The story Fel By The Wayside is now complete and can be found at http://felbythewayside.blogspot.com/
I am currently working on completing the stories one by one. "And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth" is an old one that I never finished and it is the one that I am currently working on. I will get it posted to blogspot as soon as I can and you will be able to find the link in my profile as soon as I do.
Thanks for everyone's patience. I had too many open threads in my hand at one time and working on all of them wasn't working so I've decided to work on them one at a time until it is finished and then move on to the next.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
Update ...
The following stories are now complete:
A Will To Survive
Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men
Forsaken Harvest (completed as of 11/14/11)
Over the Mountain and Through the Fire
This Is Me Surviving
Stories Currently in Progress:
All Roads Lead Somewhere
Carry On
Gurl
Mom's Journal of the Zombie Years
To All Things There Is A Season
Il Agita Di Amore
And the Geek Will Inherit the Earth
I plan on a very short break and then will begin to try and complete another story. I hope to have at least two more completed before the end of the year.
A Will To Survive
Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men
Forsaken Harvest (completed as of 11/14/11)
Over the Mountain and Through the Fire
This Is Me Surviving
Stories Currently in Progress:
All Roads Lead Somewhere
Carry On
Gurl
Mom's Journal of the Zombie Years
To All Things There Is A Season
Il Agita Di Amore
And the Geek Will Inherit the Earth
I plan on a very short break and then will begin to try and complete another story. I hope to have at least two more completed before the end of the year.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Just a Note ...
Over the next few days I hope to upload some additional chapters of the other stories that are in progress. I've loaded two new chapters to Forsaken Harvest and a couple of the others will get new chapters as well. You can find the links for the other stories in the right side bar on this page.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Chapter Fifty
Chapter 50
Good Lord, looking at it I can definitely say that when it rains it pours. And here I was thinking I had things calmed down and under control. Teach me to think won’t it. Granddaddy used to say that the fastest way to make God laugh was to tell him you had plans. Well, I suppose that’s really just an old wives’ tale but on the other hand it sure seems that it might be true, at least it feels like it is sometimes.
I don’t know how well this will come out, I feel so restless and out of sorts … better than I have been feeling and better than others still are feeling but that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel pretty bad and sorry for myself in general. I shouldn’t complain, we’ve been blessed here compared to some others. I guess I’m just so … well, might as well start at the beginning or I’ll make even less sense than normal.
Woke up ready to go hunting wild leeks … better known to us common folk as ramps. Some people can’t abide ramps and some people love ‘em near to death. With the way things have gone since my family died I’ve learned not to turn my nose up at any kind of food, you never know where your next meal is coming from sometimes … and sometimes you might not want to look too hard at what it used to be. It’s only been since coming to Dino’s house that I realized just how bad things were. I don’t know why I didn’t recognize it before – it was staring me in the face – maybe it was just self preservation; I suppose you can just get used to anything. Now that I’ve given myself time to think on it, guess that might be one reason why Sol was so easily duped by his uncle; he hadn’t been able to withstand the temptation of all that was suddenly just plunked down in his lap. I don’t say any of this to Dino, I don’t want to hurt him. He’s grieving enough as it is; we all are.
So as far as ramps go I have what you might call more of a “like ‘em good enough not to pass them up” state of mind. Doesn’t mean I haven’t seen the bad side of ramps though. Lord have mercy, if you eat too many of those things you better be around other people that are eating too many as well or you ain’t gonna exactly be good company if you know what I mean. And it ain’t just your breath that is going to be the offending party. The smell of ramps had cleared more than one room.
Ramps aren’t just good but good for you; they cleanse the blood first thing in the spring when you are looking for some of the first fresh things to add back into a diet after a winter of nothing but preserved foods. Might actually be one of the biggest reasons they give you gas so bad … being the first fresh after a long season of nothing but preserved food.
Ramps are full of iron and antioxidants, or so it says in the books I’ve read. They’ve got a strong garlicky, oniony kind of flavor that is pretty intense for the uninitiated. But for a spring food there’s not much that can match a batch of ramps. If you ain’t feeling perked up after that you need to go see the local yarb woman to get some help and that’s a fact.
Unlike many spring time forage foods, the first place you don’t look for ramps is in the bottom land where things have warmed up. Nope, ramps is generally found on a north side of a good sized forested hill or mountain that has a few open places here and there. To me the leaves remind you a bit of tulips but yet not. Not too many folks eat the leaves anyway though you can, or so I’m told. Most folks stick to the bulb and stems that remind me most of scallions.
Ramps is also best used fresh unless you plan on blanching and freezing a bundle. I planned on picking more than I could use fresh and storing them for a bit in the ice room down in the basement. I got all dressed and was really feeling up to the gitty up and go when a very pale faced Hannah knocked on my bedroom door.
“I swear I’m not faking it Riss,” she muttered dejectedly.
After one look at her face I sighed. “No, I guess you aren’t. Let me get you some raspberry leaf tea.”
Grimacing and holding her lower middle she whispered, “Geez, you are saving my life, you know?”
I shook my head, “Don’t get silly on me now. You ever ask them doctors you worked with about why you get cramps like this a couple times a year?”
“Not the doctors, no,” she said shaking her head. “But believe it or not one of the Sisters told me it was because I lost too much calcium going into it.”
“One of the Sisters? You mean them nuns you were working with? I thought you said they was too strict for words?”
She shrugged and then made another face. “Well, maybe not that strict. I probably exaggerated a bit. They were strict I mean but … but most of them weren’t mean strict. And they are female and just because they, you know, have taken a vow and everything doesn’t change that. I reckon some of them have normal female problems too. They just aren’t allowed to make a big deal out of it I guess.”
“I guess,” I repeated remembering a few of the “big deal” times that Hannah acted like she was dying when we were growing up. Mrs. Bly would take to her bed the same way nearly every month. I asked her one time if it didn’t take all the fun out of being a girl and she gave me this real cross look so I learned to leave her alone when she was hormonal.
Knowing that Hannah was going to be useless or worse I told her, “You might as well stop beating around the bush. You know you aren’t going to make it ramp hunting.”
“I know,” she gloomed. “And I was hoping to rub AJ’s face in it. He laughed and said I’d give up. But that’s not true … I just … I just …”
Forestalling the tears I could see on the way I told her, “Humph, that’s a guy for you. But tell you what, dinner is all set back and only needs to simmer. Why don’t you do the dinner – surprise AJ that way – and take care of Kerry for me. Don’t ask me why but he seems to mind you well enough that I don’t have to worry about him tearing the house down.”
“Oh honestly Riss, he’s not that bad.” At a look from me she said, “OK but he’s no worse that you and Harry used to be and you know it.” I couldn’t help it and grinned a little nostalgically at a few memories that she had resurrected. She laughed then grimaced, “Tea … tea now … before I just about die.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t laugh. “That bad?”
“Probably just stress. Everything seems to be out of whack lately. God, I even have pimples this month and I swore that I’d outgrown that.”
Since I still broke out when it was getting close to that time of the month I could have told her she was just wishful thinking but didn’t and instead got her some witch hazel to go with the raspberry tea. “Remember Hannah Banana, you drink the tea and use the witch hazel on your face.”
“Ha ha. Just too funny.” She was a little grumpy but not much and added, “Go already or you’ll never get back before I have to figure out how to work that monster stove and fix supper.”
So I did … get that is. I probably looked ridiculous but since the men weren’t about and I could care less what the animals might be thinking I just laughed at myself. Pita was in a sling strapped across my back and she was kicking to beat the band. I swun she musta thought I was some kinda pack mule or something; it felt like she was setting spurs into me to make me go faster. The old overalls fit like they used to with maybe a little extra room here and there – especially in the patched and baggy seat – and I was pulling my jacked up wagon to bring back what I was going after.
I knew exactly where I was going but I also knew I’d have to leave the wagon down at the bottom of the trail and bring the ramps down by the basket full. The morning was still spritely and Pita and I had a fine ol’ time. I was coming back down the trail with my third load of ramps and what to I find but five young men standing around all my hard work … and one of them was eating one, raw of all things, to see what it was I guess.
“Hey! I didn’t just work all morning to feed you trespassing fools!”
I know, stupid thing to do but I was surprised and acted in anger; never the smartest thing to do and you’d thought I would have learned that by now. When they turned on me it wasn’t the look in their eyes that had me backing up and pulling my pistol but what their eyes looked like and the rash all over ‘em.
“You stay back!”
One of them young men said, “We’re hungry. You give us what you’ve got and we’ll leave you alone.”
“You’ll leave regardless of whether I give you anything or not. Now get! You already got something and I don’t want to see my baby get it.” I made my point by pointing my pistol a little more surely and forcefully.
Two of them tried to rush me in a clumsy fashion, for what reason I have yet to figure. I couldn’t run and turn my back and give them a chance to get to Pita so I did what I thought I had to do. The other three were momentarily surprised and then took off down the trail and back towards the road as lickety split as their sick bodies let ‘em. They moved clumsily out of my sight, stumbling now and again and shading their eyes like the sun hurt.
Pita got scared by the noise and was crying loud and hard right in my ear. I sat down right there on the trail, pulled her sling around, and tried to comfort her (and me if I’m honest) while I decided how best to get around the bodies that were blocking my path. The most important thing was to figure out how to get around them without coming in contact with them. Pita was in fact crying so hard the horses were just about on top of us before I heard them plain.
I heard the voice I’d wanted to hear most call, “Riss!!”
Calling back to him I said, “I’m all right Dino but stay back from them bodies, they’ve got something. They’ve got spots and their eyes are peculiar gross.”
Dino was off his horse and up the path before I could tell him once again, “Dino, stay back!”
“It’s OK Riss. It’s measles and I had it as a kid.”
I started backing up even faster than I had when I first noticed the rash on the trespassers. Dino gave me a strange look but I kept going. I was nearly running and tripped, sitting down hard on exposed cedar tree root. “Measles?!” I finally cried in horror.
Dino had reached us and started asking all sorts of questions but I had a few of my own and was struggling to stay calm. “Dino I’m fine, stop checking me over like a mule on the auction block. They didn’t come near me, but how did you get here so quick? Did you hear my pistol?”
“No … well yes, but that’s not what started me in this direction in the first place, only what nearly gave me a heart attack. We ran into Josiah who told me that there’s a bunch of folks in town coming down with measles; that it started in the city jail.”
I started shaking again, horrible memories trying to fog my brain. “Oh no, oh no, oh no.”
I had conflabergasted Dino and I guess Alec and Ajax who were riding with him. “Riss?”
“I’ve already been through this type of thing once Dino and I lost just about my whole family. I don’t know if I can do this again. We gotta keep our babies safe, we gotta …”
“Shhh. Easy Love, if you’ve had it before or you’re vaccinated you can’t get it again. It’s all right.”
Holding Pita didn’t give me much scope for my frustration but in desperation I banged my forehead on his shoulder. “I’ve never had it and I haven’t been vaccinated for it since well before we went to live at the farm I know I’m due because it’s been over ten years. And you don’t grow out of being able to catch it so when your vaccine runs out … oh no, oh no. Oh why oh why did they have to come around here?! And Pita … oh my Lord Dino … she … she could … and Kerry … and oh no, has Tina … I can’t remember about Hannah … and …”
I was some fretful and Dino could see it. And I could see that Ajax turned his horse and took off like a shot … guess that told me he didn’t know whether Tina and their baby was safe, the one already born or the one she was carrying. Dino and Alec looked at each other and I could see they had been given something to think on too. Things aren’t like they used to be. Medicines like antibiotics are hard to come by and with vaccines going out on folks all it took is for one infected person to come into a home or community and start an epidemic. All I could think about was the virus that had taken so many of my loved ones from me. I remember from that point forward there were announcements on the radio about how to recognize different diseases and treat them at home. Guess it had been long enough since the last epidemic that people had forgotten … or some people had, but I sure hadn’t.
Dino insisted on carrying me over the bodies and my feet never hit the ground; he just sat me up on the saddle and then climbed up behind me. “Hold on to the wiggle worm. We’ll get you two home in no time.”
Still fretting I asked, “But what about my wagon … and the ramps …”
It was Alec that said, “You aren’t going to want those ramps anyway. As for the wagon someone will come for it as soon as we get things straightened out.”
Straightened out, that’s a hoot right there. By the time we got home they’d already closed the school had been closed and sent all the children home. Six kids were showing symptoms and not one of them were in the same classroom. One of the boys in particular was a good friend of Chester’s sons and I knew right then that we were in for it.
Good Lord, looking at it I can definitely say that when it rains it pours. And here I was thinking I had things calmed down and under control. Teach me to think won’t it. Granddaddy used to say that the fastest way to make God laugh was to tell him you had plans. Well, I suppose that’s really just an old wives’ tale but on the other hand it sure seems that it might be true, at least it feels like it is sometimes.
I don’t know how well this will come out, I feel so restless and out of sorts … better than I have been feeling and better than others still are feeling but that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel pretty bad and sorry for myself in general. I shouldn’t complain, we’ve been blessed here compared to some others. I guess I’m just so … well, might as well start at the beginning or I’ll make even less sense than normal.
Woke up ready to go hunting wild leeks … better known to us common folk as ramps. Some people can’t abide ramps and some people love ‘em near to death. With the way things have gone since my family died I’ve learned not to turn my nose up at any kind of food, you never know where your next meal is coming from sometimes … and sometimes you might not want to look too hard at what it used to be. It’s only been since coming to Dino’s house that I realized just how bad things were. I don’t know why I didn’t recognize it before – it was staring me in the face – maybe it was just self preservation; I suppose you can just get used to anything. Now that I’ve given myself time to think on it, guess that might be one reason why Sol was so easily duped by his uncle; he hadn’t been able to withstand the temptation of all that was suddenly just plunked down in his lap. I don’t say any of this to Dino, I don’t want to hurt him. He’s grieving enough as it is; we all are.
So as far as ramps go I have what you might call more of a “like ‘em good enough not to pass them up” state of mind. Doesn’t mean I haven’t seen the bad side of ramps though. Lord have mercy, if you eat too many of those things you better be around other people that are eating too many as well or you ain’t gonna exactly be good company if you know what I mean. And it ain’t just your breath that is going to be the offending party. The smell of ramps had cleared more than one room.
Ramps aren’t just good but good for you; they cleanse the blood first thing in the spring when you are looking for some of the first fresh things to add back into a diet after a winter of nothing but preserved foods. Might actually be one of the biggest reasons they give you gas so bad … being the first fresh after a long season of nothing but preserved food.
Ramps are full of iron and antioxidants, or so it says in the books I’ve read. They’ve got a strong garlicky, oniony kind of flavor that is pretty intense for the uninitiated. But for a spring food there’s not much that can match a batch of ramps. If you ain’t feeling perked up after that you need to go see the local yarb woman to get some help and that’s a fact.
Unlike many spring time forage foods, the first place you don’t look for ramps is in the bottom land where things have warmed up. Nope, ramps is generally found on a north side of a good sized forested hill or mountain that has a few open places here and there. To me the leaves remind you a bit of tulips but yet not. Not too many folks eat the leaves anyway though you can, or so I’m told. Most folks stick to the bulb and stems that remind me most of scallions.
Ramps is also best used fresh unless you plan on blanching and freezing a bundle. I planned on picking more than I could use fresh and storing them for a bit in the ice room down in the basement. I got all dressed and was really feeling up to the gitty up and go when a very pale faced Hannah knocked on my bedroom door.
“I swear I’m not faking it Riss,” she muttered dejectedly.
After one look at her face I sighed. “No, I guess you aren’t. Let me get you some raspberry leaf tea.”
Grimacing and holding her lower middle she whispered, “Geez, you are saving my life, you know?”
I shook my head, “Don’t get silly on me now. You ever ask them doctors you worked with about why you get cramps like this a couple times a year?”
“Not the doctors, no,” she said shaking her head. “But believe it or not one of the Sisters told me it was because I lost too much calcium going into it.”
“One of the Sisters? You mean them nuns you were working with? I thought you said they was too strict for words?”
She shrugged and then made another face. “Well, maybe not that strict. I probably exaggerated a bit. They were strict I mean but … but most of them weren’t mean strict. And they are female and just because they, you know, have taken a vow and everything doesn’t change that. I reckon some of them have normal female problems too. They just aren’t allowed to make a big deal out of it I guess.”
“I guess,” I repeated remembering a few of the “big deal” times that Hannah acted like she was dying when we were growing up. Mrs. Bly would take to her bed the same way nearly every month. I asked her one time if it didn’t take all the fun out of being a girl and she gave me this real cross look so I learned to leave her alone when she was hormonal.
Knowing that Hannah was going to be useless or worse I told her, “You might as well stop beating around the bush. You know you aren’t going to make it ramp hunting.”
“I know,” she gloomed. “And I was hoping to rub AJ’s face in it. He laughed and said I’d give up. But that’s not true … I just … I just …”
Forestalling the tears I could see on the way I told her, “Humph, that’s a guy for you. But tell you what, dinner is all set back and only needs to simmer. Why don’t you do the dinner – surprise AJ that way – and take care of Kerry for me. Don’t ask me why but he seems to mind you well enough that I don’t have to worry about him tearing the house down.”
“Oh honestly Riss, he’s not that bad.” At a look from me she said, “OK but he’s no worse that you and Harry used to be and you know it.” I couldn’t help it and grinned a little nostalgically at a few memories that she had resurrected. She laughed then grimaced, “Tea … tea now … before I just about die.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t laugh. “That bad?”
“Probably just stress. Everything seems to be out of whack lately. God, I even have pimples this month and I swore that I’d outgrown that.”
Since I still broke out when it was getting close to that time of the month I could have told her she was just wishful thinking but didn’t and instead got her some witch hazel to go with the raspberry tea. “Remember Hannah Banana, you drink the tea and use the witch hazel on your face.”
“Ha ha. Just too funny.” She was a little grumpy but not much and added, “Go already or you’ll never get back before I have to figure out how to work that monster stove and fix supper.”
So I did … get that is. I probably looked ridiculous but since the men weren’t about and I could care less what the animals might be thinking I just laughed at myself. Pita was in a sling strapped across my back and she was kicking to beat the band. I swun she musta thought I was some kinda pack mule or something; it felt like she was setting spurs into me to make me go faster. The old overalls fit like they used to with maybe a little extra room here and there – especially in the patched and baggy seat – and I was pulling my jacked up wagon to bring back what I was going after.
I knew exactly where I was going but I also knew I’d have to leave the wagon down at the bottom of the trail and bring the ramps down by the basket full. The morning was still spritely and Pita and I had a fine ol’ time. I was coming back down the trail with my third load of ramps and what to I find but five young men standing around all my hard work … and one of them was eating one, raw of all things, to see what it was I guess.
“Hey! I didn’t just work all morning to feed you trespassing fools!”
I know, stupid thing to do but I was surprised and acted in anger; never the smartest thing to do and you’d thought I would have learned that by now. When they turned on me it wasn’t the look in their eyes that had me backing up and pulling my pistol but what their eyes looked like and the rash all over ‘em.
“You stay back!”
One of them young men said, “We’re hungry. You give us what you’ve got and we’ll leave you alone.”
“You’ll leave regardless of whether I give you anything or not. Now get! You already got something and I don’t want to see my baby get it.” I made my point by pointing my pistol a little more surely and forcefully.
Two of them tried to rush me in a clumsy fashion, for what reason I have yet to figure. I couldn’t run and turn my back and give them a chance to get to Pita so I did what I thought I had to do. The other three were momentarily surprised and then took off down the trail and back towards the road as lickety split as their sick bodies let ‘em. They moved clumsily out of my sight, stumbling now and again and shading their eyes like the sun hurt.
Pita got scared by the noise and was crying loud and hard right in my ear. I sat down right there on the trail, pulled her sling around, and tried to comfort her (and me if I’m honest) while I decided how best to get around the bodies that were blocking my path. The most important thing was to figure out how to get around them without coming in contact with them. Pita was in fact crying so hard the horses were just about on top of us before I heard them plain.
I heard the voice I’d wanted to hear most call, “Riss!!”
Calling back to him I said, “I’m all right Dino but stay back from them bodies, they’ve got something. They’ve got spots and their eyes are peculiar gross.”
Dino was off his horse and up the path before I could tell him once again, “Dino, stay back!”
“It’s OK Riss. It’s measles and I had it as a kid.”
I started backing up even faster than I had when I first noticed the rash on the trespassers. Dino gave me a strange look but I kept going. I was nearly running and tripped, sitting down hard on exposed cedar tree root. “Measles?!” I finally cried in horror.
Dino had reached us and started asking all sorts of questions but I had a few of my own and was struggling to stay calm. “Dino I’m fine, stop checking me over like a mule on the auction block. They didn’t come near me, but how did you get here so quick? Did you hear my pistol?”
“No … well yes, but that’s not what started me in this direction in the first place, only what nearly gave me a heart attack. We ran into Josiah who told me that there’s a bunch of folks in town coming down with measles; that it started in the city jail.”
I started shaking again, horrible memories trying to fog my brain. “Oh no, oh no, oh no.”
I had conflabergasted Dino and I guess Alec and Ajax who were riding with him. “Riss?”
“I’ve already been through this type of thing once Dino and I lost just about my whole family. I don’t know if I can do this again. We gotta keep our babies safe, we gotta …”
“Shhh. Easy Love, if you’ve had it before or you’re vaccinated you can’t get it again. It’s all right.”
Holding Pita didn’t give me much scope for my frustration but in desperation I banged my forehead on his shoulder. “I’ve never had it and I haven’t been vaccinated for it since well before we went to live at the farm I know I’m due because it’s been over ten years. And you don’t grow out of being able to catch it so when your vaccine runs out … oh no, oh no. Oh why oh why did they have to come around here?! And Pita … oh my Lord Dino … she … she could … and Kerry … and oh no, has Tina … I can’t remember about Hannah … and …”
I was some fretful and Dino could see it. And I could see that Ajax turned his horse and took off like a shot … guess that told me he didn’t know whether Tina and their baby was safe, the one already born or the one she was carrying. Dino and Alec looked at each other and I could see they had been given something to think on too. Things aren’t like they used to be. Medicines like antibiotics are hard to come by and with vaccines going out on folks all it took is for one infected person to come into a home or community and start an epidemic. All I could think about was the virus that had taken so many of my loved ones from me. I remember from that point forward there were announcements on the radio about how to recognize different diseases and treat them at home. Guess it had been long enough since the last epidemic that people had forgotten … or some people had, but I sure hadn’t.
Dino insisted on carrying me over the bodies and my feet never hit the ground; he just sat me up on the saddle and then climbed up behind me. “Hold on to the wiggle worm. We’ll get you two home in no time.”
Still fretting I asked, “But what about my wagon … and the ramps …”
It was Alec that said, “You aren’t going to want those ramps anyway. As for the wagon someone will come for it as soon as we get things straightened out.”
Straightened out, that’s a hoot right there. By the time we got home they’d already closed the school had been closed and sent all the children home. Six kids were showing symptoms and not one of them were in the same classroom. One of the boys in particular was a good friend of Chester’s sons and I knew right then that we were in for it.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Returned to the land of the living
Hey everyone, I'm sorry it took me so long to get back on track. Real life has just been having its way with me as I'm sure we can all attest to. Economy, work, children, blah, blah, blah ... where's a girl supposed to find the time to write?! (sigh) Thank you to all of those that commented both on and off the blog. Your support has meant a lot to me and has helped me get through an extraordinarily challenging summer.
I have a new piece and it will be going up either tonight or tomorrow.
I have a new piece and it will be going up either tonight or tomorrow.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Sorry for the delay
Suffering from a summer cold following the vacation. No excuses but will try to post in the next day or two when my brain is not so foggy.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter 49
Wouldn’t it be nice if a good night’s sleep really did make things better? Oh, I shore ‘nuff agree it doesn’t hurt when it comes to your attitude and outlook but as far as really changing things that have already happened or that might happen … well, nothing is going to do that. You just have to accept it and deal with it, though I know that is a lot easier said than done.
As far as it goes AJ and Hannah actually slept more than a night; more like two nights and a day. “For goodness sake Riss,” Hannah mumbled around one of my fresh made cat head biscuits smothered with fresh butter and sorghum molasses. “You should have kicked me out of bed like when we were kids.”
I smiled and told her, “Hush before you make me laugh and upset the baby.” I was feeding Pita and she was in hog mode. When she gets hungry she can be downright foul if she gets interrupted and laughing as much as I wanted to at the memories that Hannah had brought up would definitely have dislodged her.
Out of nowhere Hannah asked, “Do you like your life?”
“Do I …?” She’d caught me completely off guard. “Well of course I do. Why would you ask that?”
After hesitating a bit she said, “I don’t know. I mean I do, but I’m not sure you want to talk about it.”
I’d known we were eventually going to have to get around to talking about Sol. I figured if that was what she was trying to say it might as well go ahead and get said. “Tell you what, you talk and if I don’t want to talk back I’ll let you know. Just don’t get your knickers in a knot if I decide I’m not ready to talk about something. It won’t be anything against you OK?”
She snorted a bit of a giggle. “Good grief Riss, I’d forgotten how ‘corn fed’ you can sound when you want to. You don’t need to anymore you know. It seems like Dino would tear anyone up that even looked at you the wrong way. You don’t need to camouflage yourself like that.”
“Who said I was camouflaging anything?” I asked a little outraged for no reason.
“Dad did. He said that it was your way of … of … of staying connected I guess you could call it to your family that died. The ones that took you in. Like it is some kind of loyalty thing but hiding your real self at the same time.”
Thinking about it a bit I said, “I suppose so. In a way. But it’s gone from something I did to something I am now.” Smiling a bit I admitted, “I know I can slather it on heavy on occasion but even that is part of who I am now. Not talking with three dollar words when a nickel one will work just suits me better with the life I’ve led and the one that I look to be living from here on out.”
With a thoughtful look she said, “But what happens when things change … when they go back to normal. You’re the wife of this big vineyard owner and you’ll be expected to be a certain way to help him grow his business and interact with a certain level of people. The Pappas Vineyard is a pretty big deal from what I understand and that comes with a certain social obligation.”
“OK, I’ve given that some thought too,” I told her letting some of my more troubling thoughts bubble to the surface like sulfur at the old hot spring. “Here’s where I stand Hannah; I’m not sure what normal is going to look like if and when this infernal war ever lets up. And I’m also not sure how much, if any, that I’ll have to put on airs to help Dino with his part of the business. I won’t embarrass him but I have to be myself. But I do trust that Dino and I can work it out when the time comes; he’s like that you know … willing to hear my side. He accepts me for who and what I am now and if I need to learn to watch my p’s and q’s around a certain kind of clientele I will … just not at the cost of my soul.”
She tilted her head like she was trying to see something in me that she hadn’t before. “You’d do it for Dino but not necessarily because you liked it.”
“I’m not sure if I would like it or not. I haven’t had to go there. Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn’t. Until I experience it I won’t know for sure. I won’t commit myself either way right yet. I didn’t enjoy Thanks … well … that’s …”
She gave a small, knowing smile. “AJ already told me about it. Mom would have fainted. And I swear I may too if I ever have to meet Mrs. Nichols. How you had the … er … the courage to do what you did I don’t know.”
Giving her my own knowing smile I told her, “Courage wasn’t the word you were going to use and you know it.” I laughed and then said, “As for Adona, you’ll have to meet her all right. Nine will get you ten though she already knows as much about you as is possible for her to have found out.”
“Lovely,” Hannah groused.
I shook my head. “She’s not so bad, not really. She’ll probably think you’re just peachy. You’ve been raised right, dress right, speak right, and you’re pretty and AJ … er …”
“AJ what?” she asked like she wanted to know but didn’t want to know at the same time.
“You know good and well what and don’t tell me that you have no interest in that quarter when we both know you do.”
At that she looked troubled which surprised me. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I think I do but … but he … he isn’t exactly like … oh I don’t know. And he’s older and … I don’t think … Riss, if I admit that I like him then I might have to admit that I care for him and if I do and he only likes me and doesn’t care for me … I don’t want to get hurt … not like that. I don’t know if I want that risk, not with him, not when it could matter … could matter a lot.”
You know, having a sunny kitchen leads to some interesting shadows. Dino wouldn’t have stopped in the door but would have barreled straight in making a ton of noise. And Alec would have backed off and given us privacy. That long, lanky shadow though stood too still not to be noticed. “Hannah, I’m gonna ask you straight out, do you like AJ?”
“Yes,” she admitted quietly. “But … but please don’t say anything to him until … until I figure out how … how …”
“How what?”
“How am I supposed to explain about him … you know … not being … you know … the … the first?”
“Oh,” I said, stymied. “Well, that … er … I mean …” I stopped, not wanting to dig a hole, especially not with a certain pair of ears listening in.
“I know you are going to say that for the right man it won’t matter. But for the right man it will matter to me. I don’t even remember … well … the worst part of it. I’ve even thought that I’m not remembering on purpose and that’s ok to me, at least for now. I just don’t want to get into it and really … really let myself get involved and then turn around and find out that … that it just …”
Pita was finished, burped and asleep so I laid her in the cradle and then went to sit beside a very pensive Hannah. “I don’t know what the answer is Hannah except you need to be honest. I couldn’t exactly hide the truth from Dino but he could have assumed that I was … well loose as a goose and with more than Sol and more than once. I was just real straight up front and in my case Dino chose to believe me. If you really are … are considering letting your feelings get involved with … with anyone or with someone in particular … naming no names of course … you owe it to yourself to be honest so you know where you stand up front.”
“Oh that’s easy enough to say,” she sighed. “And I even believe you but it isn’t exactly something you bring up out of the blue. Like, ‘Oh, hey I know we are thinking about getting involved but I just want to tell you up front that you won’t be the first guy I’ve been with and that the only guy that I have been with wasn’t out of choice so take it or leave it.’ Yeah, that will go over real well as a conversation starter.”
“Uh, well … ok so that’s a little different than my situation was but … well, to put it bluntly you are going to have to find a way to get around it.”
“Well duh,” she snarked. “I know that, I just don’t know how.”
“Then let it alone for now and just take your time,” I told her.
She turned to look at me and asked, “Is that what you did?”
“Dino and I …,” I stopped and had to laugh despite myself. “We were a mess. Or, I was the mess and Dino was just … just being a guy about the whole thing. I don’t know exactly what you would call it but it has turned out to be good. Mostly I learned to trust him and he let me prove that I could be trusted too. I needed that … for someone to trust me, and to believe that someone trusted me. Mostly it was my own bad choices and how I felt about them that kept getting in the way. I didn’t like knowing I could be a nincompoop and I still don’t but … but Dino hasn’t ever rubbed it in.”
“He hasn’t?”
“Nope. Is that what you were wondering about? Back at the beginning?”
“A little,” she admitted with a nod. “I mean I know you seem happy … and more … more something than you were before. Confident? I don’t know if that’s it or not because you were always pretty confident. I just wondered if … if you … I mean this isn’t exactly like you imagined how things would turn out, is it?”
Trying to be honest without saying anything that would hurt her … she didn’t deserve that … I told her, “I’m not sure exactly what I expected Hannah. I think back and I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t thinking too clearly or too far ahead. I felt … safe … with things going the way they did. I thought Sol would come back from finishing his assignment and life would just keep rolling along. But they didn’t. I could say it started when your dad died but it had probably been coming on before then and I just didn’t see it.”
“Is this the part where you tell me you don’t want to talk about it?”
I looked at her and sighed. “Part of me doesn’t but … but mostly I think because I don’t want to … to stir things up. I like my life here Hannah. No, I love my life.” More quietly I added, “I love Dino and the live we have together. The way it has turned out was better than any daydream I’ve ever had because it’s … it’s richer, more real. Dino is …”
“Better than Sol?” she asked softly.
Just as softly I told her, “Yes, yes he is. I’m sorry Hannah. I don’t want to hurt you … or your momma … which may be part of the reason why … why for a while I wasn’t sure that I wanted to … to communicate with you all. I don’t want to mess up what I have with Dino and I thought it required a … a break. Dino isn’t happy about me having any kind of contact with Sol but he doesn’t have any trouble with you. I’m not sure how he would feel about your momma but don’t ask me or him to have anything to do with your uncle.”
She snorted, “Don’t worry about that. I’ve finally escaped and I’m not going back even if nothing ever comes between … well, you know.”
The shadow was gone as quietly as it had come so I didn’t pick my words quite as carefully. “Hannah, AJ has experienced his own bit of pain in his life and he’ll need to figure out how to tell you about it because it is part of who he is. And the family dynamics around here can get … er … interesting. Take it slow is all I can say.”
She nodded and then returned to the original topic. “So you’re happy. And you don’t regret, not even a little bit, about not being with Sol?”
“No. Sol wasn’t … isn’t … who I thought he was. I thought he was like a version of Harry or your father, only he wasn’t … isn’t … whatever.”
She looked at me and then her face cleared up. “Ok. Harry … Harry explained it to me but I wanted to hear it from you. But I need to tell you something Riss … not to hurt you but because I think you deserve to know.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what she said. “Sol is sorry. He may not be sorry enough after what he did, the way he acted, but he is sorry. And … and he isn’t happy. He regrets picking the road he did. I know you’ll say he made his bed so he has to sleep in it or something like that but … but he is paying a pretty high price for that gold ring he was reaching for. Shantelle … well … well, never mind. Let’s just say she’s done to him what he did to you a few times. Even Uncle Bill … er … at least that’s what the housekeeper said.”
“OK … ew … yuck … you’re over the line and I’m done talking about it.”
She grimaced. “Yeah, kinda the way I feel about it. Pretty nauseating. Just thought you should know he is getting paid back.”
I shook my head, “I’m not interested in that Hannah. I don’t want that to … to corrupt my life here. I just want to let it go and move on. I’ve got enough real problems in the here and now without creating any more for myself.”
After a confused pause, “So you really don’t want revenge?”
“Gross, not that way for sure. Besides, one of these days I’ll have to answer to Pita for how she came to be and the less I have to be ashamed about the better. Dino, Kerry, and Pita-pie are my life now and I am very happy for it to be that way.”
I guess she came to believe me because it was the only conversation we ever had on the subject. And I wasn’t just telling her tales to get her off my back. There really was enough in my everyday life to keep me busy, why dig more trouble for myself.
There was the garden, cooking for everyone … teaching Hannah to cook which has been an adventure in and of itself … and dealing with the daily reality of the war. My wares are in even greater demand than before because nothing is coming from the normal manufacturing routes. It os a good thing that I had Mr. Chamberlin taking in lard and tallow as payment for goods in the store or there would have been a quick end to the soap making venture. I like building credits to get things that we need but no way am I going to deplete our own supply of cooking lard to do it.
There are a lot of shortages all over and as a result there is a lot of hunger in this country. You would have thought that the war would have taught people that you need to have a garden if it had taught them nothing else. Problem is that people keep telling themselves that the war will be over soon or next week the grocer’s shelves will be full again. Things only get worse when you try and rely on the way things used to be to be that way again. Plan for the worst while you hope for the best and you’ll never be sorry. The food riots have started up again but this time I don’t think the government is going to respond has they have in the past by passing out free stuff to quiet down the angry folks. I have a frosty feeling that this time the rioters may be in for some unpleasant consequences.
Here is no different. People are thinner and the pickings are slimmer. I’ve been taking advantage of the foraging this spring time but it takes a huge amount of time and effort for the reward we get. I’ve felt blessed by all that we have had but the truth is I’m just plumb sick to death of nothing but dried, salted, or canned foods. I was just about sick for wanting something fresh. Thank goodness the early foraging stuff has finally popped through. Miner’s lettuce is abundant and because things have been so damp I’m not worried at all about over picking it. The yard isn’t anything but dandelion greens it seems I can’t get enough of the greens wilted by hot bacon grease and a little crumbled meat and goat cheese on top for dressing it up. Ajax said he passed by a patch of fiddlehead ferns on one of his circuits of the farm and Hannah and I went straight out and picked a mess of them.
I’ll give Hannah one thing, when she sets her mind to something she gives it one hundred percent. When she set her mind to being a brat she was a brat a hundred percent and then some. Well now she has set her mind to learning the trade of running a household and I felt rather inclined to ask her why she hadn’t shown the same industry when we were growing up.
“Didn’t need to Riss, you would do it if I put up just a little fuss just so you would have to listen to me complain … and you know it so don’t bother denying it.”
I rolled my eyes but had to admit that it was true. Maybe I was a little full of myself at that point but I couldn’t stand to listen to her whine and complain at me. I preferred being alone to her snipping.
Hannah’s honesty is … well, it’s refreshing. I know where I stand with her and always have. Before she was angry but she was honest. Now she is honest and is pushing me for more every day. It drives me a little batty on occasion because I feel like I’ve lost the little bit of alone time I had but the help she gives me is worth it. Some day she’ll move on but until then I can at least help her in Harry’s memory if nothing else. And with her around there is another person to remember him with.
And speaking of Harry two of his favorite foods are ready for picking … fennel and morels. And tomorrow Hannah and I are going to go in search of the wild ramp. That ought to be interesting. Dino flat out said though he didn’t want us going out by ourselves because there has been word sent out that there are strangers moving through now that the city people have breached the barriers at the bridges.
I wish folks would just leave us alone to live our own lives but I don’t guess that is going to happen.
Wouldn’t it be nice if a good night’s sleep really did make things better? Oh, I shore ‘nuff agree it doesn’t hurt when it comes to your attitude and outlook but as far as really changing things that have already happened or that might happen … well, nothing is going to do that. You just have to accept it and deal with it, though I know that is a lot easier said than done.
As far as it goes AJ and Hannah actually slept more than a night; more like two nights and a day. “For goodness sake Riss,” Hannah mumbled around one of my fresh made cat head biscuits smothered with fresh butter and sorghum molasses. “You should have kicked me out of bed like when we were kids.”
I smiled and told her, “Hush before you make me laugh and upset the baby.” I was feeding Pita and she was in hog mode. When she gets hungry she can be downright foul if she gets interrupted and laughing as much as I wanted to at the memories that Hannah had brought up would definitely have dislodged her.
Out of nowhere Hannah asked, “Do you like your life?”
“Do I …?” She’d caught me completely off guard. “Well of course I do. Why would you ask that?”
After hesitating a bit she said, “I don’t know. I mean I do, but I’m not sure you want to talk about it.”
I’d known we were eventually going to have to get around to talking about Sol. I figured if that was what she was trying to say it might as well go ahead and get said. “Tell you what, you talk and if I don’t want to talk back I’ll let you know. Just don’t get your knickers in a knot if I decide I’m not ready to talk about something. It won’t be anything against you OK?”
She snorted a bit of a giggle. “Good grief Riss, I’d forgotten how ‘corn fed’ you can sound when you want to. You don’t need to anymore you know. It seems like Dino would tear anyone up that even looked at you the wrong way. You don’t need to camouflage yourself like that.”
“Who said I was camouflaging anything?” I asked a little outraged for no reason.
“Dad did. He said that it was your way of … of … of staying connected I guess you could call it to your family that died. The ones that took you in. Like it is some kind of loyalty thing but hiding your real self at the same time.”
Thinking about it a bit I said, “I suppose so. In a way. But it’s gone from something I did to something I am now.” Smiling a bit I admitted, “I know I can slather it on heavy on occasion but even that is part of who I am now. Not talking with three dollar words when a nickel one will work just suits me better with the life I’ve led and the one that I look to be living from here on out.”
With a thoughtful look she said, “But what happens when things change … when they go back to normal. You’re the wife of this big vineyard owner and you’ll be expected to be a certain way to help him grow his business and interact with a certain level of people. The Pappas Vineyard is a pretty big deal from what I understand and that comes with a certain social obligation.”
“OK, I’ve given that some thought too,” I told her letting some of my more troubling thoughts bubble to the surface like sulfur at the old hot spring. “Here’s where I stand Hannah; I’m not sure what normal is going to look like if and when this infernal war ever lets up. And I’m also not sure how much, if any, that I’ll have to put on airs to help Dino with his part of the business. I won’t embarrass him but I have to be myself. But I do trust that Dino and I can work it out when the time comes; he’s like that you know … willing to hear my side. He accepts me for who and what I am now and if I need to learn to watch my p’s and q’s around a certain kind of clientele I will … just not at the cost of my soul.”
She tilted her head like she was trying to see something in me that she hadn’t before. “You’d do it for Dino but not necessarily because you liked it.”
“I’m not sure if I would like it or not. I haven’t had to go there. Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn’t. Until I experience it I won’t know for sure. I won’t commit myself either way right yet. I didn’t enjoy Thanks … well … that’s …”
She gave a small, knowing smile. “AJ already told me about it. Mom would have fainted. And I swear I may too if I ever have to meet Mrs. Nichols. How you had the … er … the courage to do what you did I don’t know.”
Giving her my own knowing smile I told her, “Courage wasn’t the word you were going to use and you know it.” I laughed and then said, “As for Adona, you’ll have to meet her all right. Nine will get you ten though she already knows as much about you as is possible for her to have found out.”
“Lovely,” Hannah groused.
I shook my head. “She’s not so bad, not really. She’ll probably think you’re just peachy. You’ve been raised right, dress right, speak right, and you’re pretty and AJ … er …”
“AJ what?” she asked like she wanted to know but didn’t want to know at the same time.
“You know good and well what and don’t tell me that you have no interest in that quarter when we both know you do.”
At that she looked troubled which surprised me. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I think I do but … but he … he isn’t exactly like … oh I don’t know. And he’s older and … I don’t think … Riss, if I admit that I like him then I might have to admit that I care for him and if I do and he only likes me and doesn’t care for me … I don’t want to get hurt … not like that. I don’t know if I want that risk, not with him, not when it could matter … could matter a lot.”
You know, having a sunny kitchen leads to some interesting shadows. Dino wouldn’t have stopped in the door but would have barreled straight in making a ton of noise. And Alec would have backed off and given us privacy. That long, lanky shadow though stood too still not to be noticed. “Hannah, I’m gonna ask you straight out, do you like AJ?”
“Yes,” she admitted quietly. “But … but please don’t say anything to him until … until I figure out how … how …”
“How what?”
“How am I supposed to explain about him … you know … not being … you know … the … the first?”
“Oh,” I said, stymied. “Well, that … er … I mean …” I stopped, not wanting to dig a hole, especially not with a certain pair of ears listening in.
“I know you are going to say that for the right man it won’t matter. But for the right man it will matter to me. I don’t even remember … well … the worst part of it. I’ve even thought that I’m not remembering on purpose and that’s ok to me, at least for now. I just don’t want to get into it and really … really let myself get involved and then turn around and find out that … that it just …”
Pita was finished, burped and asleep so I laid her in the cradle and then went to sit beside a very pensive Hannah. “I don’t know what the answer is Hannah except you need to be honest. I couldn’t exactly hide the truth from Dino but he could have assumed that I was … well loose as a goose and with more than Sol and more than once. I was just real straight up front and in my case Dino chose to believe me. If you really are … are considering letting your feelings get involved with … with anyone or with someone in particular … naming no names of course … you owe it to yourself to be honest so you know where you stand up front.”
“Oh that’s easy enough to say,” she sighed. “And I even believe you but it isn’t exactly something you bring up out of the blue. Like, ‘Oh, hey I know we are thinking about getting involved but I just want to tell you up front that you won’t be the first guy I’ve been with and that the only guy that I have been with wasn’t out of choice so take it or leave it.’ Yeah, that will go over real well as a conversation starter.”
“Uh, well … ok so that’s a little different than my situation was but … well, to put it bluntly you are going to have to find a way to get around it.”
“Well duh,” she snarked. “I know that, I just don’t know how.”
“Then let it alone for now and just take your time,” I told her.
She turned to look at me and asked, “Is that what you did?”
“Dino and I …,” I stopped and had to laugh despite myself. “We were a mess. Or, I was the mess and Dino was just … just being a guy about the whole thing. I don’t know exactly what you would call it but it has turned out to be good. Mostly I learned to trust him and he let me prove that I could be trusted too. I needed that … for someone to trust me, and to believe that someone trusted me. Mostly it was my own bad choices and how I felt about them that kept getting in the way. I didn’t like knowing I could be a nincompoop and I still don’t but … but Dino hasn’t ever rubbed it in.”
“He hasn’t?”
“Nope. Is that what you were wondering about? Back at the beginning?”
“A little,” she admitted with a nod. “I mean I know you seem happy … and more … more something than you were before. Confident? I don’t know if that’s it or not because you were always pretty confident. I just wondered if … if you … I mean this isn’t exactly like you imagined how things would turn out, is it?”
Trying to be honest without saying anything that would hurt her … she didn’t deserve that … I told her, “I’m not sure exactly what I expected Hannah. I think back and I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t thinking too clearly or too far ahead. I felt … safe … with things going the way they did. I thought Sol would come back from finishing his assignment and life would just keep rolling along. But they didn’t. I could say it started when your dad died but it had probably been coming on before then and I just didn’t see it.”
“Is this the part where you tell me you don’t want to talk about it?”
I looked at her and sighed. “Part of me doesn’t but … but mostly I think because I don’t want to … to stir things up. I like my life here Hannah. No, I love my life.” More quietly I added, “I love Dino and the live we have together. The way it has turned out was better than any daydream I’ve ever had because it’s … it’s richer, more real. Dino is …”
“Better than Sol?” she asked softly.
Just as softly I told her, “Yes, yes he is. I’m sorry Hannah. I don’t want to hurt you … or your momma … which may be part of the reason why … why for a while I wasn’t sure that I wanted to … to communicate with you all. I don’t want to mess up what I have with Dino and I thought it required a … a break. Dino isn’t happy about me having any kind of contact with Sol but he doesn’t have any trouble with you. I’m not sure how he would feel about your momma but don’t ask me or him to have anything to do with your uncle.”
She snorted, “Don’t worry about that. I’ve finally escaped and I’m not going back even if nothing ever comes between … well, you know.”
The shadow was gone as quietly as it had come so I didn’t pick my words quite as carefully. “Hannah, AJ has experienced his own bit of pain in his life and he’ll need to figure out how to tell you about it because it is part of who he is. And the family dynamics around here can get … er … interesting. Take it slow is all I can say.”
She nodded and then returned to the original topic. “So you’re happy. And you don’t regret, not even a little bit, about not being with Sol?”
“No. Sol wasn’t … isn’t … who I thought he was. I thought he was like a version of Harry or your father, only he wasn’t … isn’t … whatever.”
She looked at me and then her face cleared up. “Ok. Harry … Harry explained it to me but I wanted to hear it from you. But I need to tell you something Riss … not to hurt you but because I think you deserve to know.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what she said. “Sol is sorry. He may not be sorry enough after what he did, the way he acted, but he is sorry. And … and he isn’t happy. He regrets picking the road he did. I know you’ll say he made his bed so he has to sleep in it or something like that but … but he is paying a pretty high price for that gold ring he was reaching for. Shantelle … well … well, never mind. Let’s just say she’s done to him what he did to you a few times. Even Uncle Bill … er … at least that’s what the housekeeper said.”
“OK … ew … yuck … you’re over the line and I’m done talking about it.”
She grimaced. “Yeah, kinda the way I feel about it. Pretty nauseating. Just thought you should know he is getting paid back.”
I shook my head, “I’m not interested in that Hannah. I don’t want that to … to corrupt my life here. I just want to let it go and move on. I’ve got enough real problems in the here and now without creating any more for myself.”
After a confused pause, “So you really don’t want revenge?”
“Gross, not that way for sure. Besides, one of these days I’ll have to answer to Pita for how she came to be and the less I have to be ashamed about the better. Dino, Kerry, and Pita-pie are my life now and I am very happy for it to be that way.”
I guess she came to believe me because it was the only conversation we ever had on the subject. And I wasn’t just telling her tales to get her off my back. There really was enough in my everyday life to keep me busy, why dig more trouble for myself.
There was the garden, cooking for everyone … teaching Hannah to cook which has been an adventure in and of itself … and dealing with the daily reality of the war. My wares are in even greater demand than before because nothing is coming from the normal manufacturing routes. It os a good thing that I had Mr. Chamberlin taking in lard and tallow as payment for goods in the store or there would have been a quick end to the soap making venture. I like building credits to get things that we need but no way am I going to deplete our own supply of cooking lard to do it.
There are a lot of shortages all over and as a result there is a lot of hunger in this country. You would have thought that the war would have taught people that you need to have a garden if it had taught them nothing else. Problem is that people keep telling themselves that the war will be over soon or next week the grocer’s shelves will be full again. Things only get worse when you try and rely on the way things used to be to be that way again. Plan for the worst while you hope for the best and you’ll never be sorry. The food riots have started up again but this time I don’t think the government is going to respond has they have in the past by passing out free stuff to quiet down the angry folks. I have a frosty feeling that this time the rioters may be in for some unpleasant consequences.
Here is no different. People are thinner and the pickings are slimmer. I’ve been taking advantage of the foraging this spring time but it takes a huge amount of time and effort for the reward we get. I’ve felt blessed by all that we have had but the truth is I’m just plumb sick to death of nothing but dried, salted, or canned foods. I was just about sick for wanting something fresh. Thank goodness the early foraging stuff has finally popped through. Miner’s lettuce is abundant and because things have been so damp I’m not worried at all about over picking it. The yard isn’t anything but dandelion greens it seems I can’t get enough of the greens wilted by hot bacon grease and a little crumbled meat and goat cheese on top for dressing it up. Ajax said he passed by a patch of fiddlehead ferns on one of his circuits of the farm and Hannah and I went straight out and picked a mess of them.
I’ll give Hannah one thing, when she sets her mind to something she gives it one hundred percent. When she set her mind to being a brat she was a brat a hundred percent and then some. Well now she has set her mind to learning the trade of running a household and I felt rather inclined to ask her why she hadn’t shown the same industry when we were growing up.
“Didn’t need to Riss, you would do it if I put up just a little fuss just so you would have to listen to me complain … and you know it so don’t bother denying it.”
I rolled my eyes but had to admit that it was true. Maybe I was a little full of myself at that point but I couldn’t stand to listen to her whine and complain at me. I preferred being alone to her snipping.
Hannah’s honesty is … well, it’s refreshing. I know where I stand with her and always have. Before she was angry but she was honest. Now she is honest and is pushing me for more every day. It drives me a little batty on occasion because I feel like I’ve lost the little bit of alone time I had but the help she gives me is worth it. Some day she’ll move on but until then I can at least help her in Harry’s memory if nothing else. And with her around there is another person to remember him with.
And speaking of Harry two of his favorite foods are ready for picking … fennel and morels. And tomorrow Hannah and I are going to go in search of the wild ramp. That ought to be interesting. Dino flat out said though he didn’t want us going out by ourselves because there has been word sent out that there are strangers moving through now that the city people have breached the barriers at the bridges.
I wish folks would just leave us alone to live our own lives but I don’t guess that is going to happen.
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