Chapter 2: Chapter Two
The genesis of Cathy and Joan's friendship appeared like a Joke and any body who saw them in the beginning would think they were just kids infatuating with each other, but their friendship was destined to go deeper than anyone could imagine. After the Sunday service, the next meeting of the kids took place two days later when Oliver succeeded in taking Catherine outskirt the city of London for a quick visit to her new friend Joanna. The distance between the queen's castle and Joanna's home wasn't a stone's throw, and at the same time it wasn't too far because a kid could trek it comfortably without being wearied by the distance. But Oliver rode his little mistress to her new friend's home in a chariot. It was supposed to be a brief meeting. Oliver waited outside and signaled his little mistress to go in and have some fun with her new friend. Mrs Isabella's home was a small bungalow located inside the ghetto. Catherine wasn't familiar with the substandard way of living in the ghetto, but her eagerness to meet Joanna was all that mattered to her. She stepped on the little staircase in-front of the bungalow and knocked on the door.
"Whose on the door?" Sounded Mrs Isabella's voice from the inside.
"It's Catherine!" Catherine answered and Mrs Isabella opened the door gently and was startled when she saw a princess of England standing in front of her door post- this should be enlisted in the Guinness book of records.
"Princess Catherine it's a very great honor to have you here!" she said and bowed immediately.
"Thanks Mrs Isabella. Do not bow to your daughter's friend mam. I am here to see Joanna, please can I come in?"
Catherine responded in smiles.
"Oh! my abode is too poor to house your presence, but your wish is my command Princess." Mrs Isabella said and opened the door wide for Catherine to come in.
"Joanna! Joanna! Where are you? Catherine is here to see you and don't forget to bow down to the princess." Mrs Isabella continued and Joanna quickly abandoned what she was doing in her bed room and jumped out to meet Catherine in the sitting room. She tried to bowed down like her foster mother did, but Catherine drew her up and hugged her instead. Both kids were so happy to see each other again.
"Wow! No knuckle headed maids, No irritating servants, no security, Just me living free? I have never been in such a free world before." Catherine thought as she looked round the interior of the little apartment in wonder like she was inside a precious stone.
"Cathy let me take you to my room"
Joanna said delightfully and dragged Catherine to the room on the left. Joanna was creative and painting was her hobby indeed for she had pictures of her paintings hung on every corner of her little room. Catherine admired her paintings with mouth wide open in wonder because they were outstanding.
"Joan you are very talented, my mum loves great talents, you should come and meet her."
Catherine said in admiration.
"And you think the queen will be pleased to meet a nobody like me?"
Joanna asked doubtfully.
"You are not a nobody, you've got class. Lots of people will like to be your friend because you are easy to talk to," Catherine responded, "You are the opposite of me," she continued sadly "I don't have friends. People are scared of me because they think they will reach sky-high before getting my attention, they think I am too proud of my self."
Then Joanna gently took her hands and replied calmly,
"Cathy you aren't proud of your self, I can see it in your eyes. Don't be pessimistic. People aren't scared of befriending a princess because it's a great honor to do so. Your attention is priceless."
Joanna's words didn't change Catherine's mood for it seemed something else bothered her.
"Why are you sad?"
Joanna asked her worriedly.
"You have a lot of friends don't you?" she responded with a little sign of jealousy for she believed Joanna was phenomenon and she needed all her attention, and after a short interval, she continued "Joan Princess Catherine wants to be your only friend."
"Cathy you are my only friend from now on." Joanna responded confidently and Catherine broke into smiles.
"To protect our friendship and make it last forever, we need to put down some commandments. It should be in a hard copy" Catherine suggested.
"Yea you know, like the ten Commandments of God which he handed down to mosses." Joanna supported.
"Yes let's put it down now." Catherine said.
"and if the commandments isn't up to ten in number?"
Joanna asked.
"Then we call it seven or eight or six commandments, depending on how many of them we can draft. But one thing is sure, they will be amendable like the English constitution."
Catherine answered.
"Alright let's do it now! Let me get a pen and paper." Joanna said excitedly and together, the kids composed some rules which would guide their friendship and make it last forever, they called them the five commandments of Cathy and Joan. The five commandments ran thus;
1- thou shalt not make friends to another.
2- our secret is our secret, thou shalt not tell anyone our secret.
3- thou shalt be truthful and sincere.
4- thou shalt stick together.
5- your problem is my problem and my problem is your problem, thou shalt bear each other's burdens.
They made two copies of the commandments; one went to Catherine and the other went to Joanna. While the kids were busy in Joanna's room, Mrs Isabella pop in and said to Catherine,
"The royal guard wants to see you."
Catherine knew it was the end of her visit. She hugged Joanna so passionately and kissed her good bye. Joanna and Mrs Isabella followed her out and watched till the royal chariot disappeared from sight, then Mrs Isabella took Joanna inside and dropped some words of advice to her because the princess's sudden love for Joanna made her uncomfortable.
"You and the princess are getting to know each other pretty well. I will not like to be a barrier to your new relationship, but as your acting mother, I will never hesitate to remind you the saying which says, 'birds of a feather flock together.' The princess isn't your class Joanna. England is known for the fine distance between the rich and the poor. In England, the rich gets what ever they want and the poor is always the helpless prey. Princess Catherine is like a lion's cub which is yet to discover its full biological urge to hunt and kill, urge to subdue and devour poor subjects like us just as her predecessors had always done. In England, the rich and the poor aren't meant to dine in the same table period! Joan, if I am asked to say, it's better to befriend a crocodile than falling into the hands of these rich folks."
Mrs Isabella's advice was constructive, nevertheless, it never became a reason for Joanna to quit her friendship with Catherine. She believed her foster mother was pessimistic and yes the rich and powerful were known bullies in the whole of England, but change is constant. After all Mrs Isabella her self had always encouraged her to follow 'the road not taken' when ever she was on the verge of an adventure . She said it was the reason behind every successes she had achieved in life. Joanna retained her friendship with Catherine and nothing in the world made her change her mind.
Communication posed a great threat to Cathy and Joan's friendship. There wasn't always an opportunity for Oliver to bring Catherine to Joanna's home and on top of that, Mrs Isabella appeared not to be a fan of the relationship between her adopted daughter and a princess of England, these narrowed down the chances for Oliver to fulfil his promise to his little mistress. But Oliver did come up with a clever idea. He recruited his little brother Antonio and transformed him to the princess's secret errand boy. When ever the princess wanted to message Joanna, she would write a note and hand it over to Oliver who will take it to his little brother. It became his little brother's duty to take Catherine's note to Joanna and also to return Joanna's response to Catherine through Oliver. Antonio was a hunter. He was few years older than Catherine and Joanna. He had always wished to befriend Catherine because she was a member of the English royal family, but the fact that he was a mare hunter always made him think that telling Catherine to the face that he liked her would be a ridiculous thing to do. Though he was yet to comprehend what actually made the princess fall so much in love with Joanna who was a poor ghetto girl. He had chatted to Catherine some times, Oliver made that possible because Oliver was Catherine's personal and favorite body guard and the longest chat he had had with her was,
Antonio "Hi princess, i am Oliver's brother."
Catherine "Glad to hear that."
Antonio needed to catch Catherine's attention using the influence of his big brother on her, but she seemed unready to keep fellow children who were males as companions. She was like the innocent Eve in the garden of Eden who was yet to eat the forbidden fruit. Joanna her self was a free spirit and If Antonio really needed a child hood female companion, he would have given Joanna a try not Catherine. He had to choose Catherine over Joanna because Joanna never had that sparkling presence which he saw on her friend Catherine. Joanna was a poor little shit- A beautiful shit- No a very very cute and beautiful shit with long charming hair, but in the end, compered to a member of the royal family, she was still a poor little shit and this made Antonio unable to notice her potentials in time. Just as Antonio craved for the attention of the princess, so did Joanna craved for Antonio's attention because she loved stories of adventure- yea life was totally imbalanced. Mrs Isabella told Joanna that hunters were brave and interesting creatures who always have strange and enchanting tales to tell about their experiences in the wild, and when ever Antonio visited to deliver Catherine's message, Joanna always wished to have him stay longer and possibly tell her about the wild. The truth was that women would easily fall in love with a man if he was either handsome or brave, but being both handsome and brave could bring a man the attention of queens and princesses- female creatures who are more than mare women.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone