Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry Read Free Book Online Page B

ruefully. "But I had stored a few things in the clearing so they missed the burning. My basket of threads, and some scraps of cloth. And look at this, Matt." She reached into her pocket and held up a lumpy oblong. "I found my soap where I left it on a rock. Good thing, because I don't know how to make it, and I have no coins to buy any."
    Then she laughed, realizing that Matt, grimy and unkempt, felt no need of soap. She supposed Matt had a mother somewhere, and usually mothers scrubbed their tykes now and then, but she had never known Matt clean.
    "Here, I brung these." Matt indicated a pile of objects wrapped haphazardly in a dirty woven cloth on the step near him. "Some things I took before the burning, for you to have iffen they let you stay."
    "Thank you, Matt." Kira wondered what he had chosen to rescue.
    "But you'll not be carrying it because of your horrid gimp," he said, referring to her crippled leg. "So I'll be your carrier, once they tells you where you're to be. That way I'll know too."
    Kira liked the idea of Matt coming with her and knowing where she would live. It made everything seem less strange. "Wait here, then," she told him. "I must go inside, and they'll show me where I'll be living. Then I'll come back for you. I have to hurry, Matt, because the bells have finished, and they told me to come at four bells."
    "Me and Branch can wait. I've got me a sucker I filched from a shop," Matt said, pulling a dirtencrusted candy from his pocket, "and Branch, him always loves a mammoth buggie to poke, like now." The dog's ears shot up at the sound of his name but his eyes never left the beetle on the step.
    Kira hurried inside the Council Edifice while the boy waited on the steps.
     
    Only Jamison was in the large room waiting for her. She wondered if having been appointed her defender at the trial, he was now to be her overseer. Oddly she felt a little twinge of irritation. She was old enough to manage alone. Many girls her age were preparing for marriage. She had always known she would not marry — her twisted leg made it an impossibility; she could never be a good wife, could never perform the many duties required — but certainly she could manage alone. Her mother had, and had taught her.
    But he nodded in welcome and her brief irritation faded and was forgotten.
    "There you are," Jamison said. He rose and folded the papers he'd been reading. "I'll show you to your quarters. It isn't far. It's in a wing of this building."
    Then he looked at her and at the small bundle she carried on her back. "Is that all you have?" he asked.
    She was glad that he had inquired because it gave her the opportunity to mention Matt.
    "Not quite," Kira told him. "But I can't carry much because of —" She gestured toward her leg. Jamison nodded.
    "So I have a boy who helps me. His name is Matt. I hope you don't mind, but he's waiting on the steps. He has my other things. I was hoping that maybe you would let him continue as my helper. He's a good boy."
    Jamison frowned slightly. Then he turned and called to one of the guards. "Get the boy from the steps," he said.
    "Ah," Kira interrupted. Both Jamison and the guard turned. She felt awkward and spoke apologetically. She even felt herself bow slightly. "He has a dog," she said in a low voice. "He won't go anyplace without his dog.
    "It's quite small," she added in a whisper.
    Jamison looked at her impatiently, as if he were suddenly aware what a burden she was going to be. Finally he sighed. "Bring the dog too," he told the guard.
     
    The three of them were led down a corridor. They were an odd trio, with Kira first, stumbling against her stick, dragging her leg with its broom sound: swish, swish; then Matt, silent for a change, his eyes wide, taking in the grandeur of the surroundings; and finally, toenails tip-tapping against the tiled floor, the bent-tailed dog, happily carrying a squirming beetle in his mouth.
     
    Matt put the bundle of Kira's belongings down on the floor just