Marbles

Patrick played with his brand-new marbles up on the porch. They had been a seventh birthday present from his mother, and his favorite gift by far. The sun glittered on the colored glass in a most lovely way, shiny like a mint-condition dime. It was hard to play with them on the sloping porch, however, because the marbles insisted on rolling down towards the grass. When Patrick got tired of trying to catch them, he gave up and packed them lovingly in his pocket.

It was getting hot, and his coveralls were irritatingly warm. Unfortunately, Nanny was inside, and Patrick would rather melt than be stuck indoors with that woman. In an effort to distract himself from the heat and impending boredom of the gated front yard, the boy started to walk down the side of the house. Maybe Tansy was awake, and he could take her out...

All thoughts of disturbing the fat rabbit were whisked from his head, as he saw something much more interesting. A grubby little girl was working her way through a loose board in the picket fence.

"Hey, you're not supposed to do that!"

The girl looked startled, and immediately began to retreat back in to the bushes outside the fence. Patrick, seeing his fun skitter away, decided he was sorry. He ran over to the board she'd been wiggling. It sat suspiciously askew beside its more parallel brethren.

"Hey, girl, come back! I didn't mean to scare you..."

An indignant, smudgy face peered from between the leaves, inches from Patrick's face. He shuffled back, almost tumbling from this strange creature. She smelled terrible.

"You didn't scare me at all!"

"Yes I did!"

"Nuh-uh!"

Patrick, who was never much for arguing, abandoned the squabble.

"Do you wanna play with me?"

The girl crawled through the hole she'd made, and looked Patrick up and down. She was smaller than he was, but not too much shorter. Her hair could have been blonde, but it was matted and dark with grit. The shirt she wore looked five times too big for her. All together, not very intimidating, yet there was a glint in her eye that made him squirm.

"You aren't a crybaby, are you?

Her question took him by surprise.

"What? No! Course I'm not. You wanna play or what?"

The girl shrugged and nodded. Patrick walked to the patio, which he'd just realized was a much more suitable place for a game of marbles, as opposed to the weathered, sloping porch.

"Aren't you not sposed to play with strangers?"

The girl followed him and then squealed with delight as he poured half of his marbles in to her hand.

"They're so beautiful!"

"Well, yeah, I guess I'm not supposed to. Hi! I'm Patrick. What's your name?"

He put down the marbles he had poured in to his own fist and held his hand out, to shake the girl's. She shook his hand, not letting go of the marbles, and didn't say anything.

"So, what's your name?"

"I don't got one."

"That's a lie. Everyone's got a name!"

The girl scowled at Patrick, her hand still clutched around his marbles.

"Well I don't."

Patrick looked at the girl. Now he understood her grubbiness.

"You don't have any parents either!"

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she threw the marbles on the ground, making them roll in all directions.

"I'm not playing with you any more!"

She stood and ran back towards the hole. Patrick felt bad, he hadn't wanted to make her cry. He was just curious, that's all. Picking up one of the marbles, a pretty blue one, Patrick raced after the girl.

"Hey, wait!"

Little tears stood on her face, enhancing her glower as she turned back to face him, the fence firmly pulled behind her. Patrick realized her eyes were the exact same color as the marble he held in his palm. Then he offered it to her, kneeling to reach his hand through the planks of the fence, not caring if he got dirt on the knees of his coveralls. Nanny would scold him harshly later, for the mess, but all he thought about was the girl's tears.

"I'm sorry."

She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. Then the girl with no name snatched the marble from Patrick's fist, and disappeared out of sight on the other side of the hedge.

Patrick got up and picked up the rest of his marbles, feeling very peculiar. When Nanny caught him and brought him inside for supper, she was caught by how quiet the boy was. He didn't even wrinkle his nose at the beets. But Nanny just went back to her romance novel and forgot about everything but the hero's muscular arms wrapped around the heroine's tiny waist.

When first Patrick's mother and Patrick's father returned from work, they questioned their son about why he'd already lost a marble. He didn't say anything, so was put to bed without a story, for they had been a rather expensive present. Patrick didn't mind so much. He was still thinking about the girl... The girl with no name and blue-marble eyes.