"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows" - Helen Keller
"Nah, someone would'a found ya," Tully insisted, not wanting to take credit for anything. "Although I reckon th' Good Lord had me out where I could see that tree fallin' on ya." She was relieved and grateful that she'd been there, so that Frances hadn't had to lay under that tree, in the flowing mud, until morning.
"Oh, I am so glad to hear that you believe in God!" said Frances, squeezing Tully's hand again "For a minute I thought you might be a Indian Squaw and worship the Giant Badger in the Sky. Although I suppose, even if you did, you would still be a good person for rescuing me!" she smiled. In the dark it was hard to see her peculiar peg-like cleated teeth. She was aware of them now, Arabella had noticed it 'You got funny teeth' she'd said. 'Oh' Frances had said. 'I like 'em!' Arabella had said. A great medical authority, like Doctor Danforth, might have recognised them as a sign, like Frances' blindness, that the poor girl had been born with congenital syphilis.
"Ya don't gotta pay me back, just doin' what's right." She shrugged in the darkness. "But sure, I reckon I can do ya a favor." Not that she had much to give in way of any sort of favors...
"All right... I want you to be brave, braver than you've ever been... even when you rescued me from that dreadful tree... and come back and stay the night with Arabella and myself at the Shelter. You can get some dry warm clothes..." she laughed a little through her shivers "... we both can! And a good hot meal and a good night's sleep and... and I hope two new good friends..." she gripped the waif's hand even more tightly "... you already have one."
"I believe in God," Tully confirmed, although she couldn't honestly say that it wasn't because she was afraid not to. Life was already rough enough without risking pissing off God by not believing in Him!
But then Frances asked her to go to the Shelter with her, and that gave her pause. She had to admit, clean, dry, fed, and hot cocoa sounded inviting, but then there was Arabella to consider.
Still, one way or another, Tully wasn't going to leave Frances to fend for herself, so she'd have to at least go to the building anyway. "I'll go," she finally agreed, "but I'll leave when I'm ready." She surely didn't want to be made prisoner there, something she wouldn't put past the erstwhile Arabella. "Seems like it's lettin' up a little, ya think yer ready ta make a run fer it?"
She was pretty sure where they were headed, and she knew that there were other places to hide if they needed to take refuge, but she also realized that 'run' wasn't going to be more than maybe a fast walk, since even with her eyes, Tully wasn't going to be able to see much, and there was much to dodge!
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Arabella had tied her bonnet on as tightly as possible and pulled her shawl close around her, but as she started to open the heavy front door to the old funeral parlour in order to go and look for her friend, it burst open from without and two muddy, wet, torn and tattered young people tumbled in.
"Oh Frances! Thank Goodness!!" she cried, grabbing the blind girl and hugging her close, despite the soggy muddy mess which immediately transferred itself to her. "Oh, it's been awful!" gasped the blind girl before the vice like embrace squeezed all the breath out of her and she was unable to say any more.
Arabella stood back to see which young feller had rescued Frances from the storm and was astounded to discern in the lamplight, the face of Tully Nevada beneath a sopping wet broad-brimmed man's hat.
Almost as if she was terrified of saying the wrong thing, she contented herself with a neutral "I'll get some towels and dry clothes!" and, pulling off her bonnet and shawl, ran away - perhaps forestalling Tully doing exactly the same thing. A shivering Frances, whose teeth were literally chattering with cold, implored her rescuer "Please, Tully, help me out of this dress, it's soaking!" In chime with the zeitgeist of those times, she was mortally afraid, and with good reason, of catching a chill.
Arabella returned with arms full of big towels and changes of clothes. Interestingly, putting Miss Grimes new dress and underthings to one side, the pile she pushed in Tully's direction were items of male clothing, courtesy of the late Lorenzo Crabbe's wardrobe. Arabella gave the waif a small, quick, apologetic smile.
"I cottoned y'like men's duds best." she glanced at a nearby door to an adjacent room "You can get dressed in there if you want, private like"
By this time, the blind girl was completely undressed. "Oh Frances!" Arabella cried and threw a big towel around her and started to rub her down vigorously to drive out the cold. As she did, she caught Tully's eye. She didn't dare say more, so she just gave her a smile and mouthed the words Thank You.
It had been no easy feat, navigating all the obstacles that tried to keep them from reaching their goal, but Frances was a trooper and did an admirable job of keeping up, while Tully tried her best to let the blind girl know when to jump or swerve or duck.
By the time they got to the Shelter, she was just happy to go inside, even if it meant facing the Dreaded Arabella! And in the long-run, Arabella wasn't as dreaded as she had been...in fact, she was actually pretty civilized.
"Are ya all right?" she asked Frances as she started to help her out of the wet, muddy clothes, not worried about the mess they were making, besides trying to keep it confined to the entry way so there would be less to clean up later. "Ya did real good, I don't know that I could'a been that brave."
A moment later, Arabella returned, seeming almost like a normal person, and she even put some thought into the choice of clothing for Tully, and Tully's hesitance toward the overzealous girl shifted just a smidge.
"Thank ya." Unabashed -- they were all girls at the moment -- Tully started shucking her own clothes, folding them into as neat a pile as the mud and water would allow, then she used a towel to hastily get herself as clean and dry as she could before pulling on the new set of clothes. That done, she moved as far from the light as she could, staying silent against a wall.
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows" - Helen Keller
Arabella had a fire going in the grate: the wind outside drawing it into bright flames. Once the girls were dressed and dry, Arabella shooed them to an oddly assorted group of sitting chairs facing the fire: that's where Frances and Arabella planned to sit on cosy evenings with their guests: but they hadn't had any yet, just temporary visitors like Caroline and Miriam and Jemima. Tully was their first real guest.
"Now you two go sit next to the fire and get properly warm and I'll bring you some hot cocoa and, oh, Tully, I mean, Miss Nevada, have you eaten, can I get you something nice to eat? We got ham and eggs and bread and butter and preserves and all sorts of things in the pantry. Seed cake, we got seed cake. Oh, and cheese. Cheese ain't thrillin' - but I can toast it. Or, oooh, we could have crumpets and toast them on the fire ourselves!"
You would think a constant stream of consciousness chatter like this would drive Miss Grimes insane, But she just grinned madly and yelled "Oh, that's a splendid idea, Arabella!" Now they were in the light, a number of things were apparent: number one, Frances' eyes, which rolled disturbingly in her head, usually upward which often gave the appearance of having completely white eyes. Arabella did a wonderful impression of her, closing her eyes and then forcing them open with her fingers. Far from being offended, when Frances heard about it, she declared "Oh, I wish I could see it!" An odd concept, somehow.
Number two, when she smiled, Tully got to see Frances' odd peg-like teeth, and thirdly, she saw how deftly the blind girl managed to move around a place which she had been able to 'learn': you would think her sighted. However, when she sat, she suddenly thrust out a hand into space. "Oh, Tully, where are you?!" she cried urgently.
"She's still here, Silly!" Arabella called and looked at Tully. "So... Crumpets n Cocoa? Or something else?"
Arabella's rambling gave Tully the jitters, it was too much all at once, but she was able to figure out through it all that she was being offered a meal and a place to ride out the storm. Cautiously, she took a few steps toward the chairs that were set out, and then Frances was asking about her.
"Right here, I'm here." She crossed the room, grateful to be closer to the fire, then took Frances' hand, giving it a light squeeze. "I ain't goin' out in that weather, I'm stayin' right here. 'Sides, we're friends, right?"
Taking a breath, she looked over at Arabella. "Don't rightly know what a crumpit is, but whatever ya think is good." She wasn't picky, so long as it wasn't spoiled and growing green fuzz! Haven't never had cocoa, neither." Truth was, she really was pretty hungry at this point, what with digging through branches and mud, so anything would be welcome, and she wasn't going to turn down a meal. And she was pretty confident, that, should she have to, she could easily escape.
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows" - Helen Keller
"Right here, I'm here." She crossed the room, grateful to be closer to the fire, then took Frances' hand, giving it a light squeeze. "I ain't goin' out in that weather, I'm stayin' right here. 'Sides, we're friends, right?"
"Yes" said Frances, nodding happily.
Taking a breath, she looked over at Arabella. "Don't rightly know what a crumpit is, but whatever ya think is good." She wasn't picky, so long as it wasn't spoiled and growing green fuzz! Haven't never had cocoa, neither."
Frances answered that one while the Mudd girl scurried off to the kitchen.
"It's what we'd call an English Muffin. Arabella grew up in a shack up the side of some remote mountain in Virginia, she sometimes comes out with odd phrases and words for things." Frances explained "Like when we made a deal together to open this place she said 'it's a bet' or, she never says 'I swear' she says 'I stamp'. Oh, and if she ever tells you you look like 'Alice from the pickle boat' take it from me, it isn't a compliment."
"Her 'crumpets' are nice though, with butter on, or preserves or even cheese, and cocoa, well, that's just cocoa, you'll see." her brow wrinkled a little as she sat, still holding hands with Tully. This was a habit of hers which Arabella found endearing up to a point, but sometimes had to say 'all right. leave go of ma hand now, I got places to scratch'.
Frances laughed again.
"He he. We made it a rule here that we wouldn't ask our guests about their pasts or be nosey about their personal circumstances, I'll be interested to see how long Arabella lasts."
Sure enough, Miss Mudd soon returned from the kitchen with a big tray, so wide she had to do a kind of sideway dozy-do to get through the door to the cozy parlour cum dining room. It bore hot English muffins, butter, strawberry jam, and three mugs of steaming cocoa.
"I hope Frances hasn't been bombardin' you with questions, Miss Nevada!" she said as she lay the tray down on an occasional table and doled out a small plate each. "We got a rule around not bein' nosey about our guests' pasts!"
"Aren't we eating at the table?" Frances asked, shocked.
"No, let's have it in the big chairs, lookin' at the fire" Arabella whispered conspiratorially. Once upon a time she would have then apologized profusely for forgetting that sightless Frances couldn't do that, but they were now so used to each other she didn't bother.
This was all very odd, and while Tully was still feeling uneasy, both girls were intriguing, and there was no good reason to give up the cushy circumstances for the tempest outside. And besides, Frances had a death-grip on her hand, and she wasn't sure how to break that without being rude.
As for crumpet verses English muffin, neither phrase had any meaning to Tully, so she was just going to have to find out for herself, except that, despite her lack of learning, she was pretty sure that English was far away, after the founding fathers had chased them out. Hopefully, whatever it was tasted good, that was all she was worried about!
It was interesting, though, to find out that Arabella had grown up in a shack -- it was sort of a connection between the two, although Tully was thinking that she'd been better off on her own, so no one told her what to do, or when, or hurt her on a whim. And then she had to wonder about Frances, how had she come to be blind, was she born that way, or had there been some accident or disease that made her that way? And what would be better, to never have had sight, or to know what was missing? Tully wasn't going to ask, and she hoped she'd never find out for herself.
"Thank ya," Tully muttered, taking the plate with biscuits, butter and jam, laying that on her lap so she could balance the cocoa as well. It smelled good as she tore off a bit of biscuit, wondering where the crumpets or English muffins were. She dipped the bit into the jam and popped that into her mouth, then took a cautious sip of the cocoa.
While the biscuit was good, the cocoa was amazing! She'd never tasted anything like it, and she took another sip, allowing as how it was worth all the trouble she'd been through to get to this point!
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
This was all very odd, and while Tully was still feeling uneasy, both girls were intriguing, and there was no good reason to give up the cushy circumstances for the tempest outside. And besides, Frances had a death-grip on her hand, and she wasn't sure how to break that without being rude.
That was taken care of when Arabella came back in and noticed it.
"Hey Frances, you're doin' that thing again!" she yelled. The blind girl let go. "Sorry" she said, facing Tully and speaking to somewhere to the left of her head. "I just love holding hands!" she beamed.
"Yep, she loves holding hands with Miss Nevada, she loves holding hands with me, but most of all, she loves holding hands with Jaaaaaaaaames!!" she teased and burst out giggling.
"Oh, no I don't be quiet!" Frances protested but looked sort of delighted as well as embarrassed.
"Yeah, Frances has a boyfriend called Mister James Vaughn, 'cept we ain't seen him lately. mind you, she ain't never seen him!" joked Arabella, a little vulgarly.
"Oh, he is NOT my boyfriend!" the sightless girl declared.
Arabella dished out the vitals.
"Thank ya," Tully muttered, taking the plate with biscuits, butter and jam, laying that on her lap so she could balance the cocoa as well. It smelled good as she tore off a bit of biscuit, wondering where the crumpets or English muffins were. She dipped the bit into the jam and popped that into her mouth, then took a cautious sip of the cocoa.
"Oh... a tree fell on me." Frances suddenly remembered.
"What?!" asked Arabella, looking at Tully in amazement.
Oh, right, they really hadn't talked about how they'd met, and how Tully had come to be here.
She glanced at Frances with a grin. "Wind was whippin' 'round, an' th' rain was peltin'," she explained, unusually talkative, but having a good time weaving a story. "Niniaba huna was real mad, an' tryin' ta set things right. He saw Miss Frances out there all alone, an' he pushed down that tree ta protect her from th' deluge...an' he made sure I seen, so I could pull her out an' under th' stairs where it was safe."
Taking a sip of the cocoa, she savored that a moment before continuing. "She's real brave, didn't mind a whit that there was all that rain, an' spiders an' whatnot."