Once Upon A Story | Fits & Starts: From the Beginning
Chapter 8

“Don’t forget the salt!” Josi called to the four diminishing figures. “Do you think they heard?”

The four girls with her shrugged. Lin smiled, “If they didn’t they can just go right back to town to get it!”

They had decided that the four men should make the day’s ride to and from the town to get supplies, while the girls would stay at the cabin and clean the place up.

“Alysian, did you plant your shepherds purse yet?” Beth asked.

“No, not yet. Why?”

“I found a garden out back. It’s fairly well overgrown, but there are some lovely flowers and even some vegetables. I thought once it was weeded and cleared you could put your herbs there.”

“Let’s go look at it.” Alysian and Beth went around the back of the cabin while Josi, Lin and Joy entered and began the task of scrubbing the entire home into shining perfection.

Noon found five exhausted, dirty young women laying on the grass amongst every piece of furniture in the house, chewing on hard biscuits and admiring the newly clean, empty house and sparkling windows.

“Just think,” Beth pretended cheer, “After we haul water up to scrub down all the furniture, we can do all the laundry, and then start on the barn!”

All five girls groaned at the thought of all the work. “Maybe we could just leave everything out here until it rains,” Joy suggested hopefully.

“It’s not going to rain, there’s not a cloud in sight,” Josi eyed the sky.

“Where are you going?” Joy asked Beth.

“The stream. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish. Shall we take turns hauling and scrubbing?”

Lin smiled tiredly, “I’ll stay here and scrub.”

“If you ever get up, you mean,” Alysian reached over and tickled her.

At twilight, the girls were again sprawled in the shade, this time they were a bit dirtier, the furniture a bit cleaner and inside. Josi finally sat up and used the nearest tree trunk to pull herself to her feet. Then started pulling at the others. “Come on, we’ve still got to do the laundry.”

Joy groaned and swatted at her sister.

Josi grinned as inspiration struck, “If we do the laundry we can make the beds, then we could take a nap in our nice soft beds.”

All but Beth reluctantly got to their feet. “Are you getting up, Beth?”

“Aren’t I already?” Beth asked.

Lin laughed, “Your eyes aren’t even open.”

“Oh. Are you sure I’m not up?”

“Come on Sleeping Beauty,” Josi pulled her up and handed her an armload of laundry. They trudged down the hill towards the stream, one after another on the little dirt trail. Once at the water Josi pointed toward a little protected pool where the water moved with less speed. They settled themselves there, dumping their loads into a large pile.

Josi delegated, “Joy can wet things, Lin and I shall soap them and Lisy and Beth, you rinse.”

Lin, Josi, and Joy knelt by the water, but Alysian and Beth just rolled up the bottom of their trousers and waded in. They worked quietly at first, until laughter from Beth and Alysian filled the air; they’d begun splashing one another. Lin shook her head, smiling, as she turned away for more soap she missed the devilish look on Alysian’s face as she twisted a wet petticoat into a whip. She waded quietly after Lin, came up directly behind her, took aim and...

SNAAAP!

Lin shrieked, and whirled around, her hands going to her wounded bottom. Alysian howled with laughter at the expression on her sister’s face, and Joy laughed too. Lin’s eyes lit on her younger sister, “Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?” Suddenly she lunged forward, grabbed Joy and heaved her into the water!

“Heb-bl-blubb!” Joy’s yelp was lost under the water, until she came up, spluttering and gasping. “No fair!” she scooped up as much water as she could and flung it at Lin, who dodged, leaving Josi to bear the brunt of it.

Josi stared at her wet front for a minute, then shrugged, grabbed Lin and Alysian and dragged them both under the water with her.

The men, tired from their riding, found them that way, shrieking and laughing, dunking and splashing each other.

“Looks like fun,” Tim commented.

“Well, well, well,” Troy stepped forward, catching the attention of the wet girls. “Here we ride hard all day, out in the hot sun, just to get supplies for you. And here you are playing in the water, ignoring our noble efforts.”

“What?” Josi clambered out of the water in her dripping, soggy skirts. “Your noble... we’ve spent all day cleaning! We dragged every piece of furniture out of that house, washed it -the house and the furniture- put everything back, made stew so you’d have something to eat, and washed heaps and heaps of laundry, quite a bit of it yours, I might add. And you think you made a noble effort in sitting on a horse most of the day!”

Troy put his hands up, “You win.”

“I should think so. Now take this laundry up to the meadow and spread it out to dry.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The girls, except Beth, quickly squirmed out of their dripping garments and into their dry changes of clothes, shivering in the cool night air.

“Aren’t you going to change Beth?” Joy asked, tying the laces of her skirt.

“I don’t have a change of clothes. Well, I do, but it’s my very best dress. I wasn’t really thinking when I packed during the fire.”

“Hmm, I have a blouse you could use, but that’s all.” Lin offered.

“That’s all I have, too,” Alysian grinned, “But I know what you can use for a skirt. I’ll be right back.”

Several minutes later she was back, carrying Beth’s quilt and a sewing case. “You don’t really need this, since we’ve got those other quilts, and whatever was in town, so you can make this into a skirt. I bet it’ll be nice and warm too.”

“What a wonderful idea! I used to see the gypsies wear things like that, they always looked so lovely and colorful!”

“That’s where I got the idea.”

Josi took the quilt and shook it out. It was about as wide as it was long and had a Mariner’s Compass pattern. “I think the fastest way to do this is to put a hole in the center. For now we can just cut it, we’ll worry about hems and edges later. We’ll need some heavy laces to hold this.” As she spoke she measured Beth’s waist, removed a pair of scissors from the kit and began cutting an opening for the waist and a small slit at the opening to make the new skirt wearable. She held it against Beth, “I think that’ll fit, try it on, here’s Lisy’s blouse. Now, what about lacings?”

“I’ve some boot laces I don’t need,” Beth offered, “They’re up in the loft. I only brought one boot, so I took the laces and left the shoe to the dogs.”

“Turn around,” Josi leaned over, using the moonlight to see where to make holes for the laces. Lin returned from fetching them just as she finished cutting. They threaded the rawhide into the skirt and tied the ends. Beth looked down and giggled, “I feel short!” The ends of the quilt were lying in folds on the grass.

“We’ll fix that another time. I’m freezing, let’s get inside.” Josi lead the way back to the cabin, with a pause to spread their clothing out in the meadow.

As they entered the warm little house, the men looked up from the dinner they’d helped themselves to. Tim looked at Beth’s skirt, opened his mouth, and closed it again as Troy elbowed him and frowned.

Lin and Josi served up stew for the girls, then sat to eat their own. “Did you get wood for the barn?” Josi asked.

“Yes,” Tim grumbled, “We got it. And let me tell you, carrying wood on horseback is not comfortable.”

“Poor baby,” Alysian grinned. “Did you get any seeds?”

“Carrots, radishes, corn, tomatoes, strawberries, blackberries, and wheat.” Clayton mumbled the list around a mouthful of food, winning him frowns from Joy and Josi.

“Why wheat?”

“I didn’t get much. If it’ll grow it’d be useful to have.”

“I suppose. I’m working in the garden tomorrow, is anyone going to help me?”

“Not I,” Joy declined, “All that muck and dirt isn’t for me.”

“I will,” Beth volunteered, then tacked on, “As long as there aren’t too many bugs.”

Allen raised his eyebrows and leaned his chair back against the stones of the fireplace. “I don’t care much for gardening, but I’ll help with any heavy work you need done.”

Clayton grinned, “I don’t care much for heavy work, but I’ll help with any gardening you need done!”

Alysian laughed.

“I don’t want to plant, but I’ll help you weed what’s there.” Lin offered. “I want to see what flowers are growing.” She smiled dreamily at Allen, “I love flowers, don’t you?”

“What’s everyone else doing tomorrow?” Clayton asked.

“I suppose we’ll work on the barn,” Troy set his bowl and spoon in the bucket of dish water.

“There’s no way we’ll ever be comfortable out there,” Tim complained.

“You’ll have blankets and mattresses,” Josi told him witheringly, “You’ll be fine.”

“Mattresses? Where are we going to get those?”

Josi sighed impatiently, “That’s what all the canvas I had you get is for; we’ll make you mattresses and you can fill them with hay. Now all of you shoo. We’re tired, and we want to get ready for bed. Out!”

The men left, griping, and the girls pulled on their nightgowns and crawled into bed.

“All right,” Josi called, “You may come back in.” She used the quilt to cover her giggles as the four scrambled in the door, shivering, and vied for position by the fire.

“Goodnight, children,” came a voice from the loft, followed by muffled laughter.

“What are you looking at?”

Joy squeaked, startled by Josi’s unnoticed approach. She grabbed Josi’s arm before she could step around the corner of the house to see what had held Joy’s attention. “Nothing,” Joy said defensively.

“If it’s nothing, how come you won’t let me go see it?” Josi pulled free and peeked around the corner. “There’s nothing there.”

Joy looked relieved, “See, I told you.”

“What are you two spying on?” Lin came up to her twin’s side.

“Nothing,” Josi sounded confused.

“Why are you watching nothing?”

“I don’t know. Joy was watching something, but I don’t see anything.”

“Let me look,” Lin took Josi’s place, poked her head round the corner, and looked around a bit. Then she laughed, “I think I know what she was watching. Look at the barn.”

Josi ducked under Lin and looked, too. Then she gasped.

“Scarlet Joyce Victoria! Shame on you, you naughty girl! Watching those men, and them with their shirts off!” Then she undermined her scold by taking another peek.

“You seem to be enjoying the view yourself, Andrea Josiphene,” Lin teased.

Josi blushed, “Well, you’re no better than I am. Come along, none of us should be here.” Joy and Lin obediently followed her. Just then Clayton rounded the corner, coming toward them with two empty water buckets.

“What are you doing over here?” he asked curiously.

“Nothing!” came the unified response. They scooted around the corner, Joy giggling.

He frowned after them, then continued on his way, absently glancing up at the barn. He halted, staring. “They couldn’t have been...” He made to move on, paused again, then began laughing uproariously. “Could they?... Why, those naught little girls!” He laughed all the way to the stream and back.

“What’s so funny?” Allen asked him.

Clayton just shook his head and laughed harder, wiping tears from his eyes.

“What’s wrong with him?” Alysian handed Allen a shovel.

“Your sisters are quite a bunch, aren’t they?” Clayton had managed to get control of himself.

“Um, all right..”

“All sorts of little quirks...” Clayton was off again

Tim lowered himself to the ground next to Joy. “So this is what we’ll be sleeping on?” He indicated the canvas Joy was nimbly stitching.

“Yes, it is,” she watched him from the corner of her eyes.

He leaned close, whispering in her ear, “I don’t suppose you could make mine bigger?” He gave her his most charming smile.

She giggled, “Shame on you. Besides this is the last one. They’re all the same size.”

“Well, then, which was your favorite? I’ll have that one.”

She lowered her lashes, pleasure filling her. Masculine attention had always meant so much to her; her sisters were always so self sufficient, and better at just about everything than Joy. But Joy had always been better at men. She smiled sweetly at Tim.

“Joy,” Beth trotted up. “Lin wants to know if you need any more thread.”

Tim smiled at her and winked. Beth blushed at that, and shyly smiled back.

Joy frowned, “Tell Lin I don’t need any more thread. And you can take those with you, they’re done.”

Tim returned his attention of Joy as Beth staggered off under the load of canvas. “Something wrong?”

“No,” Joy turned away, a bit petulant.

“If you’re going to be like this, I’m going to go help Beth,” he rose, calling for her to wait, and chased after her.

Joy watched him leave, her face mutinous. She stabbed the needle through the cloth, misjudging her placement and pricking herself painfully. “Ouch!” she stuck her finger in her mouth, feeling miserable.

“What’s wrong?” she hadn’t noticed Troy’s approach. Now he knelt before her, “Did you hurt yourself?”

She nodded, still nursing her injured finger. He gently pulled it from her mouth and examined the blood welling from the deep cut. “It’s not too bad,” she looked offended, “I’ll just put some pressure on it to stop the bleeding. Are you making our mattresses?” She nodded . He smiled, “It looks like you’re doing a very good job of it.”

She smiled up at him, “This is the last one. It’s done.”

“How about I carry it to the house for you, then?”

“Would you?” she turned her lovely hazel eyes on him, fluttering her lashes a bit.

He chuckled, offering his hand to help her to her feet. Then he lifted the folds of canvas, and, offering Joy his elbow, led the way to the house.

Josi turned from hanging laundry on the newly strung lines to watch, laughing, as Alysian, Allen and Tim chased wildly after the five chickens they’d bought from a neighbor. Tim had stuffed them all in a basket, assuming they’d be happy to stay where he’d put them. Now the half finished chicken coop had been abandoned, the wire fence slowly sliding to the ground, as people ran recklessly about, trying desperately to catch the five feathered troublemakers.

Allen tip-toed up behind one of the unsuspecting fowl, then lunged, diving to the ground and ending up with only a faceful of dirt while the startled bird ran away, scolding. Alysian was struggling to hold on to two birds at once, and was about to loose the battle when she finally managed to cram the squirming birds back into the basket. One erupted from the other side, only to be pushed firmly back in. Tim approached, gingerly holding his chicken at arm’s length, trying to avoid being scratched. In one quick motion Alysian grabbed it, shoved it in the basket and closed the lid again. They then took a break to enjoy the spectacle of Allen racing wildly back and forth, trying to corner a frightened chicken.

“Hold on,” Tim began counting, “Three in there, Allen’s got one,” he grinned, “Or he’s chasing one anyway. But there should be five; so where’s the last one?”

A startled yelp and loud squawking from the house answered his question. They headed toward the little cabin, only to see the door swing shut. Several thuds and thumps could be heard, as well as continued squawking. Beth opened the door, looking mussed and flustered. “Loose something?”

Lin came up behind her, chicken clutched firmly under her arm. Her cheeks were red and her hair was sticking out of her bun. “Next time I’m sending her back outside and you can catch her,” she gave the bird a sour look and handed it to her sister.

Josi was still laughing as she returned to the house. She noticed the remaining chicken racing toward her, and had an idea. Carefully timing herself, she waited, and at exactly the right moment, she tossed the empty laundry tub right over the chicken, successfully trapping it.

“Nice aim,” Tim admired.

“Thank you,” Josi gracefully inclined her head, grinning. When Allen offered her the now unnecessary container she shook her head. “Use it to cover the basket, that way if they get out again, they’re still cooped up. You’d better get to that fence too, before it’s all on the ground!”

With the chickens efficiently contained the coop was quickly finished, and soon the birds were contentedly pecking corn off the ground of their new home.