Purity and innocence. That was what the Calla Lily stood for. I remember Mama telling me that when I was little. I stared at the delicate white flowers in the pink marble vase. My hand, having a mind of its own, reached out to touch the ends of the leaves that were starting to wilt and turn brown. I guess all innocence eventually dries up, even in flowers. I closed my eyes, the petals felt soft and velvety in my dirt stained fingertips.

“What the hell are you doing?”

    I jumped and stumbled onto the stainless brown carpeting.

“Sorry, sorry. I was just-...nevermind. You got everything?” I stood up. Clark nodded, his floppy brown hair hung in front of his face. For the first time in awhile, he looked happy. He was actually smiling, he looked a little kid on Christmas Day.

He brushed his bangs away with the back of his hand and his amber eyes lit up like a birthday candle, “If only you could see the rest of this place. It has two pools and like five hundred bathrooms!”

“I doubt it has five hundred. Let me see what you got. Quick.” He handed over the pillow case with a smirk.

“My god! What did you put in here? A bunch of bricks?” I could barely hold it for more than one second without my arm getting tired. I opened it up gently.

Clark’s excited voice turned into a whisper, “I got a tiny clock, looks like it could be worth a pretty penny. Oh! And a silver wristwatch that I found in one of the bedrooms, and-.”

I gasped when I saw the dress. It was mint green and had crystals draping the neckline, it was the most beautiful cloth I've ever seen. It was long and diamonds cascaded down the front hem. It looked like antique, something that was too gorgeous for my poverty filled hands to touch.

“Oh my goodness! Clark we can't take this!” the reflected light from the gems burned my eyes.

“Why not? Do you how much that would cost? Pa wouldn’t have to worry about feeding the family for months! Maybe even a year! Think about it! We might even be able to get some lemon sodas or ice cream! I haven’t had ice cream since I was six.” Clark’s puppy dog eyes were switched on.

“Because this dress is way too-”

“ROGER!” a singsongy voice came from downstairs.

Clark and I froze.

“Oh no. What do we do?” I whispered, my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest.

Clark scanned the area, “The balcony! Hide!”

I stuffed the dress in the pillowcase and ran outside. Clark closed the sliding door behind him as he motioned to the curtains fluttering in the wind. I nodded and we both squeezed under the white cloth. The smell of clean linen made my mind stop swimming a little. Clark and I were both panting like dogs in the summertime.

Suddenly, the door swung open and I heard Clark’s breath turn shallow.

“ROGER? Have you seen my mint dress? I can’t seem to find it, I even checked all the closets.” A lady walked out into the balcony, her hair was the color of sand and she fidgeting with her earrings.  

“Oh god! The dress!!” I mouthed to Clark and tapped the pillow case.

“I know!” he mouthed back. I could see his lips shaking and he looked as pale as a ghost.

A deep gruff voice came from inside the house, it sounded like a man, irritated and tired, “Mary, I don’t know where it is.”

“Fine! I guess I’ll just have to go to Susan’s cocktail party in a trash bag!” the lady, Mary, started lighting a cigarette, the smoke burned my nostrils.

“Did you hear Hoover on the radio yesterday? He said the stock market should be back to normal by the end of August!” the man’s enthusiasm sounded fake.

“Great. That’s what he said last year and the year before that…” Mary puffed out the smoke with frustration. I could smell the sweat running down Clark’s forehead. If she saw us, we were toast.

“Roger! Can you PLEASE try to find my mint dress now?” Mary was running her fingers through her hair sprayed locks. I could hear Roger sigh and his heavy footsteps went down the stairs.

I licked my chapped lips and took a quiet deep breath. It was silent for awhile, only a minute past but those sixty seconds felt like eternity.

“You can come out now. He’s gone.” Mary whispered, her body still facing the open air and the busy street below.

Clark’s eyes flickered towards me and he gulped. I closed my eyes and tried to think about the Cala Lillies in the pink marble vase. Purity. Innocence. Something I still wish I had.

“If you come out now, I’ll consider not pressing charges.” her tone was mild and meek, the complete opposite of the way she talked to Roger, whatever he was to her.  

I slightly nodded to Clark and without a moment’s hesitation, he pushed the white curtain away, revealing Mary in her full form. I was taken aback by surprise, she looked a lot younger than I was expecting. Her sunshine curls hung just below her chin and her full crimson lips were upturned into a smile. She looked as fresh as the flowers sitting in her home, she had a gentle aura about her despite her irritation towards Roger. She was thin and covered from chest to toe in a sleek black dress that hugged her small hips. My eyes impulsively flickered towards the clear quartz necklace that was the size of a strawberry dangling on her collarbone. She smelled of lilacs and mint, the epitome of femininity.  

“Woah! Look at both of you! My, how grown you both are! Yikes, but look at what you’re wearing! Have you been rolling around in the mud lately?” she snickered at us. Clark’s cheeks turned the shade of a ripened tomato and I grimaced.

“Well not everyone has the opportunity to live in wealthy establishment like your own.” I said as politely as I could even though I was steaming. Rich people, so privileged in many ways but so underprivileged in so many other ways.  

She raised her bony fingers to her lips and took a long slow drag of her cigarette, “Oh I know honey. You know, you’ve got quite a mouth on you there. Don’t lose it. Too many women in this world lose it.”

Clark stuttered, “We’re-we’re really sorry ma’am. Really we are. It’s just that-that it’s been really hard for our family, considering the stock market crash and all. We’ll return all your belongings to you! Honest!” His amber eyes were dull.

“Are you going to call police?” I raised my brow, my voice trembled a little even though I wasn’t scared.

Mary winked at me and tousled her hair, a gesture that reminded me of one of those sultry movie actresses from Hollywood, “No. If I’m being completely honest with you two. This is the most exciting thing that has happened to me in months!” she giggled, “Pretty sad, isn’t it?”

I shook my head, “No, no. Thank you, really! Let us give you back your belongings.”

I cleared my throat and looked at Clark. He gave me a half smile and stumbled nervously to open the pillowcase. Mary covered her mouth and laughed softly, hell even her laugh was dainty.  

“No, darlings, it’s fine! You can keep it. Trust me, I’ve been meaning to clean out some of the junk from this house for awhile.” she reassured and bit her bottom lip.

“Is this a joke?” Clark looked stunned and so was I.

She shook her head, “Of course not! But you better hurry up and go, if Roger comes back up here and sees the both of you, it won’t be pretty.”

I smiled, “Thank you! Thank you so much!’ I turned to Clark, he was looking like a happy child again, ‘Let’s go!”

Clark threw the pillow case over his shoulder and hushed a quick, “Goodbye.”

We were on our way out when I could hear Mary whisper faintly behind us, “Goodbye, Ruth and Clark.”

My heart started beating fast again and I snapped back around, “How do you know our names?”

Mary looked nervous, she started fidgeting with her blue earrings.

“MARY! Mary, I can’t find that damn mint dress anywhere, can’t you just find another one?” Roger’s harsh footsteps were clunking up the stairs.

“Go!” Mary gently shooed us away, rushed and frantic.

Clark pulled my arm hard, I nearly fell and tripped into the table where the white cala lilies in the pink marble vase where. I stared at them one last time.

“Come on!” Clark pried me away from the table. And we ran back out into the world, where there was no purity and innocence left.