Bringing All the Bad, стр. 15

“Don’t get the idea that they didn’t treat me well, because they did. On the few occasions where I was in the presence of others, they introduced me as their charge, giving me the name Margaret.” Baby paused there, then added, “That wasn’t my name.”

Mel nodded, not wanting to break the spell.

“At any rate, I realized that the young man truly did think doing what he did to me stopped him from doing it to others. Apparently, his parents thought it was a matter of access, but he believed it was some form of magic. I also understood over time that they would do anything to protect the family name, including keeping a child like me. But then…” she trailed off, her brow creasing.

“Then?” Mel prodded.

“Then I didn’t grow up.”

“Didn’t grow up?”

Baby shook her head. “No, not at all. I think they thought there might be something wrong with me or that what was happening to me might be to blame, but after some years, I think they became afraid of me.”

“How long were you there by then? Do you know?” Mel asked. Baby’s story was outlandish, and obviously untrue, but it was a complex one. Whoever had crafted this tale for her had gone to a lot of trouble to make her believe it.

“I’m not sure, but the world had changed. Now, I understand those were the early years of the Great Depression. Then, all I knew is that most of their summer parties had stopped and there were fewer servants in the house.”

Mel wrinkled her brow. That would have to have been several years. “And you hadn’t grown at all?”

Baby shook her head, “No, but then all of the sudden I did. The son got married and went away. As soon as he stopped with me, I grew. Very suddenly. It was very fast.”

“But they just kept you there? Even after their son was gone?”

Baby raised her eyebrows as if Mel had hit upon a point. “Ah, but they weren’t going to.”

“What do you mean?”

“They were going to kill me. They were squeamish about it, but I was going to be tossed from the cliff outside. Just another person who slipped. It happened from time to time.”

“Kill you?” Mel asked, aghast at the idea that anyone would include this in a fairy story. Were these people meant to be the big bad wolf? The wicked witch?

“Yes, but I was in a bad spot with that. What could I do? They weren’t green, they were yellow. That’s the thing about people involved in this kind of deviant behavior. It was almost always men who want to directly harm me. Rarely do women want to have at a strange child. They can go bad too, but they usually go for children they know. But helping to make this kind of thing happen? Women are very good at that sort of evil. No, my magic is aimed directly at men who want to harm me in a very specific way. The parents, well, they were yellow, but they were facilitators. The evil behind the evil.”

Mel was lost now. Most of what Baby had just said made no sense. Green? Yellow? Did that mean envious and cowardly? Is that what the colors meant. Green with envy. Yellow with cowardice.

Holding up a hand for patience, she said, “I’m not clear on what you’re saying. You mean yellow for cowards? They were cowards, but they wanted to kill you?”

Cocking her head as though Mel had told her something entirely new, Baby said, “I hadn’t thought of that, but that does work, doesn’t it? Both of them were indeed very cowardly. But that’s not what I meant. Just forget about the colors. Suffice it to say that they were working themselves up to have me put out of the way.”

“But they didn’t.”

That little enigmatic smile crept up on Baby’s face. “No, but I’d rather not talk about how that happened. Suffice it to say that one day I walked out the front gate with a satchel of silver from the cupboard and a small case of beautifully sewn clothing.”

“What happened then?”

Again Baby gazed off into the distance, her brow creasing in memory. “I’m not sure how long I was out there, but I did sell the silver and I did manage for a time. Even so, a girl as young as I looked couldn’t go entirely unnoticed, so I had to move on. For a time, I tried to remember where I came from or who my people were, but I had simply forgotten them. Mostly, I managed by going from hotel to hotel, saying that I was about to meet my governess when challenged and slipping into unoccupied rooms at night. But then Raymond found me.”

A spike of adrenaline rushed through Mel’s system. A name. Raymond. Could that be the mysterious Papa? Or perhaps the one who had her before Papa, if there was such a person? Keeping the eager note out of her voice, Mel asked, “Who’s Raymond?”

Baby arched a brow. “A very bad man.”

“Tell me if you can. If not, that’s okay too.” Mel was eager to learn anything she could, but she wouldn’t hurt this girl in the doing of it either.

“Of course,” she said, then drew in a deep breath.

Mel could see that this would be painful for her to speak about and she felt torn. She wanted to hear it, but that this would be painful was obvious. She was saved by the interruption of their server, asking if they would like to order more.

Baby looked relieved by the interruption. That decided Mel. Information or not, they had to think first of this young girl’s mental and emotional health. For today, their session was over.

“Just the check, please.”