Serenay Moon
Special XXXIII: Through the eyes of a sister I
©2003 Kitty Ocean

 

She played a bit with her food. Silently all ate. She looked to the empty chair on the other side of the table. A few weeks ago it had been full again, but now it seemed emptier than ever.

"Well Star, how was your day?" Her father asked.

Starleen raised her shoulders. "It was okay."

"Did you finish that book on minerals I gave you?" He then asked.

Starleen nodded. "It was okay. Just very simply written."

Her parents stared at her. "S- s- simple?" Her mother asked.

Starleen saw her parent's faces and put her fork down. "May I be excused?" She asked and when her father nodded she stood up and walked away.

Her mother looked at her daughter walking away. "This is the 5th time this week." She sighed.

"She misses her." Her father concluded. "We all do. Now that we know where she is... she seems further away than ever." He put his fork down too. "Even though this time she is on Earth."

 

Starleen walked into her room. She took a brush and brushed her long fiery hair. She then laid the brush down and took a photo of herself winning a spelling contest when she was young. She smiled while she remembered it. Star turned the photo frame and took something from the back. She put the frame back and walked towards her bed. She spread the photos out over her bed.

Starleen looked at the pictures. The first one already gave her a smile. It was a class-picture from her in kindergarten.

  

The kids sat in a circle around the teacher, singing a simple song. After the song, the teacher smiled. "That was very good!" She complimented. "You all sing very pretty. Now that we have finished singing, we can do our chores. You can pick whatever you want. Go on!" The kids jumped up and ran to all sides of a classroom. Soon the teacher heard some cries. "Samuel, Nicky, there are already 2 kids playing in the building corner. You'll have to pick something else."

"But I was here first!" The little boy cried.

"No he was not!" One of the kids in the building corner said. "We were here first!"

"Come on Samuel and Nicky, why don't you go draw something?" The teacher suggested. Reluctant, the kids accepted their teacher's suggestion. She sighed for a moment, when she felt someone tucking on her skirt.

"Miss, I want to do a puzzle."

The teacher kneeled down. "That's okay... eh..." She checked the colour of the sweet dress. "Eh... Kitty?" Kitt looked happily. "You can get a puzzle with a blue sticker."

Kitt ran off when someone else tucked on the teacher's skirt. "I want to do a puzzle too!"

The teacher looked down. "Okay Starleen." She smiled. Since she now knew who Kitt was, Star wasn't that hard to remember. "You can get a blue sticker too!" Starleen dashed off and the teacher talked to herself. "Starleen is pink... Kitty is blue... I so hope they won't change that!"

Kitt threw the 8-piece puzzle on the table. With her tongue out of her mind, she tried to solve it (for a 4-year-old an 8 piece puzzle can be quite hard!).

The teacher looked around, if everything was going all right in her class. "Miss, I'm done."

She looked down. "Already Star?" She asked. "But you just started it!"

"It was easy!" Star proudly smiled. "Can I take a green one?"

"Sure Star." She smiled and Star ran off again.

Kitt finally managed to get 2 pieces to each other. Proudly she looked at it! Already 2 pieces on the right place!

"I'm done Miss." Star showed the puzzle. "Can I take a yellow one?"

'Already?' The teacher thought, 'But it's only her second week! Maybe she doesn't do them at all!' "Sure Star, but this time I want to see if you can solve a yellow one just as fast."

Star picked a nice puzzle with farm animals. She flipped it over and put all 16 pieces back where they belonged. Suddenly she saw an extra piece. "Oh, this one is yours Kitty! Look, there is fits!" And she placed it where it belonged. Happily she showed the puzzle to her teacher. "Can I take an orange one?" And while the teacher agreed on her getting another puzzle, Kitt looked sad at the 4 pieces that were on their place.

"Can I take a red one?" Star asked after a while. The teacher nodded a bit astounded. The red ones had 24 pieces! No 4-year-old in her class had ever accomplished that! Star happily took a puzzle with a red sticker. She put it on the table and saw Kitt finally putting her 5th piece in the puzzle. Star ignored the sad face of her sister and flipped the puzzle over.

First she did the edges and then the centre. After only 7 minutes she was already done! "That was easy!" She told the teacher. "Can I have a harder puzzle?"

"Harder?" The teacher asked.

Star nodded. "Yes, one with 50 pieces!" The teacher looked confused. "Or wait, with 100! I bet that is a lot harder than 24!"

The teacher was astounded. "How... how did you know there were 24 pieces?"

"I counted them!" Star said like it was the most normal thing in the world. "Look, there are 3 rows of 8 pieces. Can I go to the 6th grade and borrow a puzzle there?"

The teacher didn't know how to react. "Miss, I'm done." She looked down and saw Kitt with her puzzle. It was finally done. "Can I have a red one too?"

The teacher shook her head- at least this was something she was used too! "No Kitty, they are too hard for you. You should practise with the blue ones first."

"But I want a red one!" Kitt replied.

"Can I go to the 6th grade?" Star asked again.

The teacher tried to think clear. "Sure." She then said. "But you are not going alone!"

Star grabbed Kitt's hand. "Come on Kitty, we are going to the 6th grade to get a puzzle!" And while they left, the teacher looked very confused at them.

 

That afternoon, Kitt and Star were at home again. "How was your day?" Their mother asked.

Star smiled. "I did a puzzle with 100 pieces!"

"That's nice sweetie." Her mother replied not believing. "And what did you do Kitty?"

"Nothing." Kitt replied sulking.

"That's not true." Star said. "She did a puzzle with 8 pieces and it took her really long!"

"Really?" Their mother gave them something to drink. "Well, go do something for yourselves, mommy wants to finish her book."

"Okay!" Star ran away with her glass.

"No running in the house Star!" Her mother shouted and left.

Kitt saw her mother leaving. She drank her glass empty and tried to put it on the table. It was so high, but finally she managed to get it there. She then accidentally pulled a photo down. It was a photo with all kinds of fishes.

Kitt looked at it... and took a pair of (kid) scissors.

 

After a while, Starleen came back with a doll. "Kitty, you want to play with me?" She asked.

"No." Kitt replied and tried to put the pieces back together.

"What are you doing?" Star asked, when their mother came back in.

"Now, where did I put that photo of..." She then spotted the pieces on the ground. "Don't tell me... Kitty what did you do?!" She kneeled down and looked at the cut photo. "Just look at this! This was a photo that Clara gave me! How could you do this?"

"I wanted a puzzle..." Kitty replied softly.

"There are enough puzzles in the closet!" Her mother took all the pieces.

"Those are blue ones!" Kitt yelled. "I want red ones!"

"What are you talking about?" Her mother took the scissors away too. "They have all kinds of colours!"

"They are blue ones!" Kitty yelled again. "I want red ones!"

"Enough Kitty, go to your room!" Her mother send her away.

Starleen looked at her running away. She then looked at the final pieces her mother took from the ground and looked sad.

 

In her own room Starleen took a piece of paper and started drawing on it. She drew something that looked like stars and fishes and made the whole sheet full. Then she sneaked out of her room and walked through the hallway.

She walked to the door at the end of the hallway. She looked around and heard her mother was vacuum-cleaning the room. Star took the handle and pulled it down. She looked inside the dark room. There were a lot of books in there and Star knew it was forbidden to come here... daddy's home office.

But Star ignored it and walked to a big machine. She remembered what her father had told her.

 

'Daddy, what is that?' She had asked once.

Her father had lifted her up. 'That Star, is a Xerox (copying machine). I can copy things with it.'

'What is copy?' Star had wanted to know.

Her father had put a sheet on the glass. 'With this machine I can make more of something. Look, I press this button...' The machine had started buzzing and giving off a bright light. 'and now I have 2 of this.'

 

Star put her drawing on what she believed was the glass plate of the copying machine. With her tiny fingers she tried to find the right button. Suddenly the machine started humming and a light escaped from it. Seconds later, a piece of paper rolled out of it... her drawing.

At least, a copy of it... partly then. It was all twisted; Star knew she hadn't had put it right on the copying machine, but it had to do. Her mother had stopped vacuum cleaning and maybe she could hear it!

Star sneaked out of the room into her room again.

 

Later that day, the door to Kitt's door opened. "Leave me alone!" Kitt yelled, but Star ignored her. She walked in, seeing her sister with a big plush fish in her arms.

"I have something for you." Star gave a piece of paper with all sorts of cut pieces on top of it. "It's a puzzle! I made it myself! And here is a picture of how it should look."

Kitt didn't look at it. "I don't want it." She angry replied.

"It has 25 pieces..." Star saw her sister was very sad. "I made it for you... It has 25 pieces so it's harder than the ones at school..."

Kitt looked for a moment at it. "Leave me alone." She said again.

Star left the room, feeling very sorry for her sister. She wanted to turn back, but instead of that she looked through the keyhole of the door.

Star saw Kitt trying to solve the puzzle... and Star smiled.


The end. 

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