Sunshine Boy
(or Pudding Girl 2)
The girl got off the tram. Her large, purple coat was flying in the chilly wind across her. She pulled it tighter around herself with her left hand while struggling with her heavy bag. Her right hand was tied up tightly to her chest; it hung broken under her coat. Her jeans soaked up water as she headed through the crowd, but she barely had time to notice it.
She glanced over her shoulder once more, her grayish- green eyes fixed on the tram behind, her white face slightly coloring as she watched the tall, brown- faced boy with the most brilliantly glittering chocolate- brown eyes jump off the tram in the last moment before the doors slammed shut. " Sunshine Boy seems to be looking for something very hard”- thought the girl, for that’s how she called her secret love ever since she first spotted him standing in the tram stop. His thick, curly, brown hair was shimmering in the late- autumn- sunlight, just like his big, sparkling, eyes. Sometimes she froze in space even now when seeing him- though she had discovered every inch of his face by now. And yet she still felt like she could watch him forever. But now she had to go on, she had to hurry if she wanted to be let in… She knew full well that this was her only chance in succeeding.
She glanced on her watch- it was quarter to four. With some luck, she’d might arrive just in time. She broke her way through the crowd as fast as she could, then half broke into a run after crossing the road and turning left. Her injured hand hurt slightly,only to remind her, but not bad enough to make her stop. " No, I will not stop now, not because of a broken bone”- she thought with clenched teeth. Suddenly, she’s come to a halt in front of a beautiful, though slightly worn- down, classical building. She glanced at her watch; it was five to four. With some luck, she could make it.
The hardest part came now- "At least in my current state”- she smiled bitterly while checking the street if there could anyone be spotting her. She waited impatiently while an elderly woman crossed the street and then disappeared turning towards north a few blocks away. Then she collected all her strength and climbed onto the high brick wall separating the building from its remaining park- the biggest part had been sold and built in by investors who preferred the smell of money to the smell of roses. First she threw her bag on top of the wall, then reached for the flower- shaped marble- stone. It was ice- cold, but she could not risk climbing in her slippery glow… Breaking another bone was not an option now. She put her feet carefully from brick to brick, then held herself with the marble- flower between her jaw and neck, while reaching out with her one hand for the top. She pulled herself up carefully, but could not risk for a very long time being spotted sitting on top of the wall. Thankfully it was already darkening. She took a deep breath to steady herself, threw her bag down, and a second after jumped after it.
The landing did not hurt so much as she expected it would, and she had successfully avoided crushing into the roses, too. She looked around, just out of habit, but of course no one could be seen outside here in such dark, cold weather. The girl hurried through the garden, keeping close to the building. At the back, she reached a little door. She prayed silently that it would still be open. Because if Mina had closed it and gone away already… But no, the door was thankfully open.
She slipped inside, closing it as silently as she could behind herself. She only then spotted the tiny, dark figure standing right in front of her with her hands crossed over her chest. Her heart stopped for a split of a second and she just stood there, frozen, blinded by the lights of the neon lamp hanging loosely from the ceiling. But to her surprise the little dark woman sighed and gave her a big smile. „ I ’ad.. I whas affraid yhou wouldern’t come”- she beamed, while gesturing the dumbfounded girl inside. She still didn’t get it; clearly, this girl wasn’t Mina- she was much shorter than she was, but still, she seemed to be strangely familiar. „And, most importantly”- she added to herself silently- „ she does not very much seem to want me have thrown out”.
„ Oh, I fhorghot… Sorry, I’m Mina’s sisther, Maya.” She reached out for the girl's hand to shake it, who gave her her left, while pointing at the big bump underneath her huge, purple coat. „I'm sorry, my right hand is broken.”- she smiled shyly while shaking Maya’s hand.
„Oh, you phoor thing.. But then how whill yhou…”
„Please, Maya, don’t worry about a thing! I will do the cleaning very well with one hand, maybe it will be a bit slower, but after all, I will be the one closing down the place.”
„No no, not the cleaning, I’m worried for your.. for your…”
„You mean the drawing? That will be just fine.”
„But ’ow, ’ow will yhou…”
„ Well, I’ve practiced each night three hours with my left hand, and the doctors said the bone is fixed well with all the muscles around it, and in a few weeks’ time I will be allowed to draw smaller things . Luckily, my underarm is fully healthy.”- said she, trying to persuade herself with her bright smile as well.
„ But I think I should go now, if I don’t want to get caught sneaking in. It was nice to meet you, um, Maya. See you next week!”
And she stormed away, feeling a little awkward for leaving Maya standing there alone. Mina had never mentioned that she had a sister. Not that there was very much opportunity talk to each other. They worked together last summer in Greece, picking apples. There she learned that Mina was the junior housekeeper of the Barnes Special Arts School, and she only travelled home to Greece for the summer holidays. During the school year she worked double shifts to send money home for her family.
Her main job was here at Barns, one of the best schools preparing students for the Great Arts' University’s entry exam. The girl could of course never imagine to collect enough money to participate even at the cheapest class they provided. But, as she soon learned from Mina, the huge amount of money payed by the richest families of the whole country did not ensure high wages for the housekeeper, though there was always pretty much work to do. It was Mina, after a day of 14 hours’ constant fruit- picking in 35 degrees,back in July, who offered her help in exchange for getting a few of her tasks done that night. In exchange, she helped the girl to participate on the best class the school could offer.
Tuesday was Mina's hardest day and also the day of Sainsmith’s drawing class. The man was an absolute genius; a painter, a sculptor and also an architect, mixing all three in his phenomenal art. His expositions were highly popular worldwide, and the best schools were competing each other to have him teach there. But he refused every offer and claimed that he could only be happy in here, teaching at Great Arts', and this one was the only class he had apart from his beloved school, obviously to gather the best students there. Because he just happened to be the head of the committee that decided who got the chance to be a student at Great Arts'.
Sainsmith’s class started at 5 and lasted till 8 pm, and all this time Mina had to be around to clean up after the students and the Master have left, and then to close down the building alone, because the watchman stayed only until 7. Asking Sainsmith to start his class one hour earlier was of course out of the question, for which the girl was actually glad; Mina agreed to „bring her in” to the Master’s classes if she cleaned up and closed down afterwards, bringing the keys to Mina’s little flat which was luckily just a few blocks away.
Fortunately, the classroom had a huge, ancient, red curtain hanging down opposite the big windows, revealing just the right amount of space to sit behind it with the wall in your back and to draw silently with the others. There were also some holes on the curtain,just at the right height. She suspected that maybe she wasn’t the first one acting like a criminal in order to learn from one of the greatest masters. Mina had also sat there a couple of times to marvel at the young artists’ artworks, but soon she found out that she could do this without risking to loose her job; she's gone into Sainsmith’s little room every Tuesday after everyone had left to adore the artworks done under the helping hand of the Master, until she realized that it was almost 9 pm and she still hadn't begun cleaning up yet. Since autumn with the help of her new friend she had all Tuesday night off which she spent taking long walks in the city's more silent parts and writing home for her family.
" I hope Mina will have a nice time today- maybe she has a few days off, while her sister is helping her. She really deserves a bit of a rest, she's working always so hard.”- thought she, as she stuffed her chair in the usual, tiny space behind the curtain, and, after struggling a little with fixing the thinnest, cheapest paper on her drawing board, she tossed her now almost empty bag next to the chair and then climbed in herself.
She barely had time to sit down and grab a pencil from next to her, when she heard approaching steps and echoing voices coming along the wide, tall corridor leading to the drawing- classroom. A soft, baritone voice was laughing and a girl’s voice was accompanying it.
"She must have been very pretty, if you are praising her so much!”
"That was not the point! You wouldn’t give a damn about her clothes if seeing those eyes!”
Now it was the girl’s turn to begin chocking. They encircled the room and sat down right in front of the girl’s hiding place. Her heart was throbbing so loudly that she thought it was a mere miracle that these two hadn’t noticed her yet. Luckily, they seemed to be much too much occupied at that very moment.
"So you’re saying..." – the girl finally managed to choke out- "that you’ve fallen in love on the tram with a complete stranger, of whom you do not know a thing, only that she’s wearing an over-sized purple coat over her – hopefully- broken hand, and a bright red cap on the top?”
The boy sighed audibly, lifting his beautiful, big, chocolate- brown eyes theatrically toward the ceiling.
Then he looked at his companion, suddenly very seriously.
"I know it must sound weird, but it was like I have known her all- along . The moment we looked at each other was like I have finally found what I have been looking for all this time.”
The girl next to him nodded silently.
"I hope you will find your.. how did you call her? Pudding Girl.”
"Yes, I will keep looking for her.”
The room started to fill up silently. But pudding girl didn’t notice a thing. She was still clutching her drawing board to her chest and smiling brightly, long after everyone else was gone. And although sitting in the dark, she felt like the sun was shining down on her a thousand times brighter than it ever had.
