28 Clever Little Thing

The Little Red Haired Girl

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Body decided to pivot again to assess another moonlit slice of the circular Pumphouse prison wall. The pain Body felt as she moved was excruciating and was made worse by the awkward position she was in because the Little Red Haired Girl was sleeping on her lap. Body moved slowly as it didn’t want to wake the child.

What could the eyes see in the moonlight?
Eyes blinked and strained as they thought they saw sparkles amongst the dark.
“Its condensation on the walls” Brain announced ” you need to stop breathing and adding to the moisture” it laughed.
“Ssh don’t wake her”
“I won’t, she’s dreaming.”
“I wish I was.” Body winced as it shifted slightly. “I am in so much pain.”

“Oh stop complaining, we are all suffering in here not just you. I am racking myself trying to think of a way out of here, and all you are worried about is yourself. You are so selfish. And why would you bring the little one with you? She doesn’t deserve it.”

“We are attached and inseparable, my inner child, she goes with me everywhere.”

“Well I don’t think that she should be. She shouldn’t be in this position trapped in this prison. She’s only a child.”

“This may be difficult for you to understand Brain but you brought her in here as well. We all did” Body replied.
“We all did?” questioned Brain.

“We did” called Spirit “and I for one am glad we did. After all, who else would have kept us distracted from being in this horrible place with stories of hope and innocence?”
“You’re absolutely right” Nana confirmed “she is a gift and we should love her for it.”
“She is meant to be here with us” sighed Soul “this is part of her path, her contract and destiny. Part of our healing.”

“Oh really” huffed Brain “you have no proof of any of that and I am fed up of hearing about it. Its only recently that I’ve heard from any of you guys. Only since Noswad put us in here. He lied, he cheated and made us feel unworthy. Not good enough for him. A second choice or even third who knows! All I know was that we were the last on his list. Not content with that only he even assassinated our character!”

“We know, but we also allowed it” called Spirit.
“True” said Brain “we put ourselves in that scenario of setting up home with him, accepting his marriage proposal despite my own advice. Did I not tell you?”

“It took me a long time to learn and accept that he wasn’t ever true to me” Heart whispered.

Heart was finally speaking and the words whispered into the air stuck in the condensation on the walls like tears on a child’s sticky face.

Soul sighed into the silence eventually and spoke gently “That’s because you had a past life contract with him that needed to be resolved in this lifetime. Hard lessons that had to be learnt on both sides.”

“That’s why I couldn’t figure out why I gave up! Why all my joy left. Why all my bravery and fight finally left me” Spirit agreed.

“And I was working overtime to get the house finished and ready for him. He had no comprehension of the practical work I had done nor could he see and have patience for the work I still had to do” Body whined.

“And he blamed me! For mismanaging the house renovations, making poor decisions about the builders and jobs I chose to prioritise. Circumstances he knew nothing about” huffed Brain.

“Well you did make those choices” Body reminded Brain.

“That’s only because of that so called Friend of yours Heart. You know the one that advised us and you believed had the best of intentions for us” Brain retorted.
“Why wouldn’t I believe her? She was my best friend, she would wish me no harm” Heart cried.

“And look where it got us. A house still not finished by her recommended builder (who did amazing work for her by the way), lazy Noswad has run for the hills and straight into her arms from her poisonous words and betrayal. And here we are trapped with Heart break, overwhelmingly tired and almost out of money to be able to finish the house. We will have to sell it as it is and take a loss.”

“Just a minute Brain” sighed Soul “we are here to believe in the good in people, why would one expect the bad? We have to trust and offer the hand of friendship believing in good over bad, right from wrong, holy from evil, and that takes courage.”

“I know” Spirit agreed “it takes all of my bravery every time I do it. And sometimes, as I get older and stripped by life of my courage, I don’t want to do it anymore. The result is it makes me dull and cynical and I don’t want to be like that.”

“Thats all very well but with all that past experience and knowledge you recognise, should you not recognise a bad person when the eyes see one?” huffed Brain.

“I don’t want to believe that of them” called Spirit.

“Nor should you Spirit, neither do I. It kills me every time” sighed Soul.

“Can we not learn, can we not fit the jigsaw pieces together about what we are being shown about someone and finally learn some discernment. I keep telling you all that….”
“Shut up Brain!” they all said including the Little Red Haired Girl who was now wide awake from all the chatter bouncing off the round walls. “What’s dis..dis” she couldn’t say it.

“Discernment?” said Body “I don’t think you need to know that yet little one.”
“Is it like Nana’s jigsaw?”
“Not sure” Body replied exhausted.
“Nana made it fun! My little brother’s jigsaw was too easy, and there was nothing else to play with, so we did it upside down without the picture. It was fun and then the rain stopped and she let me play outside in the garden.”

“I think actually, that is a very good description of discernment, you cannot just believe in what you see” sighed Soul.

“Clever little thing” laughed Spirit.
“That’s because she is my ancestor, my little love” Nana was tearful but grew an inch in stature.

“That’s because she is a child of mine full of innocence and trust. It is how I designed them all to be born. What happens after that is along their path” said the now familiar voice “their family, their choices, their freewill decides the rest.”