The first time her stepmother came to meet her, along with her own daughter, Louise, she took three steps back in disgust. Louise glared at her mother, revolted and embarassed, then took Charlotte by the hand and whispered to her:
- She’s like this…
Things haven’t changed since. Not a little bit. The stepmother never got used to Charlotte’s presence, experiencing always the same disgust at her sight. Louise, on the contrary, became Charlotte’s only friend; a friendship which, of course, stepmother disaproved of. But then again, honestly, while Charlotte hated her bitterly, Louise, herself, didn’t think much of her. The truth is that this woman was impossible to love: so cold, so harsh, so despising that she made anyone back of. Her first husband, Louise’s father, Jerry, had married her for her great fortune; and so did Charlotte’s father, after Jerry couldn’t take her presence anymore and left his home on a sailing ship. Ever since, Lousie secretly dreamed of joining him- and bringing Charlotte along.