"Hallo?" The older woman inquired, she had been trying to catch Heidi's attention for a while now, but the girl was far too deep into her thoughts to notice. She quickly looked back up to find this stranger a few centimetres away from her face. She let out a screech and fell backwards, the lady swiftly grabbed her arm and prevented a quite catastrophic event. Heidi's eyes frantically wandered from the fountain to the lady. The poor thing looked almost translucent, the winter hadn't done her skin much good. The woman gave Heidi a slight smile and let out a sigh mixed with a chuckle.
"Oh dear! I'm ever so sorry. I believe I scared you" She started. She had indeed scared the life out of her. "If you had fallen in and come out all wet I would have felt horrible, I assure you."
This lady was definitely a talkative one. Heidi was still processing what just happened, her heart was going wild inside her chest. She had really scared her. The stranger sat down on the border of the fountain just next to Heidi with a deep sigh. Heidi gazed at her in both confusion and fear, she felt a little uncomfortable. Who even was this? What did she want? I told her that she certainly meant no harm, she didn't strike me as the type to hurt innocent children. Heidi was not reassured and although I'm sure she heard me, she turned away from the woman avoiding any sort of contact with her. The woman noticed this and scooted away from her just a little, Heidi then looked back up out of curiosity. The brunette smiled at her, she had a warm jovial smile that very few people in this world possess.
"Guten tag." She said after a short silence, keeping that warm smile etched upon her lips.
Heidi conjured a smile for a second or two saying guten tag back to the strange woman in such a low tone that I highly doubt she heard it.
"Do you know what time it is, dear?" She asked, scooting closer to her again. Heidi shook her head hesitantly. She had no clue, she had no idea of how to check the time.
"It's 7:32. Which is awfully early for a young girl like you to be outside, may I ask you what you are doing here?" Concern glimmered through her eyes as she gave Heidi a gentle smile. I couldn't blame her for worrying a little. Heidi hadn't taken a bath in at least five days, she was skinnier than most kids her age, her skin paler than a sheet of paper (or even sort of translucent as I said) and her nose and cheeks were all red from the cold breeze. Heidi didn't respond at first, turning the colour of a tomato. Oh my poor shy little human.
The woman waited patiently, still genuinely smiling at her. she didn't show any signs of impatience, even as the minutes went by filled by the same silence as the minute before
. "Do you live nearby, dear?" She asked, trying to get some reassuring news once more. Heidi didn't feel like answering at first, but I told her to do so. I don't exactly know if it was my good feeling about this or the poor lady's worried gaze that convinced me Heidi had to answer.
"Just a few streets away." She practically whispered. The stranger was not reassured in the slightest. God, why couldn't she just tell her she wasn't homeless? I advised her too, I knew it would dissolve some of the awkwardness and worry that hung in the air but Heidi blocked me out. "Where?" The stranger inquired, Heidi turned to her, surprised at how persistent she was. Surprised or scared, either one.
"What?" Heidi choked out, her tiny finger tightly folding around her paintbrush.
The lady shrugged. "Bahnstraße? Apfelstraße? Sankt-maria Promenade?"
Heidi only blinked at her. Why did she want to know? why would she want to know where a little girl lived? It was a clever thought process, I can give her that, but I knew the lady was harmless, she just thought Heidi might need some help. She radiated genuine concern.
Silence arose again, Heidi refused to tell this lady anything, but the woman waited patiently, she had to make sure Heidi actually lived somewhere before leaving. My human eventually caved in and repeated apfelstrße twice before the woman caught it. She could have reacted in many ways, she could have sighed in relief, she could have smiled, she could have nodded, but she gasped and chuckled.
"You know what? That's great, I have to be there at nine!' She said, her dimples showing. Heidi's curiosity won against her shyness—thanks to mean—and she finally spoke on her own accord to this new acquaintance.
"Why? Where are you going?"
The woman lit up at the clearer sound of her voice and began rambling. I would discover later through the years that this human particularly enjoyed rambling.
"Oh, my old mother needs my help, I will be sorting out all her books. I think it will take me all day, she has such a wonderful collection, but unfortunately she can't keep holding onto it all forever, no one has forever anyway, she'll be gone soon." Those last words hit Heidi hard, she had thought about death before (and held onto a few unanswered questions about it) but never had she imagined it happening to her own parents, it was inconceivable.
"Does that make you sad?" Heidi sort of cut her off.
"What?"
"That your mom won't live forever."
There was a brief silence, where the woman stared at Heidi, her eyes wide with surprise. Just a second ago the girl barely wanted to say hello to her and now she was asking her questions about her relation with death. Heidi's sudden spurt in confidence and trust fascinated her. What can I say, my capacity is fascinating.
"Well," She started, she wasn't the type to hide or filter anything. "Not really. My mother is tired you see, she's almost a hundred, can you believe it? She's a whole century old! And everyone has to die at some point so I'm glad she got many good years." Heidi nodded, thoughtful, filled to the brim with new questions. "I want mine to live up to a hundred too." She said, looking up at the lady.
Relief washed over her just now, at the mention of Heidi's mother, all she had worried about was gone now, this girl had a house and a mother. All was good.
"How old are you, dear?" She then asked.
"I'm seven," Heidi answered.
The woman's smile brightened even more, if that were even possible.
"You'll be in school soon then!" she exclaimed. Heidi nodded. "I'm a teacher, but unfortunately I don't teach here. I think you'd be a great student."
The compliment made Heidi smile, she had no idea what made this person think that but she took her words gladly and with pride. "Really?" She inquired, not really sure she meant it. "Well of course, I like creative students, I noticed you were painting the sky, it truly deserves to be painted today. It's wonderful. I also like curious students, not to mention those who almost fall into fountains at 7 in the morning." She chuckled and Heidi turned beetroot red, maybe giggling just a little.
"What's your name?" She then asked as they both smiled when the sun hit their faces.
'Heidi." The girl said, "What's yours, frau?
"Edith, I always liked Edith." She answered with confidence.
"Is your name Edith?"
"No it's Gertrude."
I tried to prevent it, but Heidi couldn't help but explode into laughter, almost falling back into the fountain. Gertrude grabbed her arm again and joined her in her amusement.
"I'm sorry" Heidi stammered, Gertrude waved it off.
"There is no need to apologise Heidi, my name sounds like it belongs to an old witch."
Heidi bent herself forward, laughing so much her stomach hurt.
"I'm very serious! You should draw me and then call the painting 'old witch'"
Heidi howled with laughter and grabbed her paintbrush right then and there. It took her a while, more people filled the avenue, but Gertrude stayed there, watching Heidi paint something quite abstract, pointing out some things and making her laugh. The church bells then suddenly resonated through the street nine times. Gertrude stood up quickly, realising she was late, Heidi's eyes trailed away from her painting and suddenly she remembered she hadn't said anything to anyone about her leaving this morning.
Oh no, She thought as she hurriedly grabbed all her things. The older lady quickly helped her and then took her small hand.
"I assume we're both late," She sighed. Heidi shook her head, not exactly.
"Mama doesn't know I'm here."
Gertrude's eyes widened.
"Oh! Then let's quickly get you home, then I'll go sort some ancient books out."
I wished I could have smiled at them. I had managed to convince Heidi's curiosity to win over her shy nature, and I was entirely responsible for this strange friendship. I just knew Gertrude would be good for Heidi somehow, I couldn't explain why I was so convinced about that.
"Alright? You little Claude Monet." Heidi had heard that name before, she smirked, feeling smart for pretty much the first time in her life.
"Alright. You old witch."