Songs of Willow Frost Read Online Free PDF Page B

Besides the storm, the teachers, the whippings …
    Silence. He felt her slowly shake her head and inhale deeply, exhaling as though she were completely fatigued, exhausted.
    “My mother used to light candles and sing whenever the power went out,” he said. “She told me the thunder was applause, the lightning, Heaven’s spotlight. I would climb into bed next to her and she’d wrap her arms around me until I fell asleep.”
    “You’re so lucky, William.”
    For a moment he actually felt that way, then, and now, to no longer be so alone.
    “After my mother died,” Charlotte whispered, “it was just myfather—he always came into my room on stormy nights—‘just to make sure I was okay.’ He hardly said a word. I couldn’t see him, of course, but I knew who it was.”
    William paused, not fully comprehending what she was saying. He had always wondered what happened to her father. Before he could ask, she changed the subject.
    “I have to leave this place—soon.”
    “Why? You’ve been here longer than I have …” And who would take you?
    “They’re going to send me away,” she said. “They say I don’t belong here anymore. They’re going to send me to a special school for people like me. Sister B says it’s time I was with my own kind.”
    William swallowed and chewed his lip. He remembered the past few summers, when farmers from the Yakima Valley would come to Sacred Heart and adopt the strongest boys or, occasionally, the prettiest girls. William knew then that no one would ever adopt a blind girl, no matter how comely she might be.
    “But, where would you go?” he asked. “Maybe the special school isn’t so bad. They could teach you how to read with your fingers …”
    He felt her shaking her head.
    “I know all about that place. My father used to threaten to send me there if I didn’t do as I was told or if I said anything bad about him. They have you sit in a room and make brooms all day. That’s all they ever do, until you’re too old to do anything else. And if you refuse or complain they send you to a lockup.”
    That was the one good thing about Sacred Heart. Despite children’s worst indiscretions, Sister Briganti would rarely cast them out. William had heard rumors that the state paid the school a fixed amount per child, so to the sisters a crowded orphanage wasn’t a complete tragedy.
    William didn’t know what words he could offer that might comfort Charlotte. If the sisters thought that a special school would bebetter for her, their decision would be irrefutable. And where else could she go? She didn’t have any other options.
    Charlotte drew a deep breath and let it out slowly.
    “I want to go with you ,” she said.
    “And where am I going?” he asked, though he had a vague idea—a wistful dream, a hope, an unmade plan.
    “I want to go with you to find her.”
    “Willow?” William asked as he caught the scent of Charlotte’s floral shampoo, a welcome respite from the dank-smelling closet. After living in the boys’ sweaty dormitory for so long, he was suddenly aware of how much he missed the comforting smell of perfume, the fragrances of home.
    “Your mother.”
    “I don’t even know who that woman really is. Sister Briganti might be right, I could just be letting my imagination get the better of me.” This mirage probably happens to everyone at some point , William thought. The joyful dreams of sad, lonely children are difficult to wake up from .
    Charlotte pulled down another coat and draped it over them. She leaned into him as he listened to the rain and her breathing until he thought she’d drifted to sleep.
    Then she stirred, just for a moment. “Think about it, Willie. We both have nothing, and nobody wants us,” she murmured. “So that just means we have nothing to lose.”
    William stared into the darkness, wondering if this was how Charlotte perceived the world. Then he realized she probably didn’t see anything . So instead, she saw the world