Dedications: To make my Ricky feel better!
Ricky: Whose nine pages of fiction were murdered by the evil computer virus.
Chapter 3: Running Away and Telling Tales
"Lily! Lily!" chirped Dinah, shaking her shoulders early the next morning. Lily groaned and pulled the blanket over her head.
"Need sleep. Go," she mumbled, stretching her legs and turning on her side. The mattress shook and sunk near her feet; something had been placed on the bed.
"But I have something to show you!" insisted Dinah, and she snatched the covers from her friend. Lily scowled, but humored the child and sat up. Whatever she had was obviously hidden behind her back. Lily tried to peer behind her, but Dinah slid her secret out of view.
"What have you got?"
"You mean what have you got," corrected Dinah, smiling. "It's a package for you."
A package for her? Who would send a package to her? "Hand it over, then," said Lily, hand waiting.
"It's heavy," grunted Dinah as she lifted the box into Lily's hands. Heavy? She suddenly remembered.
"It's full of jewelry," said Lily, who had almost forgotten Mrs. Manila's promise. "My mother's jewelry."
"How do you know?" Dinah looked like she expected magic.
Lily smiled and brushed the top of her parcel with her finger. "My neighbor promised to bring it today. She said it would be here first thing in the morning."
"Mrs. Vermaat left it on my bed," said Dinah. "It was there when I woke up." Lily guessed she'd done that because her bed was crowded, and Dinah's was the closest available space.
"Well, let's see what Mum left me," muttered Lily, tugging at the cardboard flaps on top of the box. A metal jewelry case with a letter taped to the surface laid inside. Lily pulled it off and tore it open.
I found this money and this brochure in the safe with the jewelry. It was supposed to be your parents' birthday present to you, and I had to be sure you received it. I slipped a few extra pounds in.
Mrs. Manila
Dinah gasped as the bills slid from the envelope. She looked like she'd never seen so much money in her life.
"Who sent you that?"
"My neighbors and parents; it's my birthday present." Lily could hardly believe her luck. She was glad of Mrs. Manila's persistence for sure, now.
Dinah took the brochure from the discarded envelope and unfolded it. She raised her eyebrows at a picture of crossed skis.
"You're going skiing? I thought you said your birthday is in November?"
"It is in November," said Lily. "But my parents can't give me my present on my birthday, so my neighbor brought it early when she found it."
"Very early," said Dinah uneasily, but Lily didn't catch this because a plan was formulating in her head. With the eight-hundred and fifty pounds now in her possession--plus the extra forty Mrs. Manila gave her the night before--Lily could more than sneak away. She could take the vacation her parents planned for her and have money left over to make it on her own--temporarily.
"Are you going soon?" asked Dinah, bracing herself for disappointment.
"I...hope so," said Lily, hands trembling slightly in excitement. How fortunate for Mrs. Manila to have found her present! She had only stayed in the orphanage for a matter of hours and already she had her way of escape. Dinah, on the other hand, did not consider the situation fortunate. After all, she just met Lily; it didn't strike her as fair to have her taken away so soon.
Lily finally caught the depression in the young girl's disposition. "Dinah, I...I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I can't stay here...I...." she trailed off and hung her head, torn between what she wanted and what the child wanted.
Lily knew that she was Dinah's only friend in the world. Leaving her to take a pleasure trip was an extremely selfish thing to do. But from Lily's perspective, remaining at the orphanage would only depress her more. The bunks were packed like pickles in the sleeping quarters--far too small a room in Lily's opinion. The beds smelled musty, as though the sheets had been stored beneath a bed for years, and she guessed that the food wouldn't be up to par, as well as their outdoor access. Lily hated confinement. But the thought of leaving Dinah, her only friend, to cope with both the pain of Lily's loss and the pain of being alone again at the orphanage wrenched her heart.
"Listen, Dinah," said Lily, tapping the shoulder of the girl, who had turned to face the wall, legs pressed to her chest and her arms belted around them. Dinah ignored her.
"Dinah," she repeated. "Please turn around." Dinah made several twitching movements; it seemed to take all of her self-control to stay put. The corners of Lily's mouth twitched; an idea popped into her head. She poked Dinah's side. A giggle broke the silence of the room the other children had abandoned for breakfast and morning play. Lily followed it with another. Her next laugh was an outburst, preceding a chuckle from Lily.
"You cheated!" she puled, smiling nonetheless. Lily grinned and pulled her backward into an embrace.
"I have good news," she said.
Dinah spun around. "Really? You're not going?" A hopeful smile graced her lips.
"I'm still going," said Lily, and Dinah resumed pouting, "but you're coming with me."
She perked up instantly.
"I am?" she inhaled. "I've never even been out of Little Whinging before! You really want me to come, Lily?"
"Of course!" enthused Lily. "We'll get to know each other better and the trip won't be so lonely. Did you really think I'd leave you here?"
Dinah's smile disappeared and she shrugged. "I never get too excited about anything. I always end up disappointed if I do. Nobody's ever been nice to me like you are."
Lily slung an arm around her shoulders. "Well, get used to it; you're being treated to a vacation."
"My first vacation!" exclaimed Dinah. A smile as wide as the Mississippi parted her lips. A dangerous question must have entered her mind because the smile faded as quickly as it had come.
"How will we be able to go? Mrs. Vermaat isn't going to let us."
"I know that," said Lily mischievously; a fleeting image of James crossed her mind. "That's why we're not even going to bother asking for her permission."
Dinah's eyes widened. "We're running away?"
"You could say that," said Lily slyly. Her mischievousness must have sprung from her desperation to leave the orphanage. She'd never behaved this way before.
Dinah's eyes twinkled excitedly. "I've never run away before, either."
"There's a first time for everything," said Lily, grinning. "Now pack your things; we're going to Switzerland."
- - -
Since Lily hadn't unpacked anything aside from her mother's diary, and Dinah didn't have many possessions to begin with, collecting their things took only a few minutes.
Because Dinah's bunk was closer to the ground, Lily brought her bag, on which she placed a weightlessness charm after the addition of her mother's jewelry case, down to her bed. Unlike her friend, Lily had many possessions in her bag, ranging from outfits and letters to jewelry boxes and diaries.
"How are we going to sneak away with these heavy bags?" asked Dinah, yanking at hers and slumping over in a demonstration of its weight. "We won't be able to run fast."
"Just because it's called 'running away' doesn't necessarily mean there's a whole lot of running involved," said Lily, half-smiling. "But if it makes you feel better..."She mumbled a word in Latin and tapped Dinah's backpack with her wand, making it weightless too. Dinah stripped it off of her back, tossed it in the air and caught it, amazed with Lily's talent. They exchanged grins.
"Now," began Lily, sounding business-like, "I need you to show me a place--a window or door, maybe--that isn't guarded or watched by the women who work here."
Dinah thought, eyes closed. In a burst of remembrance, they shot open and she jumped onto the floor, snatching the strap of her backpack.
"I know where!" she cried. Lily stood, gathering her bag on her shoulder. "Come on!"
Dinah took her hand and led her past the two last sets of bunks and then down a hallway to their left. At the end of the hallway were two doors on either wall, one marked "Custodial," the other "Toilet." Dinah threw open the bathroom door and yanked Lily inside, shutting and locking the door behind them. She opened the door of the largest stall and stepped inside; it looked exactly the same as any other bathroom Lily'd ever seen, except for the decent sized window five feet above the ground, an odd feature for a place designed around privacy.
"I was going to ask...." muttered Lily with a chuckle. The window looked easy enough to open. The locks only needed to be undone. And the toilet seat would make an adequate stepping stool, though the girls wished they had a more cleanly alternative.
Lily let her bag slide to the floor and she stepped up on the toilet seat to open the window. A cool breeze blew her hair back. She was glad to see that the window opened up onto an alley, despite the fact that it contained a large dumpster, because the seclusion made for an easier escape.
"Hand me your backpack," ordered Lily, and Dinah set it in her outstretched arms. Lily leaned out the window and dropped it as carefully as possible into the alley. They repeated the action with Lily's duffel bag.
"Come here," urged Lily, beckoning to Dinah. "Your turn."
Dinah shrunk into the corner, shaking her head. "It's high up," she said, "I might get hurt."
"I won't let you fall," promised Lily. "Come on, Dinah." She smiled and held her arms out for the child.
With an anxious expression on her face, Dinah inched toward Lily, who lifted her into a sitting position on the windowsill. Dinah looked down and cringed.
"You ready?" asked Lily. Dinah shook her head. "Oh, it's not that high; only a few feet. You can do it! I'll help you."
"O-okay," stuttered Dinah. Lily held her underneath her arms and lowered her to the ground. The child put her backpack on again and stared up at Lily, who was sitting on the windowsill.
"Who's going to help you down?" she asked, shielding her eyes from the sun.
"I don't need help getting down," teased Lily. "I'm a big girl." Dinah stuck her tongue out at her and Lily hopped from the window to the ground.
"What about the window?" questioned Dinah as Lily fixed the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "Are we leaving it open?"
"No...." mumbled Lily, glad the child noticed. "That would be too big of a clue. The locked door is bad enough." She pushed the two halves of the window in place.
"Where are we going now? We're not walking to Switzerland, are we?" asked Dinah fearfully.
Lily cocked an eyebrow. "Over three hundred miles and a sea?" she said. "What do you think?"
"Are we taking an airplane, then?"
"No. Too expensive," dismissed Lily. An airplane was a bad idea anyhow. They'd be easier to track once the orphanage realized they'd left.
"What's left? 'Cept a boat." A boat wouldn't do, either. Lily didn't even know of any docks in Little Whinging.
"Not a boat, either. We're taking wizard transportation," said Lily. Wizard transportation was the perfect solution. There was no way the Muggle orphanage employees could trace it.
Dinah became excited. "How do wizards travel?"
"Guess," said Lily, smiling.
"Um...space ships!" tried Dinah, jabbing her finger toward the sky.
Lily sniggered. "Nope."
"Brooms!"
"Sometimes," conceded Lily. "But I don't own one. They're very expensive"
Dinah's eyes expanded as wide as the waist of Chris Farley. "It's true? Brooms really fly?"
"Not all brooms," clarified Lily. "The ones they sell in the supermarket can't fly. They have to be bought at a wizard shop."
"Where are wizard shops?"
"It depends on where you are," said Lily. "They're all over the world. But the ones I shop at are in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade."
"Can we go there?" asked Dinah enthusiastically. Lily realized how little it took to excite a child.
"Maybe sometime after our trip," said Lily, sounding to herself like a mother. "Now keep guessing."
"I can't think of any more!" she cried. "All that's left is normal stuff!"
"Try from there," suggested Lily, grinning.
"Are you telling me that witches and wizards travel the same ways regular people do?" demanded Dinah, hands on her hips.
Lily grinned. "Stand against that wall."
Without question, Dinah backed up against the wall that held the window from which they'd escaped. Lily took her wand from her duffel bag and backed up beside the child before raising her left arm.
BANG! Dinah screamed and clung to Lily as a shockingly purple, triple-decker bus materialized before them. The door opened and a young boy, around seven or eight, grinned at them from the doorway, clad in a uniform as purple as the bus.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus," he piped, pushing his oversized sleeve up his arm, "emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, st-...st-...." He whipped around and yelled, "Uncle Ern? What's the rest of my speech?"
An exasperated sigh carried from the front of the bus and someone began walking toward the door, mumbling and grumbling along the way.
"Stan, how many times will it take for you to memorize your lines?" griped an elderly man with thick glasses--Ern. "If you mess up one more time, I'm making you wash the dishes instead, nephew or not!"
The boy's lower lip trembled and he nodded sheepishly at his uncle before darting inside the bus, presumably to study his lines. Massaging his temples and shaking his head at the silly boy, Ern turned toward Lily and Dinah.
"Sorry about that. He's my nephew. Thought I'd let him help out around here...his mum just passed and all...."
"We understand," muttered Lily, thinking of her own mother.
Ern bobbled his head and picked up where his nephew had left the speech off. "Step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Ernie Prang and I will be your driver this morning." He stepped backward to allow them entrance and they climbed the stairs to the bus.
Rows of squashy armchairs filled the space behind the driver's seat. Because it was morning, there was no need for the candles that usually burned, and the daylight was left the job of brightening the room.
"How much is it to get to Sierre?" asked Lily, quickly consulting the brochure to be sure she had the right town.
The man scratched his head. "Switzerland?"
Lily nodded.
He glanced pityingly at the child by her side, who stared up at Ernie with frightened eyes; she still trembled from her shock in the alley.
"For you, ten sickles. And there's no charge for children under ten," he said, obviously bending his policies like a pipe cleaner.
"Are you...sure?" questioned Lily, who had paid eleven just to go to London alone during her last trip on the Knight Bus.
"Quite," he replied with a smile missing several teeth. "Choose any of the chairs you'd like. We'll arrive in an hour."
"But--" Lily had pulled her last galleon from her bag, ready to hand it over. She didn't like being treated differently, as though she couldn't match up to others.
"I won't hear of it," Ernie cut her off, pushing the galleon back toward its owner. Dinah eyed the wizard currency with interest. "Ten sickles will suffice."
Embarrassed at her special treatment, Lily replaced the galleon in her bag, sensing the man's relentlessness, and withdrew the asked price. She was glad there were no other passengers on the bus to witness the spectacle.
"I know how tight the budget is when you're a young parent," he whispered to Lily. "Had mine at eighteen meself. You'll make it all right." He walked to the driver's seat, disappearing from view, and left Lily in place, blushing at the man's assumption. She led Dinah to the back of the bus.
"Does he think you're my mother?" she asked in low tones, looking over her shoulder at the front of the bus.
"Er...yes he does," mumbled Lily, red as ever. They sat down on a particularly large armchair after Lily stowed their luggage in the compartment overhead.
"But you're not even married," Dinah pointed out as the bus jerked into gear.
"Women don't have to be married to have children," said Lily.
"They don't?" This was news to Dinah.
"Your mother wasn't married the whole time," she pointed out.
"But she was at the beginning," said Dinah, insistently, "when she and my Daddy made me. He left before I was born, though." Lily blushed again at the child's knowledge of men and women.
"How do you know that men and women make babies?" she asked. Her own conversation with her mother came to mind. She hadn't been much older than Dinah when she received her first 'talk.' Though Mr. and Mrs. Evans only covered the bear minimum when she was that young.
"My mother told me," said Dinah simply. "I asked her about babies a long time ago because she thought she was going to have another one."
"But she didn't?" asked Lily, stabling herself as the bus jerked abruptly.
"No," said Dinah. "And she was really happy because she told me that man--her old boyfriend--was a prick."
"Dinah!" brayed Lily, shocked. "Don't use that word!" Lily hadn't heard words like that until she was well into Hogwarts.
Dinah covered her mouth with her hand, looking apologetic. "I didn't know it's a bad word. I'm sorry."
"I forgive you," Lily said. "But your mother shouldn't have taught you that word. ...Her boyfriend must have been a very bad man if she called him that," she added.
"He was," confirmed Dinah, nodding vehemently. "I didn't like him one bit. He drank a lot of beer and gave my mother her drugs. Then sometimes he'd lock me in my room so he could kiss my mother on the couch."
"Well, he definitely deserved that word, then," Lily admitted, cuddling Dinah protectively. She didn't add that Dinah's mother wasn't much better herself, letting him mistreat her child and conduct illegal behavior in front of her.
"You don't kiss boys, do you Lily?" asked Dinah. If was going to hang around Lily, she wanted to be sure she behaved well.
"I have before," she murmured, embarrassed and anxious. She was afraid Dinah would touch upon this subject.
"You don't kiss bad boys who drink beer, do you?" She turned and looked her in the eyes. "Or the ones who do drugs?" Dinah especially hated those kinds of boys.
"I have no idea what he did," muttered Lily contemptuously.
"You didn't ask?" said Dinah incredulously. "He was your boyfriend!"
"He most certainly was not," spat Lily. "I hate him." Suddenly, she was in a touchy mood. She wasn't sure if it was the subject itself, or Dinah's misconception about Lucius that had brought this on.
"What'd you kiss him for, then?" demanded Dinah. Lily felt as though she was being interrogated by her mother.
"I didn't want to," said Lily, and a cold feeling spreading through her; they were approaching her least favorite subject at an alarming rate. But she felt she could share her past with Dinah, if only to clear things up. "I liked another boy."
"So why'd you kiss the one you hate?"
"He forced me to," replied Lily, anxious as to her reply.
Dinah looked outraged. "Where did this happen?"
"School."
"Why didn't you yell for the teacher?"
"He threatened to kill me if I did. He was a lot stronger and bigger than I was, too, and I knew I couldn't have taken him on." Embarking on her story hadn't been as bad as Lily anticipated. She only wished her mother were there to hear it too, and saddened slightly.
"You had to let him kiss you?" said Dinah, both angrily and somewhat disgustedly. Having a mother like hers had taken a huge toll on Dinah. She was very disapproving toward boys in general after all of her mother's ex-boyfriends.
"Think of it like this: I'm a school bully and I want your lunch money. So I walk up to you and try and take it. I pin you against the lockers. Could you fight me off?" exemplified Lily.
"No," said Dinah. "Because you're bigger and stronger. I see now." The child thought for a moment. "What happened after he finished kissing you? He didn't do any of that other stuff, did he?" Dinah looked very disgusted now.
Lily raised her eyebrows, shocked again. "What do you know about 'other stuff'?"
"A lot," Dinah assured her. "My mother told me."
Lily's mouth fell open. "What kind of mother shares that information with a small child?"
Dinah shrugged. "Well...when I asked her where babies come from, she told me everything."
"You shouldn't know everything yet." It had taken Lily up until she was fourteen to learn of all of the aspects of sex. At six, she was reluctant to let go of the stork belief.
"I wish I didn't," Dinah told her earnestly. "But Lily...did he make you do other stuff?"
Lily trembled a little. "Did your mother explain to you about rape?" Lily wouldn't be surprised if she had.
Dinah shook her head. "What is it?"
"Rape is when a man--or a woman--forces someone to do...'other stuff'," told Lily, frightened just speaking of it. She glanced around the room--still empty.
Dinah gasped. "Do you have a baby, Lily?"
"No...thank God. That would have been awful." The thought of a child with Lucius Malfoy made her want to remain celibate for the rest of her life.
"But you make a good mother," said Dinah, beaming, and leaned onto her shoulder.
"It's not the baby that would have been awful," said Lily, and she kissed the top of Dinah's head. "The man who raped me would have taken my baby away, even though men who rape women lose rights to their babies. He had a very powerful group on his side."
"Why would he take it away?"
"Either to kill it, because I'm not the kind of witch he likes, or to raise it to do bad things like he does," answered Lily. She felt momentary pity for her non-existent child.
"He would kill his own baby?" whimpered Dinah. "I hope I never meet this man." She snuggled into Lily's lap for safety and comfort.
"You won't, baby," promised Lily, wrapping her within her robe. "He lives far from Little Whinging and very far from Sierre."
The conversation ended for the next few minutes and they sat in silence, bumping and swaying with the violent movements of the bus. Then Dinah asked, "What happened to the boy you liked?"
"I'm sure he has a girlfriend now," said Lily, and her eyes watered at her loss. If only she'd accepted him on the spot...
"No, I mean when you were in school. Did he beat up that bad boy?"
"No. But his friends did. They saved my life." Lily had been friends with Remus, Sirius, and Peter as well back in school. More with Remus and Sirius, though, than Peter. He often came off as unfriendly to Lily.
"Tell me the story," said Dinah.
"Remember how I told you he ordered me not to scream?" asked Lily. She felt tears start in her eyes. As much as she wanted and needed to talk to someone about her rape, it still pained her as much as it had back in December.
"Yes."
"He'd...done something particularly painful and I yelled. He slapped me for it and when he reached for his wand, I caught a glimpse of my house ghost."
"You had a ghost in your house?" Minutiae from the wizarding world never failed to render her surprised.
"Not my house in Little Whinging," said Lily smiling, glad the child had lightened the mood momentarily. "My house in school, Gryffindor. Anyway, I saw Nick standing halfway in the room and the boy couldn't see him, so Nick nodded at me to let me know he would help, and he darted off to--"
"He left you with that bad boy?" said Dinah loudly. Lily held a finger to her lips, signaling her to quiet down.
"Ghosts can't grab onto humans," she cleared up. "He couldn't have helped me himself. He had to go find someone, and the first people he saw in the corridor were Sirius and Remus, James's friends. I don't know where in the world Peter was."
"The boy you liked is called James?"
"Yeah," said Lily, feeling warm at his mention. "Well, Sirius and Remus hated the bad boy--Lucius--as much as I do and they followed Nick to the classroom Lucius had locked us in."
"I thought you said Nick was standing in the room?" interrupted Dinah for the fourth time. "How could he if the door was locked?"
"Ghosts can walk through walls," said Lily quickly, wanting to move on. "Or...float, rather."
"Okay. Go on with the story, Lily."
"They unlocked the door with their wands and cursed Lucius right as he raised his own wand to me. Sirius roughed him up while Remus grabbed my robe from the floor and wrapped me in it."
"They saw you naked?" Dinah's cheeks were red now.
Lily had never given this much thought before. "That was the least of my worries."
"Were you scared?"
Lily nodded. "Very scared. I thought he was going to kill me."
"Remus?" gasped Dinah, as though this were a Lifetime program in which the best friend had just been revealed to be the murderer.
"Of course not Remus," snapped Lily. "Lucius. Nick must have gone to fetch others after he led Remus and Sirius to the classroom," Lily continued once she cleared her throat, "because Professor Dumbledore showed up a couple minutes later--he's Hogwarts's headmaster--and made Sirius stop kicking Lucius so he could bind him. Then he told them to take him to his office and wait until he returned. Sirius told me later that they dragged him the whole way. Professor Dumbledore carried me to the Hospital Wing, because I told him it hurt too much to walk." Lily crossed her legs out of instinct at the memory of her pain.
"Did he hit your legs too?" asked Dinah, wide-eyed. "Lucius, I mean."
"No. He..." she paused, raising her eyebrows. "You said you know what men and women do."
"I do know," said Dinah importantly. "But none of it has anything to do with legs." She wore a sort of 'Ha! Challenge that!' expression.
"Think of what's close to the legs," said Lily. "Think of what he could have done."
"Oh!" exclaimed Dinah after a second of thought. "That hurts?"
"Yes. The first time. He also...did it roughly." Lily blushed for the third time, uncomfortable discussing such a thing with her young friend.
"Did his friends visit you in the Hospital Wing?" asked Dinah, eager to steer the conversation in a less intimate direction.
"Yes. As soon as Professor Dumbledore gave them leave. Sirius rubbed my back while I cried and Remus brought me chocolate to make me feel a little better." Tears filled her eyes again and she smiled at the memory of their kind gestures.
"What about James? Did he come?" Dinah was determined to get the scoop on James, so she could make her final judgment.
"No. Nobody told James what happened. He had snuck out of the castle that night. Went to Hogsmeade, I guess. That was probably where Peter went as well, actually. But anyway, he wasn't involved in the ordeal. Professor Dumbledore made Remus and Sirius swear not to tell him."
"Why?"
"He knew James would have done something stupid and got himself arrested or killed," Lily explained.
Dinah grinned. "You mean he would have beat him up?"
"Yeah. Badly." Lily half-smiled.
"Did you ever kiss James?" Dinah wondered aloud. So far, he sounded good to her. She didn't mind if Lily had kissed him.
"No." Lily shook her head. "I never accepted his date offer. I didn't speak much at school after the rape."
"But you liked him!" protested Dinah silently missing James's presence. "Why not?"
"I was afraid of boys after that," confided Lily. "I still am, of some. It's a difficult feeling to describe. But I avoided James. I didn't want to go against what the headmaster said, either, because I know I would have ended up explaining everything to him."
"You let him get away?" Dinah asked sadly, and Lily almost laughed aloud at her wording. "He sounded nice."
"Because he would have beat up Lucius?" asked Lily, amused.
"Yes!" enthused Dinah. "And you didn't say anything about him doing drugs or drinking beer."
"He definitely didn't do drugs, but I've caught him sneaking Firewhiskey up to his dormitory before."
"Oh." Dinah's shoulders sagged in disappointment.
"But all boys do that," said Lily, noting her reaction. "Even I've tried Firewhiskey."
"You don't drink a lot?" The child was fearful.
"I don't really care for alcohol," said Lily, making a face at the thought of drinking it to lighten Dinah's mood. "It's not my stuff. I like tea and hot chocolate better. And Butterbeer."
"You said you don't like beer!" accused Dinah, growing fearful again.
Lily giggled, ensuing crossed arms from the child. "Butterbeer doesn't have alcohol in it. It's just a name. Like rootbeer."
Dinah calmed. "Oh."
The bus screeched to a halt and Lily had to reach out for the armchair in front of them to keep from toppling over with Dinah, who was still cuddled in her lap. Little Stan rushed down the thin wooden staircase to the left of Lily and Dinah's row. Since he was too small to reach the overhead compartment, he left the baggage fetching to Lily.
Once their bags were in place on their backs and shoulders, Stan led them down the aisle to the door and held it open.
"Thank you for traveling with the Knight Bus. I hope you and your daughter have a pleasant trip." He smiled at them, revealing a gap where he appeared to have lost a baby tooth.
"Thank you," said Lily, smiling at his adorable rehearsed lines. She didn't bother to correct his assumption.
"Bye!" called Dinah, jumping the large stairs to the ground.
With another deafening BANG, the bus vanished and the child screamed, wrapping her arms around Lily's waist in terror.
"The bus is gone," Lily soothed, kneeling down to embrace her. "Don't be frightened." She brushed a stray curl from her cheek and kissed her forehead.
Dinah observed their surroundings, the small alley between two large buildings. One looked to be a restaurant and the other a hotel. They saw people eating and drinking through the windows of the building to their left, but the windows of the building on their right all had their curtains drawn back.
Dinah shivered as a gust of wind blew through the alley. "I'm cold, Lily. Can I wear my jacket?" She hugged herself to keep warm.
"Why do you need to ask?" Lily's forehead creased in confusion.
"Mother never liked me to wear it," explained Dinah, pulling her backpack around to her front to unzip it, "because she said it looks like...a bad word. But it's the only one I have."
She plucked it from her bag. It was royal blue with wooden buttons and a crisp collar. The hem fell to her knees. Lily could pick out nothing wrong with it, except for a few scratches on a couple of the buttons.
"Why didn't she like it? I think it's a nice jacket."
"She didn't like the material it was made from," informed Dinah, slipping her arm into a sleeve. "She said it's cheap." Dinah fiddled with the jacket to make herself comfortable once she'd put it on properly.
"Why'd she buy it for you, then?" Lily was liking Dinah's mother less and less with each bit of information she shared.
"She didn't," replied Dinah. "Her friend gave it to me for my birthday, June thirteenth."
"Well, you don't have to ask permission to wear it anymore," said Lily.
Dinah smiled. "Can I wear the hat that came with it, too?"
Lily shrugged. "If you want to."
Happily, Dinah plunged her hand into her backpack and dragged out a paper boy-style hat in the same color as the jacket. She fixed it atop her curly brown head.
"Adorable," Lily praised with an approving smile, taking her hand. Together they walked down the alley and out into the bustling sidewalk. They passed by one of the buildings that made up the alleyway--the restaurant-- and admired the balconies, awnings, and painted shutters. On the building's front the words 'Boulangerie au Berceau d'Or' were painted in black letters. They walked by many buildings similar in design as they traversed the street. It took twice the time to reach the hotel down at the end both because they'd inspected each of the buildings along the way and, despite the fact that it was only late August, everyone seemed to want to go skiing.
Lily took comfort in her surroundings. Sierre was large, open, and full of adventure waiting to happen, Lily figured. Coniferous trees ran down the mountainsides, bushes, flowers--and bushes with flowers--and even more large trees dotted the sidewalk. And the crowd, though foreign to her, appeared to smile at her and Dinah as they walked, welcoming them to the country.
"I think I'm gonna like it here," said Dinah, smiling at Lily.
Lily met the child's eyes. "Me too."
She smiled in return.
O O O