The Runt and the Ladybird -- a story by Susan DoyleAll Catherine has ever wished for is to be a real child.
But, if Gayla has her way that'll never happen, so she takes Catherine into the World to encourage her to extinguish that suicidal wish and, in doing so, strives to realise her own secret wish.
With the help of a stricken child and an old Balkan Roma, Catherine learns about human friendship, love, and loyalty, but more importantly she leans about herself. She isn't just The Conscience!
"The all-embracing insanity of true belief."
The Runt and the Ladybird is a rural fantasy, laced with romance and comedy, and looks at human life from the viewpoint of The Conscience. It encompasses the innocent happiness, as well as the genocidal depravity, of true belief. "So long as we believe we are, then we are."
In 1966, Catherine is pressganged into taking an active part in her sister's latest project, and they are fostered with a family who hide a rare background --- they are Romany survivors from the death camps at Jasenovač. The mother and son somehow escaped, but to what? Did they ever leave Jasenovač behind them, or does its destructive spirit still haunt them? That's the question the sisters seek to answer. "The past is never dead, in fact it's not even past."
But that's just work. What about the fun? The girls fully embrace their temporary lives as children, and Catherine learns the serious lessons: love; hate; bullying; beauty; puberty; racial abuse; loyalty; and misguided belief. But her biggest lessons are learned from the Runt and the Ladybird. She learns about herself. The Runt (a devoted storyteller) reminds Catherine, "Dreams are always real, until you wake up." Catherine finally understands, she isn't just The Conscience.
