Chapter 1
Stories like this
one always begin in misery.
There was a time when
Sebastian Bean had two parents, a beautiful mother and a handsome father. They all lived together in a tall narrow
house on a lovely tree lined street in a fashionable area of a quaint and
historic city. Sebastian had a bedroom
of his own and in it he had a wall filled with bookshelves and on the shelves
hundreds of books, so many that his fathered attached a ladder that slid on a
rail so that he could reach the books at the top. From the long window above his desk he
could see all the way to the square in the centre of town where a marble
fountain burbled and people fed the pigeons.
And very often in the evenings he would walk with his parents down to
the ice cream shop where he ordered a chocolate peppermint cone that he ate
with great enjoyment. At night his
mother would come in and kiss him goodnight and before he fell asleep he would
say, ‘I am very lucky’. And he was. He was a very, very lucky boy and then all at
once he wasn’t.
One Sunday morning
Sebastian woke to the sun streaming through his window and the birds singing in
the trees. There was no reason for him
to think that it wouldn’t be another lucky day in his very lucky life. But when he sat up in bed and listened to the
house he was filled with a feeling that he was not used to. Something wasn’t right. He got out of his bed and opened his door and
peered into the hall. What he saw was
his father was talking to Doctor Little. The doctor shook his head and put his hand on
Arthur Bean’s shoulder and patted it
twice. Sebastian stepped farther out
into the hall. ‘Father?’ he called and
in the single word were a million questions.
“Go back to your room Sebastian,” said his father. “I will be in shortly”.
Sebastian went back to
his room and sat on his bed and the feeling that something was very wrong grew
and grew until his father came in with the news that his mother had contracted
a terrible influenza and that he must pack a bag at once and go and stay with
his grandmother so that he didn’t get infected as well. Had Sebastian known how important what he put
into his suitcase was going to be he would have packed more carefully. But he was so worried about his mother he
couldn’t think. His father made him wear
a mask across his nose so that he didn’t breathe in any of the germs that had
made his mother sick and as he passed the door to their bedroom Sebastian
called ‘Goodbye mumma.’ He didn’t know
if she heard him and sadly he would never know for his mother died the next
morning.
Over the next while
Sebastian was sadder than I have words to describe. He missed his mother terribly and to make
matters worse it seemed that his father had forgotten him. Sebastian remained with his grandmother and
only saw his father from time to time and each time his father seemed more of a
stranger to Sebastian. He spoke quietly
and he never remembered to hug Sebastian and always left without taking him
back home. His grandmother told him that his father was sad too and that he
would come around and that time was a great healer.
The spring went by and
turned to summer and then to autumn and finally to winter and spring
again. And then one day when Sebastian
and his grandmother were working in her flower beds turning over the black dirt
and getting them ready for planting a long black car snaked its way up the
drive and parked in front of the house. Sebastian
stood and dusted his hands off on the back of his pants. The door of the car opened and his father
climbed out. “Hello Sebastian!” he
boomed in the voice he used to use.
“I’ve come to take you home!”
Sebastian was so surprised that he could not seem to move. He wanted to run into his father’s arms with
relief , but he couldn’t seem to do anything but stand in one spot with his
mouth hanging open in surprise. His
grandmother stepped forward and placed her hand on Sebastian’s back. “Well,” she said, “isn’t this
wonderful.” But her voice didn’t sound
excited, it sounded very much like Sebastian was feeling. She was saying happy words but they sounded
anything but. Sebastian’s father stood
there grinning and Sebastian stood in the same place and his grandmother stood
behind him. They may have stood this way
for a good long time had the other door on the car not opened with a creak
capturing their attention.
“Arthur,” said a dark
velvet voice. “Will you help me
out?” Sebastian’s father hurried to the
other side of the car and extended his hand.
A gloved hand appeared and wrapped itself around his own. As Mr. Bean raised his hand a long thin woman
was revealed. She wore a tight fitting
skirt and had an ostrich plume in her hat.
She had a long thin nose to match the rest of her and a wide red
mouth. “Sebastian,” said his father,
“there is someone I’d like you to meet.
This is, well it’s, your, I should say.. my wife. Your stepmother.” Suddenly the air in Nanny’s yard became very
still. Even the birds were shocked into
silence. “Hello Sebastian,” purred the
thin woman. “It is such a pleasure to
meet you at last. Arthur has told me so
many things about you I feel as if I know you already.” Her voice dripped all over Sebastian and she
smiled. He still had not moved a muscle
although his mind had begun to race inside of him. This person, this stepmother person was going
to live with them. Sleep in their house,
in his mother’s bed, use her things, sit in her chair. No it couldn’t be. But as he watched his father’s face and saw
him smiling at the thin woman he realized it was real. Horribly, awfully real. She smiled at Sebastian revealing a row of
well manicured teeth and he was somewhat relieved to see that they weren’t
pointed. “I’m afraid it’s come as a
shock to you,” the thin woman went on, “Arthur, shame on you. I told you he should have been warned. You
may call me Sinthia my dear.” At last
Sebastian found his voice. “It’s nice to
meet you,” he managed. Mr. Bean stepped
closer to Sebastian and ruffled his hair.
“He’s alright aren’t you son?”
Sebastian was so surprised at being ruffled by his father that he, for a
moment, forgot to be shocked at the situation that was presenting itself in
Nanny’s garden. It had been so long
since Arthur Bean had shown his son any affection at all that Sebastian didn’t
quite know how to respond. Little boys
aren’t so different than puppies really.
Even if you haven’t paid much attention to it a puppy will always
forgive his owner at the first sign of kindness and that is exactly what
Sebastian did. In that split second he
looked at his father and smiled and thought ‘maybe it will be alright’. Poor Sebastian, he was so happy for a little
affection he didn’t even hear the other car door open until a very fat and freckly
kind of a voice said, “If I don’t get something to eat in the next 5 minutes my
blood sugar will plummet.”
