Chapter 6
The Mall
The Mall
Fannie Worked her plan like magic. At dinner she had offered to set the table. She used her best manners with all the please and thank yous she could use. She even complimented her mother’s dinner and then ate all her food. She even ate all her green beans and she didn’t even like green beans. She cleared her own plate and then encouraged her little sister to eat her green beans too. After dinner she helped her parents clean up. After she finished wiping down the table she asked her mother if they could go to the mall to get her Webkins tonight. By that point her mother was so happy with her there was no way she could say no.
Now she and Berk were entering the mall with her mother. Fannie had brought her purse with the elastic outside pocket on it. She had the four flowers tucked into the pocket so only the tops were out. The elastic held them in place.
Fannie and Berk kept their eyes open wide and looked all around as they entered the busy mall. They walked as slow as they could waiting for, watching for, a reaction. No one looked at them. No one noticed the flowers. No one stopped or stared. This was going to be a bit more tricky than they thought.
They headed to the store where they sold the Webkins. Fannie got the Panda she had been wanting. No one at the store even turned to look at her. As the sales clerk rang her up, Fannie put her purse up on the counter. He didn’t seem to notice the flowers.
Fannie and Berk exchanged worried looks. After they bought the Panda, Fannie’s mother said they could get an ice cream cone. They found a table at the busy food court right next to a large fountain. Berk and Fannie stayed at the table to save it while Fannie’s mom went to order the ice cream cones. She could watch them from the counter where she would order.
“No one can see the colors!” Fannie finally said in panic now that her mother was out of earshot. “I want to see our colors so badly! What if we can’t find any others to help and I never get to see colors again!”
“Don’t panic yet, Fannie,” Berk reassured her. “People here are so busy most haven’t even take a second look at us. I am sure we will find someone who can see them. Put your purse on the table and we will just wait here while we eat our ice cream. Someone will notice.”
Her mother returned with the ice cream and they ate. Nothing. No one stopped. No one stared. No one noticed. Fannie could hardly enjoy her gray ice cream in its darker gray cone. As they stood to leave, Fannie looked over at the fountain. It was a large circular fountain in the middle of the food court. It had three tiers of falling water. Shining down in the water were various coins—wishes really. If ever Fannie needed a wish, now was the time.
Fannie asked her mother to wait for a moment so she could make a wish in the fountain. She took out one of the nickels she got back as change from buying her Webkins. Berk walked with Fannie up to the fountain. He knew exactly what her wish would be.
“Maybe if we wish it together it will be more powerful,” suggested Berk.
“Yes,” said Fannie, “let’s do it. On the count of three.”
So they closed their eyes tight and counted and held hands and wished with all their might that they could find someone who could see the flowers’ colors. Then Fannie let the coin fly high in the air. They both opened their eyes to see the nickel hit another coin and both fell down into the highest tier of the fountain.
“Wow!” they exclaimed. They looked around to see who had thrown the other coin. On the opposite side of the fountain was a little girl with a fountain of a ponytail on top of her head. Her curls fell down around her face from the ponytail. She was thin and pale but had a light in her eyes that even Fannie could recognize in her shades of gray.
As they came into her line of sight, the girl stopped and tears started to flow from her eyes. She was smiling still so they walked closer. They saw she was staring at Fannie’s purse. She could obviously see the flowers.
“Hi. My name is Fannie and this is my cousin Berk,” said Fannie introducing herself to the little girl.
“Blanche. My name is Blanche. You just made my wish come true! I was here wishing someone would come over here and find me and be my friend. I threw my coin in the fountain and then I saw your flower there. As soon as I saw it, I knew you were someone I could trust to help me find my Mom. I can’t find her anywhere. But something about the way that flower glows in that strange beautiful color just made me know I was going to be all right and that you could help me find my mother.”
Fannie and Berk were elated. They called Fannie’s mother over and she alerted mall security. Blanche’s mother was at the mall security office looking for her. While they waited for her to arrive with the security officer Blanche admired the flower and Fannie let her hold it.
“What do you call this color? I haven’t seen it before or learned it in school,” Blanche said.
“I call it Freshuia. I made that name up of course because there is no other color like it on Earth.”
Blanche could only see the one flower’s color just like Berk could. As Blanche held the Freshuia flower the glow of it shone off her skin giving her a Fresh sun kissed aura. Even Berk could tell her face took on a new light when she was holding the flower. They talked while they waited. Fannie showed Blanche her new Webkins. Blanche also had a Webkins. They exchanged usernames so they could play online together.
When her mother arrived Blanche thanked Fannie and Berk for finding her and for sharing their flower with her. It had helped her find new friends and her way home too. Best of all it helped her believe in the magic of wishes and the goodness of the human heart.
Fannie and Berk knew they now had only 2 more people to help and finding them was going to take some serious wishing and magic.
