Already Gone

Dusk till Dawn

   "Summer, can you play with me?" She knew I couldn't say no to those puppy eyes.

"You bet," I replied, "Just let me finish washing these dishes okay? Why don't you set up your toys while you wait for me."

   Today was a good day, and we didn't have good days very often. Well, I didn't have good days very often. Stella managed to make every day a good day.

   I finished up washing the last few dishes and set them on the drying rack before drying my own hands on a ragged towel.

"Alright Stella," I called out as I walked back into the living room, "What are we playing today?"

   Stella didn't have many toys. Any money I made went towards paying the bills and making sure Stella didn't go to bed hungry. Buying toys with the money was never even a thought of mine. Sometimes I'd see old or broken toys that people had thrown out in front of their houses and I'd bring them home for Stella, but it wasn't often.

   The thing was though, Stella had an extraordinary imagination and even with the limited and worn-out toys, she could create these incredible worlds filled with all these characters.

"Stella?"

   Stella was sitting in the middle of the small room, holding Miss Penny in her arms, a pout on her face. I was confused because it seemed like Stella was upset with her toy, something I had never seen her do.

"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting down next to her on the ground.

"Miss Penny broke her arm," Stella moved her hand to show me the doll, the sewn arm was almost ripped off, holding on by just a few threads. The soft, white stuffing was sticking out.

"Oh no!" I took the doll gently from Stella's hand so I could have a closer look, "Well, we'll have to have to fix Miss Penny up, won't we?"

Stella gave a little sniff, "We can?"

"I can sure try," I promised.

   I didn't know if we had a sewing kit in this house but I sure had to try to find one. I handed the doll back to Stella and told her I'd be back before heading to the bathroom. I rummaged around through the cabinets but managed to find a small sewing kit tucked away in the back corner of the cabinet under the sink.

   It was probably from before Stella was born because there was no way after-Stella Mom would have bought a sewing kit.

Holding the kit as if it was gold, I headed back to the living room, a giant smile on my face.

"Give Miss Penny over here Stella," I said and Stella handed me her doll, "I'm going to fix her arm."

   I wasn't very good at sewing. To be honest, before this, I hadn't really sewn much. Maybe a hole in a sweater here or there but nothing like practically sewing an arm back onto a doll.

   It took much longer than it should have and the colour didn't really match so Miss Penny looks rather odd, but the arm was holding together. The arm stuck out strange, unlike before, and my stitching was messy, extremely messy, but none of that mattered to Stella.

"Thank you!" Stella flung her tiny body onto me when I showed the doll and I wrapped my arms around the little girl.

"Anything for you Stell-Bell," I whispered.

~~~

   The next time Dr. Robbins came into my hospital room, she came with Dr. Karev. They did everything they were supposed to, check my vitals, prod at my ribs, but on her way out, I stopped her.