Darcy opened her eyes slowly, still laying on the circus tent floor, her head feeling heavy and sluggish, like someone had smashed a brick over her head. She blinked the tiredness out of her eyes, disoriented, and her hand instinctively reached up to grab the cross hanging around her neck. She caressed the wood of it between her thumb and forefinger, remembering how she'd gotten it.
Little Darcy clung to Mrs. Reynold's blouse with one hand, the other pressed firmly down on the top of her little head, trying to keep her big winter hat from blowing away. She stumbled right along her first grade teacher, walking across the old parking lot towards the huge, looming cathedral in front of her, the weight of so many sweaters weighing her down. When Mrs. Reynold's had heard from Darcy that her mother was leaving her, alone, at home for a couple of days, she had invited her here to come to church with her and celebrate mass. Darcy had never been to a church before, had never even heard God's name except when her mother was cursing it. But she sat beside her teacher quietly, listening to the priest as he read the readings, preached the prayers, and tried to sing along with the songs the choir sung. At the end of church, Mrs. Reynold's walked up to the apse to introduce Darcy to Father Clark. "A young one, eh?" he said, smiling down at Darcy with a twinkle in his eye. "I've got something just for you," he said, walking up the steps past the altar, motioning for Darcy to follow. Darcy looked up at her teacher expectantly and then ran after him, ducking behind the door that lead into the back. Father Clark was fiddling inside the top cabinent of a tall drawer. "Ah! Here we are!" he said, pulling something out, bending down next to Darcy and pulling her little hands in his. "The altar boys wear these when they help with mass. Would you take care of this one for me?" he asked, placing something in Darcy's cupped hands. When Darcy looked down, she saw a smooth wooden pendant, strung on a length of cord, in the shape of a cross sat in the palm of her hands.
{Ka can come talk to Darcy, if that works.}