Page 3 of Borrowed
“Hi,” I spoke over the others.
I wanted to do as I was told.
I was a good girl.
Toby liked good girls.
“My name is Tabby, and Toby is away right now, but he says ‘Hi’ too.”
People always looked around for Toby.They weren’t special like me.Toby didn’t like others.He didn’t want to see anyone but me, not unless he wanted to play.
Will Toby want to play with the Suns?
“Hi, Tabby.Hi, Toby,” the group said all at once.
Their voice sounds made my ears ring.
Ding ding ding, like a church bell.
Was this church?Church had pretty walls of color, not walls, not white.
“Tabby.Like a kitty!I like tabby cats.Hi, Tabby cat.I’m Mila.”
I smiled, but I didn’t like cats.Father’s cat was mean to me after I didn’t want to pet it anymore.I liked bunnies.Bunnies were fun to play with because they liked to scream like me.Trumpet and Delia were nice.
“I like bunnies,” I said, but Mila turned away.Her hair looked soft.I wanted to touch it, but she liked cats.“I don’t like cats.”
Toby didn’t like cats either.He punished the cat that hurt me.
“No one hurts my Zusje,” he’d say, and then a snap sound happened.
Bye-bye, tabby cat.
I missed Toby.
Toby.Toby.Toby.
I didn’t want to be near people that liked cats.I wanted to go home to my bunnies and my brother.
“Dolly, when can I go home to my bunnies?They miss me.”
Trumpet and Delia needed to eat.Maybe if I were gone, they could chew on Father’s tabby cat from the barn.Father wouldn’t be happy when he went in there.
Toby doesn’t like cats.
The white coat lady smiled at me, warm like popcorn and kind, unlike Mother.
Mother was scared.She didn’t like to smile.She only smiled at Toby, but then she said Toby was gone, so now her smile was gone, too.
“Tabitha, you’ll be possibly returning home later this week to visit your mother and father.This is an orientation period for you.Your parents are thinking about you living here with us.Would you like that?”
I frowned.“But I don’t like cats.I like my bunnies.”
Dolly kept smiling, her face cracking in a place like the pottery in Mother’s study.But I wasn’t smiling anymore.
“I hear you like to do crafts.We have an art room, ya know?Would you like to see?”
I like art.
