Vivi Misti - Book 5, The Porth Kerensa Series

Flat One, Vivi Misti

Harry Sparkes

Harry looked up at the sound of his name being called and smiled when he spied Faith Jackson thundering down the path towards him. He watched her clumsy gait, carefully; hoping the entire time that she didn’t fall. However, for a child who appeared so ungainly she was surprisingly graceful.

She beamed up at him as she came to a stop and he ruffled her brown hair and handed her the pink trowel that no one else was allowed to use. “Good afternoon, Miss Faith,” he said, cheerily. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Hello, Mr Harry. I would have been earlier, but Mam was ages chatting at the school gate,” she explained gravely in her heavy lisping drawl.

Harry looked up and smiled at Faith’s mother who had finally caught up with her daughter. She looked flustered, trailing Faith’s school coat and bag over her arm.

“Hi Harry,” Sadie said, grinning warmly. “How are you keeping? Are you eating properly?”

“Same as ever,” he replied, gruffly. “I can cope, Sadie. You shouldn’t fuss over an old codger like me. Wasn’t I used to feeding myself anyway?”

“You’re not an old codger,” she scolded. “And I don’t mind feeding you a few times a week, Harry.”

Harry turned away and smiled down at Faith. “How was school?”

“It was wonderbubble,” Faith answered, enthusiastically. “But Miles said I couldn’t be Maria’s friend because I’m not the same as them.”

 Harry glanced up at Sadie in time to see her wince at Faith’s words. He knew her greatest fear was Faith being rejected by the people around her. He also knew that if she was going to give Faith a chance at a fulfilled life, despite her disabiliity, rejection was the hurdle they would have to face over and over again. Damn, Sadie herself knew that already.

Faith hadn’t noticed the tension creeping over the two adults. She smiled and said, “Maria said she didn’t care if I don’t have brown skin the same as them, she loves me anyway.”

Harry laughed with relief. “Maria sounds like a nice little girl.”

Faith threw her mother a sideways glance then leant in towards Harry. “I like Maria a lot and I love Miles,” she confided, quietly. "But sometimes he's horrible to me."

Sadie rolled her eyes, smiled and moved away so Faith could speak freely to her confidante.

“When I was a little boy, the girl I was horrible to the most was the one I secretly loved,” Harry mock whispered. Faith knelt down beside him and began to help dig up the weeds that had sprung up over the weekend.

“I wished he does love me,” Faith replied. “I love him up to the moon. I want to marry him one day.”

Harry felt a lump catch in his throat when he glanced down at the little girl next to him. Did she even know she was so different to the people around her? How could he encourage her dreams without giving her false hope? She was the epitome of optimism and hope, and she saw no reason why she couldn’t grow up and live her dreams. In so many ways she was the same as every little girl of five, with the same hopes and aspirations. How would Sadie deal with that as Faith grew up?

He had questioned the wisdom of sending Faith to the local primary school, fearing that she would be bullied by children who didn’t understand Down's Syndrome. Now, he wondered if they had done her wrong by giving her high expectations for a life she could not possibly live. He hoped Faith wouldn’t be crushed by unrealistic dreams for a future that was out of her reach.