First Page

“Did you know that little fairy godmothers were once believed to come along when a child was born and grant wishes?” Gran bent down and pinched her thumb and first finger close together, “They were tiny people this tall with wings and magic wands.”

The little girl with bright blue eyes and dark brown hair giggled in response.  Gran gave a big smile in return, “What would you wish for? What is it you really want?”

The little girl scrunched up her nose in thought. She was unsure how to answer. Several minutes of deep five year old contemplation passed and Gran raised her eyebrows opening her face in a teasing and friendly way.

“To know.” The little girl said as she smoothed out her coloring pages.

The older women leaned back in her chair, slightly surprised. After taking a moment of thought she asked, “To know what? Don’t you think learning at the Requirements will teach you?”

“Maybe.” Her small held tilts to the left side as she grabs her green coloring stick, “I want to know everything. Can I learn everything at the Requirements?” The last word is almost too big for such a small child to pronounce correctly.  “If I can, then I want to be strong, stronger than anyone. Just like super heroes.”

The little girl tilted her head to the right and reflected upon her coloring page. She had stayed perfectly in the lines and systematically shaded each area in the appropriate color. The grass was outlined in a dark green then filled in with a lighter green. The sun was outlined in orange and shaded with yellow. The bird had already been discussed. It was decided it would be a blue bird like the Jays that could be seen in the park. Everything met with her approval so far and she reached for the dark brown coloring stick which was for coloring the bunny.  “Can I be as strong as a boy?”

Gran was brought back into the moment by her great niece’s question, “Maybe we should have named you Eve instead of Ariadne.”

“Eve? Who’s Eve?” she asked while continuing to focus on the outline of the bunny. This was an important step in coloring. She had to get it right. It couldn’t be too far in the blank space or outside the lines.

“You want to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eve did that.” The older woman’s glass blue eyes were staring off into the distance, but she was seeing a different time and place.

“What’s that story, Gran?” Aria eagerly asked. She always loved Gran’s stories because they were nothing like what she was heard while at Requirements.

Gran stood up, clapping her open palms on her thighs as she leaned down to Aria’s level, “That, my Aria, is a story for another day.  Now, I believe it is someone’s birthday and I may have a cake around here somewhere for the birthday girl.”

There was a happy squeal then a brunette flash jumping from the table and running to the food module.  A brown coloring stick rolled off the table and on to the floor, in a rare moment of forgotten haste.