Esther and Mercy

Part 4

It's the girls' first day of school. And they're going to be late if they don't leave soon. "Esther? Mercy? Come on. Girls, come on, we gotta go!" Finally they make their appearance. Esther wears a pink dress with several tiers of ruffles. Mercy is wearing a similar dress in lavender. The sleeves are puffed on top, while Esther's are straight. Also, Esther has no accessories besides her usual ribbons while Mercy wears a large black bow in her hair.

"You gotta be kidding me." Danny is already dreading being seen in public with them dressed like that. "Wow. Uh... Will you please go wait in the car?" She asks her son.  "These aren't really school dresses." How is she going to do this without hurting their feelings? "But we like them. Don't you think they're pretty?"

"Yes, they're so beautiful...... but I just don't think you're gonna be comfortable. What about those jeans I bought you?" Mercy is the one to answer. "You're afraid the other children will laugh at us. I thought you said there wasn't anything wrong with being different." She got her there. If she presses the issue further, she'd be branded a hypocrite. "Yes, you're right. You're absolutely right." And so they finally leave for school.

Esther and Mercy head off to their separate classrooms. Mercy stands in the front of the room with all eyes on her. "Everyone, this is our new student, Mercy Coleman. I want all of you to make her feel very welcome today." A girl in the front row looks her up and down. "Hey Mary, where's your little lamb?" Several kids laugh. Mercy just glares and  takes a seat in the back.

Esther and Max are playing with the sled again. Danny is shooting his paintball gun and Mercy is building a snow sculpture. It's not clear what exactly it's supposed to be. All is fine until Esther pulls the sled too close to the pond. Kate panics and rushes over. "No! No! Esther, what are you doing? Get away from there! No! You don't play near the water! You know that! Come on, get out!" Max gets off the sled. They're about to join Mercy, but then they notice Danny running toward a fallen bird. They fallow, with Mercy not far behind. "Did you kill it?" 

"I didn't think it would hurt him." the boy is in tears. He feels awful about hurting the bird. Esther grabs a large rock and hands it to him. "Put it out of its misery. It's in pain, and it's your responsibility."

"It was just an accident."

"If you walk away now, it'll starve to death. Is that what you want?" 

"I'm not doing it." He hands the rock back. Mercy takes it. "Then I'll do it." She crushes the birds skull in a single blow. Her eyes well with tears as she does so. "Poor thing. I'm gonna bury it." She kneels in the snow and starts digging a hole.

 "It's all right. It's in heaven now." Esther tells Max. She shows no emotion whatsoever. "What's wrong with you?"