Here is Part 7 of the Yarn Wars! I did say a new character would be introduced today, I hope you enjoy reading from her perspective.

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Part 2 – Lynnea

Lynnea was having a dream that she had a supply of endless yarn, in every shade, weight, and fiber.  Naturally, she was annoyed when a knock on the door woke her from this fantasy.

Groggily she looked at her alarm clock.  3:12 in the morning.  Lynnea rolled over and put the pillow over her head.  Whoever it was would have to wait until morning.

Five minutes later, the knock came again.  Lynnea groaned and got out of bed.  She didn’t want the noise to disturb her sister.  It wouldn’t bother her mother, of course, since she had gone deaf during the Battle of Seattle several years ago.  And her father was on a business trip for “secret government stuff.”

Lynnea tiptoed through their one-bedroom apartment and looked out the peephole.  A girl with messy blonde hair was looking anxiously back at her.

Surprised, Lynnea opened the door a crack, leaving only the screen door between herself and the midnight visitor.  “You’re disturbing my sister.”

“Please don’t close the door,” begged the girl.  “I really need your help.”

Lynnea had read someplace that a vampire couldn’t come into your house unless you invited it.  She hoped the same was true with the mystery girl.  “Why should I help you?”

“Because your grandmother, Harriet, sent me.”

Lynnea hadn’t seen Harriet in ten years.  She wasn’t sure if she trusted her grandmother enough to let a complete stranger into the house in the middle of the night.  She remained silent, allowing the girl a chance to try and persuade her.

“I’m Kira Lovelace,” said the girl.  “I know that you’re Lynnea Ayres, and you’re sixteen.”

Kira only succeeded in creeping Lynnea out.  Lynnea said, “Now you sound like a crazy stalker, and you have no chance of me letting you in.”

“Fine with me,” said Kira, peering around Lynnea into the tiny ramshackle house.  “Looks kind of tight, isn’t it?”

“It’s not like we can get anything better,” said Lynnea, stung.

“Of course you can,” Kira protested.  “They don’t stop you from buying houses just ’cause you’re crocheters!”

“And you’re not?” whispered Lynnea, overcome with the irrational fear that their conversation would wake her family up.  “You can’t be a knitter.”

“Um…yeah!” Kira said cheerfully.  “I guess I had to tell you sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner.  Yeah, you can trust me.  What would I do to you?”

That was true, Lynnea thought.  She didn’t look very strong, and Lynnea had already checked to see that she wasn’t carrying a weapon. But… “What do you mean, you need my help?”

“It’s kind of awkward talking through the screen,” Kira hinted.

Lynnea crossed her arms, leaned against the door, and waited.

“I guess I can deal with it,” muttered Kira.  “Okay, so here’s the short part of it.  Today I stole some yarn from the store –”

Lynnea couldn’t stop herself from interrupting.  “You what?!”

“I knew that would get you.  I stole some yarn from the store,” Kira continued, acting out each word.  Lynnea tried not to laugh.  “Then I took it to your grandmother’s – Harriet’s – store and dumped it there.  She left me a note telling me to meet her on Cherry Street.”

Kira paused, letting all this sink in.  Lynnea asked, “Why would you give us the yarn?  That was a pretty idiotic thing to do.  Especially since you got caught.”

“Well…I guess…I felt bad that you didn’t get as good of yarn choices as we did,” Kira said, looking down at the ground in embarrassment.  “Sounds kind of stupid now.”

“I think it was really nice,” Lynnea comforted her.  “I wish I had found it.  What yarn was it?”

“The kind created especially for the new millenium.”

“Ooh,” Lynnea gasped automatically.  She had seen pictures of the yarn in a snitched knitter’s catalogue (which she returned after, mind you) and it had been spectacular.

“Okay, so where was I?  Well, uh, our neighbors attacked my family with shovels and weapons ’cause they thought we were crocheters.” Kira looked apologetically at Lynnea.  “Sorry, I don’t think that was a good reason to attack a person and kill their mother.”

“Kill their mother?!” Lynnea exclaimed, opening the screen door and stepping outside.

Kira remained silent.

Lynnea was completely won over.  “I’ll help you with whatever I can,” she reassured Kira.

“Thanks,” Kira said gratefully.  “Here’s what we need to do.  Harriet – I mean your grandma – ”
“You can call her Harriet,” Lynnea said dismissively.  “I haven’t seen her since I was six. In ten years.”

“Harriet said we needed to find out why the Yarn Craft Bans were started. I mean, why would the government suddenly decide to separate knitters and crocheters?”

Lynnea felt like an idiot for never asking that question before.  “I don’t know!”

“Harriet seemed determined that you would know!” said Kira frustratedly.

Lynnea wracked her brain, but couldn’t come up with anything.  Until an idea popped into her head with such force, it felt more like a cannon than a lightbulb.

“My dad!” she gasped, looking at Kira.  “My dad works for the government!  We should look in his office.  We’ll find their files there.”

Kira squealed.  “That’s perfect, Lynnea!”

The girls calmed down, and Lynnea said, “We’re going to have to figure out a way to get into there.”

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That’s all for today! Next week I will post Part 8 on Saturday, because I leave for vacation the next day.  (YAY!)  😉