CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX – Catriona
I’m concerned about Deirdre. She’s becoming rather plump. I know the cause is genetic – both her father and her grandmother Abbie, on my side, had weight issues.
She doesn’t eat more than anyone else, and she loves to swim, but still, every time she weighs in, she’s put on a few extra pounds.
Reid and I had agreed not to worry, that she could resolve the problem when she got older by enrolling in the same diet program at the hospital that he went to. But then she came home from school in tears.
Some horrid little boy at school had called her fat and rich and some other name that I won’t repeat. I had thought I could deal with this by repeating “sticks and stones,” etc., by telling her that I was called “Carrots” in school because I had red hair and because I was a vegetarian. But it wasn’t the same. I never felt that some other kids hated me. I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I just let her cry.
“I don’t want to go back,” she wailed. “I want to go to boarding school like you did.”
“There are mean kids at boarding school, too,” I said. “Even at the School of Peace and Love.”
“I don’t want to go there,” said Deirdre. “I want to go to Le Fromage.”
“Probably there are mean kids there, too.”
“Yeah, but they’ll be mean in French, so I won’t understand them.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing at her logic. I realized the time had come to talk to her about the Project.
“You are a very special little girl,” I began.
Deirdre pulled away from me. “I know that,” she said. “I know you and Daddy think I’m wonderful. But that doesn’t seem to help.” More tears.
“No, I meant you have a special mission. It was your great grandfather Andrew’s dream to have a long line of descendants, and for each of those descendants to accomplish certain tasks. It hasn’t been easy. Your grandmother was an old lady before my father could marry her, but he used a family potion to make her young again. I had to wait a long time before your dad and I could marry – that’s why I have a few gray hairs now. As part of your mission, you have to get on the honor roll in grade school and also in high school. But as soon as you do that, I promise, you can go to boarding school.”
A few more sniffs, and then she went upstairs, taking her rag doll with her. A little while later, she came back down.
“I got a call from the Science Lab,” she said. “If I bring them a rainbow gem and 4500 simoleons, they’ll make Gilly real.”
I hesitated. “Gilly” was her imaginary friend, and I wasn’t sure if I could deal with the disappointment if the offer turned out to be a prank. “Are you sure the call came from the Science Lab?” I asked.
“Yeah. It was a grown-up’s voice, and he said he used to know my grandfather.”
As it turned out, I did have a rainbow gem in my possession, and 4500 simoleons was a small price to pay to see a smile on her face again. Deirdre took the gem and put it in the mail.
After that, she went to the Science Lab and handed over the money.
To my surprise, the potion they gave her actually worked. There was a purple cloud…
And the next thing we knew, another little girl was running around the house. Gilly seems perfectly normal, that is, if it’s normal to dress up like a tyrannosaurus rex when playing with a dollhouse.
Deirdre agreed to do some extra studying with her dad to make sure she gets on the honor roll.
She and Gilly have been playing happily ever since, Princess Deirdre painting,
while Prince Gilly teaches Toccata a new word.
