The Castle in the Curio Cabinet

The castle sat on the middle shelf of the curio cabinet, a tangible reminder of happiness forever lost. It was a beautiful sculpture of a fantastic castle that had never existed, nor would ever exist. Towers, turrets, balconies, and arches all blended to form a fantasy possible only in the mind of the sculptor.

Mary and Kyle, seven and five years old respectively, stood in front of the closed curio cabinet, looking closely at the castle. They were careful not to get dirty fingers on the clean glass. Mary stood a pace behind her brother, looking over his shoulder.

"I dont see anything!" Kyle was vexed, if not outright suspicious of his sister's claim.

"Kyle," explained Mary patiently, "you just dont know how to look. Maybe youre not old enough, so Mom and Dad dont want you to know their secret."

Kyle stepped away from the cabinet, frowning. He missed his parents terribly, and did not understand why they had gone away, or why he and his sister had to live with his uncle and aunt. Mary always had told him that he would understand someday. She always cried when he asked about Mommy and Daddy. Kyle did not like to make his sister cry, so he stopped asking. But he still missed them, and still didnt understand.

"But why, Mary. I want to see Mommy and Daddy. Why cant I?"

Mary sat down on the floor. "I dont know, Kyle. Im sorry, but I dont know--do you like Uncle Jon and Aunt Lyse?"

The change of subject caught Kyle off guard. He turned and sat next to his sister, near to tears. "I think so--but they dont like us, do they?" They had been living with their aunt and uncle for just over a year, and were always reminded of the fact that they were an unexpected burden. Both Aunt Lyse and Uncle Jon had important careers, they frequently explained, and had not planned on children. Their home, much like their personalities, seemed sterile and lacking in warmth. They took care of the children that had been forced upon them, but with the mechanical sense of duty with which one waters a houseplant.

Mary frowned deeply. "No, they dont care about us--I hate them. I wish we could live somewhere else."

"I want to live like we used to, in our old house. Will Mommy and Daddy come back, Mary?" Kyle rubbed his hands roughly through the carpet, looking intently at his sister. She always seemed to know everything. He counted on his sister. She was his only friend. As long as Mary was around, Kyle didnt really mind living with his aunt and uncle.

"No, Kyle. I told you they went away and cant come back. They live in the castle now. Thats where they are. Mom always told me that she and Dad would live in a castle someday like a king and queen, and that we would all be there together happy forever! Thats where they are now."

Kyle turned and looked closely at the castle again, unaware that his hands were smudging the glass. "But I dont see them! I dont believe you--its just make believe like Aunt Lyse said!"

Both Kyle and Mary remembered the one time that Mary had tried to explain to Aunt Lyse about the castle. Aunt Lyse had listened with half an ear while watching the news on television. She stopped watching long enough to look at Mary, an odd expression on her face. "Mary, your parents are not in the castle, they are..." she paused and looked at Kyle and scowling. "They are gone, Mary.