heard before, about how she thinks her parents threw her away because she was colourless, and how she was left in the pouring rain all night outside a children's home in Amber Meadow by him, with just that teddy bear and a note with her name on.  Him I presume being her Father.  She tells Sunny she ran away from the home when she was about six because of how they treated her, they kept her locked up in a room and would not let her go to school like the other children.  She tells him when she ran away from the home she went to live in the woods.

"There are no woods in Amber Meadow."  Sunny frowns

"She is talking about the woods in Rainbow Valley, that is where I found her living."  I tell him  "River worked it out, like the geek he is, while we were out there.  There is a children's home right on the edge of Amber Meadow.  River thinks, when she left the home, that she crossed two fields which back onto the woods in Rainbow Valley.  He says she only actually ran a short distance from the home, just over a mile, but to her as a small child it probably would have seemed like she had traveled a long way."

"You know this is spooky, those fields are where we used to go in Amber Meadow to fly our kites, a tree on the edge of those woods, that is where Saffy faded."  he mumbles quietly  "We usually stayed in the top field because that is Amber Meadow, the second field was the boundary between Amber and Rainbow, it was not often we ventured into Rainbow, unfortunately that day we did!"

"Saffy showed me his tree."  Crystals says suddenly and Sunny starts choking as he stares at her wide eyed  "There are faded flowers tied to the tree he fell out of.  He said his friends and family put them there.  I used to clean the faded flowers away, but it has been a long time since any new ones were put there."

Fudge!!  Does that mean that her spirit is actually Sunny's brothers spirit.  I thought Sunny was going to crack up for a moment, I can see the tears welling up in his eyes.  Sunny asks Crystal then, if she remembers anything about her parents.  She shrugs her shoulders at him.

She starts to tell him that all she can remember is being locked away in a room constantly, all she had was that teddy bear.  She can not remember her parents much other than the arguments she used to hear all the time coming from another room.   The only time she saw them was when they gave her a bottle, changed or bathed her and most of the time it was her.  Sometimes she used to sing to her and he used to shout at her for crying, but she can not remember what either of them look like, not even what colour they or the room was.

The singing was something new to me, she has never told me that before.  I laugh at her as she just suddenly starts to sing the song that I had heard her singing to Vanilla outside.  Sunny stands there wide eyed for a moment then joins in, singing the song with her.

When they stop singing, Sunny just stands there staring at Crystal for a moment.




"This is starting to get really stupid!!"  Sunny has the strangest expression on his face "Crystal HOW do you know that lulaby?" 

"She used to sing it to me, but she did not pick me up, she used to sit close and sing it."  Crystal replies quietly.

Sunny just stares at me for a moment.

"I feel like I am going totally mad ... that lullaby, my Mother made it up for me and Saffy.  So nobody else should know it!!"  he frowns at me in confusion as he scratches his head.  "How on berry's earth can Crystal know it?"

I frown at Sunny, wandering if Crystal has not got a little mixed up, she has never mentioned the singing to me before in all the time we were in Rainbow Valley, I never heard her singing either.  I wander if maybe Crystal has gotten a little confused about where she has heard it, she has been spending a lot of time with Cherry, Sunny's oldest daughter lately.  

"Crystal has been helping Cherry with the triplets.  Maybe that is where she has learned it from and just got a little confused."

"No, none of them know it, I have never sang it to any of my kids.  I have not heard it for years, I had actually forgotten about it until she just started singing it."  he frowns at Crystal again like he is really confusedHe stands there again shaking his head and frowning.  "Berry this is stupid, I think I am going mad!!  I can not believe what I am starting to think  ......." 

He screws up his face and without finishing his sentence Sunny takes out his phone and starts to dial a number.  He puts the call onto loud speaker, I do not know why.  It does not take me long to realize that he is phoning his mother.


"Mom, do you remember that lullaby you used to sing to me and Saffy."  the woman laughs and says she does.  "You told us you made that lullaby up."

"Yes I did why?"

"So nobody else would know it?"

"Well no, not unless you or Saffy have taught it to anyone."

Sunny amuses me for a minute as he covers the phone for a moment and frowns at Crystal asking if Saffy has sung it to her.  I am a little taken a back that he believes in the spirits and would seriously ask her that question  She shakes her head violently.

"Saffy shouted at me, he told me to forget her and NOT to sing it again, but he has gone now!!"  Crystal pulls a face at Sunny  "Only she sings it he said!"     

"Mom, sing it for me."  Sunny takes his hand away from the phone and speaks into it, his Mother laughs and asks Sunny if he is feeling alright.  "Please Mom, humour me, I want to hear you sing it, I have forgotten how it goes."

Sunny winks at me which I think is strange.  His Mother starts to sing the song that I had just heard Sunny and Crystal singing.  Crystal pulls a face and puts her hands over her ears, like she is trying to block out the woman's singing.  Sunny is watching Crystal carefully and I do not know why.




"Mom, what happened to my teddy bear?"  he asks as soon as she stops singing, his Mother asks what teddy bear?  "You know the one that Gran embroidered my name onto the shirt.  Saffy also had an identical teddy bear with his name embroidered on the shirt."

"It is up in the loft I presume boxed up with the rest of your old stuff.  All the boxes from yours and Saffy's room have never been unpacked since we moved from Amber Meadow."  there is a short silence.  "Why do you ask dear?"

"I just wandered, where is Saffy's teddy bear do you know?"  the woman laughs

"It should be in the same place as yours.  Why Sunny?   What is the sudden interest with those old teddy bears?"  she laughs  "I should imagine they are moth eaten by now!"

"I had to ask because I wandered if you had given them to a charity shop or given them away to someone, or thrown them out with the rubbish."  he pulls a face when he says the last part which makes me laugh because I know he is using Crystals words.

"No dear, we have thrown nothing away.  Remember I have been nagging you for years to come and sort out what you want and don't want, so that we can get rid of the rubbish!  Our loft is stuffed to the rafters with yours and Saffy's old stuff!"

"Very Strange you saying you have not thrown anything out, because I know for a fact you do not have Saffy's teddy bear anymore."  Sunny suddenly snaps  "I am with the person who now has Saffy's old teddy bear!  She has had it since she was a baby and she is nearly thirty now.  I recognized it the moment that I saw it."


"Don't be silly Sunny, that is impossible, it can not be the same teddy bear!"

"As I live and breath I HAVE Saffy's teddy bear right here in my hand. Embroidered on the teddy bears shirt is the name Saffron Shine,"  he snaps at his Mother  "It now belongs to a woman, called Crystal, who was born in Amber Meadow.  Are you sure you have not conveniently forgotten who you gave that teddy bear too?"

"No!!  I ... I ..."  the old woman seems to stammer and is a little lost for words.

"Maybe I should tell you about the woman, who has the teddy bear now, it might just jog your unbelievable forgetful memory."

Sunny is snapping quite nastily at his Mother.  He is making me feel very uncomfortable because I do not understand why he sounds so angry with her.

"She says that teddy bear was given to her by her parents.  That teddy bear is the only thing she had along with a note, telling anyone who found her that her name was Crystal.  Crystal was left outside a children's home in Amber Meadow.  She thinks she was thrown out like rubbish, by her parents, because she was colourless."  there is only silence coming from the other end of the phone now  "And get this Mom, not only does she have Saffy's old teddy, she even remembers and knows that lullaby that you just sang to me!!"

I hear the old woman choke.

"What colour was Magnolia Mom?"  he suddenly shouts down the phone.  Who is Magnolia?

We can hear the old woman choking and there is a weird nose, she is now openly sobbing and I think she might even have dropped the phone.  Sunny just laughs sarcastically, I think to himself.

Suddenly a man has the phone.




"Sunny what the hell have you just been saying to upset your Mother?!"  the man shouts quite angrily down the phone.

"I just asked her what colour Magnolia was."

"What damn colour do you think she was idiot!!"  the old man shouts so loud Sunny moves the phone away from his ear for a moment.  I frown at Crystal as I watch her flinch.  "You know any mention of your sister really upsets your Mother, so why did you even bring her up Sunny!!"  he snaps  "I do not want you to mention that girl again do you hear me!!  Especially not around your Mother!!"

The old man sounds very angry.  Crystal covers her ears and throws herself on the bed crying, so I go to lie down with her, not sure what has upset her.  Sunny is also watching her carefully, in fact he has hardly taken his eyes off Crystal since he started to make the phone call.

"Dad, why have you never shown me a photograph of Magnolia?"

"You know why Sunny!!  We do not have any photo's of her!  What is wrong with you Sunny, why are you digging all this up now!?"  The old man sounds very annoyed.

"I have never really believed that, everyone takes pictures of their babies the day they are born, and Magnolia did not fade the day she was born did she!!"  Sunny snaps quite nastily  "I think it is because Magnolia CRYSTAL Shine was colourless and not yellow!"

"WHAT!?"  the old man snaps  "How did you even know her middle name was Crystal?"

"Well, you was stupid enough to put it on her headstone for the world to see!!  Did you think that just because you had up sticks and moved to the other side of the planet that  I would never go and visit Saffy and Magnolia's graves?!"  Sunny snaps  "My kids might be confined to this colour mix town, but I am not!!"




"Son, what is this call about?  Why the sudden interest in your sister?"

"I have a woman sat in front of me, her name is Crystal, well that is what the note said her name was, that she had on her when she was left outside a childrens home in Amber Meadow with just a yellow teddy bear.  The teddy bear, which she still has,  just happens to be Saffy's teddy bear, you know the one Gran embroidered his name on.  Crystal also knows Mom's lullaby, and there is only one reason why I can think that she should remember that lullaby being sang to her when she was a baby and toddler!!  Spookily, now I take a good look at her, she does actually look a lot like Mom!!"

Now it is the old mans turn to choke.

"Magnolia did not fade, did she Dad!!  YOU dumped her at the children's home because she was colourless, Didn't you!!"

There is no answer coming from the old man.

"WELL Dad??  Tell me you didn't!!  Tell me my sister was not colourless!!  Tell me the woman that is sat in front of me, with Saffy's teddy bear singing Mom's lullaby, is not my sister!!"

Silence still comes from the other end of the phone.

"Now I get it!!  Now I get why you sent me away to that boarding school and did not let me come home for nearly two years!!  Now I get why you suddenly up sticks and moved as far away from Amber Meadow as you could get!!  Now I get why you are not interested in Cherry's colourless husband and triplets!!  Now I get why you showed some interest in Vanilla until you found out she has colourless eyes along with a colourless Grandmother, now you don't want to damn well know!!  Why is that Dad, because it reminds you of Magnolia, or Crystal or whatever you are calling her these days?!"




Sunny sounds like he is getting really angry, I am not sure that my head is keeping up with this conversation any more.  Did he just say that he thinks Crystal is his SISTER!!??  This is just mental madness!!

"Sunny ..."

"I do not want any of your bullshit excuses, just a yes or no will do!!  But, I think I am right aren't I, or you would have denied it all by now!!"  Sunny snaps  "Just tell me or Berry help me, I will come over there and shake it out of you!!"  Sunny shouts at the phone  "Was Magnolia colourless and did you leave her outside the children's home in Amber Meadow and tell everyone she had faded?"

"Yes ... okay!  You are right ..."

Sunny half yells half screams and launches his phone full pelt at the wall without ending the call or switching it off.  His phone made a horrible squealing noise as it shattered into hundreds of pieces and scatters all over the floor.  He starts to crack up then storms out of the room in tears.

I just stand there in shock for a moment, staring at the pieces of his phone on the floor.  Did I seriously just hear that conversation, or is my stupid brain just getting it all wrong?!  I can see how upset he was when he left the room, I should really chase after him but I can't.  When Sunny had screamed so did Crystal and Vanilla, they both reacted to his screaming.  I do not know where to go first!!  Thankfully Vanilla stopped crying virtually straight away because Crystal jumps into my arms and starts to cry. 

My head is totally blown and I am not sure if Crystal really understands what has just happened.  I am actually not sure that I did myself!!


River comes rushing into the room demanding to know what is going on and what all the racket is about, because we have just woken up Ocean and it had taken him ages to get him off to sleep.  He frowns down at the smashed up phone that is scattered around the floor.

"It was Sunny doing the yelling, and that is his phone.  I think you should go after him."

"What the hell have you done now Tap?"  River frowns at me.  I am very amused that he would automatically jump straight to the conclusion that I have done something to upset Sunny and make him kick off.

"I have done nothing!   It is actually his parents who made him kick off."  I laugh at him  "I think Sunny might have gone off to have a nervous breakdown, because we think we have just found out who Crystal might be?"

"How?  Who is she?"  River frowns at me

"Go ask Sunny.  He probably needs somebody to talk too right now!!  He needs to tell you himself because I do not think you would believe me if I told you!!"

Without another word River goes running out of the room in search of Sunny.




Crystal does not say anything, after River leaves the room she just bursts into floods of tears again.  I am not sure why.  At first I just hold her, I can not ask her exactly why she is crying because my head is now totally in a mess and hurting, there is too much for my brain to process, first we have what they told us at the hospital, now this.

Did I just imagine all that with Sunny because it would make more sense being a stupid dream than actually being reality.  Surely it can not be possible that Crystal is Sunny's sister!!  Can it?!

There is a knock at the far bedroom door.

I am beginning to lose my temper, because today I am not being given any time to think.

"WHAT NOW?!"  I shout out.

The door opens and Winter pokes her head around the door and just laughs, she seems to be very amused by something.

"Tap, you have a visitor."  she says as she holds the door open and steps aside.

I nearly fall over when I see who walks into the room.




"Rocky?!"

I am a little shocked to see Rocky standing there.

Hell!!  Me and River have not sat down and sorted out how we are going to tackle Rocky and Grumpy Grape and the time that they know we were in Rainbow Valley.

I am seriously not prepared for this, it is way too soon.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2 comments:

  1. Sunny finally figured it out! It will be so nice for Crystal to have a real family that will show her what family is supposed to be. I am happy for her.

    Rocky is in the house!! I am curious to see what Tap will tell him.

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  2. So much is going on and poor Tap can't keep up. It would be horrible to find out your parents had thrown away your sister just because she was colorless. Poor Sunny, he must be going out of his mind with the discovery!

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