Saving Maggy Grace

One

My side of the story...my...side...where should I begin? The beginning perhaps? Most of you know my story but I should repeat it because I know that all of this gets written down, correct? And if this story is to be broadcasted to the world I want the satisfaction of knowing that the whole side of my story is told. Let's see...the beginning was so long ago. Most of the coal mines in Matoka, where I live, have been abandoned. This opened a business opportunity for my father. He had been out of work for quite some time. When he was out looking for jobs, I would go and steal food to feed my mother and sister. My father met a wise business man, got connections, and ended up moving us to Matoka, my mother and I. My sister stayed behind for a boy that she had met.

My father and his business partner rescued this city, providing jobs and boosting the economy. My empire estate, which I inherited from my father after he passed, rests on the hill in the corner of town. My place of business, however, which my father built with his own hands, is planted on the yard across from the schoolhouse. If she was going to be forced to spend almost every waking moment there with my father, my mother was going to have the location of her workplace be to her liking. My mother always loved to listen to the children laugh and sing as they were released from school, especially after my father passed. She passed shortly after my father.

And let's see...well I knew Maggy before I really even knew her, if that makes sense.

After both of my parents passed, God bless their souls, I inherited their business and now spend most of my days across from the school yard.

As I walked home from work on one particular afternoon, I noticed that there was a lone girl sitting on the curb in front of the schoolhouse. Usually I would have ignored any children that sat on the yard, but for some reason I desired to help this girl.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Yes, sir," she politely replied.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I asked her again.

"My momma is just late picking me up, sir. I'm fine." But as she said it, her stomach growled so loudly that even I could hear it from where I stood above her. I pulled a chocolate bar and a coke, which I originally had been saving for myself, from the bag that I held in my hand. I gave it to her with a smile and wished her a good evening. She replied, "Thank you, sir, I will, sir." But that next morning while I was reading the paper, I knew that she, in fact, did not have a good evening. Her mother never came for her that afternoon. Maggy, who was only five at the time - the year was...'64 -, walked home to find an ambulance in her drive way. Her mother was dead - she had overdosed on cocaine.

I made an appearance at her wake to show my condolences, but Maggy wasn't there, or at least, I didn't see her there.

In all honesty, after that day on the schoolyard, I never saw her. Not until one day in the summer of '66. I remember standing at my living room window looking over the town, when a small kitten ran between my legs and under the couch. This was followed by small footsteps barreling up my front porch and light knocks on the open door.

"Mister? Mister?" a small voice called followed by more knocks.

"I'm coming," I called. When I got to the doorway a saw a sweet looking little girl standing there with her hands folded neatly in front of her. I'd be lying if I told you that I recognized her as the little girl that I had helped two years ago. "Can I help you, young lady?" I asked her.

"I think that my kitten just ran in to your house." She said quietly.

"Ah, yes, come on in and you can help me catch her."

She was hesitant at first but then took small steps into the front room. I led her into the living room and pointed to the large couch that sat in the middle of the room. "I think you'll find your kitten under there."

She got down on her hands and knees to look underneath the couch. "She's not there." She crawled across the room to look under my chair. "She's not here either." She stood up and pushed dirty strands of her blonde hair from her face.

We spent what must have been the next hour turning the house upside down for her kitten, but she was no where to be found.

"Do you think I've lost her for good?" Maggy asked me. Tears were forming in her little blue-green eyes and she pushed her dirty hair from her face again.

"No, I don't think so." I reassured her. I bent down to my knees so that I was her height and took her small, grimy hands into mine, "I'll tell you what: you go on home, and I'll keep looking for your kitten and when I find her, I'll bring her too you, understand?"

She nodded her head. I stood up again and led her towards the front door. "Where do you live, child?"

"Down on Baker's Street, sir," she said as she wiped a tear from her cheek, "in the little blue house."

I made sure she got back down to the street okay before I closed the door again.

It was almost a whole day before I found the little kitten. I had set a bowl of milk on the floor in the kitchen. The morning after Maggy had come into the house, I found the thirsty, grey kitten eating away.

When the kitten was done eating I gently picked it up. The small kitten nipped at my fingers as I carried it down the road. When I found the little blue house on Baker's Street, Maggy was playing with a rag doll in the front yard.

"Dipper!" she squealed when she saw me. She jumped up from her spot on the lawn and took the kitten from my arms.

"Dipper?" I questioned her peculiar choice of name.

"It's short for Little Dipper, sir, like the consta-consta-"

"Constellation?"

"Yeah that's it." She nuzzled the kitten to her cheek. It was then that I noticed a bruise forming at the corner of her eye.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, pointing to the bruise.

"She's just fine, thank you." A gruff voice came from behind me. I turned around to see a tall, lanky man. He smelled of booze and looked like he hadn't shaved for weeks. "I work hard all day and I come home to you talkin' to a strange man? What am I goin' to do with you, Maggy Grace?" he said crustily.

"Oh he's not a stranger, Daddy, this is Mr. Worley - he lives at the top of the-"

"I know who he is, Maggy, now go inside." He spat.

"Bye, Mr. Worley, sir, thank you for finding Dipper." She said as she turned and ran inside.

I waved to her as the screen door to the small blue house closed, then I addressed her father, "I'm sorry, sir, I-"

"I don't need your apologies, Mr. Worley. Just mind your own damn business and leave my daughter alone. Now get off my property."

"Yes, sir," I said politely.

As I walked home that afternoon, I thought that this was the end. Little did I know that it was only the beginning.

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So here's the first chapter of Saving Maggy Grace! Please, please, please let me know what you think of it! I didn't go through and edit it, I will later though, so forgive any typos. I hope that you like it!

Much Love,

xRebeccaDarling