Death All Around:

“You can come in now. I’m in my pajamas and the radiator is warming me up some,” called Grace as she rubbed her hands together trying to warm herself. A stern, middle-aged nurse entered Grace’s room. The nurse placed Grace’s supper tray on the side table next to the little girl’s bed. Without a word, the nurse went to the bedroom door to exit. Grace knew her counselor was going to be mad when the nurse who puts her to bed came in and didn’t give her any medicine with her dinner. Grace ask the nurse “Why no shot?” “Miss Reagan is going to see you any minute and I will be back afterwards,” said the evening shift nurse placing the food tray on the side table next to Grace. Grace looked over the tray of food the nurse had placed before her and wrinkled her nose. The broccoli looked slightly over cooked and limp. The chicken was rather pale looking in color. The color of the almost cold chicken was similar to the complexion of Miss Reagan, and her dark auburn hair accentuated her pallor. Miss Reagan reminded Grace of her grandmothers. The elderly woman was strict, disapproved when Grace broke the rules and she felt like the counselor wanted to scold her. But like Grace’s Nana, she would just talk and talk until Grace felt bad about what she had done. If they were away from this horrible school, Grace bet Miss Reagan would put the young girl over her knee, but one of the older girls told Grace that if she told the School Master that Miss Reagan had hit or hurt her in some other way, the school would fire her, and hire a new counselor. But before Grace could think another thought the door opened and in walked Miss Reagan practically shouting. “Grace Ann Francis! Good grief child, are you all right? What on earth happened today? You terrified the entire staff. You had the entire state of Minnesota looking for you. We had to lock down all of the other friends and the Minnesota State Patrol was searching around the outside of the campus with their dogs.” Normally, Miss Reagan had such a soft voice but now her voice filled the small bedroom. As Miss Reagan entered Grace’s room, she kind of, looked like a marionette dancing into her room, finally flopping down into an over stuffed chair. Grace sat on the edge of her bed and said quietly “I’m sorry Miss Reagan. I just wanted to be alone so I could think. You know, to remember things so that I don’t forget them.” Not always being able to remember, Grace forced herself to remember the many places, people and how they came together to make the times they linked to make her life. It seemed like hiding and thinking real hard let her keep together the parts in her life. Grace may only be ten but she felt so full of thoughts and stories, like movies playing over and over in her head. So when she hid, the pictures slow down, her brain would get quiet and she and Jake, her oldest friend from childhood would sit and talk with her. As soon as they were alone, Jake would come and the first thing he’d say was “Grace Ann Francis”. Her first name was chosen from and is the same as her mother’s grandparent’s last name. Grace’s mother, Lilith, loved that name because her grandparents were extremely wealthy and her mother’s thinking was that by naming her daughter thus, their little family would hold higher favor with the affluent grandparents. Grace’s mother never seemed to really care for them though. Lilith was like that. Lilith could be nice to a person then behind their back, call them a name as she walked away. Jake said Grace’s mother was a liar because of Lilith’s many tricks. For one, Lilith named her daughter after Grace’s great-grandparents, in order to have a larger sum of money for her family to inherit. When Jake told Grace about her mom’s plan, Grace started to cry. Then Jake held her hand and told her that it didn’t matter though cause “Grace” was the prettiest name that any little girl could ever have, and that happened when Grace was five. Now that Grace was almost ten, she better understood the dynamics of her family. Unlike Grace’s mother, Lilith, Grace learned not to tell lies or to say things to people in order to get them to do what she want. “Now, Grace, are you finally ready to tell me about your family? I would like you to start from the very beginning. You can continue to eat your dinner while I ask you some questions. First, tell me about your father, “said Miss Reagan trying to break Grace out of her deep thoughts.