what you sow

[katrea]

On the doorstep of a townhome in New York City, a basket is placed.

The doorbell rings.

There are footsteps, and then there are not.

Comments

[queensidecastle]

"Gooood question," says Chris.

She gets up.

"I'm gonna go think about this. If she wakes up, can you ask her where she came from?"

[pythbox]

"Okay."

[queensidecastle]

Away goes Chris.

[katrea]

It doesn't take that long for the small girl to open her eyes and start trying to squirm out of her blankets, looking around with bleary confusion.

[pythbox]

The somewhat less small girl reaches into the basket to help disentangle her.

[katrea]

Eventually she is disentangled, and sitting in her basket.

"Where'm I?" she wants to know. Her accent is strange - not American. Closer to Scottish than anything else, but not that close.

[pythbox]

"In my house. In New York. What's your name? I'm Elizabeth."

[katrea]

"I -" The girl blinks, and looks down at herself. "I - I don't know."

[pythbox]

"...What do you know?" says Elizabeth. "Do you know where you came from?"

[katrea]

The girl shakes her head slowly. "I'm not... just... new?" she asks haltingly.

[pythbox]

"Well, you're new here," Elizabeth says consideringly, "but you have to have come from somewhere. And the doorbell rang, and you were sleeping so you didn't do it, so somebody has to have rang it and then put you down and ran away."

[katrea]

The basket child takes this in solemnly.

[pythbox]

"And you're too big to be a baby, and you can talk. Babies can't talk," she says.

[katrea]

"Okay," says the basket girl. "I can talk."

[pythbox]

"Yeah. So you're not a baby. So you came from somewhere and you weren't just born in front of my house. But you don't remember anything?"

[katrea]

Basket-girl shakes her head, frowning.

[pythbox]

"My aunt is going to try to find your parents," says Elizabeth.

[katrea]

The basket-child blinks owlishly at this pronouncement. "Why?"

[pythbox]

"In case you got kidnapped from them or something, I guess," she says.

[katrea]

"Why would that happen?"

[pythbox]

"I dunno."

[katrea]

"Oh." The basket girl begins to climb out of the basket, not particularly gymnastic about it.

[pythbox]

Elizabeth watches closely, in case she needs help.

[katrea]

The basket girl tips the basket over in the process of emerging, and winds up under it.

[pythbox]

Elizabeth lifts up the edge of the basket and peers at the girl underneath.