Seagull (My Little Orphan)

Part II: Jacqueline

Jacqueline sat in her car. It was Michelle's eighteen birthday, and she promised her that she would drive her up to the hill so that Michelle could go visit her sister Riley's grave and show her where she and Riley used to live.

"I will show you where the deer and hares live." Michelle said.

"It has been a while since you left the place, how can you be sure that they didn't move?" Jacqueline teased her.

"I am not sure," Michelle said, self-consciously, "We'll see."

She met Michelle almost four years ago at work. A lot of stuff happened in the past four years. First of all, for herself, she finally got her graduate degree and herself a job in one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the city. Also, she broke up with her boyfriend Frank with whom she had a two-year-and-a-half relationship. And then for Michelle, her sister Riley had passed away. It turned out that what Riley had was not pneumonia but something as severe as lung cancer. That was almost two years ago. After Riley passed away, Jacqueline helped Michelle applied for independent living since Michelle had turned sixteen and according to the law she was eligible for such an application if she had a job. That was not an issue for Michelle since somehow she had found a job as a cashier in a grocery store as soon as she turned fourteen and was legal to work, even though the economy was down at that time. It took eight months for Jacqueline to find that part-time job in one of the stores of a chained pharmacy where she met Michelle, and somehow Michelle could always find some work to do as long as she wanted and got paid. Jacqueline supposed that life will not give everything to a person, neither will it take everything away.

Jacqueline was glad that Michelle found a job that Michelle herself really enjoy working on. The owner of the store was a couple in their late forties, the Harrisons, even though it was always the wife who was in charge of the store since the husband had another job as a business analyst for an electrical company. Life always seemed good for Mrs. Harrison as she was always cheerful, and she brought home-baked cookies and pastries once in a while to the store and she talked a lot, so listen to Mrs. Harrison's speech had become part of Michelle's daily work.

If Riley had not passed away, things would have finally been starting to look up for Michelle.

She remembered the night when Michelle came to her. She had been observing her for a while before they finally talked. And then after she discovered that terrible secret of her, she didn't sleep for almost the whole night. At the age of twenty-four, Jacqueline could have tons of reasons why she couldn't fall asleep at night, such as her fights with Frank, her paper that was due in one week, or simply some whip scars on the back of a little waif whom she picked up and took home from her workplace.

She let the child watch while she was preparing medications for her. "It smells so good." The child commented.

"Oh yeah, that was some tea tree oil that I put in." she said, appreciating the compliment.

Later when she applied it to Michelle there was a silent awkwardness. She finished up the patching with great efficiency and care and then she turned to Michelle.

"Hey, thank you for showing me your wounds." She said in a very gentle voice, "it must be really hard for you to face all these and trust and show them to a complete stranger. You've been doing great."

Michelle smiled a little at her in return. Many friends of hers thought that she should probably get an education degree because she was really good with kids.

"So, where do you live?" she asked Michelle.

"109 Ave." Michelle answered with a sigh, "it is really late, there is no bus going there. I should probably go sleep in the train station and catch the earliest train." She looked into Jacqueline's eye, "Thank you so much for checking out my tummy and tending to my wounds, I really...really don't know how to express my gratitude. You're the kindest person I've ever met for a while."