The Yarn Wars, Part Six

Hello people!  Here is part 6 of the Yarn Wars.  It’s the last part from Kira’s point of view, then we switch to another character who is yet to be revealed. 😉

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“What did you find?” asked Kira anxiously.

Harriet pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out of her pocket.  “I brought it to show you.  I saved a copy all these years.”

Kira took the offered piece of paper and spread it out on her lap.  “Wow,” she said.  “These look familiar.”

It was the most recent amendment to the Constitution – the one with all of the yarn rules, like knitters and crocheters staying separate, and a person only being allowed to learn one of the crafts.  Then, of course, the one proclaiming that south-siders would learn to crochet, and north-siders would learn to knit, if they didn’t know how already.

Kira handed the paper back to Harriet.  “So I guess you and Linda didn’t see each other anymore?”

Harriet looked down sadly.  “I’m sorry to say we didn’t.  We were too scared.  I’ve regretted it every since.  I didn’t see her again until she died.”

“They split up best friends,” Kira said angrily.  “That’s horrible!”

“Oh, they’ve done worse than that,” remarked Harriet grimly.  “That’s what I told you all this for.”

“What did they do?” asked Kira nervously.

“Do you know why the neighbors attacked your house?” Harriet inquired.

“No,” Kira said.  “Mom told me to ask you.”

“It’s an awful reason,” Harriet warned her.

Kira waited.

Harriet spit it out. “They thought you were crocheters, so they wanted to teach you a lesson.”

“What?!” gasped Kira, leaping to her feet.  “That’s not true!  How could they think that?”

“Sometimes rumors start going around,” Harriet said.  “Obviously they weren’t true, but the gossip happened anyway. Then some people decided to act on it.”

“They killed my mother,” whispered Kira, feeling like she’d been punched in the stomach.  “They killed her.”

Then the shock disappeared in an instant.  Kira began to sob hysterically.  In a blind rage, she leaped up, grabbed the paper off of Harriet’s lap, and tore it into a dozen pieces.  She stomped them onto the sidewalk and then punched the bench, hard.

This resulted in nothing but a sore hand. Kira collapsed onto the pavement, still in tears.

Harriet sank down to the ground too, and she pulled Kira over to her.  “It will be all right, darling,” she whispered.  “You’ll get your revenge, and your mother will be happy.”

“She didn’t deserve to die,” sobbed Kira.

“Of course she didn’t,” soothed Harriet.

“It wasn’t her fault, but she died anyway,” Kira continued.  “I hate those people! I’d like to beat them up! Torture them! Chop them up!” Her gruesome monologue was cut off by a fresh round of sobbing.

“No, you wouldn’t,” Harriet disagreed. “I understand your pain.  My mother died at your age.  But you aren’t a violent person, Kira.  I can tell it from just being around you.  You couldn’t hurt anyone out of spite.”

“But I want to,” sniffled Kira.  “To make them pay for Mom’s death –” Her voice broke on the last word.

Harriet hugged her until Kira stopped crying.  “Shall we make a plan?”

“For what?” Kira asked, wiping her eyes.

“To stop the wars,” Harriet announced.  “Your mother wanted it.”

“I do too,” said Kira, sniffling and sitting up.

“I’ve told you everything I know,” said Harriet, getting down to business.  “I also know your experiences with the Yarn Wars. So we’ve shared all our information.  What I’ve never understood is how the government got all the people to go along with it.”

“True,” agreed Kira.  “Maybe they hyptnotized everyone or something.”

“I never thought of that,” said Harriet, her face lighting up.  “That’s a good point.  But how would they have managed it?”

The two sat in thought for a while.  Then Kira said, “You never did answer something.  Why did they start it?”

“The Yarn Wars?” asked Harriet.  “People must have started spreading rumors about a neighbor, so they attacked their house, and the homeowners thought it was the other craft, so they attacked them, and it escalated from there.”

“I mean the Yarn Rules,” amended Kira.  “Why did they see the need to separate knitting and crochet? I never really thought about why before now.”

“I have never been able to figure that out.”

“We’ve got to, though,” Kira said.

“I know,” said Harriet.  “I’m too old for adventuring anymore.  I’ll just slow you down.  Go find my granddaughter.”

“Where is she?” asked Kira.

Harriet gave her directions to the house.  “She’s a crocheter, so try not to get caught on the way.  She lives with just her dad, her mom was taken to prison last year for trying to resist.”

“What’s her name?”

“Lynnea Ayres,” Harriet informed Kira.  “She’s sixteen.”

“I’m seventeen,” Kira commented.  She stood up.  “Well, I’ll be on my way.”

“Be careful,” said Harriet, standing up as well.  “I’ll go home.  I wish I could be of more help!”

“You already were!” reassured Kira.  “I’ve got it from here.  I’ll come to you if I think of something else.”

Harriet smiled, and the two parted ways – was it the last time they would ever see each other, even though it was only the second? wondered Kira.  Then she shook the thought from her head.  Harriet would be all right.

But would Kira?

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That’s all for today, I hope you liked it!  I will talk to you later. 🙂