the summer i was ten

[deepest_magic]

Bella is ten. School has let out; she spends one week at the beach with Renée, celebrating, and then from there Renée drives her up to Forks, and drops her off, with many hugs. Charlie picks her up, with some hugs, although not as many; it's not his way. Bella settles in for the summer. It is, if nothing else, cooler up here.

Comments

[neverbeatme]

There is a new kid in town. Her name is Elizabeth Kirsch and she has an aunt named Christine, who goes by Chris and works as a computer security consultant. They moved here a few months ago.

She finds Bella within a few days of her arrival.

[deepest_magic]

Bella's not exactly unknown in town - everyone knows Chief Swan, and that Chief Swan has a daughter who's around summers - but this is unusual. She has been sitting in the front yard on a rare clear day, with a book, and she is puzzled to find a child of her own age paying attention to her.

"...Hi."

[neverbeatme]

"Hi," says the stranger. "What are you reading?"

[deepest_magic]

"It's an omnibus of Dr. Dolittle," says Bella.

[neverbeatme]

"I haven't read it. Any good?"

[deepest_magic]

"It's cute. The animals all have peculiar names, I'm not sure why."

[neverbeatme]

"Define 'peculiar'."

[deepest_magic]

"Dab-Dab. Jip. Gub-gub," says Bella. "It's almost like onomatopoeia - for a duck, a dog, and a pig - but since the animals talk perfect sense as far as the Doctor is concerned I don't know why that would be how they're named. It doesn't seem like it could much distinguish them from other ducks and dogs and pigs, does it? Even if they wouldn't use human sounds they could use words. The parrot talks English," she adds, "and is named Polynesia. For some reason. I don't even know if there are parrots in Polynesia."

[neverbeatme]

"Maybe they talk perfect sense except when it comes to names, and he's just doing his best with what they sound like. And the parrot just likes the sound of 'Polynesia'."

[deepest_magic]

"All right," says Bella, "then how do you explain the pushmi-pullyu?"

[neverbeatme]

"...What?"

[deepest_magic]

"It's a two-headed gazelle-unicorn cross," says Bella brightly, "and that is its only name. It's very shy, and whenever it tries to go somewhere its heads can't agree on where."

[neverbeatme]

"I have," she says, "no explanation for the pushmi-pullyu."

[deepest_magic]

"My explanation is that the heads can't agree on a name. So that is just what it's called, since they have to call it something."

[neverbeatme]

"Reasonable theory."

[deepest_magic]

"You only have one head," Bella says. "What's its name?"

[neverbeatme]

"Elizabeth. Or any variation," she says. "I like my name, it's so collapsible."

[deepest_magic]

"My name is a little collapsible too. I collapse it to Bella."

[neverbeatme]

"Nice to meet you, Bella."

[deepest_magic]

"You too. Do you live around here?"

[neverbeatme]

"No," she says in perfect deadpan, "I walked here from Port Angeles just to talk to you."

[deepest_magic]

"Well," says Bella loftily, "I am very important."

[neverbeatme]

Elizabeth-or-any-variation giggles.

[deepest_magic]

"Why did you walk however far to talk to me, though? Usually nobody bothers. I'm only here summers."

[neverbeatme]

"But you are here summers," she says. "How else am I going to find out if you're worth talking to than by trying it?"