Raining Rainbows

Emmy Lou was very small for her age of six, small in body and small in mind. When she was two and a half years old her mother gave up searching for doctors who would tell her that Emmy Lou was normal. But Emmy Lou wasn't normal, she was autistic they said. One doctor said, "She has the brain of an idiot. She will never grow up." So when Emmy Lou’s mother moved all the way across the united states to a small town in Michigan to get a job she put Emmy Lou in the spare room in the basement and left her there.

Emmy Lou didn’t complain about the world she lived in. She knew it was the world because she remembered one time when she tried to crawl across the floor and out on to the cement floor. Her mother caught her and gave her a very big slap on her face and yelled, “Never, never do that again. You stay in your place, this is your world. You must never leave.” So Emmy Lou stayed in her world every day and night. Her mother brought food to her every morning and evening when she got off work. Once her mother held her close for a minute after she washed her for bed but this never happened again, Emmy Lou was sure of that or she would have remembered. Even so, Emmy Lou stayed healthy in body and spirit.

Her world had no source of artificial light, no lamp or flashlight or nightlight. The only window was very high up on the wall and painted over with green paint, to match the leaves on the wallpaper. There was no television, or radio. There was a small selection of toys, a ragged Barbie doll and a See & Say and a few other items. There were a few torn magazines and children's books.

As her mother said to her once, “An idiot don’t need much. Don’t need nothing.” When her mother spoke those words, Emmy Lou blinked her black eyes back at her mother and made a mewing sound of love. Her mother dropped her back down from the wash bin and left. Saddened, Emmy Lou learned to keep still and silent in front of her mother. She was very careful not to make the mewing sound again too, or any sound at all when she heard her mother’s weight upon the stairs. But later Emmy Lou might hum or sing real low because she knew her mother would be a long time coming back.

But singing and making sounds wasn’t the most fun activity for Emmy Lou, what she enjoyed the most was the tiny ray of light that spilled through a crack between the window and wall. Emmy Lou would sit in her favorite position on the braided rug, curl her legs and arms around herself and watch the tiny ray of sunlight fall into the room.

She'd nod her head this way and that as the prism of colors danced into the room, moving slowly along the dingy carpet until it settled on the spot where she was sitting, teasing her bare toes until they tingled. She always sat in this same spot to watch the sparkling rainbow dance. Sometimes the rainbow was long and stretchy and other times it was slow and wiggly but always it found Emmy Lou where she sat and kissed her toes then her belly and then her head. The rainbow tingled inside her and felt warm and loving especially when it sang inside her head. Then she could see sparks and colors twirl around in circles. She loved the rainbow light so much she only played with the Barbie doll or other toys in the dark. She asked her rainbow to visit her in the dark too but it never did.

One day Emmy Lou learned to follow the rainbow as it flowed off her head. She followed as it slowly danced across the floor, climbed up the wall, and went back out the window crack. At first Emmy Lou was blinded by all the blazing yellow and red light that glowed everywhere at once but then the dark descended and the moon began to slide across the night sky and her rainbow was lost. Emmy Lou became frightened and fell back into her world upon a moon beam. It was days before she dared follow the rainbow out of the world again but she was very pleased she did because it was do beautiful. The blue heaven far above her world and small white things that float across it amazed her as well as the tall bare trees and white snow that covered the ground. It was lovely. She played in the soft breeze that swam around and around, she imagined she could feel the pitter-patter of rain drops on her body or the cold snow beneath her feet. One day she even followed a lightning bolt as it jumped back into the sky. Emmy Lou was content to dance with the rainbow forever.

One day soon after, the rainbow didn’t come back for days and she became exceedingly upset and cried until streams of tears rolled down her cheeks. She was afraid it would never come back to play with her. But it did come back after a few days, just as glowing and bright as ever and Emmy Lou was delighted she could go outside and dance once more.

Before long, Emmy Lou began to know all the parts of things through her rainbow of light. When winter ended she watched the snow melt and when spring came she watched the flowers grow up tall, little by little, and lift their orange, yellow, and red heads high to the sky. She watched the dead brown grass come to life and turn the ground green all around the world where she danced. She watched the sun and rain change the color of the air and once she saw a huge rainbow rise far up to the sky and down again. She wanted to follow it as far up and high as it would take her but half way up she became afraid and slid back down to the world again, better to stay inside her own ray of rainbow light.

One day, an intrusion walked into her rainbow world. A young girl with curly black hair, dark skin and a white dress with red flowers on it walked over and sat down inside her rainbow. She held a baby doll in her lap and began to comb its hair.

Emmy Lou was delighted. She danced and sang and watched the baby doll’s hair get braided and unbraided and combed and curled. Then she heard a call from far away, “Megan, Megan.” The young girl jumped up and ran out of Emmy Lou’s rainbow.

It was almost as bad as when the rainbow went away in that dark cloudy time and Emmy Lou cried tears and didn’t eat the plate that her mother shoved at her that evening. But the next day, just like the rainbow, Megan came back and sat in the same place so Emmy Lou could play around her.

Emmy Lou danced and played, she tickled Megan's black curls and her cheeks, she sparkled on her pretty dress and baby doll, she danced in circles all around Megan as she sat playing with her baby doll. Day after day, Megan came and sat down in the same place as if she liked Emmy Lou to dance around her.

Then a lady found Megan sitting there one day, “No no you must come away, this is a bad place, dirty, wicked. She yanked on her arm almost lifting her off the ground as she pulled her away. Megan didn’t come back the next day or the next. Emmy Lou never knew how to be lonely before but now she felt strange sobs fill her mind and her heart. The rainbow didn’t glow as bright as usual and even the place outside her own world wasn't much fun anymore.

Then Megan did come back, with a friend. A big black dog with wavy hair and lots of teeth that sparkled when he smiled. This time when the lady went to grab Megan's arm the dog growled and showed his teeth.

“Come away from there, Megan” the lady said. “Megan, come here. Blackie stop that growling."

But the Blackie growled the harder and Megan put her arms in front of her chest and a grew a stubborn look on her face and said, “No.”

"Please, Megan, it is a bad place."

But Megan yelled the louder, “I won’t. It isn’t a bad place. It’s a good place. It makes me feel good. I am staying right here.” And she stood, turned in a circle swinging her arms out before she sat back down. “I like it here.”

“A witch lives in that house. You better come here this minute. Bring her to nanny, Blackie. Bring her here.” Blackie just lowered his head and looked up at the nanny.

“This is my most favorite place in the whole wide world.”

“Oh, what can I do. Your father will be home soon and I need to cook his dinner.”

But Megan, sat down upon the grass and began to rub Blackie’s fur. Blackie relaxed and lay down by her side.

Emmy Lou watched in fascination and awe as Megan petted her big black dog. Oh I wish I had a dog like that, oh, I wish, I wish....Then she didn’t know what more to wish for so she just watched from her rainbow as the drama played out beneath her window.

Finally, the nanny pleaded with her once more, “Please honey, come here. Blackie looked at her and Megan kept her nose quenched and her mouth firm and turned her head first one way and then the other.

Then they all heard a man's voice call out.

"See, its your father."

Megan's father came over to stand in front of her. He laughed. "Well, my little Princess, what have we here."

“I won’t go.”

He smiled, “And why not Princess? Is this your fairy castle?”

“Yes, that’s what it is. It is all rainbows and light and good feelings. I don’t want to leave, ever.”

"But you must come home to eat, don’t you think. Let me see." He rubbed his forehead. "I know, you need to show the prince around your magic fairy castle?

"Yes," Megan yelled, “Enter prince. But the magic wand isn't here, it is over there and I can't reach it.” Megan pointed her finger at the crack in the window.

"Well, let me see if I can find your wand." He laughed. He walked over to the window in the side of the house and put his head close to the crack, The crack was just large enough so he could see far down into the small room where Emmy Lou's dark eyes looked up at him.

When his vision adjusted and he could finally see into the dim room he saw a skinny little girl with blond hair sitting amid torn papers, dirty laundry, dried food and trash of every description. The urine smell gagged him so bad he jumped away from the crack.

That same day Emmy Lou went outside of her world for real and forever. Oh, and the rainbow followed her outside too.

This is a true story because my name is Emmy Lou and I wrote it. But do you know what the best part of the story is? The rainbow gave me a new dad, a sister and a dog named Blackie.

The end