"Come on Radis! She has been in there for days. We have to get her out!" Gamel was beyond worried, Radis felt the same way but they had to stick to the plan. He was in charge and he would not allow their plan to fall apart, it would ruin it all if they went in early. How had they come to this? Toni was special, there was something about her that was not easy to figure out without knowing her and her story. It took him back shortly after they had all met.
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Toni was not your average girl, she was tall, very tall, saying she was not average was an understatement. It was bad in the beginning when she went to school as a young girl, she was taller than the other girls as well as taller than any of the boys. Her family was very well off, her father had been a wine merchant for a number of years before Toni, her younger brother and her older sister had been born. He had started with a very small vineyard and had done so well that the land had quadrupled in size. With the help of many of his friends he had been expanding on a yearly basis, first starting in their little town then the next town and then the next. All this of course had been good for the small town they lived in as it meant work for others that would worked at the vineyards.
Toni had a great childhood with her family, of course both her parents were concerned about her height, how were they supposed to marry off their daughter? At thirteen Toni was taller than all those her age, she was even taller than everyone else around town. It was hard being as tall as she was. She did not look forward to being married off, her two siblings Beatrice and Antony were average size she was the only freak of the bunch.
What made it even worse was that her sister Beatrice was beautiful, not just pretty, according to everyone she was the perfect height, the perfect weight, the perfect everything. How was Toni supposed to deal with that? Beatrice was seventeen and she had every young man in town ready to do whatever she wanted, her father's merchant friends came from far and wide to buy his wine they started to bring their sons. All the young men came to 'learn from their fathers,' each one bringing Beatrice little presents trying to win her over. She had a lot of prospects, what did Toni have? Nothing, she was never, ever looked at as a girl, not that it bothered her at all, well maybe just a little.
Toni wanted to do something with her life not be some pretty little ornament hanging on a man's arm. That was one blessing of being the way she was, none of the young men looked at her like a girl at all, most of the time they did not even see her. While some girls would find this devastating, it made Toni happy. It made it possible to not have to worry about being normal. Her brother Antony was only seven and boy was he a handful, while he acted all grown up for their father, outside their home he was a mischievous little prankster. He pulled pranks on his sisters on a daily basis, while he was annoying most of the time, both Toni and Beatrice adored their little brother.
After a few years Toni was tired of how the boys and girls treated her and she beat up her first boy. The girls did not play with her, she was not invited to anything, but this was fine by her because she could not relate to the other girls. After beating up that boy the rest of the other boys left her alone they knew she could easily defeat them if it came to that. For most of her childhood she was alone, she did make some friends eventually but not close friends.
There were very few taller women around town and this made it worse for Toni, the ones that were taller were nowhere near as tall as Toni. Her mom was a pretty little thing just like her sister. So all around she had to deal with two beautiful women at home neither of which she could actually relate to. No young man would be coming to ask for Toni's hand in marriage, Toni knew it, her father knew it, her sister and mother knew it as well.
One night she had gotten up not knowing what woke her and decided she would go outside and get some air. Her parents' light was on and they were talking, “... she is young and I love her as only a father can love one of his children..” Her mother interrupted, “And you think I don't? Of course I love her, it's just that I don't see us finding a husband for her. She should marry, but the way things are we will not find a husband for her. She should have a household, a husband and children, what will people say?” Ah yes the same old argument, 'What will people say?' Toni hated that, what did it matter what others thought? Some day she probably would be married and until that day happened she would not worry about it, she would not worry about what her parents, her sister or those in town thought.
She had gone outside after hearing those few words to try and cool off, both because her parents had made her mad and because it was warm in the house. After a little bit she went back in, and heard the end of the conversation her parents had, "Don't worry dear, Toni is young, we have a few years to figure something out. Just worry about Beatrice for now, she will probably pick someone and you can plan a wedding for her. And then our boy, he is growing up too and he will be taking on some more responsibilities and be able to help me out. Now I am tired and tomorrow will be an early day.”
If nothing changed Toni could only look forward to being married off to someone she did not care for and not be able to do more with her life. What man would want a woman as tall as Toni? She wished something would happen that would allow her to escape this future.
A few weeks went by with no change, Beatrice had actually narrowed her choices to a few young men, her father and mother were delighted to hear this. Antony of course was a perfect little son inside the house when her parents were around and a perfect little monster when they were not.
Toni was so bored that she decided to go and take a stroll to get her mind off things, she liked being outside, the weather was a bit chilly but not bad, soon she would need to make sure she had warmer clothes. Unlike many girls Toni was happier in boy clothes, dresses just did not look good on her, they looked alright her sister and mother told her but she just could not get used to dresses. This of course did not help out her looks at all, she looked more like an awkward tall lad then a girl. But she was comfortable, and most around town had seen her wearing leggings and shirts so they were used to the tall young girl that dressed like a boy. As she walked she saw a wagon with some boxes going in the direction of their house.
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After her stroll and talking to some of the men and women that worked her fathers vineyards she returned to the house. As she walked in she saw her mother next to the same boxes that were on the wagon she had seen earlier. She walked up to her mother, “Mom what is all this?”
Her mom turned around to look at her, saw her mom had been crying, she talked with the remnants of sadness in her voice, "These were things that belonged to your grandmother, your Aunt Alisha sent them.” Her mother handed her a letter that had come with the boxes. Toni's grandmother had died when Toni was six and her mom had had a bad time with her passing.
The letter read:
Dear Sister,
I hope you are doing well, I have not seen you in a while and decided to write.
The kids and my husband are doing well and all send their love. We have been doing
some cleaning around the house and ran into some of Mothers old things, I am out of
room and thought that you might like some of them. My husband knew someone
going your way and decided to send the boxes. I have not opened them as they bring
back bad memories, I have some other stuff mom left, and that is all I need. Take a look
and see what you would like to keep and then send the rest to Robert there might be something
he might like to keep, but I doubt it. Please write back and let me know how you are,
tell your husband I said hello. And tell Beatrice, Toni and Antony that there Aunt Alisha sends
her love and that I wish they could visit.
Your Loving Sister,
Alisha
Aunt Alisha and her mother had been very close and both had been very sad when their mother had died. Toni had been very young at the time and did not really understand that she would no longer see her grandmother. She remembered sitting by her mom asking why Grandma was being put in the earth and why she could not visit any longer, a year later Toni understood what that meant.
After reading the letter she had looked at her mother and hugged her, she understood what she was going through, it was like hugging a small child. Sometimes it was nice to be as big as she was, her mother felt safe in her daughter's arms. If Toni had been a boy it would have been even easier to be her size, and provide comfort to her mother. After a few minutes just standing there her mom backed away, wiped her eyes and called for someone to store the boxes.
Toni was curious about the boxes that had arrived and bothered her mom about them, finally after a few days had passed her mother gave her permission to go through them. Antony was curious and all Beatrice said was 'if you see some jewelry send it my way'. Her sister was so superficial, well she could be with her perfect hair and skin. Toni wanted to see if there was stuff that would show her who her grandmother had been, she had been too young to really know her grandmother before she passed. Antony for his part had gone outside to torture some poor insects or play a prank on some unsuspecting soul.
The first box held some old glass sculptures, very delicate items, they were well protected, Toni was actually amazed they had survived being boxed up and stored at her Aunt's then shipped here. The other stuff in there seemed to be rags to protect the sculptures. The second box held a very ornate jewelry box , a few other items, and a very nice picture of a young woman. She would give them to her mom, she was sure the jewelry box and its contents would go to Beatrice but she was not going to just hand it over to her sister.
The third and last box held some strange things, there were a few books in a language that Toni could not make heads or tails of, a package wrapped up with what felt like some kind of leather, whatever was inside it was not very heavy and felt like cloth. Toni opened the package slowly wondering all the while what it was. As she opened the first flap she saw that the item was of a dark material, it was like looking into a shadow, she kept on moving her head because it seemed to disappear right in front of her. It was so strange yet so exciting, she knew this thing was something special. She undid the other flap and reached out to touch the material. It was so soft, it was like petting a soft cudly rabbit, the softest material she had ever touched, nothing else compared to this beautiful thing.
She looked around to make sure no one was looking, for some reason she did not want to share this with anyone. She closed the flaps and went to the door, looked outside to make sure no one was around, went back in the room and locked the door. She opened the flaps again slowly thinking that she had imagined it and that it would be something different, nothing had changed. It was still there, still hard to look at and soft. She put both her hands on it just admiring it before she had the courage to pick it up and really look at it.
She extended it out fold by fold, and stood up to look at what she had in her hands, as the last fold extended something fell on the floor she looked down and saw it was a letter. Then looked at what she had in her hands to figure out what it was. Toni looked at it for a long time wondering, it looked like some kind of cloak with a hood and everything and a brooch to hold it just below the neck. The broach like the rest of it was dark, the metal was black and the centerpiece was also black, like a black pearl. Toni found it to be the most amazing thing. She finally put it down and picked up the letter. As she turned it she saw one word on it and her heart skipped a beat. In the middle of the front of the letter was a four letter word and Toni could not wrap her head around it, it was her name.
Why was her name on that letter? With shaking hands she sat and opened it, wondering all the while about it. She saw that the writing was very fine and beautiful, she did not know her grandmother very well but this just screamed of her grandmother. She closed her eyes and imagined her grandmother sitting at a desk writing the letter she was holding. A tear fell down her cheek and she wiped it away, she needed to read the letter after all it had been sent to her almost as if from the grave.