"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Sure, Addy does some magic tricks, but that's just tricks, and she did show me how to do some." He grinned. "I'm going to trick people when Wyatt and I are pirates!"
Arabella nodded "Yes, it could be a useful skill in that line of work. Pirates often get caught by cannibals on tropical islands, you could do some tricks like that and the cannibal chief would think you were Great White Gods and decide not to eat you after all. But look out for the old witch doctor, cause he'll be jealous of your new-found power over the chief, and try and get his revenge. Oh, and you'll have to marry the Chief's coal-black daughter" the actress rambled on. "How about the spooky stuff?"
Then he considered her other inquiry and shrugged. "Maybe...sometimes...once..." It was something he'd never admitted, even to Addy. "When that storm, and the snow...I think I knew I'd never see my mom again." As much as he'd wanted her to be a real Mom, Weedy still loved her, and had always hoped she'd get better.
Arabella shivered, she'd nearly died in that storm. "Brrr, I remember! I thought I'd never see ME again!" Without really thinking about it, she placed her spare hand on her fellow orphan's shoulder in a big-sisterly way.
"Do you do that sometimes, too?"
She nodded slowly.
"Sure... clairvoyance, seeing glimpses of the departed, or feeling their presence, that sort of thing... sometimes. But there's no need to make a religion of it like Jemima and Mrs Orr do! And as for calling on Spirits and demanding they come to you and knock two times for yes and once for no and all that, well, I'd be pretty sore if I was in Heaven and people down on earth kept pulling me back here!"
"Then again, maybe some folks just can't escape this place when they die. I sometimes worry about my little brother. He died back in Virginia and he was in such a terrible fever when he went. I wonder if he's still there. Not aware that he's no longer in his poor thin little body, wanderin' the mountain, wondering where we've all gone to..." she trailed off. Arabella, for once, looked sad and thoughtful.
"Maybe we should go, Porter, maybe we should go to their silly old Seance. We'd keep and open mind and not be fooled into falling for any tricks by wishful thinking, but maybe we should go and see if your Ma or my brother have anything to say to us... I'd love to know that he was at rest..."
Arabella had nearly died during the Whitefish Snowstorm
"I'm sorry about your brother," Weedy commented sincerely. "I kinda wanted a brother or sister, but I was glad they didn't have a mom like I did." He shrugged, not sure how to deal with the conflicting feelings. "But now that my Mom is in Heaven...we could do that seance thing and ask her to look after your brother? I'm sure she's better now, and she'll be good to him."
And that was something he really did believe, even if he was skeptical about all this Spirit stuff. "I just won't tell Addy so she doesn't try to stop me."
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"I'm sorry about your brother," Weedy commented sincerely.
Arabella give him a tight little smile and squeezed his arm to say thanks.
"I kinda wanted a brother or sister, but I was glad they didn't have a mom like I did."
Another kindly smile and squeeze of the arm. Weedy was going to be bruised black and blue at this rate.
He shrugged, not sure how to deal with the conflicting feelings. "But now that my Mom is in Heaven...we could do that seance thing and ask her to look after your brother? I'm sure she's better now, and she'll be good to him."
"Oh, what a wonderful thought, Porter" Arabella said kindly, deciding not to mention that she already had a crazy mother of her own up there, or maybe the other place. Her brother, though, whose tragic passing and the passage of time had rendered a saint in her mind, was definitely amongst the holy choir.
"I just won't tell Addy so she doesn't try to stop me."
Arabella laughed "Well, if you... yikes!" she stopped dead in her tracks as a mauve and white thing appeared out of a side-street in the street in front of them. It was that new girl who had appeared in Weedy and Wyatt's school class recently, Jane Patterson Forde, or 'Thingy Something Something, as most of the kids would have called her, if they'd ever talked about her, which they didn't. She was an anaemic, bespectacled nonentity with the added handicap of being a little lame in her left arm and even worse... new! She spent most of playtime in the yard looking after her sappy little brother. She wouldn't normally say boo to a goose, let alone address Weedy, but the thing actually opened her maw and words came out.
"Hello Porter! Whatcha got there?" she asked. The temerity of the creature!
Arabella gave her short shrift.
"Step aside, Talbot! Mr Chappel and I have important grown-up stuff to do. Run home little girl, and play with your dollies!" she ordered high-handily.
The girl looked crest-fallen, but rallied magnificently "I... I'm not a little girl, I'm fourteen! And I don't play with dollies!* And my name isn't Talbot, it's Jane Patterson Forde! I'm in Porter's class at School." she announced proudly.
"Oh I am sorry, do forgive me I'm sure..." snapped back Arabella sarcastically "... It's just that I had a pet frog back in Virginia by that name, and he looked just like you!!"
This was too much for the girl with the unpleasant coloured smock and and white-blonde bunches, she burst out in tears.
* A lie - Javia.
Weedy noticed the girl but really didn't pay her much mind...he rarely did, she seemed to want to keep to herself, and he wasn't going to try to change that. She was a girl, after all, and he didn't pay any of them much attention. Besides, he was talking to Arabella.
"Hello Porter! Whatcha got there?"
"Oh, um...hi." He hadn't expected her to speak to him, so it caught him off-guard, and then Arabeller spoke up.
"Step aside, Talbot! Mr Chappel and I have important grown-up stuff to do. Run home little girl, and play with your dollies!" she ordered high-handily.
"But she's..." Who was Talbot...and for that matter, he was 'Weedy'...and she kept calling him Porter!
"I... I'm not a little girl, I'm fourteen! And I don't play with dollies!* And my name isn't Talbot, it's Jane Patterson Forde! I'm in Porter's class at School." she announced proudly.
"Yeah...Jane..."
"Oh I am sorry, do forgive me I'm sure..." snapped back Arabella sarcastically "... It's just that I had a pet frog back in Virginia by that name, and he looked just like you!!"
Well, that did it! Weedy knew full-well what it was like to be teased, he'd gotten it enough when he was little, since his mother was...well, what she was. And he'd seen plenty of folks tease his mother, too, and call her names, and even chase after her sometimes, and more than once, he'd seen that expression on her face.
"Why are you so mean?" he snapped at Arabeller. "That wasn't nice, she didn't do anything to you!"
So much for finding out about how pictures were made! Setting the equipment he was holding down right there in the middle of the street, Weedy trotted over to Jane. "Hey, Jane! You want to see my horse? He's a real Indian pony!"
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Why are you so mean?" he snapped at Arabeller. "That wasn't nice, she didn't do anything to you!"
Arabella's hand flew to her heart.
"Oh Porter, you don't mean to say that you're taking this silly little girl's side over me?! Why, she's just a four-eyed runt!!"
So much for finding out about how pictures were made! Setting the equipment he was holding down right there in the middle of the street, Weedy trotted over to Jane. "Hey, Jane! You want to see my horse? He's a real Indian pony!"
Jane just nodded, words were beyond her as her heart pounded so fast and hard she thought it was going to bust right out of her chest. As she walked of into the sunset that she'd dreamed of ever since she'd first lain eyes on 'Weedy' Porter Chappel at school (I say 'sunset', dear reader, it was actually 11.47 in the A.M. but you will forgive my poetic licence I am sure) she turned to look back at the black haired actress and managed to mouth a silent... "Thank You"!
Once the young couple were safely out of earshot, Arabella allowed herself a burst of gurgling laughter along with a sentimental tear, for she had once suffered a crush on a man, of all things, herself. She picked up her equipment as best she could with one pair of hands, and carried on her way, singing her favourite song.
"♬ Oh, he taught me to love him and call me his flowerThat was blooming to cheer him through life's dreary hourHow I long to see him and regret the dark hourHe's gone and neglected his pale wildwood flower♬"
[Continued below...]
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
Jane looked sideways at Weedy, still in shock that the weird actress's plan had worked and that she was actually walking and talking with HIM.
Of course, he looked a little blurry because, sideways on, she wasn't seeing through her spectacles.
Also, she wasn't talking, was she? She was suddenly tongue tied. Even worse, her body felt weird, sort of numb and heavy and awkward, but somehow she kept walking and heard herself say in a voice she hardly recognised as her own.
"What's your horse called?"
Yeuk, did she really sound like that when she spoke?!! She'd never really listened to herself before! But now everything she did, everything about herself, her looks, her horrible mauve smock, her stupid specs, her unnaturally white-blonde hair, that tiny mole above her left eyebrow, the fact she had a hole in her right stocking, so her toe poked thru, everything about her, she saw through Weedy's, presumably uber-critical eyes.
Ugh how horrible she was! she thought.
And yet - here she was. Walkin' and a talkin'.
Served Arabeller right that she had to carry all her own stuff!
Shaking his head, Weedy 'humphed!' then started walking toward the freight barn, only barely glancing to see if Jane was following. At least he'd gotten her away from that horrid person!
"What's your horse called?"
"I named him 'Milan'," he explained, "it's Indian for 'gift', since he was a gift from Addy. She caught him from a real Indian!" He stopped short of going into the details of the acquisition, since Addy didn't like to talk about the time she and Miss Caroline were kidnapped by Indians. "He's a pinto...black and white, and he's real tame."
He paused a few seconds to let the girl catch up, oblivious to her mooning calf-eyes. "Do you have a horse? Can you ride?" He sort of assumed everyone here did, but it depended on if they preferred a buckboard or buggy.
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
"I named him 'Milan'," he explained, "it's Indian for 'gift', since he was a gift from Addy. She caught him from a real Indian!" He stopped short of going into the details of the acquisition, since Addy didn't like to talk about the time she and Miss Caroline were kidnapped by Indians.
The girl looked suitably astonished. She had no idea who this Addy woman was, but did not wish to display her ignorance by asking.
"What color horse is he?" she asked simply.
"He's a pinto...black and white, and he's real tame."
The girl looked suitably impressed by this.
"Do you have a horse? Can you ride?"
She shook her head and was about to tell him how her Ma tended to keep her away from horses ever since she and her twin sister had tried, at Jane's suggestion, and to her everlasting shame, to pet a wild foal and been attacked by its over-protective mother. The mare had kicked poor Clemmy and killed her, while she had escaped with a broken arm and some nasty bruises. She had been terrified of horses ever since.
But she remembered one of Miss Mudd's pieces of advice: First time you're alone with a boy, try and avoid talking about dead people, keep it sunny! which ranked along side of: If he tries to kiss you, let him, but try and look like you're just putting up with it and you really hate it!... you can let him tie your boot laces for you, though.
So, instead, she just said "We don't have a horse and I don't know how to ride one." Then she fatefully added "Maybe you can show me how?" her adolescent ardour for her crush getting the better of her sense of self-preservation.
"We don't have a horse and I don't know how to ride one."
"Don't have a horse?" Weedy couldn't imagine a whole family not having a horse! How did you get anywhere? Unless you just stayed in town and never went anywhere, and that was worse than not having a horse at all!
"Maybe you can show me how?"
"To ride? Sure." Weddy shrugged, figuring there couldn't be much to it...get on. stay on! But...
He stopped for a moment to look the girl over, then started walking again. "Not today though...do you got any clothes you don't mind getting scuffed up? In case you fall off or something? It can get dirty sometimes." As he started to haul open the big doors at the front of the barn, he added, "It would be best if you had some pants."
The aroma of horses and fresh hay greeted them, along with a few happy nickers, and Weedy grinned, this was home to him! "Addy's out, so the big horses aren't here, but mine and hers are."
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
"Don't have a horse?" Weedy couldn't imagine a whole family not having a horse! How did you get anywhere? Unless you just stayed in town and never went anywhere, and that was worse than not having a horse at all!
Jane shook her head, hoping she hadn't said anything wrong. They'd come here from California in two big wagons pulled by bullocks which they'd sold off as soon as they'd arrived in Kalispell.
She asked if the gorgeous boy could show her how to ride a horse and he agreed.
He stopped for a moment to look the girl over, then started walking again. "Not today though...do you got any clothes you don't mind getting scuffed up? In case you fall off or something? It can get dirty sometimes." As he started to haul open the big doors at the front of the barn, he added, "It would be best if you had some pants."
She was about to protest that she was wearing pants already, thank you very much, when she realised he didn't mean the enormous unmentionables she had on under her smock. She went bright red thinking about that near faux pas! and stuttered something about borrowing some of her older brothers' old clothes.
The aroma of horses and fresh hay greeted them, along with a few happy nickers, and Weedy grinned, this was home to him! "Addy's out, so the big horses aren't here, but mine and hers are."
Jane was frightened but determined not to show it. To buy time, she asked the question she'd avoided before.
"Who's Addy?" she asked, tipping her head.
