"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Maybe." Weedy glanced at Wyatt then back to Arabeller. "If we can see a dead body."
Wyatt frowned, "I seen dead bodies before. Like my mother... when the Indians killed her."
Arabella frowned too, she knew how much the violent death of her mother had affected Clara, and had guessed at the guilt the young woman must feel knowing that she had died protecting her from harm.
"And the man who got killed when they burned our barn down. Pa and Jacob shot him."
"Serves him right!" announced the actress, and then got back to business, though her words were prompted by what had just been said.
"Listen, I'm going to square with you fellers: you won't just see a dead person, you'll be photygraphed with her. It's that girl from your class, Mary Henderson: she took sick a few weeks ago and she died yesterday morning. Her parents want a picture of her and I want you to be two angels either side of her, lifting her up to Heaven, sort of a thing."
She looked at them seriously.
"Of course, if either of you is too scared to touch a dead little girl, I'll completely understand. There'd be no shame in it." she added, meaning, obviously, that there would.
In a few words, the whole thing had changed.
Seeing a dead stranger, an old one at that, like Granny Miggins, although Addy said she was too ornery to die, was one thing. Or even a bandit or something who had been shot trying to hurt people.
But another kid? And one they knew...Mary Henderson? He didn't know her well, and sometimes she'd teased him about not having a real mother, but...
"No, no, no! Weedy shook his head adamantly. "Uh uh, nope." He was certain that Wyatt would agree. Besides, they might catch whatever Mary had and die!
"Nope." Not for all the money in the world, and he knew neither of them was a scaredy cat. 'C'mon, Wyatt." He nudged his friend. "I got chores to do."
Storyteller / Shared NPC
Stand over dead Mary Henderson? They went to school with her. Well, they did. Wyatt hadn't even known the girl died. She was sorta pretty but she could be mean as a rattler too. Especially to Weedy. But didn't mean Wyatt wanted her to up and die on them.
"No, no, no! Weedy shook his head adamantly. "Uh uh, nope."
So Weedy wanted no part of it? Well, Wyatt could not help but agree. Sorta. Three dollars and not doing it still meant Mary was dead and gone anyhow. But gone was their chance at the money.
"Nope. 'C'mon, Wyatt." He nudged his friend. "I got chores to do."
"Ummm, sure..." thing is Wyatt wasn't so sure. He looked straight at Arabella.
"So then, if I stand next to Mary by myself then, do I get six dollars?"
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Nope. 'C'mon, Wyatt." He nudged his friend. "I got chores to do."
Arabella literally stamped her little foot on the ground.
"Oh, Porter Chappell, you piker!" she frowned.
"Ummm, sure..." thing is Wyatt wasn't so sure. He looked straight at Arabella. "So then, if I stand next to Mary by myself then, do I get six dollars?"
"Oh no, that's no good, it'll be lop-sided!" the black haired girl cried, her artistic side offended.
Her mind raced.
"Listen, Porter, if I dress up as the other angel, will you at least operate the camera, if I tell you what to do? You see... it's not just the money... this photygraph will be such a comfort to poor Mary's Mother and Father, you see..." she moved over to the boy and placed a saintly gloved hand upon his shoulder "With... with the Angels on, it won't just remind them that they once had a beautiful little daughter whom they loved and lost... it will remind them that their little girl has gone up to Heaven, and lives there in perfect happiness with the angels."
She looked in his eyes and smiled a sad little smile.
"... and after all, if you don't do this for Mary's poor, heartbroken parents..." suddenly she lowered her face to the floor and turned her eyes up in her head in a most eerie manner "... she might come back and haunt you!"
"Listen, Porter, if I dress up as the other angel, will you at least operate the camera, if I tell you what to do? You see... it's not just the money... this photygraph will be such a comfort to poor Mary's Mother and Father, you see..." she moved over to the boy and placed a saintly gloved hand upon his shoulder "With... with the Angels on, it won't just remind them that they once had a beautiful little daughter whom they loved and lost... it will remind them that their little girl has gone up to Heaven, and lives there in perfect happiness with the angels."
"Well..." Maybe if he didn't have to get real close, much the less touch Mary...and Wyatt seemed to be interested still, even if he had insisted that he'd seen enough dead people already.
And, there was the money. Well, and Miss Arabeller was right, too, about Mary's folks wanting a memento...he'd love to have a picture of his mother, although when she was still alive. A dead picture just didn't seem the same, but then, it was a picture.
"... and after all, if you don't do this for Mary's poor, heartbroken parents..." suddenly she lowered her face to the floor and turned her eyes up in her head in a most eerie manner "... she might come back and haunt you!"
"Oh, that's just a bunch of hooey!" Or was it? He took a step back. That odd Jemima lady had said he could talk to his mother, and that his mother could see him down here, so maybe Mary could come back to haunt them! (He and Wyatt were partners, right?) She was mean enough!
"I don't know..." He frowned, mulling on things, especially just how much sad parents might pay for a nice picture of their little girl, as in, how much was Arabeller getting out of this? "Four dollars each, and it's a deal!"
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Hey, I only get paid $10 for a set of four prints, take away a dollar for materials and I'm only paying myself the same amount as you two. It's $3 or nothing." Arabella quashed Weedy's attempt to negotiate more money, but they clearly needed some other small incentive.
"Tell you what, boys, how about $3 each and signed photygraph each of me with no clothes on?" she said, with the same nonchalance as if she'd offered to throw in a lollypop to sweeten the deal. "I mean, they're $2 apiece or $5 for the set of three, if you buy them from under the counter at the drug store, you'd be getting a real bargain."
Maybe the boys had not yet discovered the delights of what was sold under the counter of the drug store: it was a veritable Aladdin's cave of sinful delights and dissipated living.
@Wayfarer
@Bongo
[OOC Apologies - pushed in but thought Weedy needed a reply]
Storyteller / Shared NPC
As Weedy and Miss Mudd went back and forth dickering about if Weedy would do it, how much money the boys would get, even some nonsense about haunting them if they didn't do it (while Wyatt had wondered about ghosts when he was just a kid, Clara told him in no uncertain terms there was no such thing as ghosts and not to believe in such nonsense and for all her faults, his sister was really smart about stuff), Wyatt listened.
He was a bit put out for certain that he had said he'd do it but Weedy had refused then Arabella ends up giving Weedy the best part in this - he gets to use the camera to take the pictures and meanwhile he has to stand there in some sissy long robe. Really did not seem fair at all. But by now Wyatt was bound and determined he wanted the money whether it was three or four dollars.
"Tell you what, boys, how about $3 each and signed photygraph each of me with no clothes on?" she said, with the same nonchalance as if she'd offered to throw in a lollypop to sweeten the deal. "I mean, they're $2 apiece or $5 for the set of three, if you buy them from under the counter at the drug store, you'd be getting a real bargain."
Wyatt frowned, "I already saw you without your clothes on, twice. In the play and back at the farm that time. I don't need no picture."
He also wondered if the church going folk, especially the ladies church sewing circle knew about that under the counter stuff?
"But...I'll do it. For three dollars then and I want the money ahead of time too or get yourself another boy," Wyatt felt compelled to make one little condition in all this bargaining.
Well, three dollars was better than none, and the picture of Arabeller...well, he wasn't sure about that yet, not that he wasn't intrigued, but it was Arabeller, and seemed a little creepy, and besides, Wyatt wasn't interested.
"All right, three dollars, you'll just have to show me what to do." At least he didn't have to touch Mary and risk getting whatever thing it was that had killed her. But he'd have to keep a close eye on Wyatt for a while, for anything odd that might indicate that his friend was going to die.
"We doing this now?" Before he lost his nerve!
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Deal!" said Arabella and shook their hands to seal it.
"Give it an hour... and don't get cold feet, we shook on it, you gotta do it now..." she rummaged around in her little clutch-bag and fished out six dollars. "Sorry it's all in change.." she muttered as she doled it out.
"Twelve Noon, no later, I'll see you at Jolly's place. I'm going back to the hotel to change into my work duds. I'll see you there, boys." she said and shot off.
+++
When they arrived at the Funeral Parlour at the appointed hour, the door was opened not by Arabella, nor the lugubrious Scotsman who ran the place, but Raymond Matthews, a slightly older boy, who worked there. He was dressed as an angel.
"Welcome to Heaven, oh fellow victims of Miss Arabella's whiles!" he greeted them dryly. "Come on through to the workroom, your frock awaits."
Arabella was in the back room. It was a somewhat bizarre scene, to tell the truth: on a deal trestle table was poor dead pale Mary in her coffin. A diaphanous white nightie was hanging on a hanger on the wall and a pair of artistically painted cardboard angel wings propped up against it. The Camera stood there on its tripod like an unspeaking extra member of the cast, and finally, amongst myriad other funerary clutter, a big white board. For Ray and Arabella, the workroom was just a place of toil, and the odd artistic triumph. For the boys it must have been eerie and strange - and the smell of chemicals infused with a light whiff of putrefaction, quite sickening.
Arabella was dressed in her normal black work dress with a pinny over it.
"Oh, you're here, good. All right, change of plan: I got hold of Ray to be the other Angel. Porter, you're on board duty..." she pointed to the big white board in the corner. "Wy, get your clothes off quick and put those heavenly vestments on, and hurry up, I thought I saw a cloud on the horizon, I don't want to loose the light."
She turned to Weedy "See, Porter, I need you to hold that board up so it reflects the Sun onto the..." she frowned and looked to her other recruit "Wyatt, how come you still got your clothes on, come on, chop chop!" she clapped her hands. "Ray, help him!"
@[Wayfarer]
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Welcome to Heaven, oh fellow victims of Miss Arabella's whiles!" some older boy greeted them dryly. "Come on through to the workroom, your frock awaits."
Wyatt did not know who this boy was, he definitely did not go to their local school. Of course not everyone's kids attended school. This one must be one of those.
"Umm, alright," Wyatt cast a puzzled look at Weedy then entered and followed the 'angel'. Kind of thin material..that...and the wings looked so fake. He realized he was going to be wearing the same sort of thing. Just dandy.
It was a somewhat bizarre scene, to tell the truth: on a deal trestle table was poor dead pale Mary in her coffin. A diaphanous white nightie was hanging on a hanger on the wall and a pair of artistically painted cardboard angel wings propped up against it. The Camera stood there on its tripod like an unspeaking extra member of the cast, and finally, amongst myriad other funerary clutter, a big white board. For Ray and Arabella, the workroom was just a place of toil, and the odd artistic triumph. For the boys it must have been eerie and strange - and the smell of chemicals infused with a light whiff of putrefaction, quite sickening.
After a quick glance at Mary, Wyatt quickly turned to looking at everything but her. This was creepy. Oh geez, and that smell. It was disgusting. They should be making more than three dollars for this!
Arabella was dressed in her normal black work dress with a pinny over it.
"Oh, you're here, good. All right, change of plan: I got hold of Ray to be the other Angel. Porter, you're on board duty..." she pointed to the big white board in the corner. "Wy, get your clothes off quick and put those heavenly vestments on, and hurry up, I thought I saw a cloud on the horizon, I don't want to loose the light."
Wyatt looked with more than a little trepidation at the piled gown and wings. He lifted the gown up high against the light. You could practically see the thing!
She turned to Weedy "See, Porter, I need you to hold that board up so it reflects the Sun onto the..." she frowned and looked to her other recruit "Wyatt, how come you still got your clothes on, come on, chop chop!" she clapped her hands. "Ray, help him!"
Wyatt's eyes went wide, "Undress right here? But yer here. I can't undress in front of a girl." The only girl he'd ever been naked with was his sister, Clara, at the swimming hole and that was when they both were younger.
He glanced at the other 'angel', "How are you gonna help me?"