hello to everyone who is reading! on tuesday, the 16th, I will probably be quite busy, so I am going to post next week's chapter today. anyway, that's all! I hope you enjoy!
C h a p t e r S e v e n t e e n
Stars, Flowers, & Curls
My brother Felix has always been one to catch a cold pretty quickly, so for a day or so, he was tired and laid out, and we finally had a ‘calm day.’
I needed that, and so did the others, I think.
Hours and days and more hours seemed to drift by timelessly, and sometimes, they felt magical and beyond confinement. Often, I didn’t know where I was, for I was entrapped in a space of twilight and sun, happiness and loneliness, in England and in America. I was missing Father, but I was also dreading his return when all my wildness and freedom would end.
I lost track of whatever day it was and whether it was seven in the evening or eleven at night.
I read books to Charlie, for his simple amusement, and I attempted teaching him a word or two, but he always shrugged and said he didn’t understand.
So, on many nights, me and Artie spent hours in Mrs. Rivet’s spare room where she kept her books about science, the ones she hardly read anymore. She told me that she hadn’t been in that room for ages, and to excuse the dust layering on each shelf. I swiped a hand over one shelf and gagged over the dust, thick, white, and tickling my nose.
It was dark and warm outside, and I lit a lantern, setting it on the hardwood floor between myself, whoknelt on the ground, and Artie, who lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling.
“The others will miss us,” I whispered with a nervous laugh and spared a glance toward the door, left ajar. Happy glows from the kitchen stole in through the open crack.
“Look,” Artie suddenly pointed one finger up at the ceiling.
I lay down on my back and squinted into the darkness, my eyes not catching what his were. “What is it?”
He stood up and held the lantern closer to where he pointed, and there, I observed paintings of the moon, all across the boarder of the ceiling. There were crescents and full moons and over again, in a pattern.
“Those are the phases of the moon,” he explained. We stood, looking up, and I sighed at the paintings. When my eyes rolled upward I saw that there were stars above me like a real, wide night sky. I spotted a constellation.
“She has the entire night sky on her ceiling,” I marveled. “The stars almost look like they’re glowing.”
“I’ve never…” his eyes glistened. “I’ve never noticed them before.”
“She must love astronomy.”
“As do I.”
That moment was a queer one, for it was quiet and the air was soft and our voices blended with the twinkling of the stars above us. Not the real sound of stars, of course, but far better ones. Because when you imagine something, it is oh, so much more extraordinary.
Afterward, we went home and I collapsed onto my bed, my dreams full of moons and stars all swirled around in my head.
The next day I knelt in the garden deep in thought, nearly unaware of everything else around me.
It had never really occured to me that we had been here for…well, I’ve kind of lost track of the true amount of days. We’ve made pleasant friends, and in such a short amount of time. I guess when not a day goes by without seeing one another, you get close very fast. But the real reason I’ve said this is because I’ve felt that we’d never made the attempt to really become acquainted with any of the townspeople in Averdeene. And for that I felt guilty. My mother was this way, and so was I, though the rest of my siblings took more after Father, one who would be perfectly content never coming down from his own land, back in England.
“Annabelle?”
I was taken out of my reverie.
Thank you, Claudia, I mentally said. I was getting too lost in thought.
Claudia looked a little sad and bored and I noticed her hair was barely even curled anymore. Her dress was clean but had some dirt on the hems.
I was watering the scarlet yarrows by the front gate with a cup of rain water I had collected. “So many flowers,” I mused, breathing in the floral surroundings. “It’ll be sad when they have to go.”
Claudia bit her finger and grazed the bottom of the gate with her foot. I was afraid she was going to talk about Father. I’m sure that had pestered her mind sometime.
I looked up at her from my place in the dirt. “Yes Claudia?”
At first she didn’t say anything, but then after a trying few seconds, she thrust out her bottom lip and said, “They were making fun of my curls.”
“Your curls?”
“Yes, my curls. You see, I lost my curlers and now my hair has looked dreadfully dreadful lately.”
“But…” I couldn’t think of a right consolation that would…well, console her.
“But aren’t your curls fake anyway?” That was not very wise of me.
“Th-that’s what they said!” Claudia stamped her foot in anguish. “They’re not fake; they’re artificial. And I don’t think they should make fun now that they’re gone and I have no choice but to look like a peasant. They probably stole them.”
I thought for a moment. Stealing Claudia’s hair curlers was something a certain young lad would probably do in such a situation.
But I couldn’t call the blame just yet.
“Is that the only thing troubling you?”
“Well…” Claudia shifted her feet and drew circles in the dirt. “It’s not fair, that…”
“That what?”
“Well, Artie only likes you.”
She actually surprised me. That was the last thing I figured she would say.
“Um…” now I was at a loss for words again. “I think you’re confused, my dear.”
“I am not!” Another stamp. “I haven’t any friends at all and you get everything.”
“You do too have friends,” I fired back, rising from my knees. “That isn’t true about Artie, Claudia. No one gets any special treatment. We’re all friends.”
Claudia looked away defiantly. “But—but—”
“And what about Charlie? I thought you two adored each other.”
“He adores me. But only when I comb his hair. The minute I stop he runs off to Felix.”
“I’m sure there are other little children here in Averdeene.”
“Maybe so.”
“Well, go down and meet them. And on Sunday morning I’ll take you to church.”
She looked excited and sprinted off, leaving me to my flowers.
Later that day I had been walking through town, looking for my little sister who had sprinted off from me earlier, after telling me about her lack of friends and her hair curlers. You couldn’t imagine the confused surprise on my face, and how I felt when I did encounter her, and one other. She sat under a tree, a good distance away from the buildings, and sipped a cup of tea. This was not what surprised me, but what followed.
“Hello, Claudia Anastasia.”
“Hello, dear sister.”
“You look rather alone,” I observed, glancing around.
“But I’m not alone. Look, I gave him a dazzling makeover!”
“Who?”
And Charlie made me scream by jumping out from behind a tree and leaping onto my back.
“Charlie!” I cried when I recovered from the attack. When my eyes focused, I stared at him, and then frowned at Claudia. “Claudia. Why did you curl his hair?”
Charlie walked around me and laughed until tears streamed down his face. Short, bouncy curls shaped his tan beaming face around his ears and above his shoulders. He looked absolutely ridiculous, and I wondered how with all this noise did not the whole town take notice of us. He danced around me like he was in a circus.
“Charlie, knock it off right this minute,” I put my hands on my hips crossly. “And take those ribbons out of your hair.”
“No,” he rebelled.
“He looks lovely,” Claudia cried, sounding appalled that I did not share her opinion. “Aren’t you glad that I found them?”
“Has Artie seen you in this horrid state?” I said, stepping closer and trying to pull out one ribbon, but he dodged my touch.
Claudia released a long, woeful sigh and stood up beside Charlie. “We’ll play another time,” she said sadly.
His shoulders dropped and he looked down disappointedly.
I waited until after they were out of sight to release my laughter.
I had wanted to find Artie and talk to him about going to church, but somehow I winded up sitting on a chair in our backyard, Charlie kneeling on the grass before me. I sighed, and took out another curler.
“It hurts,” he moaned.
“Well, I’m sorry she did this to you.”
“She ain’t done nothin’.”
I pulled out a blue ribbon. “How many ribbons did she put in your hair? I feel as if I’ll never come to the end of them.” When I removed every bit of Claudia’s hair supplies out of the boy’s hair, I sat back and exhaled. “The curlers were in your hair too long. There’s nothing much I can do about it, but wait for them to wear off.”
“I can jump in the river and then they’ll stricken out.”
“Straighten out, Charlie.”
He shrugged. He stood to his feet and walked away, little Claudia curls in his hair. He looked like an English lass.
I shook my head and sighed. Then I called out, my face reddening, “Charlie, just take care not to let Artie see you!"
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