Bonnie's New Home

[baby_snow_white]

Brenda looks at Tracy. "I'll go home and get the picture. I'll be back in a little bit with it." She leaves the kitchen and goes out the living room door. 10 minutes later. Brenda comes back with an 8x10 framed picture. She hands the picture to Tracy. It was of Chief Osecola setting on Renegade throwing a flaming spear in the middle on the football field.

Jayme smiles. "You caught it at just the right moment. Just before the spear sticking into the ground."

Brenda nods. "Yeah I also have one of them riding out onto the field with the spear."

Jayme nods. "I'm so jealous. I had a bunch of pictures from Florida State and the football field,but they was destoryed by the director and her staff. I saw them burning the pictures,but I couldn't get to them to stop them in time."

Brenda shakes her head. "That is terrible. They must have been Florida Gators Fans."

[robehouse]

"That is a nice picture. I'll go get the girls and bring them down here to see the picture."

Tracy goes upstairs to the bedroom. "Girls, I have a surprise for you. Brenda has a picture of Chief Osceola and his horse Renegade. It is not the stuffed one that Bonnie got to hold, but the actual mascot from the University. Anyone who wants to see the picture, come downstairs."

Tracy starts back downstairs.

[baby_snow_white]

The girls look at Tracy as she comes in. All the girls get up except for Dinah and Angel. They set on the floor. Bonnie walks over to them and tells them that Tracy has a picture of Chief Osecola and Renegade from the Florida State University. They got up off the floor and goes out of the room. All the girls come running down the stairs to the living room. Bonnie looks at Tracy. "Where is the picture at mommy?"

[robehouse]

"Brenda has it. Why don't you all have a seat and I will go get her."

Tracy goes to the kitchen. "I have the girls all waiting in the living room. Why don't you go show them the picture?"

[baby_snow_white]

The girls set down on the couch and waits for Brenda to come in.

Brenda walks into the living room with the picture. "Bonnie, I hear you met the stuffed Osecola and Renegade. Well this is a picture of the real life mascot of Florida State. This is Chief Osecola on his horse Renegade." She shows all of them the picture. When Dinah sees it. She shakes her head and signs to Jayme.

Jayme looks at Brenda. "Dinah said that is not Chief Osecola. He did not wear war paint that was dark red and gold. She also says that is not the clothes of the Seminole Tribe. That picture is an insult to the real Chief Osecola and the whole Seminole tribe." Dinah gets up and goes up to the playroom.

Brenda looks confused. "Did I do something to insult Dinah? Why would she think Florida State was insulting Chief Osecola and the Seminole Tribe?"

Jayme shakes her head. "You didn't do anything to insult Dinah. She is very touchy about her heritage. According to her file at the home. She has indian blood in her. Seminole to be exact. So she takes anything that she feels belittles indians very personally. I think Dinah misunderstood what Tracy said. When Tracy said you had a picture of Chief Osecola on his horse. I think Dinah thought you had picture of him not the mascot from Florida State."

[robehouse]

Tracy watches as the girls look at the picture. She is surprised to see Dinah walk to the playroom. She listens to Jayme's explanation.

"I believe that Florida State University has the blessing of the Seminoles both here in Florida and I believe in Oklahoma to use Chief Osceola as their mascot. I wouldn't know how to get Dinah to believe that though. Thank you for bringing the picture over, Brenda."

[baby_snow_white]

Jayme nods. "I think so too. I doubt Florida State would have used him as their mascot if they hadn't gotten the tribe's blessing."

Brenda nods. "You are welcome Tracy."

April looks at Brenda. "Why does he have a flaming spear in his hand?"

Jayme looks at April. "It is to cleanise the field of evil spirits. Indians feels that fire will get rid of evil that is in the ground and the air."

[robehouse]

"I don't think they would have been allowed to call themselves the Seminoles either."

"How long is Wanda going to be with her cousins, Brenda?"

"If I can remember, I will see if Florida State is playing football this Saturday. Maybe they will have shots of Osceola on Renegade. I think that would only happen if it was a home game."

"Since you girls are in here now, would you like to watch a video or something?"

[baby_snow_white]

Brenda looks at her watch. "They should have been back by now. They are 30 minutes late. I hope nothing happened to them." She looks at Tracy. "I don't know if they are at home Saturday. I think they are playing UNC in Chapel Hill." Brenda nods. "Yes Chief Osecola and Renegade only go to home games."

Bonnie looks at Tracy. "Mommy, can we go to where Florida State is at? I want to see Renegade up close. He is super cute." The girls nod in agreement.

April nods. "Mommy, can we watch the Little Mermaid?"

[robehouse]

"I hope nothing has happened to them as well. I don't know Bonnie, They play up in Tallahassee which is about a three hour drive from here. Wouldn't you rather go to a farm or ranch and look at horses around here? They might even let you ride one. You couldn't ride Renegade. Chief Osceola is the only one allowed to ride him."

"Okay April." Tracy goes to the cabinet and pulls out the Little Mermaid DVD and puts it in the player. she pushes the remote and starts the movie. Tracy sits down on the couch with the girls.

[baby_snow_white]

Bonnie shakes her head. "I don't want to ride Renegade. I just want to see him up close. He looks so handsome in the picture. I don't care to ride any horse except a stick horse or a rocking horse. Real horses are scary. They can bite you and can draw blood."

Mary shakes her head. "No they can't Bonnie. Horse have hoofs. They can't draw anything because they can't hold a pencil or crayon in their hoofs. Horses are not scary. They are wonderful animals and majestic creatures. Horses are like any other animal. You treat them with respect and they will respect you. My parents use to have a horse farm. There is nothing more beautiful than to see a horse in full gallop. Their ears pulled in next to their body. Their tail pulled in tight. Them whinning and neighing as they run. Their nostils flairing. It is a really beautiful sight. Just thinking about it making me miss my parents and the horse farm."

Bonnie runs upstairs and looks at the map on the wall. She comes back. "It can't be that far. It is only to the 5 on this ruler. I looked it up on the map upstairs in the playroom."

[robehouse]

"Okay. The next home game isn't for a couple of weeks, so I will see what we can do about getting us some tickets. Mary, I think what Bonnie meant was they could bite with their teeth and it would cut the skin and cause blood to come out. I think horses are beautiful animals as well. I've never really been around them though. Aww, I'm sorry Mary." Gives Mary a hug.

"Bonnie, I have driven through Tallahassee before. It is at least a two and half hour drive. Florida is bigger than the map, Bonnie. each inch is equal to so many miles. For instance each inch could be equal to a hundred miles. I am not sure what the scale on that map was though."

Tracy goes to the kitchen and fixes eight sippy cups with juice and brings them back to the living room. She sets them down on the coffee table for the girls to drink during the movie.

[baby_snow_white]

Bonnie squeals with delight. "Cool. We are going to see Renegade at his home. I can't wait to see him up close."

Mary nods. "Oh I see. I thought Bonnie meant draw as in with a pencil or a crayon." She puts her head on Tracy's shoulder. "Thank you mommy. Getting a hug from you makes me feel a little better."

Bonnie looks at Tracy. "Why is the map smaller than Florida is? That makes the map misleading." Each of the girls take a sippy cup and sets on the floor around the couch.

[robehouse]

"Yes, but that won't happen for a couple of weeks Bonnie. A lot of things could happen to delay it."

"That's okay Mary. That's one of the things that mommy's are here for."

"When I said the map was smaller I mean the distance looks closer on a map than it does for real. What looks like only inches is actually several hundred miles."

Tracy sits there for a few minutes as she watches the girl get engrossed in the movie. She gets up and walks over to the window and looks over at Brenda's house to see if there is a car in the driveway yet. "Would you like to use a phone to call your relatives and find out what's taking so long with getting Wanda home?"

[baby_snow_white]

Mary nods. "Yes it is. It is also one of the things Big Sister Jayme is for."

Bonnie looks confused. "Why is the distance so small on the map,but is really very far away? That makes things on the map misleading and very confusing."

Brenda gets up off the couch. "That is a good idea." She walks to the kitchen to call her sister on her cell phone. A few minutes later. Brenda comes back into the living room. "My sister said she was having a hard time getting Wanda off the playground equipment. She said she had to finally pick up Wanda and carry her off the playground kicking and screaming."

[robehouse]

Tracy pats Mary on the bottom.

"They have to make the map smaller so it will fit on the wall or whatever. If the map were actually to scale, it would probably take up the whole wall instead of just the area it does now."

Tracy smiles. "That's good news, I guess. At least they weren't involved in an accident or anything like that. Did she say they were almost to your house?"

[baby_snow_white]

Bonnie nods. "Oh I see. I guess it would take alot of wall if it was that big,but it would make things easier to judge how far something really is."

Brenda shakes her head. "No when I called. She said she had just got everyone in the car to come home. They was still in the parking lot of the park. She said she would be here as soon as she can."

[robehouse]

"Well that must be a relief to you. I know it would be for me if someone took any of my girls somewhere and I expected them back at a certain time and they didn't show up."

Tracy goes back and sits down on the couch. She looks at her girls and smiles. They are all watching the movie intensely. It would be awhile before they were ready to do anything else. She laid down on the couch and closed her eyes.

[baby_snow_white]

Brenda nods. "Yes it is a relief to me to know where they are at. I was a little worried,but I didn't expect that kind of reaction from Wanda. I've never had to drag her off the playground kicking and screaming." She notices Tracy's eyes starting to close. Brenda quietly walks out of the house and goes back to her house.

[robehouse]

Tracy rests with her eyes closed and her ears on the sound from the movie. She hears the front door open and close and opens her eyes for a second. She sees that Brenda has left the room and closes her eyes again. She stays like that until the movie ends, then slowly sits up on the couch.

[baby_snow_white]

Jayme was laying on the floor asleep with her thumb in her mouth. The girls wasn't in the room. They had left the room and went upstairs before the movie.

[robehouse]

Tracy rubs her eyes and notices the girls are gone. She figures they went up to the playroom. She smiled as she saw Jayme laying curled up on the floor, sucking her thumb. Tracy reaches down and shakes Jayme's arm.

"Jayme, time to wake up, honey."

[baby_snow_white]

Jayme stirs a little bit. "Five more minutes mommy." She opens her eyes and looks at Tracy. Jayme blushes when she realizes that she called Tracy mommy. She sets up on the floor with her thumb still in her mouth. It felt very comforting to suck her thumb.

[robehouse]

Tracy smiles as Jayme calls out in her sleep. "It's okay Jayme, mommy's here. Do you need your diaper changed while the girls are upstairs? I really don't mind if you suck your thumb, if it makes you feel better. Maybe you would like to tell me what your life was like as a little girl? did you have a good relationship with your real mother?"

[baby_snow_white]

Jayme nods. "Yes I do need to be changed." She crawls into Tracy's bedroom and gets up on the bed." Jayme shakes her head. "No I didn't have a good relationship with my mom. She rushed me though my childhood so she wouldn't have to deal with parts of it. Changing me was one of the parts. She rushed me though potty training before I was ready. I would have alot of accidents which she punished me for. When I would suck my thumb. She would punish me for it. By putting hot sauce and pepper on it so I would stop. I was not allowed to watch cartoons or children's shows even if they was educational. I was not allowed to have toys. Mom felt toys made kids lazy. I couldn't go outside to play with other kids or just by myself in the backyard. I was sent to my room to read books and study. I saw the way you was with Bonnie and the others. It made me jealous because I never had a loving mom who let me be a little girl and just have fun. Slowly a little girl personality came out and wanted to play. I know I have to lock her up and not let her out,but it is hard. I can't be a little girl and still be an authority figure for Bonnie and the others."