That was the first instance of cruelty Edna encountered in her life- having been tricked into giving away one of the only real toys she had. As a side note, she’d never see that ball again.

As she recounted this to her mother, Veronica sighed in disappointment and hugged her. “I’m sorry, Edna. I should have done a better job of warning you about people like that…” she mumbled. So thus, Edna learned for the first time why people were rich, why people were poor, and the ultimate relation between the Nobles and the peasants. She was too young to feel genuine anger over an age old injustice like that, but she could not help but feel irked that people would look down on others over something as trite as land or money.

The next day, Edna once more encountered George, who was wearing different clothes than when she had last seen him. “Heeey! You’re the one who stole my ball!” she said, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “Hm? Stole? I am surprised you know such a word…you’d think it was from education, but I imagine being poor, you probably do such a thing daily, don’t you?” he said with a sneer. “I didn’t steal your ball, you did give it to me,” he told her.

“Under the circumstances you would give it back!” Edna retorted.

“Oh my, but did we have a confirmation of agreement? A written contract stipulating such a thing that could be used to support that statement?” George asked her. Edna, who was confronted with several big words, was completely thrown off. “C-con…tract? Evi-what?” George sighed in a ‘can’t be helped’ way.

“I’ll simplify it for you. You have no proof that I stole it,” he told her.

“Then…then you have no proof that I gave it to you permanently!” she said loudly.

George looked surprised by her sharpness, but he quickly shrugged it off with a chuckle. “Oh, but I do. See, I’m a noble. First heir to House Cartwright, and on the fast track to inherit my father’s business. My word, against that of yours, a lowly urchin, one of several known to steal and pilfer and crawl…simply put, my word alone is proof enough!”

Edna remained silent, then opened her mouth. “…then why are you here?” George’s head slightly tilted in puzzlement. “Eh? What do you mean?”

“You came here again, right? In the exact same spot we met yesterday. If…if what my mommy told me was true, I don’t think you’d come here for the sole purpose of mocking me…” George frowned.

“Surely you jest? I merely came here to look around some more, since I couldn’t last time due to me occupying myself with you. It’s natural to be curious, you know?” Edna stared at him with doubt.

“…the kid who could ask for anything is curious about this particular spot?” George’s eye twitched.

“Yes, exactly! Besides, my parents are still working on that deal. Such a landmark trade cannot be settled in a mere day!”

“…so do you still have my ball?” she asked him. He turned around, huffing. “Yes, of course.” She fell silent as he made a show of looking around the alleyway.

“Bleh, it’s boring,” he mumbled softly, turning away. Frankly speaking, she was still annoyed with him for taking her ball, and especially for not showing any remorse or giving it back. But Edna had been raised with love…and this wasn’t quite something significant enough to warrant hatred or retribution; she felt that maybe there was a reason he felt the need to take the ball from her. Why would a rich kid who could buy anything want a ball from some urchin? That, coupled with her unwillingness to carry a grudge, culminated in what she spoke next.

“…you can have it,” those words stopped George, who was walking away. “Eh?” he turned around to regard her. “But, I already own it?” she stared at him with her red eyes.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“That’s only because you say so, but I’m officially giving it to you. If someone like you truly feels the need to take something from me….then maybe you need it more than I do. So you can have it…” George’s eyes narrowed as he spat on the ground.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” he whirled around, stomping away.

“….nobles are weird,” Edna mumbled, coming to a conclusion that could be said to be quite precise.

The next day, Edna was moving towards the alleyway, only this time, she wound up running into George, who seemed to be idly watching a cricket that was hopping along the ground. He turned to look at her. Edna’s head tilted, regarding the visitor with a curious gaze. “You’re here again? You know, this place isn’t that big. You looked eveeeeeerywheeeeeere, you know? What else is there?” she asked him. In fact, it was weird he was here before her.

“S-shut up! I might’ve missed something!” he spat back. Edna tilted her head curiously, a thought coming to mind. Maybe…he’s coming to see me? She couldn’t say for sure, but it was quite weird for him to come visit this spot three times in a row, and this time, of course, it was he who met her here, not the other way around. “Are your parents still working on that deal?” she asked him. George hesitated, then nodded, perhaps a bit too vigorously “Um, yes! They are still working on it. They need to, er, get the annuity settled…”

“Anuty?” Edna echoed. “Annuity. An. Nui. Ty.” George corrected her, saying it slowly. “An…nui…ty…” Edna repeated once more, having some difficulty saying it. “Annuity…what is that?” she asked him. “It’s basically a set amount of money you get,” George told her. Edna nodded, osmosing this rather useless bit of information.

“…what are you doing?” he asked her, noticing her gather some old boxes nearby and set them up.

“Well, I came up with this game…basically, you take some pebbles and try to throw them into the boxes, which are set up at different distances. The farther away the box, the more points you get."

“What a weird idea,” George replied, watching as she threw a stone.

“You want to try?” she asked him.

“Eh? Me?” he asked her, surprised. “But…didn’t you hate me?” he asked her.

“Silly, why would I hate you?” she asked him.

“Because I took your ball-“ he cut himself off, but it was too late.

“Gotcha,” she said with a light chuckle. “…but you didn’t take it from me, I gave it to you, remember?” she held out the stone towards him, giving him a smile. He took the stone hesitantly, reluctantly accepting the olive branch she offered. The two began throwing stones, trying to beat the other in terms of points. George wound up winning by twenty points. “Aw…how did you get so good?” she asked him.

“Well, I take archery lessons, so that probably helped with my aim,” he told her, then laughed awkwardly as she stared at him weirdly. “I’m just good with my hands,” he said. With a ‘ohhhh’, she understood. George had to go shortly thereafter, and after saying good bye, she ran back to her mother, explaining what had happened. “My, my. Sounds like he might like you,” her mother said with a smile.

“Like me? Why would he like me?” she asked. “Well, sometimes boys can like girls for no particular reason, like because she might be pretty…” Edna looked down at herself, then at her mother. “Am I pretty?”

“Edna, you’re the prettiest girl in the city,” her mother told her. Edna smiled brilliantly at that, pleased to know that she was the prettiest girl in the city.

The next day she arrived at her favorite spot much earlier, hiding behind some boxes in a shadowed corner. She waited for a while, and, although it was quite hard to stay still, she was soon rewarded by seeing a rather fancily dressed boy show up in the alleyway. Hm…what will he do next? She thought.

“George, what are you doing over there?” A voice called to him. A rather fancily dressed man walked towards George. “Forgive me, Father. But I thought I might’ve seen something,” George responded.

“There is nothing here but rats and beggars. Best not associate with them, they will only sully you,” George’s father chastised him. “You should stop coming here every day, its unbefitting of you. Look, your shoes are scuffed…” Despite his words, Edna couldn’t really see any dirtiness on George’s flawless, high quality boots, but she supposed Nobles had a better eye for catching even miniscule details when it came to appearance.

“Just a little while, please?” George pleaded. “…alright, I suppose. But don’t be much longer, alright?” George’s father walked away, the audible tapping of his cane disappearing soon after.

George looked around furtively, waiting for another 10 minutes, and then sighed, turning to walk away. As it so turned out, it was also 10 minutes past the usual time Edna showed up to play in that spot. Edna watched him go, unable to restrain a smile, and unable to stop wondering why it had made her smile.