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The Ceremony!
Wash ran home quickly, the chestnut hair that was cut, as mandatory, to Wash's shoulders flew out behind as the breeze caught it. "Mom!" Wash called into the house to the tired looking woman who was inside sewing a tattered pair of pants, "Mom, come on! The ceremony is starting soon!" Wash called in. Finally Wash had reached the fifteenth summer of life and was to be given a name and gender. Rosy, Wash's older sister, peered out from another room. "Oh, right, that's today," she said airily, as though she had forgotten but nobody in the town could possibly forget this day, it was huge and it was always on the same day of every year. "I think I'm going to be a boy," Wash told their mother as she finished the last stitch on the pair of pants. "I think you will, too," said Rosy irritatedly, "You're always so hyper and loud." Wash stuck out a tongue and tugged Rosy and their mother to the door. Mother tutted. "Rosy, Wash, you two shouldn't be speculating on this, you know that," she reproved gently. They walked past Copper's house and Wash ran up to the door, knocking on it sharply. Wash just knew that Wash had to be a boy because everyone knew Copper was going to be a girl. Copper had thick hair in a coppery color that was the namestake. Copper's voice was higher and softer than that of most children and nobody had much of a doubt that Copper would be chosen as female. Copper ran out of the house, her weary mother and father trailing after with their twins, Whirl and Fizz. Wash smiled at Copper and gave Copper's hand a reassuring squeeze. Soon, they were at town hall and with the excitement that comes from knowing that your life is about to irreparably change, they pushed open the doors.
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