PART 7
written by Marini Barika Facey
Sophie opens the rickety door and steps into the hallway, but it is no use, the door squeaks and falls off of its hinges, so she quickly scurries to the study! She can hear her little toys chattering inside the wooden box! “Allons-y! Allons-y!” Nanny Irma slowly approaches Sophie’s room, outraged and surprised! She is bewildered by the sight of the door off of its hinges and she wonders how one little girl can cause so much havoc!
She looks at the cracks in the ceiling, broken mirrors, and carefully steps over the debris deeper into Sophie’s room! “Sophie! What have you done? Answer me! There is no use hiding from sound lashes! Where are you child?” For a moment, Nanny Irma is horrified; she is actually concerned for Sophie, and hastily moves books and clutter in search of the girl.
The dark study is illuminated by Sophie’s little wooden box. It brightens her path so she doesn’t clumsily stumble through the room. As Sophie looks around, she marvels! “Nord, Sud, Est, Ouest!” Her toys begin to vibrate within this box in Sophie’s hands. Each corner glows with different colors the closer the box gets. Like an orchestra that follows a conductor’s command, little pockets of light pulsate around her father’s study! Sophie is mesmerized by the colors and sounds!
Suddenly, each color becomes more and more radiant and whirs! “These colors must be showing me where to find ma pere’s hidden secrets! Rouge! Bleu! Violet! Vert!” The North corner of the room is red and the South is blue! The East is purple and the West is green! Unexpectedly, the colors become four winds!
Sophie becomes frightened and quickly ducks her head! She screams uncontrollably because she tries her best to dodge these items that simultaneously shoot across each corner of the room, and violently spin together! The little wooden box begins to pull Sophie towards this raging force! “I don’t want to spiral around and around like the compass, locket, key, and pocket watch in this strange whirlwind!” Sophie shuts her eyes and tightly holds onto the box because her feet wildly fly into the air!
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!
Aidez-moi! Help me!”
Poof! Sophie vanishes!
Nanny Irma bursts into the study to see what the commotion is! “Sophie! Sophie! What nonsense and mischief are you up to? You will surely be flogged!” Her hair, she so tightly pulled into a bun, is now disheveled by a gust of wind! Suddenly, the room becomes hauntingly calm again! This nanny cannot see anything, so she hobbles over to the desk! Nanny Irma turns on the lamp, only to find she is alone in the room. She gets chills and mumbles under her breath, “Witchcraft! Witchcraft, indeed!”, as she pulls her hair out of her face!
TO BE CONTINUED…