Green Eyed Girl

Green Eyed Girl

     "Oh, you silly boy!"  The woman's face was flushed, her hands on her hips.
     "But Mrs. Velbral, mother is sick.  Please, do you anything that you can offer?"  The youth spread his hands in a gesture of hopefulness.  The boy was tall and his breaches were to short for his thin, long legs.  "Please, help us ma'am."  He was earnest and totally sincere.  He hated to beg from people that were better off that himself.  It showed weakness, and a state of utter poverty.  God help us all!  He cried within himself as a shiver racked his poorly clothed body.
     "Look at you Nate!  You were once a good boy.  Now you run from house to house beggin' ever since your Pa when to sea."  She brushed her hands on her apron and turned to a servant that stood behind her in the door and whispered something,  "Your father was a coward to have run off to the ocean to escape what he knew was inevitable!  He..."  She was cute off when the boy shouted,
     "You don't know my father!  You don't know why he left either!  You have no right to call him a coward!"  Nate stood his ground.
     "In any case, he left you... and your mother."  She pressed her nose into the air and looked down on the boy,  "It's freezing out here, Nate.  I best be back to fixing tea.  Antonia will be out with a little something."  She whirled around in her day dress.  Looking back at him, she smiled a little,  "I hope your mother is feeling better Nate." Then she disappeared behind the big wooden door.
     Nate shivered again, "Posh, father didn't leave to escape anything!  He had to go..."
     The door opened,  "Hello Nate."  Said an angelic looking girl.  Her dark wavy hair pulled back under a blue bow.  Her apron was also blue.  She pressed a loaf of warm bread into his hands, "It's fresh."  She smiled.
     "Thank you.  you don't know how much this means to me."  He smiled, grateful for what she had given him.
     "Mrs. Velbral isn't that bad once you get to know her."  She said contemplatively as she pinched the cloth of a long winter cloak between her fingers.
     "Oh, I've known her forever.  She has a kind heart, she just says things that ought not to be." He turned to leave.
     "Nate!!!"  The girl cried.  Her green eyes sparkled, "How silly of me!  This is for you."  She held out the cloak. A smile painted her face.
     "Are you sure?"  He asked.  Antonia shook her head.  Nate tucked the bread under his arm and wrapped the cape around his trembling shoulders.  He felt much warmer already.
     "Thank you so much, Antonia.  I will be seeing you?"  Nate grasped the warm loaf of bread beneath his cloak.  His ice cold fingers tingling as they warmed up.
     "God bless Nate."  She turned and was gone inside the large house.

     Later that evening Nate was proud as he stepped over the threshold of their small home, "Mari, I'm back."
     A young girl of about thirteen came solemnly out of the back room.  Her eyes lit up when she saw him holding out the bread, "However did you find this?!"  She exclaimed.
     "Hush, Mari.  Mama is sleeping?"
     "Nate, it's horrible!  She's just burning up!"  She tossed a look in the direction of the back room.
     Nate noticed the blood on his sisters hands,  "Mari, what's the matter with your hands?"
      "Oh, you fatherly thing you!"  She set the bread down and wrapped her fingers with her shawl, "Don't worry about me, Nate.  The basket weaving is rough." She smiled.
      "Where's Tara, Izzi, and Cantin?"
      "They are cuddled in bed already.  They will be happy to see the food!" She took the bread to the table.
     Nate slipped in the little room and knelt next to the sick bed, "Oh, mother.  Do get well."