GILDED LILY

'Go to bed now. I’m telling you for the last time. Go or I’ll drag you upstairs. I’ve got other things to do besides being your mother.’Little Lily stood there at the bottom of the stairs, defiantly ignoring her. ‘But, Ma, I have to tell you something. It’s important. The house is on fire! Save me, save me, please.’ Her busy mother chastises the child for such a fib. ‘The Lord is going to punish you for such nonsense.’

The five year old Lily starts to go upstairs. Holding the railing, she gets ½ way up, sits down and throws her beautiful Betsy doll as far as she can. ‘Ma,’ she cries, ‘Betsy just fell down. I think she is dead. Please call Dr. Gold. He likes me. Tell him to bring me a chocolate lollipop this time. I didn’t like the lime one.’ Another two steps up going backwards. One of her pink fuzzy bedroom slippers falls off and tumbles down to the last step. ‘Ma, Ma, help. Mr. Wiggly jumped off my foot and slipped. He’s down in the hall. Will you see if he’s okay and bring him to me with one of your ginger snaps and a glass of milk?’

‘Lily, get to bed. My Mah Jong ladies will be here soon and I have to finish up. Stop bothering me.’

Lily hears her open the basement door but can’t see her. The doorbellrings, rings again. ‘Ma, your ladies must be here. Open the door.’ Lily has finally reached her room, starts to go in, and sees a yellowish light outside her window. Something is happening. From her window she can see people running across her lawn. There is a lot of noise. A fire truck screeches into her driveway. One, two, three, four men, carry a big hose across the street to a fire plug. Somebody smashes the kitchen window. Lily hears heavy feet running up the steps. A fireman holding a big axe sees her, zooms her into his arms, and runs down and outside. ‘Ma, Ma, save me. Help. A man is going to hatchet me into little pieces. Save me. Save me.’ The Mah Jong ladies are huddled together near the curb. They run over to Lily, gather around her in a circle. ‘Your momwill be okay. Her arm is burned a little but she is going to be okay. She has a burn on her arm so she went to the hospital. Don’t be afraid.’ Mrs. Bradley asks Lily to come stay with her and her daughter for a day or two. ‘Can I play with her dolls and use her paint set?’ ‘Sure, Honey. I baked cup cakes today. You can have one after breakfast. We’ll have fun.’

‘Mrs. Bradley? I told Mom the house was on fire. She didn’t believe me and told me to go to bed.’ ‘Really, Lily? Didn’t she go look? Didn’t she smell smoke?’ ‘I dunnno. Ma doesn’t pay a lot of attention to me.’ ‘Well, little girl, there’s nothing much we can do here. The firemen will board up the window and doors. Let’s go to my house.’

‘But, but–did somebody save Mr. Wiggly? He was trying to escape the fire and fell down the steps. Can I tell you a secret, Mrs. Bradley? I think, am almost sure, Mr. Wiggly lit the matches Mama keeps on the cellar table. He doesn’t like her sneaking cigarettes. If Ma asks you about the matches, tell her Mr. Wiggly did it or she will blame me.

I tried once and couldn’t light any. Did you know I was five last Saturday?’