The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha

I follow Elsa to the back door, and Samantha waves at me from the kitchen table. I make a face at Elsa’s back. We smother smiles. We’re met outside by a balding man in a black suit on the porch, carrying a basket and a pair of clippers. Elsa introduces him as Hawkins, the butler. Butler? Samantha and her grandmother must be very wealthy.

Elsa takes the basket and clippers from Hawkins and shows me to the flower garden. She tells me to fill the basket with fresh flowers for the table. She asks if I can do that, but doesn’t wait for a reply. She shakes her head and goes back to the kitchen. I take one step into the garden and then freeze. The garden is dense with flowers and I don’t want to crush any. I wobble on one leg like a stork, and then I hear giggling from behind me. Samantha has stepped into the porch and asks if I’m stuck in the flower garden.

I tell Samantha that I must be. I try to hop back to the lawn beyond the flowers. I lose my balance and fall forward onto the grass. Samantha laughs with me as she sits down on the lawn beside me. Then her face grows serious. She says she’s sorry that I’m on my own, that I lost my parents. I flash back to the moment in the parlor when Samantha stood up for me because she thinks I’m an orphan. And now I feel guilty because I’m not really an orphan. But Samantha really is.

I tell her that I’m sorry about her parents, too. And then we sit together, side by side. Samantha smiles and says that she has a feeling that we are going to be good friends. I have exactly the same feeling when the porch door opens and I hear Elsa’s now familiar scolding voice calling out to me.