Hours earlier, things had been perfect. Better than perfect! She had been at the park, in front of the tree the locals affectionately called "Ye Olde Destroyer of Bones" or "Old Boney" for short. And right above her, Miss Mindy stood triumphantly on its lowest branch, which was nearly six feet high! It had taken some doing and a well-placed boost, but they had finally gotten her up there!
It had become something of a test, that branch, it separated the big kids from the little kids. And, Emily realized with a start as she watched the other start to climb higher, she was a
very little kid. Frowning, she looked down at the ground, and then back up again at that most important of branches. It was impossible. She was small, the branch was high. Super high. There was nothing to do about it but accept it. Maybe she'd be tall enough later?
But...Miss Mindy kept on climbing, she was so far up now! And Emily was...all alone. It was the first time she had ever felt so...
pathetic. And now Miss Mindy was calling something down, but the young maid-in-training couldn't hear her clearly anymore!
Would this happen every time they came here? Emily by herself on the ground, only able to watch as the other girl climbed? Would Miss Mindy even want her there, useless as she was down here? So caught up in her frustration, she hadn't even realized she was crying until Miss Mindy was right in front of her asking
why she was crying. But try as she might, Emily couldn't calm down enough to answer.
She was crying over her own inability and that was just
stupid and she was
making Miss Mindy worry. Emily tried to take a deep breath to stop her sobs, but then it occurred to her that Miss Mindy had
stopped climbing, and came all the way back down because of
her. After that, she was utterly inconsolable. She wanted to stop, she wanted to stop crying
so badly. But it was like she had lost control of her body, and trying to stop it just made her cry harder.
The two girls were taken home soon after, Emily's eyes still leaking, nose running terribly, and her mouth clenched firmly shut in a final attempt to keep all hiccups and sobs in. As Miss Mindy settled into her evening bath, Emily sat on her bed, shaking a little as she stared at the red ribbon in her hand. The little mistress had given it to her, trying to cheer her up again, asking what was wrong and if she too, should start crying. It was the look on her face that helped Emily come to this decision. That she had caused such a look of helpless confusion on that person's face was something she couldn't forgive herself for.
Miss Mindy would be better off without Emily dragging her down.
Running away, Emily found, was not only smelly, it didn't make you stop being sad about something either. She was alone again. She was still crying. And she was still so stupidly small. If she wasn't so small, then none of this would have ever happened!
"YOU THINK HEIGHT MADE THE DIFFERENCE?!" A voice suddenly boomed, jolting Emily out of her pity-party of one. Glancing around the alley, she saw no one else there.
Hesitantly, she answered, "....y-yes?"
"THAT IS WRONG!"
"Its not wrong! Short is short!" Emily shouted back, getting to her feet. What did this voice know anyways? It was a big huge voice! What did it know about being small like her?!
"IF IT WAS A MATTER OF SIZE THAT WON THE BATTLE, THEN IT WAS THE SIZE OF DETERMINATION. NOT OF THE BODY."
"...determination?" Emily looked down at herself in confusion, not noticing that her tears had finally begin to dry. The mysterious voice had gotten even more mysterious.
"ONE WHO ENTERS A BATTLE THINKING THEY'LL LOSE HAS ALREADY LOST. NO MATTER THE REASON THEY TELL THEMSELVES. THIS FIGHT WAS WON BEFORE I EVER ENTERED THE RING."
Had she ever really even tried to climb that tree? Of course she had! Only...she hadn't. She had looked up at that branch, all that way above her, and had simply...
given up. "You're right Mystery Voice! And I was wrong! Thank you!"
Caught up in her own concerns, she didn't pay attention to the much smaller voice that echoed down the alleyway.
"And there you have it folks, Don Diablos, one of the WWE's most promising rookies: it's not the size of the man, but the size of the man's determination! Words to live by!"
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