by Leen Elle
"In the chest. You ate all yours already?"
Gabriel pushed the shirts aside and took out the little bag. "Mostly." He took a piece and offered the bag to Derek who declined. "The only reason you got to stay home was that the Smithfields were here. They're gone."
"Yeah. It's too bad."
"Yeah."
After several minutes of comfortably thoughtful silence, Derek said, "Want to go swimming? I don't have any more chores to do until Devon gets back."
Gabriel grinned. "Sure."
The books and papers were left lying on the bed as Derek and Gabriel climbed down the ladder. Once they were down, Gabriel said, "Bet I get to the river first."
Derek paused for a second, pretending he didn't feel like racing. "I don't know…," he began slowly, then yelled, "GO!" and started running.
"Hey! No fair!" Gabriel yelled, taking off after him.
Derek laughed as he sprinted across the lawn and squeezed through the hole in the bushes. He could hear Gabriel coming close behind him, but there was no way the other boy could pass him on the narrow path. It was just like the old days.
Nearly three hours later, Derek and Gabriel emerged from the woods, soaking wet and laughing.
"You should have seen your face," Gabriel gasped.
"No worse than yours," Derek retorted. "Oh no! A squirrel!"
They both dissolved into laughter at the recollection of their mutual panic at a rustling bush that turned out to be a family of harmless rodents.
"There you are, boy! I bin waitin' over an hour for you to unload that wagon!"
Looking up at Devon's stern glare, Derek tried to stop laughing and look apologetic. "Sorry. You got back earlier than I thought you would, though."
"Never you mind when I got back," he snapped.
Derek smirked at the old man and said to Gabriel, "See you later."
"Have fun."
"I always do." Derek followed Devon back to the stables where Blueberry was standing, still hitched to the loaded wagon. "Is all of this going in here?"
"All but those three boxes on the seat. You can bring them to the kitchen when you bring the wagon back." Devon started to walk away.
"You aren't helping unload?" Derek asked with annoyance.
"I did my share."
His shoulders slumping, Derek glared at the five bulky boxes of farm goods and dozen bags of oats and grain. Just like old times, he thought, hefting the first grain sack. When it all comes down, Gabriel goes back to the nice, comfortable house for tea, and I'm back to work.
It took nearly an hour to unload the bags and boxes and get them sorted in the stables. When he was finished, Derek led Blueberry down to the house. "You wait here. I just need to run these down to the kitchen," he told the horse.
Feeling a little annoyed at having to go in the house again after last time, Derek pushed the door open and looked around. He didn't see anyone, so he went in with the first box. When he got to the kitchen, he set it on the table. He looked around.
Everyone must be upstairs for tea, he mused. He climbed the stairs and started for the side door when he heard Jonathan speak from behind him.
"What are you doing in here now?" Though he sounded impatient and exasperated, his tone was slightly amused.
Annoyed, Derek turned and glared at Jonathan. "There are some boxes from town that Devon told me to bring to the kitchen."
"You know you aren't allowed in here, no matter what Devon tells you to do."
"I'd get in trouble if I didn't bring it. I get in trouble when I do. What do you want me to do?"
"Did you ever think of going around front and ringing the bell?"
"To drop off a box?"
"That's what happens with other deliveries," Jonathan replied simply.
So I'm as good as a delivery boy now, am I? he thought angrily.
"Or, better yet," he added, "tell Devon to bring it himself."
"After he told me to? That would go over well."
Jonathan's eyes narrowed at him. "There really is no limit to your lack in common sense. You need to start using your head or you are never going to keep out of trouble."
There were a few seconds of silence as the two glared at each other.
"Leave the boxes on the step by the side door and I'll have Beth fetch them. Do not come inside again unless my mother or I specifically tell you to. If Devon or anyone else, for that matter tells you to, please recall who the master of this house is before you let the orders of a slave override proper authority in your mind."
Glowering, but at a loss for words, Derek said, "Yes, sir," then continued towards the door. Once outside, he piled the other two boxes on the step and took Blueberry's lead. "I bet if I had just left these here in the first place he would have still been mad at me," he informed the horse.
When the wagon was put away, Derek led Blueberry to the stables. He noticed Devon in the corral with Lady Sarah Mary-Ruth. Good. I won't have to bother with either of them for a little while.
After Blueberry was settled in his stall with fresh water, Derek climbed the ladder and picked his books and papers up off his bed. That small thrill of importance returned as he prepared to finish his homework.
Derek sighed as he looked out the carriage window. Everyone had been quiet during the ride to church and as the building came into view the tension behind the silence heightened. After his reprieve, Derek wasn't looking forward to returning to the general congregation.
When the carriage stopped, Gabriel was the first to climb out followed by Jonathan. Derek was about to slide across the seat when Mrs. Worthington stopped him.
"You will behave yourself. You will not speak to anyone. At the end of service, you will return here, to the carriage, and wait without so much as a whisper. Am I clear?"
"Then why'd you bring me?" he asked moodily.
"Because you are in severe need of guidance. Now get in there. Don't talk to anyone," she cautioned him again as he slid out. "Just sit and be quiet."
Derek rolled his eyes. "Yes, ma'am," he intoned, then strolled towards the church doors. He watched the rest of the town folk around him, greeting each other and smiling. As he looked back towards the building, he caught sight of the group of girls who he'd seen by the women's salon last month when he'd been in town with Devon. They were still chatting and giggling as if time around them never changed, only their location. To the right of the building, Aniline stood beside the Clayton's wagon, her eyes narrowed at him.
What did I do to her?
"Good morning, Derek."
Startled, Derek looked at the man who addressed him. "Oh, good morning, Mr. Cutter," he said as he passed him. Walking by the group of girls, who quieted as he approached and giggled even more loudly once he'd passed, he entered the building and made his way to one of the front pews. When he was settled on the hard, wooden bench, he contented himself with flipping through the hymnal. It wasn't long before Gabriel joined him.
"We're here pretty early, huh?"
"Sorry, Gabe, but I can't talk to you. Your mother says I'm not supposed to talk to anyone," Derek informed him.
"Derek."
Derek laughed a little, then said, "We're not any earlier than we usually are."
"I guess." Gabriel looked around.
"She's still out front."
"Who?"
"Aniline Clayton."
His cheeks turning red, Gabriel said, "Shut up. I wasn't looking for her."
"Of course not."
Just then, Jonathan stopped at the end of their row. "Move down," he ordered.
Derek and Gabriel slid as far as they could. Jonathan sat down and took the Bible from the cubby on the back of the pew in front of them and started to read it from a seemingly random page in the middle.
After a moment, Gabriel bend his head close to Derek's and whispered, "I wish I could invite her to my birthday."
Derek, who had been staring at Reverend Marks, who was staring at him, asked distractedly, "Who?"
&nbs
p; "Aniline," he hissed in annoyance.
"So invite her. Wait. What? Your birthday?" He thought a moment. "That is coming up, isn't it?"
"In August," Gabriel answered indignantly, as though everyone should have known.
"Well, it's been a while since your birthday was of any accord to me."
"Only a year," he answered, annoyed.
Leaning towards them, Jonathan whispered, "You are sitting in a chapel. If you want to socialize, go outside. Otherwise, be respectful of other people's peace."
Rolling his eyes, Derek slumped in his seat a little. He looked around the room again, then stared at Gabriel, who was copying Jonathan and reading from his own Bible. Bored, Derek poked him in the side.
"What?" Gabriel whined.
"I said be quiet," Jonathan stated, his stern glare on his younger brother. "Both of you," he added, his gaze not shifting.
When Jonathan went back to reading, Gabriel glared at Derek.
Derek sighed, opened the hymnal again, and started scanning the pages for letters and words he recognized.
Slowly, the rest of the congregation filed in and service began. The invocation was a drone of phases familiar from every other prayer Derek had ever heard, and the first hymn was one he didn't particularly like. Following that was a long speech about the need to give to the Lord by way of financial donations to the reverend, and a short search for volunteers to bring the main dish for the fellowshipping dinner the following week. When that was over, they sang some more, then listened to an interesting sermon about the "elect of God," throughout which Mrs. Worthington kept casting Derek stern glares perhaps to make sure he was listening and understanding that he was, in fact, not among those chosen to be saved: this thought cause Derek to once again consider why she bothered bringing him to church at all. Afterwards there was another hymn of questionable spiritual use and finally a benediction to make sure everyone who'd been sleeping during the sermon and awakened by the singing knew what the original lecture was about.
"Oh Lord, we are so grateful to be among Thy elect. Please cast Thy favorable eye upon us and bless us to do Thy will. Bring peace to our lives and to the lives of our loved ones. We ask a special blessing to be upon those of our congregation who are suffering affliction and hardship. Stay with them. Keep Thy love with them, and draw them closer to Thee by their divine birthright as Thy chosen children. In the name of the Almighty Lord, amen."
"Amen," Derek muttered, grateful it was over. Not wanting to tempt Mrs. Worthington into a tantrum, he then stood and made his way to the door. Having to wait by the carriage didn't upset him at all.
When he was outside of the stuffy chapel, Derek sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"How was church?" Devon asked as Derek approached him.
"Same as always. Reverend Marks and God are siding with Mrs. Worthington and I'm a hopeless case. But I finally know why," he added cheerfully, a light of amusement glowing in his eyes. "I'm not 'elect' enough." Derek couldn't help but laugh.
Devon snorted and shook his head.
"So much for the theory that God loves everybody, huh?"
"Who says God loves everybody?" Devon asked with mild interest.
"Miss Catherine."
"How does anyone know who God loves, but God hisself?" the man grumbled.
Turning away from Devon, Derek looked down the small hill to the line of tall, brown reed grass that separated the green field from the beach. He hadn't been to the water in a very long time. He sighed. I like to think Catherine's right, he thought. I think if anyone would know, it would be her. She seems like the kind of person someone like God, who can talk to anyone He wants, might talk to. I'd talk to her if I could pick anyone.
"Derek!"
Derek looked over his shoulder and saw Gabriel running towards him.
"What'd you run out of there so fast for?"
Smirking, he said, "I'm not suppose to talk to anyone, so figured I wouldn't stay longer than I had to and tempt myself. You know how I like to get chatty with the ladies from the choir."
Gabriel smiled and shook his head.
"Gabriel, what are you doing over there by your lonesome?"
Derek groaned as he turned and addressed the speaker: "Anthony, shut up unless you want another black eye to go with your first."
"I wasn't talking to you," he said, still walking closer. "I was talking to Gabriel."
"You'll get in trouble if your mother sees you talking to me," Gabriel warned, looking around at the faces of those who had already left the church building.
"She's still inside," Anthony stated. "Besides, I can just say Derek was giving you a hard time and I came over to straighten things out, since you didn't dare put him right by yourself; good, sweet boy that you are."
History did not support the notion that Gabriel would speak up in protest, so Derek just shook his head and walked away. A hearty declaration from Gabriel that it was a wonderful cover actually would not surprise him very much. Derek took less than five steps before Gabriel called after him:
"Derek, wait up. Where are you going?"
Turning, Derek stared at Gabriel.
Walking towards Derek, Gabriel said, "We're supposed to be waiting over there."
"I thought you'd want to talk to Anthony."
Gabriel shook his head. "I'm not allowed around him as much as he's not allowed around me."
Starting back towards the carriage, Derek asked, "Why's that?"
"Jonathan really doesn't like him, and he said if he saw me associating with him again he'd pound some sense into my head for me."
Derek couldn't help but laugh. "Really?"
Nodding gloomily, Gabriel said, "I think he meant literally."
Still laughing, Derek climbed into the carriage and looked out the window at the beach again. The breakers were choppy and the water grayish-blue. Looking upwards, he saw a mass of dark clouds moving in from over the ocean. Storm's coming, he thought. At least we're sure to be back before it hits.
Part 3
Chapter Twenty
In the week that followed the first lesson, Gabriel taught Derek each letter and several words by groups of five or six. When Friday came, he could read, with effort, things like, "The boy and his dog walked to town." Such simple reading from the letter book bored him, but held his interest in its promise to lead him to greater things in each of the red books and, eventually, any book he might choose to pick up.
On the Monday following Derek's final letter lesson, Gabriel strode into the stables, not with pen and marked drills, as was usual, but with the larger of the two red books under his arm.
"Ready?"
"I get to use that one now?" Derek asked, his brush strokes down Lady Sarah Mary-Ruth's side slowing, then stopping all together.
"You're done the other one," Gabriel said matter-of-factly.
Derek couldn't help but grin. "If you wanna head up, I'll be along as soon as I put her away."
Gabriel climbed to the loft quickly, a week's worth of practice ascending and descending the ladder with his hands all but full bringing him to nearly Derek's skill in the maneuver.
When he finished, Derek followed.
"Here you go," Gabriel said, holding the book out to him. It was opened to the first page. "See how much of that first one you can read. Just read straight through as best you can, and I'll mark down where you have problems, then we'll go over it."
Derek nodded, taking the book as he sat down. When he found the beginning of the passage he started to read shakily.
"'The first meeting of the cou-counk '"
Gabriel leaned over and looked at the page Derek was reading from. "Council. The second 'c' sounds like an 's,' not a 'k.'"
"Well, that's weird."
Gabriel shrugged and went back to twirling a leaf between his fingers while he listened.
Looking back at the book, Derek continued to read: "'The first meeting of the council was held on the third day of the month….'"
Whe
n Derek finished reading the passage out of the red book, he set it down and leaned against the large tree behind him. "All done, right?" he asked.
After a second, Gabriel nodded and started pulling his shoes off.
Standing, Derek pulled off his shirt, the tempting call of the rushing water sounding in his ears.
Gabriel had promised they could finish studying early and go for a swim if Derek didn't have more than five problems reading the passage. In anticipation, they had taken the book down the path to the river while Mrs. Worthington had everyone else preoccupied with planning Gabriel's birthday party. After the walk down, they'd settled in a shady place on the far side of the bank. It was a mossy ledge raised several feet from the river bank, and one from which a daring leap could land someone on top of the huge boulder that loomed over the swimming hole.
"You're doing really good," Gabriel commented, unbuttoning his own shirt and tossing it over a low branch.
Grinning, Derek replied, "I'd say it's 'cause I have a good teacher, but I don't lie." Not waiting for Gabriel, he ran to the edge of the bank, then leapt across to the top of the huge rock and jumped off into the pool far below.
It had been nearly a week and a half since the reading lessons out of the red book began, and Derek, despite his jest, was pleased with how they were going. Gabriel proved to be a better teacher than he'd expected. True, Derek wasn't very near reading the Bible, but he could go over selected passages out of the reader and answer questions about them with little difficulty. Gabriel reminded him the previous day that the red book was only a second grade level, but second grade was much better than illiterate.
Once Gabriel finished undressing and jumped in the water, he swam over to Derek and started splashing him. "If it wasn't for me, you'd still be stuttering through Bible verses from memory," he challenged.
Laughing, Derek pounced on Gabriel, pushing him under. After a moment, he let him up, then dodged an attempt at a retaliatory dunking. He swam to the bank and started scaling the boulder with Gabriel in pursuit. When he reached the top, Derek said, "Gabe, don't do anything "
Before he could finish, Gabriel pushed him off the rock. Derek plunged into the water, then kicked his way to the surface. He drew breath just as Gabriel splashed into the water beside him.