Rebel Girl II

Very sorry I haven't posted in so long. I have been writing this everyday, but in the back of my school notebook during breaks and am having trouble finding time to type it all up. Here are two pages and when I find the time I will type up the rest. Thanks for you patience.

It was only natural, as they started looking at Rashie as more and more part of their family that they start taking her places. At first it was only to the market to go shopping and chores of that sort but it soon escalated. Soon she was accompanying Mr. Milton to meetings, sitting as a silent observer as the adults spoke. Mr. Milton had expected her to grow bored and not want to go to these meetings after the first one but instead she had listened with close attention. Serious as always and not showing a sign of boredom, though he watched her so they could leave the moment she looked as if she didn’t want to be there. Of course Rashie was still a little girl, so she didn’t really understand a lot of what was being said but she was eager to learn. After these meetings Mr. Milton would be flooded with her questions almost before they were out of the room.

“What does production mean?” she asked him one day, after one of these meetings.

“I should really get you a dictionary so you can look up words while we talk,” Mr. Milton told her.

“I don’t know how to read, and I don’t want to learn.” Mr. Milton looked at the girl in surprise. Rashie usually didn’t speak so firmly about anything, and she really didn’t usually refuse something that involved learning.

“Why not?” asked Mr. Milton. “It’s an important skill to have, that way you can gather your own information without my wife and Is’ help. Doesn’t that sound like a good thing?”

“I don’t want to learn how to read,” Rashie repeated. She wouldn’t say anything else on the subject no matter how much Mr. Milton pressed her and in the end he gave up. It was a new side of Rashie that he had never seen before but he quickly learned that when she was in this mood there was nothing he could do about it. No amount of bribery, cajoling, or threatening would change her mind. If anything it made her more endearing to him then ever however. He could picture someday as some great leader of the people, fighting for equality and justice with just as much stubbornness.

Well he could hope that was the way she would turn out anyway. She could go for justice, but he had noticed that she listened to the bloodthirsty revolutionists that he knew with as much seriousness as she listened to the peaceful protest groups he went to go lecture at. It got the point where he wouldn’t take her to meetings where he knew that the bloodthirsty leaders were going to be at, even when she asked. It was hard to say no to her, in particular since she didn’t seem to understand why he wouldn’t want her with, but it was even more painful to think of her becoming one of those vengeance seeking maniacs that he sometimes was forced to work with.

There were other times where Mrs. Milton would take Rashie to marches and protests, though only the peaceful ones where they were sure to not run into the police. Even on those occasions she would bundle Rashie up enough that no one could recognize her, just in case. They didn’t have Rashie’s parents’ permission for these outings and both Mr. and Mrs. Milton lived in fear of the day that they would find out where their daughter was going with the neighbors.

It was inevitable that one day Rashie would accompany them to an actual rally, and that day came faster then either Mr. or Mrs. Milton had imagined. They had after all only intended to go shopping so they had considered it safe for Rashie to come with them. It was only by accident that they stumbled across an old friend who had suggested that they go together to a rally that was being held in an old abandoned warehouse. They were reluctant to go since Rashie was with them, but their friend assured them it wasn’t going to be anything dangerous.

“Don’t worry, the little girl will be safe, none of the hotheads will be there,” he assured them. We get together every month, though in a different place each time, so I know the people who will be there pretty well by now. But you two are celebrities; it would do no end of good for the cause for you two to start attending our meetings. By the way, when did you adopt a little girl?”

“We haven’t,” Mrs. Milton said. Then she realized that they had in a manner of speaking and corrected herself. “Well not legally anyway, she’s the neighbors daughter, she’s just decided that she likes us.”

“I would never have thought that you too would risk anything so distracting from your work,” the man said. Both Mr. and Mrs. Milton bristled; it was a horrible thing to say in front of Rashie. Rashie didn’t seem to mind though.

“I don’t bother them, they like me,” she said confidently, putting her hand in Mrs. Milton’s. If they hadn’t been in the middle of the street Mrs. Milton would have swept Rashie up in a big hug, but public displays of affection, even to children, were frowned upon. Instead she just patted Rashie’s head with her free hand.

“That’s right, you’re no bother at all,” she assured the little girl.

“Well anyway, bring her along, we’ll see nothing happens to her,” the man seemed exasperated. “You don’t even have to stay the entire rally, only long enough for people to know that you’re there. Maybe say a few words, lead a few songs, and then you can leave if you like. It will add no end of prestige to the event and it’s very close by.”

“Okay but we really will only stay for a short time,” Mr. Milton said with a sigh.

“That’s alright,” said the man, cheering up considerably. They had worked with him in the past, several times. Mr. Milton wasn’t overly fond of the man but he had earned his way into their esteem still for all of the events and rallies he organized for political groups, usually the revolutionary or extremist ones.

The warehouse that the rally was housed in was in great disrepair but at least it wasn’t going to fall down around their heads, making it better then some of the venues the couple had spoken at over the years. Mr. Milton was almost immediately shoved onto the stage and a speech was demanded. He hadn’t had time to prepare one, since he hadn’t known he was going to end up at such an event, but over the years he had grown used to this sort of thing and had grown a lot better at improvisation then he would have credited himself with in his youth. That wasn’t a problem. The problem was when the crowd, who were now getting excited and restless, dragged Mrs. Milton up onto the stage as well. Which of course left Rashie, who was small and unable to defend herself, in the middle of a mob scene. Mrs. Milton attempted to get back off of the stage and find her but the crowd wouldn’t allow her to, not matter what she and Mr. Milton said.

“We are never having anything to do with Richard again,” she told her husband in a whisper, as the crowd broke into spontaneous song. “This is his idea of a calm crowd where Rashie won’t get hurt?”

To be continued...