A bag of sunflower seeds.
A canary sat in the gutter. Its wing was broken. A little girl with long, dark brown, slightly curling hair picked it up very carefully and took it home with her. She made a bed for it out of a little reed-basket and some straw. She put the little bird in the straw and sat down like a tailoress beside the basket, her tiny hands resting in her lap. She looked at the bird and smiled. "Don't worry birdie, you'll be allright," she whispered. With her tiny index finger she rubbed the canary gently in the neck. You allmost could see it smile with pleasure. "You must rest now, birdie, then I'll bring you some food," she whispered. She gave the bird a kiss on its small head, stood up and walked into the kitchen. The little girl wore tiny purple ankle-boots, made of shiny leather. The tips didn't touch the ground. Her long white socks were rolled over the top of the boots. Her little grey skirt ended in folds just below her lovely little knees. Actually... The skirt... It wasn't grey. The grey together with white and a very strange dark purple, formed a sort of pattern. The strange purple was the base colour and the white and grey were sprinkled over the purple skirt so, they were a sort of dots; more like very small stains. The skirt was held up by two straps of the same colour as the skirt. They were sowed to the skirt in the back and were fastened with grey buttons in the front. A white jersey was tucked into the skirt. The sharp contrast of the straps and the jersey catched the eye immediately. On top of this all, she wore a soft dark purple crape-coat which ended half-way her thighs. The coat was of a straight cut, as if it were a costume-coat. It had two pockets and two inside pockets. The purple buttons were not closed. Her hair had never been cut since she was born so, it hang randomly over her shoulders and nearly reached her bottom. She stood in front of a cupboard in the kitchen. She had put her hands in the pockets of her coat and looked up to the cupboard. Her legs were streched completey, so the hollows of her knees curved a little backwards. The tips of her boots touched each other but there was some space between the heels. The way she stood, with her shoes forming an upside-down V, her legs streched and looking up to that cupboard, seemed more determined than clumsy. Her eyes were wide open, her mouth was half-open; you could not see her shiny white teeth. She walked up to the side-board, stood on the tips of her toes, held the dresser with her left hand and reached out to the cupboard with her right hand. She could not reach it, her little arms were a few inches too short. She released the side-board, turned around and put her hands back in her pockets. She scanned the room with her eyes for anything useful to aid her in reaching the cupboard. She looked at her own small chair. "That won't do," she softly said to herself and shook her head. She looked at the table. There were four large wooden chairs around the table. She walked up to the nearest chair, grasped two of the legs with her hands and dragged it in place below the cupboard, in front of the dresser. With her right hand she held the back of the chair. She put her left hand on the seat. With a small effort she also brought her right knee up to the seat, making sure she kept the tip of her left foot on the ground. With all the strength she had, she now pulled herself onto the chair. She seemed quite proud of herself. She sat with both her knees on the chair and rested her hands on her thighs. She sat that way for a few seconds to catch her breath. Then she stood up and put her left hand on the side-board. With her right hand she reached out for the cupboard, opened it and grasped for a bag of sunflower seeds. Once she got hold of it, she bent over and carefully brought it down to the dresser. When she raised her head to close the cupboard, she bumped her head against the sharp corner of the cupboard door. Immediately she closed her eyes, sat down on her knees and rubbed her head with her two little hands. She hit the door rather hard. It was pretty normal it hurt. But despite all this she did not cry. A few minutes later she stood up again, closed the cupboard, descended from the chair and dragged it back to the table. She reached out for the bag of sunflower seeds, picked it up with two hands and carried it out of the kitchen. Shortly afterwards she came back. This time she opened a different cupboard, one she could easily reach from the ground. This cupboard was filled with china ware plates, bowls an other kitchen materials. She grabbed a white porcelain bowl with purple flowers, closed the cupboard and left the kitchen. She sat down like a tailoress next to the little canary and put the bowl in her lap. She opened the bag of sunflower seeds, held it with two hands, picked it up and poured the bottom of the bowl full of seeds. She put the bag down, closed it and put it next to the reed-basket. She put the bowl where the little bird could easily reach it. If it was hungry, all it had to do was reach out its beak and pick up some seeds. Again little Ianthe went into the kitchen and brought with her a little bowl of water. She put this next to the bowl of seeds. "Here you go, little birdie," she said, "you can eat and drink now if you're hungry." She sat back down next to the basket as she did before and kept looking at the canary for quite a while. Her little eyes were beginning to close. She could not keep them open for another five minutes. Her mother came into the room, washed her and put her to bed. The reed-basket with the canary, the bowl of seeds and the bowl of water were put next to her bed. "Good night, and sleep well, birdie," she said. As she lay her head down on her pillow, her eyes closed almost instantly. She breathed quietly. The sun came peeking in through the open window. She teased little Ianthe with her sunbeams, but she would not wake. The reed-basket was empty. Half of the seeds had disappeared and a small yellow feather was floating around in the bowl of water. Little Ianthe lay on her left side. There was a big red stain on her pillow. The hair on the top of her head sticked together as if glue was spilled all over it. She had put the thumb of her right hand in her mouth. Her leggs were folded and a little bit pulled up. Her left hand lay openend next to her body and in it was a sunflower seed. Her chest did not move; little Ianthe... was dead. Korneel Ketelslegers