Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Disrupted: Day 12

Word Count: 72,020

Summary of Events:
Ezra was ahead of the others, waiting for them to catch up, when his gelding exchanged whinnies with another horse whom he felt might be one of the rustlers' horses. Gwendolen found herself forced to sleep in Ezra's bed because there was no other available bed of the right size in the house when it came time to put everyone to bed. Ezra and his employer's son had a lengthy conversation about the aging foreman and how he shouldn't have come along with them. Gwendolen woke up the next morning and started making breakfast while the children slept . . .

Excerpt of the Day:
"She turned at the sound of feet and found Jeremiah and Jonathan standing in the doorway.
"Good morning," she said.
"Good morning," Jeremiah replied, before giving Jonathan a hard elbow.
"Ow!" Jonathan exclaimed.
"Say good morning," Jeremiah said.
"Good morning," Jonathan mumbled.
"What are you two up to?" Gwendolen asked.
"I don't know," Jeremiah replied.
"You should probably go and feed Lucy and Silver," Gwendolen said.
Jeremiah nodded and the two started off with no soft steps, even in dressing themselves to go out, much less moving the bar away from the door. Gwendolen listened for a wail from Sarah, but heard nothing. Sarah was probably used to it, though.
She moved the bacon around and made space to put a couple of eggs into the pan, making sure to break the yolks as Mrs. Harder had told her to, so as to make sure the yolks cooked — otherwise the children wouldn't eat the eggs.
"Papa," Gwendolen startled and turned to see Sarah in the doorway.
"He's not back yet," Gwendolen replied.
Sarah looked up sadly, her jaw quivering.
"Come," Gwendolen said, kneeling down.
Sarah walked over to her and Gwendolen took her into her arms gently.
"I'm sure he'll be home soon," Gwendolen said. "Surely they've caught the bad guys by now."
"Papa chasing bad guys?" Sarah asked.
"Yes," Gwendolen replied. "They took cattle that weren't theirs."
"Oh," Sarah said. "Why?"
"Because they thought it was better than doing honest work to get money," Gwendolen replied.
"I want Papa," Sarah said.
"Yes, I know," Gwendolen said.
"Bad guys take Papa way," Sarah said.
"Oh, I'm sure a big strong man like your Papa wouldn't have that happen," Gwendolen said. "He surely beat them all up and is bringing them back to be in jail where they belong."
"Papa give bad guys spanking?" Sarah asked.
"Maybe," Gwendolen replied, not really sure what to make of the mental image.
"Papa come back now?" Sarah asked.
"I should think soon anyways," Gwendolen replied.
"Me go see?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know that you'll be able to see him yet, but it doesn't hurt to look," Gwendolen said, putting Sarah down.
She watched as Sarah ran over to the window that looked north. If Gwendolen recalled correctly, aside from the boys' bedroom window, the window Sarah was looking out of was the only northward-facing window in the house.
Gwendolen flipped over the eggs and used a thick pad to protect her hands as she moved the pan off the heat like Mrs. Harder had showed her, as well as moving the water off the heat.
"I no see Papa," Sarah said.
"Well, maybe he's having breakfast with the other men," Gwendolen said.
The boys' thunderous footsteps on the veranda cut off any hope of a cross-kitchen conversation with Sarah, so Gwendolen went to the cupboard and fetched out the dishes, which she laid out on the table, as well as preparing the supplies for her tea."

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