"You are the worst boy, Theodore Laurence."
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For centuries, humankind has used the stars. Whether it be for navigating across unfamiliar oceans, for preserving myths and legends of great heroes who were bestowed a spot in the heavens by the gods...
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THE DAYS AFTER Christmas and New Years, when decorations were stored away and people returned to their normal routines, was Charlotte's least favorite time of the year. The festive feeling in the air was gone, trees were stripped of their garlands and candles and left to die behind houses, and the snow had become gray slush that was more of a nuisance than anything enjoyable.
Charlotte had joined the March sisters on their walk into town and looped her arm with Amy's as they approached the stores and shops now bustling with people returning to their daily routines and chores, devoid of any holiday cheerfulness.
Amy dragged her feet through the snow as she complained about pickled limes and her debt, frowning and pouting as she told all of them about how pickled limes were worth more than gold in her classroom and the social hierarchy they had created between those with limes and those without. And now, with the ban in place over pickled limes in her classroom, Amy's outstanding debt was, as she said, utterly dreadful and impossible. It was all rather funny to the older girls, as they chuckled at Amy's pouting lip and whiny cries.
Meg fished a quarter out of her pocket and handed it to Amy, who burst with joy and thanked her profusely, shining the quarter against her scarf.
"What did you do that for?" Jo tugged on Meg's arm, frowning as Amy held the quarter up to the light and admired it earnestly.
Meg frowned wistfully as she spoke, "I know what it is to want little things and feel less than other girls."
"Between that and the drawings I should wipe out my debt." Amy smiled gleefully with a new skip in her step.
Jo swatted Amy with her mitten. "What drawings?"
"Nothing!" Amy became defensive, holding the quarter protectively as if Jo would snatch it from her and the only hope of reinstating her good favor with her classmates would be gone.
Beth shuddered, "I'm just glad that mother doesn't make me go to that school with all those girls..."
"Do you have plans, Charlie?" Meg asked, changing the subject away from pickled limes and disagreeable schoolgirls.
"I have to mail this letter to my mother." Charlotte pat her pocket where the letter was safely tucked away. She was unsatisfied with it, but after weeks of staring at blank pieces of paper and not finding the words to say, she had managed to draft a letter she didn't absolutely hate and stuck it in an envelope before she could change her mind. She only hoped her mother wouldn't be upset with her for not writing sooner.
The five girls broke apart from each other at a fork in the road, waving and calling out last minute reminders as they went on their ways. Amy and Jo raced each other down one way, laughing and kicking up snow as they went. Meg and Beth continued forward, wished Charlotte a good day, and linked arms. Charlotte stood by herself, her hand nervously hovering over her pocket as she approached the post office.
