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Unchained
Soon my days became more ordinary, or at least as ordinary as days living in such an enormous estate with servants could be. For the time being, Kiera seemed to lose interest in me and didn’t come bursting into my room again. Often, she wasn’t at dinner, and if she was, she acted as if I weren’t even there. Perhaps she was convinced that my being sent away was only a matter of time and didn’t require her interference or involvement. Mr. March was often gone on business or very involved in some project he was developing. I had seen little of him since our first dinner together. There was much to keep me busy, however.
Mrs. Kepler came to tutor me five days a week and always stayed the same amount of time. Dr. Milan came once more, and then I was taken to get the X-rays he wanted. He told Mrs. March and me that it was too soon to see if my right leg would continue to grow as normally as my left. I was instructed in how to use the crutch he promised, so the wheelchair was put away. The doctor wanted me to get more exercise and move about as much as possible, and I did feel myself getting stronger every day. As Mrs. Duval was fond of saying, there was light at the end of the tunnel.
Toward the end of the summer, Dr. Milan finally took off the cast, and I felt like a prisoner who had been unchained. But I was walking with a limp. The doctor said I would for a while, if not forever. Still, I was so happy not to have something attached to my body that I almost didn’t care. Suddenly, the world seemed bright again, and hope dared show its face on my horizon. How I wished Mama would have lived to see my recuperation.
On the way back from Dr. Milan’s office, I told Mrs. March that I had finally decided what to have written on my mother’s tombstone. From the way she reacted, I had the feeling she thought I had completely forgotten about it.
“Oh, you have? Why, that’s very nice, Sasha. What have you decided?”
“Under her name and the dates of her birth and death, I want to write ‘who showed her daughter a little bit of heaven.’”
I could see she didn’t fully understand. How could I want to write something like that after being on the streets for nearly a year before her death?
“I don’t know if it can be done,” I added, “but I’d like to see her calligraphy of the word heaven right under that.”
“Oh. Oh, yes,” she said, now realizing why I wanted that. “That work she has on that bar’s wall. How clever. Well, we’ll just find someone who can get it done for us. Do you think that calligraphy is still on the bar wall?”
“I don’t know. I saw it only once when she took me there to see it.”
“Of course. How stupid of me to ask. How would you know, after all? I’ll make some calls when we get home,” she said. “But right now, I thought I’d have Grover drive us to your new school so you can see it. It won’t be long before you’ll be attending. Mrs. Kepler says you’re ready for day one right now.”
I sat back, nervous and excited. I used to love school. Before Mama and I ended up on the streets, it was a wonderful escape from the dreariness of the life we were living. Even when my girlfriends stopped including me in things, I still enjoyed being in my classes. The girls I used to consider my closest friends had still talked to me. They just didn’t suggest anything that would bring us together after school, and then, when they learned that Mama and I had lost our apartment and were living in a hotel room, they had even stopped talking to me unless I spoke to them, and even then, they would answer quickly and look to get away. It was as if they thought what was happening to me and Mama was as infectious as some terrible disease. In the end, I almost didn’t mind not attending school.
When we made a turn and Mrs. March said, “Here we are,” I thought she was mistaken. All I saw were beautiful green lawns, trees, and bushes, but then the building just at the top of a small incline appeared. Right at the bottom was the sign, “Pacifica Junior-Senior High School.”
“Turn in, please, Grover,” she told him, and we started up the driveway. It wasn’t like any school building I had seen, and it looked very new. Everything around it sparkled. Our building at my old school had graffiti smeared on some of the walls, and almost as quickly as it was removed, it reappeared. The windows never looked as clear and as clean as the ones in this building. The frames here looked freshly painted.
The building had two floors, and as we drew closer, I realized it was in an L shape. Off to the right, I could see the ball fields. One had goals for field hockey or soccer, and the other was a baseball field. There was a parking lot on the left with only a half-dozen cars in it.
“The school has a very nice cafeteria and tables outside if you want to eat your lunch outdoors,” Mrs. March began. “At the rear to the left is the gymnasium, and right next to that is the theater.”
“Theater?”
“Well, it’s a really small theater, but it’s equipped with the most up-to-date sound system. I should tell you now that Donald’s … our company … built this school.”
“He builds schools, too?”
“Just this one,” she said, laughing. “It was almost done as a favor. A group of well-to-do people, including two state senators, decided to establish it about twelve years ago and practically begged Donald to take charge of construction. So, if you hear Kiera tell people that it’s her school, that’s what she means
. Actually,” she added after a moment’s thought, “I think she believes it really is her school.”
“How many students go to it?”
“I think it’s just less than three hundred now. It’s only for grades seven to twelve. There’s a sort of sister elementary school that both Alena and Kiera attended. I’m sure you’ll love it here. The classes aren’t very big, so you’ll get lots of personal attention.”
Grover stopped, and I gazed out at it all.
“It looks better than any school I’ve ever seen,” I said.
“The principal is a very nice woman named Dr. Steiner. She has a doctorate in education and has been the principal since the school was established. You’re in Mr. Hoffman’s homeroom class, and he’s your math teacher, as well. I made sure you were in that homeroom. Your homeroom teacher is your personal adviser, too, and he’s one of the best teachers in the school. So you can see, I’m getting everything set up perfectly for you. Doesn’t it look wonderful?”
“Yes,” I said.
“I thought you’d be impressed. Grover, you can take us home now,” she said, and he started back down the driveway.
“Will Kiera go to school with me?” I asked.
