**Diary Entry**
She was so untidymessy plaits, crumpled uniform, crooked collar and cuffs haphazardly stitched. The girl looked neglected, shoulders hunched as if expecting a blow.
Raisa Dmitrievna wrinkled her nose. Why had she even remembered that scruffy child? She pushed aside her favourite éclairwhere was George? Hed promised to come early today. It was the anniversary of Alexander Petrovichs death.
A knock at the door startled her.
“Whos there? George, is that you? Forget your keys?”
Raisa Dmitrievna, you left your keys on the chair.”
“What? What keys?”
She opened the door and saw… that same girl. What on earth?
“Sedova? What keys? How did you even know where I live? Were you following me?”
The girl shook her head. Her threadbare coat had a stain on the pocket, her shoes nearly falling apart. Only then did Raisa Dmitrievna notice her eyesdeep blue, framed by thick black lashes.
Shed recently started at the school, called out of retirement to teach literature. The girlAlice, Alice Sedovakept to herself.
“You left your keys on the chair. I shouted, but you didnt hear.”
“Oh… thank you. Must be old age,” she joked weakly.
“Youre not old,” Alice said earnestly. “You were just in a hurry.”
When the girl left, Raisa Dmitrievna lingered by the door, listening to her fading footsteps.
“Alice,” she called. “How did you know where I lived?”
The girl turned. “I live next door. I see you sometimeson your way to work. Theres a dog on the corner, so I stay close to you. He doesnt growl then. I smell like catsI feed them in the basement. Hes called Rex.”
Strange child.
“Fancy some tea?” The offer slipped out. Alice nodded instantlyill-mannered, really. She shouldve refused.
The girl ate carefully but hungrily. Raisa Dmitrievna packed leftovers into a tin. “Take these.”
George came home the next morning, sheepish.
“What day was yesterday?” she snapped.
“Thursday, Mum. Todays Friday.”
“Dont be cheeky. It was your fathers anniversary.”
George sighed. “We can remember him today instead.”
At school, Alice passed by with only a polite hello. The audacity.
Days later, Raisa Dmitrievna heard a scream. Alice, wrestling a stray dog for a kitten. She shooed the beast away.
“He wanted toto tear it apart,” the girl sobbed.
“Wheres home?”
“I cant go back.”
Raisa Dmitrievna made inquiries. Alices familydrinkers, neglectful. The maths teacher knew the story.
She followed Alice one evening. The girl sat on a bench outside her block, doing homework in the dim light.
Then came the shoutinga slurred voice. “Alyosha! Wheres that wretched girl?”
A haggard woman, eyes like Alices, glared. “Whats it to you?”
“Im her teacher. Where is she?”
“Home. Asleep.” The woman vanished inside.
But Alice emerged from the shadows.
“Come with me.”
“Shell punish me.”
“Let her try.”
It unraveled slowly. Alices mother was gone. Her grandmother took the childand the state moneybut gave little else.
George came home, stared at Alice. “Whos this?”
“My student.”
Later, he pulled his mother aside. “Mum… thats my daughter.”
The truth spilled outa youthful fling, a girl hed dismissed, a child hed never known.
Tests confirmed it. In court, Raisa Dmitrievna gripped Alices hand, terrified theyd take her away.
“Can I live with Grandma?” Alice asked later.
George laughed. “If she agrees.”
She did.
Now they walk hand in hand, Raisa Dmitrievna uncaring of whispers. Aliceher granddaughter, her joy.
George adores her. His new girlfriend, Elena, didnt lastbut Alice isnt to blame.
“Dad, is it because of me?”
“Never.”
At parents evening, George meets Alices teacher. Now the girl has bothgrandmother and motherat school.
“Hard, having teachers as family?” friends ask.
Alice grins. “Nah. Its brilliant.”
Sometimes she visits her other grandmothercleans, cooks, scolds her to stop drinking. The woman weeps, kissing her hands.
“My girl, my blood,” she sobs, promising to change.
