Under a Sky on Fire by Suzanne Kelman

Author:Suzanne Kelman [Kelman, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838887957
Published: 2020-10-12T18:30:00+00:00

The next morning when Lizzie woke up, she could feel the tiny body curled in front of her. She had tried to settle the young girl in Tom’s bed, and Julia had even given her some of his toys for comfort, but in the middle of the night, Lizzie had felt the girl crawling into the bed beside her, and she hadn’t had the heart to take her back. Now she looked down at her, breath rising and falling in an easy rhythm, wisps of fair hair grazing her scarlet cheeks. Lizzie was in awe of the innocence of her, the pure perfection of her tiny features. It would be hard to take her to the Red Cross today, but Lizzie had to do what was right. A parent could be heart-sick and looking for her, and Lizzie knew how it felt to live with that kind of anguish.

Once she’d got her up and dressed, Julia gave her some of Maggie’s old clothes, and they had walked to the local Red Cross building. All the way there the wide-eyed child had clung to her, a tiny hand tight and clammy in Lizzie’s own. As she waited her turn, Lizzie looked around at all the people in line with her. Many looked bereft or heartbroken; she knew a lot of them were there looking for news of a loved one that was missing.

When she finally got to the front of the queue, the Red Cross volunteer had informed her that this wasn’t the right building, that she needed to be taken to another place across town where they were taking in the orphans. Just hearing the word ‘orphan’ made something in Lizzie’s stomach tighten. Maybe it was because of her own experience with her daughter, or perhaps it was just the thought of placing this precious little child into a system she wasn’t even sure could really support all she needed right now.

‘It’s the best we can do until her parents are found,’ the Red Cross worker informed her, looking down at her charge. ‘What’s your name, dear?’ asked the woman in a chirpy, friendly manner.

The girl’s eyes just widened with fear and she buried her head into Lizzie’s skirt.

‘She hasn’t spoken since I found her,’ explained Lizzie in a whisper, smoothing down the mane of blonde flyaway hair.

‘Poor little thing,’ responded the woman, shaking her head and pursing her ruby red lips. ‘We have two or three of them a day, you know, children, waifs and strays turning up lost. But most find their parents.’ She tried to reassure Lizzie. ‘She seems to be attached to you though,’

Lizzie didn’t like the sound of the word ‘most’, and suddenly she felt even more connection and obligation to this little lost soul. She thought of her own daughter out there somewhere amongst all this terror and hoped that she wasn’t wandering about looking for a place to belong, being labelled a waif and stray.

After they left the building, she had walked them to the park, and Lizzie realized she needed to find out the child’s name.

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