Phina's Pets

For as long as she could remember, Phina had been able to compartmentalize; she could suppress even the strongest of physical, mental, or emotional concerns. It was her superpower. She dubbed this ability "putting it on ice". Broken bones, crippling fear, and even catotonia could not stop her from moving along with her day as if nothing had happened. At the worst of times, her body would simply move and function with her brain frozen inside her. No one could ever tell if she was anything less than stellar.

She preferred it that way.

It was safer to show no weakness.

People, after all, were monsters. Her evidence for this lay in the first 19 years of her life.

Phina now lived far away from the bustle of people, but old habits die hard. She still put any issue "on ice", and forged ahead as if nothing were wrong. She knew deep down she would have to confront her demons some day...but that knowledge, too, was frozen inside her.

It could wait. It all could.

She used her computer to connect to the world now, but Phina was not at all convinced this was better. People were meaner online than in person, it seemed. The social impact was less, so everyone thought they could get away with more.

Plato's ring theory was proven true daily on the world wide web. It made Phina's heart hurt...but since her heart was "on ice" too, she was fine with it.

She tried to stay away from all of the madness of social networking and stuck mostly to her volunteer work. In this, Phina found technology to be a marvel! She could stay comfortably at home while helping all of her causes! Even tutoring at-risk youth, her personal favorite activity, was a breeze with the screen! She could tutor a child in Mexico, then move on to Argentina and Senegal without taking a single step!

Aside from tutoring, Phina ran several charities that helped women, the environment, refugees, and rescuing children from human traffickers. She was able to do all of this with some outside help, but it was mostly her own money that funded these projects.

Money was one thing she had in abundance.

Phina HATED that money.

Not only had it come from the family who had abused her, but she knew that the majority was based on profits made from taking advantage of vulnerable individuals. Her family had made an enormous profit from slavery, and they saw no reason to stop making money on the backs of others after the abolition of that horrific practice.

When the last of her family died, and Phina became a billionaire, she did not think twice about what to do with the money.

She first bought a mountain. Yes, an entire mountain. Then, she gave it back to the ancestors of the tribe the settlers stole it from. She only asked for the right to build and live in a small cabin on the edge of a small lake-more like a pond, really. They agreed, and she lived in peace for many years there, setting up her charitable foundations with the help of her assistant.

Phina would go on to buy land in every state, and some from Mexico, and donated it back to the families who had lost it in such a brutal way. She also bought houses and gave them away to people who had suffered from red-lining practices. She was in the process of buying a large chunk of the rainforest, but the negotiations were not going very well.

No matter how much she spent, that hateful money never seemed to diminish. She never gave her name, but people always managed to figure out how to donate to her causes. This gave her some hope in humanity, but it always came with huge gestures of gratitude. Boy did she hate that, especially when it came with a present. Being thanked was very annoying and all gifts were promptly given to her neighbors. Phina was only doing what she felt everyone should have done hundreds of years ago.

Phina stayed in her tiny cabin, in perpetual winter both inside and out. She was so high up, and so far North, that the snow never melted and the pond never thawed. She would occasionally go out and cut a hole in the ice to do some fishing, but other than that everything was a blanket of lace.

It suited her perfectly.

She stayed here in perfect silence for over a decade, giving money away as fast as it came in.

Then a boy came to find her.

He was more of a young man, about 20 or so. He came right up to the door and knocked, scaring Phina out of her wits. She let out a hoarse scream, which scared her even more. How long had it been since she last spoke? She moved automatically towards the door, most of her frozen for later panic.

Throwing open the door, she glared at the intruder. What was showing of him was beet red, and he shivered with what she hoped was cold and not fear.

She stood aside and jerked her thumb, indicating he should come in, then waved him to her chair by the fire. He was saying something, but it was muffled under the heavy scarf he had wrapped around his face.

Phina ignored him and went back to work. Eventually he stopped trying to talk to her and the silence wrapped her in comfort again.

When it was time for dinner, Phina made two portions of food and set them at the table without a word.

The boy came cautiously to the table, and sat down to eat. He eyed her with an air of bemused calculation. She hoped he had not come all this way just to laugh at her; the thought made her squirm in her seat.

The boy looked away, embarrassed that he was caught staring.

"You are Seraphina, aren't you? THE Serephina?"

"Yes." She croaked. " Come here to gawk, didya? Well, you got your looksee. Best be on your way soon. There's shelter down the hill a ways if you have no tent."

With that, Phina stood up, snatched the pates, and hobbled to the sink to wash them without waiting for an answer.

"I...I have nowhere to go", came the voice from behind her, heavy with unshed tears.

Phina suppressed a sigh, and said "AND?" in a voice she knew at once was too harsh.

"I came to meet the person who saved me, and hopefully be of some help to you" he said with slightly more confidence.

"I have all the help I need with Sue. If you need anything else you can send a letter and I'll make sure you get it." It was becoming easier to speak, but the rough tone was still there. She worried that she was scaring the poor kid, but she also wanted him to "leave already!"

Oh, no. Did she just say that out loud?

She turned to see the proof of her rudeness stitched across his face. He started crying as soon as their eyes met, laying his head on the table.

Phina knew these sobs of desperation; they were currently locked away inside where they have accumulated for 60 years.

She limped over and laid her less deformed hand hesitantly on his shoulder.

"I am...sorry, boy. I'm just a grouchy old lady who hasn't spoken to anyone in a long time."

She stood next to him until his weeping transformed into a snore. Grabbing a nearby blanket, she draped it over him and then went to add her snores to his.

They harmonized for several hours. Phina woke well before him, and left the house to let him sleep. 'Poor child' she thought as she sat by her frozen lake.

She wondered how she saved him. With all her work she never once looked into individual stories, nor did she ever follow up. Phina trusted her employees to do that for her.

Perhaps that was wrong of her. This boy came all the way here for help, after all, instead of going through the easy and appropriate channels.

She heard a slight noise behind her and patted the bench next to her. A warm, wiggly presence settled next to her. He reminded her of the puppy she had back before the abuse became unthinkable; the memory of her first injury caused her twisted left arm to burn and itch.

"Can I stay", the puppy whined softly.

"It's not up to me. Not my land", her voice had lost it's cruelty, thank goodness.

He handed her a signed property deed. Her neighbors had either sold or given him a piece of land across the pond from her. "I'd like your permission as well, if you'll give it..."

Phina was shocked and conflicted. She wanted to help this boy, but wanted to be alone. She had no choice in the matter, but he was giving her one. She was scared, hopeful, anxious...there was too much to bury in ice. She let out a long scream that terrified her visitor. Instead of running away, however, he sat and gently held her deformed shoulders while she let out 60 years of pain.

She lapsed into silence. After what seemed like hours, she gave a single nod and went back into the house to cook them a meal.

Over the next few months, the young man stayed with Phina while he built his own small cabin. He gave his whole story- as a 10 year old he was a refugee and was denied access to America, Phina provided him a lawyer who obtained citizenship for him. He was given to the foster system, but his caretakers sold him into slavery. He survived 3 years in conditions worse than what he escaped from, forced to perform all sorts of terrible tasks, and live in deplorable conditions, until his captors finally let down their guard enough for him to call Phina's Angel Foundation. His one call saved the lives of 150 children!

He stayed with Sue after that, helping with the foundation any way he could. Sue, it turns out, used a great many of her own resources to care for these children who have no homes. After hearing this, Phina quadrupled her already large paycheck, including 10 years of backpay, making sure she sent a note to her assistant that simply read 'SILLY WOMAN!'. Sue sent back "POT KETTLE!", and Phina laughed for the first time in her adult life.

The two of them lived in a companionable silence for 5 years. She even, eventually, forgave him for lying about having nowhere to go. Her puppy, as she always called him, slowly took over the major chores during this time. Phina wouldn't ever say how much she appreciated this, but the boy knew all the same.

More young people slowly started trickling in, all with signed deeds in hand: a turtle, a ferret, a kitten, a parrot, and a capybara. There was no more silence, no matter how hard the children tried, but Phina learned to enjoy the noise.

When she died, her 'pets' buried her next to the bench by the pond. By then, there was hardly ever any snow on the mountain, and it was never known if it was due to global warming, the fact that there was so many residents now, or if it was the thawing of Phina's defenses. They planted the first flower to ever grow on her grave, the daffodil. They would always go there when they needed advice, and she would respond exactly how she would when she was alive-with silent companionship.

The kids all kept up her foundation, each taking on one they felt especially close to. They kept going even when it became almost impossible to help due to the greed of humanity.

They were happy to save anyone they could.