Читать книгу The Parting Glass - Emilie Richards - Страница 18

Bridie had an insatiable need to connect with people, and Kieran had as strong a need to keep them at bay. Yet the two children were fascinated by each other. She was an intelligent girl, with problem-solving abilities far advanced for her age. She saw Kieran’s desires and needs as puzzles to assemble so that, in the end, the picture that emerged would please everyone. She didn’t gush, and she didn’t ask for more than he would give. She seemed to have no need for hugs or kisses. When he shouted “hi” in her direction, she took it as her due. When he threw himself on the floor in an exhausted temper tantrum, she raised her slight shoulders as if to say “I warned you he was reaching his limit.”

Bridie was almost a daily visitor now, and Peggy had quickly grown dependent on the eleven-year-old’s common sense and insight, as well as her help.

“Red.” Bridie picked up a red sweater and dropped it on the small table where Kieran was sitting in the “classroom” Peggy had made for him. She picked up a red slipper she’d brought from home and put that on the table, too. “Red.” A third item, a lovely polished apple, followed the other two. “Red.”

Kieran showed as little interest as usual, standing, then wandering around the table. Peggy gently guided him back to his little chair, and when he sat at her instruction, she gave him a tiny fish-shaped cracker.

Bridie had cleared the table in the interim. This time she set out a giant red crayon. “Point to red,” she said. “Where’s red, Kieran?”