"The rose puts on her red;
The leaves on the trembling trees
Grow forth with eagerness.
The moon sends forth her brightness;
The lily is lovely to see,
The fennel and chervil..."
I cautiously opened the window and upon looking out into the garden (which was covered in a blanket of spring snow) I saw a person. They were picking flowers and singing in the sweetest voice I had ever heard. I rubbed my eyes and pinched myself to make sure it wasn't a dream. The person was carrying a basket which was full of flowers, they were wearing a blue coat and had long golden hair. I was never allowed to be outside and the cold air was making me shiver -and then I sneezed. I squeezed my eyes shut hoping the person wouldn't vanish or worse yet that nurse would come in and shut the window. I was biting my lip so hard I tasted blood. Then suddenly I heard a voice, but it wasn't nurses. "Hey, hello up there." I opened my eyes and looked out into the garden, the person had gone. My heart sunk. "Down here silly." I looked down, the person was standing below my window waving a mittened hand and smiling. I waved back "Hello, who are you?' I asked in a shaky voice. "I'm Susan, my dad is the mail man." came the reply, the person pointed back over their shoulder. "What's your name?" I wiped my nose "Why do you want to know my name?" I asked. They shrugged "Your lip is bleeding did you know?" I nodded and licked my lip. Once nurse had talked to me about something which made no sense to me at the time, but now I remembered the conversation. "Are you a girl?" I said nervously. The person put their head on the side and made a face "What? Yes." And then they (or she as I now knew) made the strangest sound I had ever heard. I had sometimes heard birds make sounds a bit like it, a sort of warbling sound. It also sounded a bit like my wind up monkey -although so much nicer. I bet if magic had a sound it would sound like this. "What did you do?" I asked. "What do you mean, what did I do?" "That sound you made." I tried to -but unsuccessfully- imitated it. This caused another outburst from the girl. "It's called laughing you silly." Then the worse thing in my whole life happened. The gardener came around the corner "Hey you!" He shouted at Susan, she picked up her basket, "I'll come back to see you, bye." then she was gone like a hare. After that nurse made me take a hot bath all afternoon and then go to bed early. I couldn't stop thinking about Susan, she was even in my dreams. Every day I sat by the window making origami waiting for her. Twelve years went by but she never returned.
* * *
One day nurse came into my room with a man who I hadn't seen before. I didn't really understand what they were saying but nurse explained later that we had to go to another place. The next week we moved to another house in the city. It was very small and but I had never been so excited in my life. I sat by the window watching the the people and cars and trucks go by. There was so much noise I couldn't sleep for a whole fortnight. Now we were in the city nurse bought me things. I loved toffee and books. I still kept doing origami. Nurse was also able to get me different coloured papers. I had kept every single one I had folded. Even when I had thrown tantrums I had never destroyed a single piece of origami. One day a man came to see nurse. He had become very interested in the various origami's that were on the shelves and hanging from he ceiling. Nurse called me down because the man had wanted to see me. He was very friendly and seemed to be very interested in my origami. After a long talk or which I had no idea. Nurse explained that he was a rich doctor and also an art collector who owned a gallery in the city. He thought my origami was the most beautiful creations he had ever seen and wanted to put my collection on display. Three years later nurse died and the doctor took me to live with him and his wife. They had no children and treated me as their own. I couldn't answer their questions about my own family for I can't remember having a mother or father. The only people I had known were the gardener and nurse. The doctor had never thought to ask nurse these questions so it remained a mystery to them. I continued to do origami with much encouragement from the doctor and his wife. The doctor told me that my origami was making lots of money, I told him I didn't know what money was. He said it was very important because you can buy things with it, so I said he could have it if he bought me books, toffee and coloured paper. One day the doctor asked me to come to one of the galleries for the opening night of my origami exhibition, I never liked to go out in public but he said it was important and so at last I agreed to come when the doctors wife said she would hold my hand. There were hundreds of people there and the doctor said they were asking me to say something to them. He took me to stand in front of a stand that made my voice very loud. "Say something about yourself and about your origami." said the doctor. I stood for a few moments, I sensed this was a serious occasion and I was meant to say something important. My mind flooded with images from my past. I thought of the most important things that had happened in my life. Then I took a breath and began "Hello." I said, "I lived in a big house and then a small one. I miss the garden." at this point I thought of Susan and thought perhaps someone might know where she was, the doctor nudged me to keep talking. "Susan was my friend, she taught me how to laugh. Does anyone know where she is?" The crowd remained quiet and I took that as a no. "She said she would come back but she didn't. I sat on the window making origami waiting for her, but she didn't come back." The doctors wife squeezed my hand and I continued "Nurse said we had to move, so we did. She bought me toffee and books and coloured paper." I pointed to one of my origami pieces. "That was the first I made with coloured paper. Then nurse died so I live with my friend the doctor who is very kind -and his wife." I smiled at them and they smiled back. "I would like to go now to my room and make more origami." The the doctor clapped and then everyone else did. I waved to them and then the doctor took me home. Then I went up to my room, put a toffee in my mouth, grabbed Treasure Island and some sheets of coloured paper and sat by the window to wait for Susan.
