Chapter 4. Rosemary as a gift

Dr. Reindir and Sister Paulina, hiding my secret and their relationship from everyone, got married in a local church in the spring, three years after I appeared in their lives. I have never seen Pauline so happy and Dr. Reindir so calm before. How did the pink-cheeked plump Pauline look like her ivory wedding dress…

Only me and her daughter Mary were invited. That same spring, Dr. Reindir corrected the adoption documents. Mary and I were happy to have this opportunity to become sisters. Now there were officially four of us, and we actually became a family according to the documents. My name was now Sivana Reindir. We moved from Saint Hope to a house allocated to the doctor's family by the orphanage council.

We lived in a house behind a ravine on the south side, in a place called Rosemary Village. It was a small village for the staff of the shelter. The St. Hope Orphanage was in front, and behind it the pine forest. And after walking along the path through this forest, you could find yourself at a rocky ravine. Along it there are thick, tall thickets of rosemary. Every time I returned from the orphanage school, I enjoyed the sweet, invigorating aroma of rosemary and forest needles.

To get to our house, where we lived, we had to cross a dilapidated bridge spanning a ravine. It was easy in the dry summer. And in the slushy autumn and winter, when the darkness was approaching, I was afraid to go back alone. Mary and I promised each other that we would always come back from school together, although it didn't always work out. We became friends during the time that I spent here.

My memory did not return, and it began to seem to me that I had made up everything about the wolf and the boy. I became an ordinary child. Mary studied better than me in almost all subjects, but I was more given to observing and helping the doctor in his laboratory.

I called Mary's mother Paulina by name, not really feeling her warm disposition to me. But Dr. Rainier, whose last name I now bore as his daughter, I easily managed to call Dad. I often stayed late after school to stay in the laboratory and look through the microscope, read thick books about science and biology in the doctor's office. I felt comfortable with him.

Henry Reindir studied the side effects of the drugs given to the children at the orphanage and the composition of my blood. In his research on medicines, he found a way to protect children, and this was a breakthrough.

At least the infant mortality rate has decreased over the past year and Duplessis has temporarily forgotten about the orphanage. Of course, now the tested drugs brought him a huge income from sales to the rich of the country. Therefore, he was in no hurry to introduce new vaccines and pills for testing. This pleased Dr. Reindir.

But there was also something that upset him. In the research of my blood, he did not advance far, or rather did not advance at all.

–What do I miss every time? –he often said, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt, when the truth eluded him. This gesture betrayed his disappointment in his competence. The mountains of books that he studied and multiple samples did not give him an understanding of what and who I am by blood.

I liked living in Rosemary Village, in a quiet place surrounded by rosemary thickets and pine trees. And we were lucky with our neighbors. Our house was located next to the house of a literature teacher. He and his wife, who also taught music at the orphanage, often came to tea with us. And then we all went for a walk together, walking our dogs. It was a happy time for me.

And then one day Dr. Henry Reindir received an invitation for the whole family. He was invited by his mentor to the annual fall graduation dinner of the university. It was just on my tenth birthday. We decided to celebrate my birthday on October 31, the day I arrived at the St. Hope Orphanage.

– What luck, dear, I will be able to buy new dresses and clothes for the girls and myself for the winter! Pauline was delighted when she kissed the doctor. During the time that has passed since our first meeting, she has changed, has become lighter and more sincere. The doctor's love had ennobled her, and Henry was visibly happy with her.

Mary took the news of the trip calmly, she was generally a phlegmatic girl who shunned people. I was inspired by the upcoming trip. Perhaps in London I will find out the secret of my appearance here, or at least a hint.

–This is a great chance to ask for advice in my research. Professor Nikola, for sure, will guide me, will see what I'm missing, " Henry said to me, calming himself with the opening opportunities.

It was decided to go on Friday, the thirtieth of October. But this did not happen.

Early in the morning, as always in autumn in these parts, it was raining. I went out for a walk with Tinky and Joe, putting on a raincoat. But I couldn't get down from the porch. Surprisingly, our entire yard was filled up with rosemary branches overnight. They were lying everywhere, there were so many of them, as if someone had mowed down all the thickets. I ran to the kitchen, where Pauline was already preparing breakfast, and Henry was reading the newspaper.

– Dad, Pauline, go outside quickly! There's something strange there. I called to them.

"That's really a Rosemary village, "the doctor laughed, seeing the debris of branches.

–There must have been a strong wind at night and they just broke, nothing unusual, – patting me on the head, Paulina reassured me.

"There was no wind, Mom, I was reading late," Mary's sleepy voice came from the hallway.

"Well, anyway, we'll have to remove the branches before we leave," Henry said.

This is what we did for half a day. Realizing that we would not be able to catch the train today, it was decided to go in the morning. Everything was collected. I took Tinky and Joe to the neighbors to look after our dogs while we were out of the village.

On the way back, it seemed strange to me that the rosemary thickets are still thick and high. It was as if there were more of them, not less, despite the fact that we spent half a day removing broken branches. I didn't say anything about my observation to Mary. We went to bed early.

It was the morning of October 31. When I woke up, I saw that the floor in my bedroom was littered with rosemary. Puzzled, I went to Mary's bedroom. She was still asleep and everything was normal in her room. I looked into the adults ' bedroom, they were also asleep, and everything was as usual in the bedroom.

I went back to my room. The rosemary branches scattered on the floor did not disappear. I decided to clean up everything and not say anything about it to others. So I did.

Everything was ready for our journey. We sat down to breakfast before leaving in high spirits. And there was a knock on the door. Pauline opened the door. It was the postman. He brought a letter addressed to me.

–Sivana, baby, this is for you, – Paulina handed me the letter in surprise.

– Is that really strange? Henry said, setting down his coffee cup.

– Come on, open it quickly, who is it from? Mary said with surprising impatience.

A letter without a return address. I opened the envelope, which only had "Sivane" written on it. There was no letter or postcard in it. In the envelope there was only a small sprig with blue fragrant flowers, a sprig of rosemary. Rosemary again! What does this mean?

I told my family everything that I thought about this. About something that is strange in my opinion. A pile of broken branches yesterday in the yard, rosemary thickets that have become thicker and higher, the floor of my bedroom is strewn with rosemary branches today and this message is in an envelope.

"We need to consult with Dick, maybe he will help us figure it out," Dr. Reindir suggested after finishing his coffee. He immediately put on a raincoat and went to our neighbor, his friend, the literature teacher Dick Howard.

An hour later, Henry returned with a book.

– Dick found this book in his possession, it's about legends. Everything he knows about rosemary, " he handed the book to me.

"My dear, perhaps it would be better for you and the girls to stay. I'll go alone, I'll try to get back as soon as possible. I need to sort out my research, visit the professor. We'll all go to London together for Christmas, okay? – the doctor turned to his wife.

– Yes. It's better this way, go. I'll look after the girls, " Pauline replied.

– Tinky and Joe Dick will bring after a walk. If anything, he's on the alert. I told him about our strange incidents. He will look after our house. And you'd better not go out until I get back, " Henry said, kissing Pauline goodbye and hugging Mary and me, calming us down.

Pauline and Mary began to prepare dinner, and I sat down next to her in a chair by the window for reading. Here's what I learned from the book.

Rosemary in Latin means "sea dew". According to legend, rosemary flowers were white at first. The flowers turned blue when, during the flight with the little Christ from the soldiers of Herod, the Virgin Mary put on her blue cloak in a rosemary bush. Therefore, one of the many colloquial names of this plant is "Mary's cape".

This happened with the light hand of the ancient Roman historian Pliny, who said that rosemary flowers have such an attractive color due to the fact that sea foam, falling on the flowers, turns them blue, because the plant is found mainly on the rocky sea coasts of the western Mediterranean.

Even more legends surrounded rosemary in the Middle Ages. There is one scene in "Hamlet" – Ophelia's crazy speech in scene 5 of Act 4, when she distributes her bouquet to the audience. The associations evoked by each individual flower from the bouquet in the audience in the 16th century were completely definite and helped to reveal the characters of the characters of the play more clearly. But the bouquet of Ophelia, full of symbolic meaning, said little already in the 19th century, and even less to our contemporaries. Meanwhile, each flower in it is of key importance for determining the characters. The ancient ideas about rosemary as a plant that improves memory, strengthens vitality, heart and mind were preserved even in the time of Shakespeare. At the same time, rosemary sprigs began to decorate the bride's bouquets, symbolizing constancy, loyalty, strengthening love, devotion. On the other hand, rosemary was in demand not only in wedding, but also in funeral ceremonies and religious rites-to preserve the memory of the deceased. Thus, in the medieval language of flowers, Ophelia offers rosemary to her brother to strengthen his spirit and the memory of his father.

Legends about rosemary persist among perfumers. "The Queen of Hungary Water", containing a distillate of rosemary flowers and tops, was considered the first miraculous remedy that preserves youth and beauty. "Water of the Hungarian Queen" is still considered one of the first alcoholic distillates in the history, the creation of which dates back to the end of the 14th century by perfume historians.

The legendary rosemary water was created as a remedy for gout or rheumatism, which the elderly Hungarian Queen Elizabeth suffered from. A beautiful legend tells that a miraculous formula was created for rejuvenation, which happened so successfully that the queen became famous as Ninon de Lanclos, and at the age of 72 she captivated men with her beauty and youth, which made the Polish king offer her his hand and heart.

The ancient Greeks used a drink from this evergreen plant to improve memory. Hence the student custom of weaving a sprig of rosemary into his hair.

In the language of flowers, rosemary means loyalty and memory.

The Greeks and Romans considered rosemary sacred. It symbolized love and death. In ancient Greece, a wreath of rosemary flowers was placed on the grave, rosemary branches were given to the relatives of the deceased. The Egyptians put a branch of rosemary in the hand of the deceased, it was believed that its fragrance would brighten up the journey to the land of the dead. The image of the rosemary branch is often used on tombstones. Rosemary's message is: remember and be faithful.

Remember and be faithful – this is a message for me on my 10th birthday. Rosemary as a gift so that I remember what I forgot…It remains only to remember.