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Life had gotten exponentially difficult for Beatrix Darnell with two toddlers in tow (even if this was pleasing alliteration). The desire to bond with a new child warred hand-in-hand with the practical reality of taking two toddlers shopping everywhere, especially when both needed new clothes and Hell would freeze over before Jacoba went gently unto the does-this-shirt-fit? night. It was equally difficult because Wisp Darnell had shown herself to have a cheerful, ridiculously easy disposition, and if Beatrix didn't watch herself she knew that she would let Jacoba get away with murder simply because Wisp didn't complain half so much.

Whatever the case, in order to go through the ordeal of finding Jacoba trousers that could be cut down so that they didn't affect her stumps, her tiny blonde-haired sister had been abandoned to the tender mercies of the late-night shopping creche. The mall was bustling with people all desperate to fulfill evening consumer needs, and the creche was filled to the brim with small children and aggrieved abandoned kids who were sulking and reading ancient comic books in a corner.

Distracted from missing her mother, Wisp had narrowed her big blue eyes and had taken to a slightly fossilized puzzle of Thomas the Tank Engine with only about seven pieces. Then she had gotten even more distracted by an enormous pile of crayons and newsprint: she was furtively consuming a fat yellow crayon when she thought nobody was looking.

The creche was FUN!

The little girl looked up at the new arrival: what with a baby back home with no legs and a blind mother, she did not seem much perturbed at Ishizuke. Crumbs of yellow crayon fell from her mouth, and she wiped them away.

"Hellohiya!" she said, pleased. She had a much better starting command of the English language than Jacoba had, but the way she used it - indescribably twee - drove Beatrix bonkers. "You're a littl' girl like me. Hellos!"

Distracted again, the little blonde picked up a purple crayon.

The other little girl turned big eyes on Ishizuke, pausing in the act of putting the purple crayon in her mouth. "Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?" she asked, drawing the word out for far too many syllables.

Then she added sympathetically, after looking: "You got'n owie on your face."

"Ooooooh," Wisp said enviously: she had never gotten to go to the hopsickle in her short life, and therefore Ishi was highly sophisticated. She racked her brain to think of things that were equally impressive. "My sissa got no feet," she said, and added: "I gotta splintner!"

Happy that she had successfully engaged with Ishi on the medical front, she mimicked her and scribbled all over the paper with the purple crayon. She got some of the crayon on her hand and giggled, adding more to herself than the paper. "I draw you," she said, picking up the pink crayon and licking it experimentally. "Okay go!"

Wisp worked hard, sticking her tongue out the corner of her mouth. Fascinatingly, as she did so, little blue prismatic sparkles started to appear around her - tiny, fiercely blue rainbows, shading to green in places as she worked. Eventually, she ended up with a large blob of yellow and pink, and she dropped it in Ishi's lap with a huge pleased grin. "All done!" she said.

Now, that was one heck of a name! "Ishh," Wisp attempted, then "zukeh," coming out with something eventually like "Ishazukeh." Eventually, she just gave up: "Ish."

Distracted by the amazing complexity of Ishizuke's name, she grabbed another piece of paper and started to scribble on it again with the red crayon. "M' Wisp," she said.

"Is cool," Wisp protested, still obviously entranced with the approximate ninety sheets of foolscap and all the crayons one could eat. She liked the noise and the bustle and the light; she was happy as a pig in mud.

Unfortunately, just as she was really getting into it, Beatrix appeared back on the scene with the pram and bags in tow. "Fitting time," she said briskly to her daughter, and despite the small blonde's immediate protest of "awwwwwhhh," Wisp was picked up and popped in the pram. "Jacoba, you'll be a good girl for the next five minutes as your sister and I get her things, won't you?"

"NO," Jacoba said hotly.

"That's my good girl," her mother said, and she and Wisp disappeared off. The little blonde's last words to Ishizuke were a merry "Bye!"; the half-blind girl was left with the redhead, instead. Having screwed up her mouth to yell out in protest, Jacoba looked at Ishi instead; then she smirked the sly smirk of every child who was destined to grow up the school bully.

"You's got a freaky face," she said, unknowingly echoing her sister. "Freaky face!"

"I walk," Jacoba said scornfully. Well, ... she crawled, and she could stand, couldn't she? The fact that she was actually markedly different hadn't really settled into her yet. It hadn't ever been called to attention in a way that made a difference; sort of like having red hair, something that was yours but was entirely neutral. She sniggered in an unlovely fashion at Ishi. "You gotta monsterface like Halloween."