Page 13 of Her Wonderful Wonder Bell
“It’s alright. I’d take harsh truth over pretty lies any day.”
I stroke the top of her hand softly and send her a reassuring smile.
“We’ll figure something out. Ghostlight Falls will accept you however you end up, and I’ll teach you about modern stuff. I know it’s probably not how you imaginedyour life being, but I’ll help you make it the best it can be. I promise.”
Pearl begins to cry, tears falling down her face. Her tears are odd. They do look at first like they’d be wet, but they stay flat, just pictures on her slightly glossy paper that disappear when they reach her edges. I wonder where they go. Another one of her mysteries.
She sniffles softly. “Thanks, Delia. Can we go now? I’m worn out.”
“Yeah. I’m tired too.” I turn to Rosa as we stand and shake her hand. “Thanks so much.”
“I’ll work on trying to get Pearl into her original shape and finding the other girls. Sharon will work on figuring out what Brigley is. If we can do anything else, let me know.” Rosa walks us to the front door but stops us right before we exit. “And my grandmother was right; stay away from Brigley.”
As we walk out, holding hands, we’re mostly quiet. Too many things are weighing on our minds. The thing itching at the top of mine right now is that Rosa never answered Pearl’s question about love.
Chapter Five
Pearl
Well, I might be made of paper forever, I’ve been removed from history, and I’m filled with bubblegum. That’s certainly not great news. I do have Delia, which is wonderful. Really, really wonderful. I’ve also discovered Doritos.
“Another one, please,” I say with my hand held out.
“Are you sure? I really think we should watch what happens when you eat before you keep going.” Delia sits across the sofa from me, holding the bag tightly against her chest with a wary look.
Neither of us knows where the “tortilla chips” are going when I eat them or where they’ll end up, but once we discovered I could putthings inside me we had to try. Kind of frightening to think about too hard, really, but we just had to do it! And these little triangles? They’reso good.I really don’t care what happens to me once they’re inside. After the terrible day I’ve had I could use something nice.
“Hand them over.”
“Just one more. Then we wait.” She hesitantly pulls another orange triangle out of the bag and passes it my way.
I press the chip to my paper lips, and it slides on in. I crunch the spicy delight against teeth that feel normal to me—even though I know they don’t exist as far as the outside world is concerned—and swallow it down. This whole situation just gets weirder and weirder. I cross my legs and lean lazily against the chair back.
“Well, that’s that. Now, you can teach me about this online shopping thing. How do we get to the online shops? Do you have a car?”
Delia’s eyes sparkle as she covers her mouth; she’s trying not to laugh at me. That means I’ve said something dumb…again. I sigh and wait for her to compose herself enough to answer.
“Onlinemeans on the computer. Sorry, I should have explained better. We’re going to look at pictures to pick out some ideas for you. Then we’ll take them to a place in town that can make them custom fit for you, since you can’t wear regular clothes.” Delia says.
We did try, too—putting me in regular clothes, that is. They not only fell off, but also weighed me down. It was quite the failure.
Delia takes her phone out of her pocket and swipes her thumb on it so that it lights up. Mavis hops onto her lap and begins to turn in circles. “Alright, so let’s cover the basics of the Internet. At least enough so we can find you some fancy new gear. We’ll just learn as we go, okay?”
“Meow. Pbft,” Mavis says as she settles into a loaf. She makes a sound that sounds like a cross between an asthmatic wheeze and a purr. It’s a bit unsettling but Delia doesn’t pay it any mind so it must be fine.
I lean in and watch as Delia taps a symbol at the bottom of the phone and the picture changes. Then she touches a black space at the top of it and a bunch of letters show up.
“Looks kind of like a typewriter,”I say.
“Yep, exactly. It’s the keyboard. I type what I want to find into the search bar of the browser—that’s what I tapped a second ago—and it will search the Internet for relevant information. The Internet is, basically, a place where people can put almost anything they want and do almost whatever they want with it. It’s a little hit or miss sometimes because it doesn’t matter whether or not the information people give it is true. So, if I ask something you know, and it gives me a wrong answer, please tell me.”
“Will do. But, I must say, they really shouldn’t let people lie about things there. Someone should clean it up so it’s only the truth, shouldn’t they? It seems the responsible thing for the people who own the Internet to do. I don’t get why people are lying anyway. Who would waste their time going on their device to type in lies on the off chance someone might ask them a question? There are better things to do, if I say so”
“Well, the thing is…,” Delia stares into the distance for quite a few seconds before continuing on as if I hadn’t said anything. “Okay, so we need clothes for you. I have a crazy idea. First, I need you to tell me what kinds of clothes you’d like to wear. Modern stuff or your time stuff?”
“Well, I know I should want to fit in with modern fashion, but I can’t help missing my things.”
“Perfect, I was hoping you’d say that. I’m awful at fashion stuff and just, I don’t know, girly stuff for the most part. I did find this website that has faithful recreations of vintage clothing though after looking around. The clothing is photographed from all directions in high resolution. It’s really pretty and I think you would look amazing in all of it.”
