"Maggie it's time to come inside!" Debby called into the backyard.
"Mama! Pleathe more time?"
"Magnolia Dun, I already gave you an extra half hour. Let's go. It's dinner time!"
The first big snowfall of the season had come about two weeks after Thanksgiving. Schools were closed because so much snow had fallen. Maggie had been out in the backyard playing in the snow all afternoon. She seemed to have limitless energy. Debby smiled as she watched Maggie gather up her snow toys and put them in the bin by the back door. She smiled at Debby as she came into the house. Her full cheeks were bright pink with the cold and her nose was red.
Maggie seemed to be mostly back to normal. She was eating well again, drinking water and juice with no issues. It was as if what had happened in November had never happened.
"Look at you!" Debby said, smiling as she helped Maggie out of her snow suit. "Your cheeks and your nose are all red!"
"It'th cold outthide, Mama!" Maggie laughed.
"Good thing I made soup! That'll warm you up and turn those red cheeks pink," Debby smiled.
Maggie smiled back, her two front teeth missing. She was getting her adult teeth and she looked and sounded adorable with the gap in her mouth. The tooth fairy had been generous and brought her a new Magic Treehouse book and 20 whole dollars! Maggie put it in her piggy bank.
The two of them sat at the table. Papa was working with Uncle Tyler and would be home later.
"Will Papa be home to read me a thtory?" Maggie asked, taking a spoonful of vegetable soup.
"He's going to try to be. Papa and Uncle Tyler leave for tour after Christmas and they have a lot of work to do."
Maggie's face fell.
"I don't want Papa to go," she said, her voice shaking a little.
"I know, Bug, but that's Papa's job. They're only gone for about a month, and then Papa is home for a bit and we'll join him during Spring Break and over the summer again. And I have to take you to get a passport over your school break because this summer the tour goes all the way north to Canada!"
"Really?" Maggie had never been to a whole other country!
"Yep. We're going to see Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and later on Calgary and Vancouver before coming back into the States."
"Do they thpeak Englith in Canada?" Maggie asked, worried she wouldn't be able to understand people or read the signs.
"Yes, my Bug. They speak English everywhere, but in Montreal, some people speak French."
"Why?" Maggie asked.
"Well, Canada was founded by the French and the English. So they speak both languages there. But most parts of the country speak English. Quebec, the province where Montreal is, speaks mostly French."
"What'th a probinth?" Maggie asked. She was definitely a very curious little girl. She'd been denied education for so long in her young life, that she asked all sorts of questions and wanted to know as much as she could about everything.
"It's like a state. Like Ohio is a State, Canada calls theirs 'provinces'."
"Why?" Maggie asked.
"Good question. Let's write that one down in our notebook to look up after dinner."
Maggie hopped down from her seat and got her notebook and the pencil Mama kept on the little desk in the kitchen. It was where Maggie wrote down the questions Mama or Papa couldn't answer. They would go into the office or Mama or Papa would grab their laptops and they'd sit on the couch and look up Maggie's question.
YOU ARE READING
Magnolia Blooms
FanfictionMagnolia (known to family and friends as Maggie) is seven years old. Two years ago, her life was changed when she was tossed out of her parents car, in a garbage bag. She was found by none other than Josh Dun of the band twentyone pilots. She was a...
