sunshine baby

A tiny smile touched Gondoline’s face- a private smile, one exchanged between friends who shared a secret- and she scooted discreetly forward so as to witness the little scene being acted out for her benefit. The importance of the hat having thus been explained, the girl nodded understandingly and whispered, “Freddie is a bad boy,” like it was the worst insult a girl could give. And, to Gondy, whose mother prided herself on her daughter’s upstanding moral character, it was.

Her time out was to be ten minutes, a cruel punishment for an active four year old. Gondy plopped down in her corner and sighed, staring down at her boots. She glanced around idly, twirling her hands through her hair. She wished she could go back to her friend, make sure she got her hat, and that Jasmine and Kiera were safe. But one wasn’t permitted to visit those in time out, so for the next ten minutes, anyway, Gondoline could only speculate.

Betony nodded, a wide smile breaking across her childish face. She held up the dolls again. "Be'ony says tell Gondy thank you for getting her hat back." Kiera's entire body bobbed back and forth as she talked, waving animatedly about. She paused and then Jasmine repeated the action as she "spoke" 

Wholly dedicated to this little play of theirs, Gondoline almost didn’t notice when her friend answered her question- but when she did notice, she giggled. “Sally isn’t a boy’s name!” she insisted, bemusedly confused. She wasn’t rude about it, of course, but mildly insistent, confident in the truth of her statement. Being one with such a unique and obsolete name herself, Gondoline should have recognized that it would be indeed possible for a boy to be named Sally, but the mind of a four year old doesn’t always see in shades of grey.

There was no time to mumble out to Gondoline that her hair wasn’t normally so short or stammer that the boy who’d taken her hat had put bubblegum in it the day before. Betony watched, tears still streaming, as her new friend bolted after the boy. She clung to the caretaker as she watched the door, waiting for them to reappear.

Gondoline focused intently on the smoothing and preening of her doll, all the while listening somewhat foggily to her new friend. But when she heard the doll’s name she perked up, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. “Keira,” she repeated, testing it in her mouth. Then, “Who is Sally?”

Finding that her toy's hair could not be controlled easily, the little blonde soon gave up and set about moving her towards the other doll. "Hm?" she said absent-mindedly as she had Kiera "shake" Jasmine's hand. "He's my sister's boyfrien'." Betony did not think to explain that his named was actually much longer and more complicated - hence why she knew him only by a shortened version. 

Warmth spilled over Gondoline’s chest as the girl finally accepted her gift. Satisfied, she tuned her attention to the issue of the dolls, following after her friend as she dipped in front of the doll box. The dark haired girl mimicked, stooping down to sift through the mountain of toys for her own special favorite- a rather old and somewhat worn Princess Jasmine doll, clothed conspicuously in Aurora’s blue gown, hair loose and ratty yet tenderly cared for by the hands of her pseudo-owner.

Betony waited impatiently for her new friend to choose, watching curiously as the little brunette dug about in the bin of toys. Once a doll was chosen (once she'd never seen before), she plopped down next to the girl on the carpet. Looking the Jasmine doll over, she scrunched up her lips before looking down to the red-headed toy in her arms.

The little girl was very confused when her companion didn’t accept the proffered gift, and she slid her lower lip out into a tiny pout. “I want you to have it,” she insisted, stretching her palm out again. “You are sad. You need it to make you happy. It’s lucky!” Somehow, Gondoline believed that ‘lucky’ was a certainly sound argument for why the girl should take it. She wouldn’t take no for an answer this time, determination flashing in her eyes.

Frantically popping off her seat, Betony grabbed at the round little coin, gripping onto it fiercely. Hugging it to her chest, she nodded quickly, not wanting to upset or anger her new friend. "T-thanks!" she offered quickly, tucking the penny into one of her pockets. Chewing on her bottom lip, she glanced back to the brunette and found her smiling.

Gondoline wasn’t sure why this girl was upset, but she was; visibly so. The toddler shifted uncomfortably in the boots the blond just complimented her on. “Thanks,” she chimed as cheerfully as she could manage. “You have a sad face on.”

Bee couldn't really think of much else to do other than nod sadly, carefully and swiftly using the back of one hand to wipe at her nose before gripping the yarn again. She watched curiously as the brunette brought out a penny her lower lip jutted out. 

Her mother was convinced that it would rain today according to the weather channel, so Gondoline ventured to daycare complete in a tiny yellow raincoat and tall pink rainboots. Her long black hair spilled out of her hood, sitting, unruly, on both of her shoulders. So far it hadn’t rained, though the sky was clouding over with thick, puffy gray blobs. The sunlight bled through them white and cold, inspiring the little girl to stare above and wish, fervently, for her mother to be wrong, and for the golden sunlight she knew and loved to shine through.

Even though the day had barely started, at least two of the workers had knelt down next to the blonde, asking why she didn't get up and go greet her many friends. Bee stubbornly refused to answer, pink little lips pressed together in silence.