My Charge

Here are all the things I have gathered about Miss Ellie —:

- She is nine years old and tall for her age. When I first saw her I assumed she was nearly eleven; the top of her head is nearly parallel with my ear when she stands beside me.

- She does not play with toys. I remember still being very attached to my dolls at her age, but she has no desire to play with any of the toys that I know she has stacked in a box in the corner of her bedroom.

- Her favorite color is brown. I have never met a child who likes brown.

- Her French is awful, but her Latin is better than mine.

- She is not unkind, but she doesn't like me. She does as I say with little complaint and no attitude, but she doesn't seem to take any joy in her successes, either. She does not seek my affirmation, and she doesn't appear very motivated by praise.

- Her mother died rather recently, I've gathered. This may explain the above.

- What cannot be explained by her mother's death is the sense that she is different. There is gleam in her eye that makes me uncomfortable. I sense no darkness there, but it always seems like she knows something that I don't. I don't like it.

---