Book One: Frances
On May nineteenth, 1920 my mother stood up abruptly from whatever she was doing and loudly declared in that North American accent, which is all her own, "Juana, I think you had better get Dr. Paldito right away. And," she called after her, "get the captain, he's out in the fields with Pedro, and tell him its coming!" Ten hours later, she gave birth to me. I was a relatively easy baby. My mother said that I was always that way. When I had finally gone to sleep, my father sat down next to my mother on their bed and enfolded her in an embrace. "What shall the baby's name be?" "Well, I was leaning toward a British name, so that she'll keep that darling accent of yours more easily." My father hugged her closer. "But then I started thinking. 'Don't we owe something to our grandparents?' After that I found it fairly obvious. The name must either be Nina or Frances. Frances was your grandmother's name, right?" "Yes it was. My paternal grandmother. I don't remember my other one because she died before I was born." "Anyway, since those are both Irish names, I thought it was just as well. I love the name Nina, but it has a kind of helpless ring, and this baby is so sweet you know, so I finally decided on Frances, with an "E." That's the girls' spelling. It is, isn't it?" She lifted her pretty face with its elfin appearance and dark dancing eyes surrounded by shining black hair up toward my father's. Her looks were quite the contrast to my father's brownish blond hair, deep blue eyes, and straight nose. He looked like the typical English man, whereas my mother was a rare beauty of North America. 'She's so pretty,' thought my father,' and so brave.' he added, thinking of the circumstance that had caused them to meet. He kissed her on the end of her nose and started thinking of middle names.
Two years later, Charlie was born. I only remember bits of his birth. He was more difficult, and it took my mother two hours. She yelled all the way through. I sat outside the room with my father, playing with my toys. He winced at each cry. Looking back, I realize that each yell was tearing him to the heart and he was afraid of losing her. At the time I didn't seem to see much, but I knew enough to reach my small arms around him and squeeze. Soon we heard a long shrill wail. I remember the relief on Father's face. "That's your brother Charlie, Frances." When I was three, Charlie was one. We used to go out in the fields with Father and the men. Charlie would ride on Father's shoulders and I would ride on Pedro's. Pedro was our ranch hand. I never trusted him, which was odd, because next to my parents the person I loved most in the world was his wife, Juana. Pedro and Juana were ten years younger than my parents, but hardly looked their 24 years and Pedro hardly acted it. He let me ride on his back and he told me stories of the wild jungles we could see from our ranch on the Pampas. While these actions should have promoted love, they only caused fear. Pedro was from Brazil. He had battled with a jaguar and survived. Although jaguars seldom ventured out of their jungle habitat in most of Argentina, they were often seen near our cattle because we were so close to the jungle. My sister Judith was born that year. She was by far the most difficult. At the time, my childish mind thought it was because of her looks. I had my father's hair, eyes, and nose. There was nothing of my mother in me, except her intellect, as I learned later. Charlie and Judith were a completely different story. They had jet-black hair, like my mother, and dark black eyes, like my mother. The only thing missing was the thing that they could have inherited from either Father or Mother, a broad grin. This I had, and I was glad of it. In Judith's first years, I would catch Mother looking at Judith and Charlie with worry in her face. I didn't understand it then. I do now. Judith was serious as a baby, as she is now. She never smiled but, where Charlie howled at ungodly hours, Judith remained silent as a rock. I was eight when I got up the courage to ask her about it. "Judith, you aren't any fun. Why won't you play with me?" The pale five-year-old looked up at me and smiled. It was not a kind smile, but more of a sad one. "Teach me how Franny. Teach me how."
I was fourteen. I was curious. It was inviting. It was Judith's idea. My whole life I had wanted to explore the neighboring jungle and when my little sister expressed the same desire, I couldn't stop her.... or myself. Judith was eleven and had never done anything out of the ordinary. Her whole life consisted of: Wake up, go to school, come back home, do schoolwork, go to bed, and so on. One morning, after a large rain (school was closed because of muddy roads) Judith woke me at six in the morning and we set off. We tiptoed past Charlie's room. My thirteen-year-old brother was completely his own master and would not tell Mother and Father, but he would want to go too. As Judith always says, "Two's company; three's a crowd." It was hard negotiating the ground near Mother and Father's room. Judith thinks Father loosened the floorboards there on purpose so they creaked. I told her that it was nonsense, but none the less, she persisted in thinking so. We finally made it outside just as the sun was rising. Judith wasn't quite sure how we were going to get to the mile away forest, but knew that she wouldn't waste any energy. I was perfectly content to walk. It was a lovely morning but, as Judith put it, we would be doing lots of walking in the jungle and we would need all our strength. In the end, Judith purloined a little foal; a runt and just right for our purpose. We both got on its back and Judith urged it into a trot. Within no time we were in the jungle. The first thing Judith did was to send the foal back. She pointed it in the direction of the ranch and slapped it on the rear end. It took off in a flash. "Judith, was that wise? What if we're hurt and can't walk? We'd need the foal then." "Nothing's going to happen. I've brought Mother's kitchen knife." I rolled my eyes but went along with it.
In about two hours, I was getting tired. Judith still wanted to push on and find a river, but I wanted to go home. "Let's start walking back. Maybe we'll find a river on the way." Judith sulked and said nothing. I started walking ahead. Judith had taken the lead all day, but she refused to do it now. I had not gone ten paces before I heard rushing water. I called out to Judith and at the same time looked down and saw to my horror that what I had taken for bushes were actually the tops of trees. With a sinking feeling I felt the earth under my feet move. "Judith," I whispered," don't move." "What do you mean?" she asked and poked me with a stick. That was it. The ground under my feet started to crumble and I found myself falling. The next thing I remember was water. And it was cold too. It was filling my lungs. I couldn't breath. Then I found my strength and fought to the top. I choked and gasped, spitting up water and replenishing my stock of fresh air. Only then was I aware of my predicament. When I looked up I could see a cliff above the canopy of trees. It was one hundred some feet high and massive limbs of equally massive trees supported it. Judith was waving to me and shouting my name. She sounded frightened. I spit out the last of my water and bellowed loud enough that it would reach her, "Meet you back at the ranch!" I was then submerged again and when I came back up, she was gone. Then I fell to hoping against rapids, sharp rocks, and above all: waterfalls. Soon I found myself drifting towards the edge of the river. I got out as fast as I could and stumbled off to the side to ponder my position. My parents would certainly send a party out after me when Judith arrived, if they hadn't already done so. Pedro would probably be leading it, seeing as he knew the forest the best. That thought got me up and moving to try and get home myself. I didn't really want to be in the forest with Pedro. I looked at the sun and, judging from its position, headed north. I had been walking for about an hour when I started to hear the sound of wind rushing across the tall grasses of the Pampas. I broke into a run, which was more like a hobble because my leg smarted painfully (it had probably hit a tree going down.) When I arrived at the edge of the plain I could distinguish our house. I walked quickly over the grassland and very soon I was there. I was within ten paces of the house when my father burst out. Following him was Judith, sobbing hysterically. They both stopped in their tracks when they saw me. Judith made a small gurgling sound, and then flew back towards the house as one chased by Satan, yelling, "Mother! Oh Mother...Charlie! Charlie!" In the end she resorted to the American word taught by my mother and sent up a final shriek of, "MOMMY!!!" as she entered the house. All this while my father had stood as if he were tethered to his spot. When Judith went in the spell was broken and he rushed forward to embrace me tightly. While I was still enfolded in his bear hug, Mother arrived. I was frightened when she joined us, for she was due any day now with a little girl and she was deadly pale, looking as if she would faint. Father backed up to give her and me air, trying to be British and control his emotions, but it wasn't working very well. Mother was moved beyond tears. She hugged me, repeating over and over again that she had thought I had "kicked the bucket." I replied that I had not and this only caused her to sob. I remember walking into the house and being laid down, but I remember nothing more. I must have been asleep many hours when I was woken by an unearthly shriek, signaling the arrival of my little sister. Nina was perfect. If Judith looked like Charlie, Nina looked like me. She was the little sister I had always wanted, and waited so long to get. True, her first glimpse of me was of a mud-bespattered girl with a cut lip and circles under her eyes, but she took an immediate liking to me. On a sourer note, Mother almost died having Nina, and agreed when Dr. Paldito said, "No more babies." I took care of Nina as if she were my own child. When Charlie went off to dissect a dead cow (or something else morbid) or Judith left to be alone and think dark thoughts to her, I would play with Nina. At first I spoiled her a little, but then I stiffened up and treated her as a good parent would. Three years later I let go and let her run rampant a bit. I was studying for my upcoming test to graduate from secondary school and I needed more free time to myself. Nina took a great liking to the cows. Every spare moment she was out in the field with Father and Pedro and the men and, of course, the cows.
One morning, I had just risen and was about to wake Judith. Nina's cot was empty, but then again, this was normal. The ranch hands and Father went out at dawn. I shook Judith and was about to tell her that it was her turn to make the bed, when lightening struck and the clouds burst, sending rain down. I left Judith alone and rushed to wake Charlie. Charlie and I, as the eldest two children, had the responsibility to help the men bring the cows in and cover the crops. So close to the rain forest, the rain can come down in sheets, killing all vegetation for miles around. That's why we must cover the crops and grazing grass. When we arrived outside, Charlie still wiping sleep from his eyes, we found that since a storm had been brewing all week, that the cows hadn't been let out that morning. We counted our blessings and then fell to covering the vegetation. We got them all covered before the big storm hit, the one that would probably flood the roads and close school. As we ran inside with all the others, I began to pray for rain on my test day. It was a tradition that on days that it rained everyone would crowd into our kitchen for a cup of hot chocolate. Father hated the stuff, but he had taught the art of making it to my mother. When I asked him why he knew how to do it if he didn't like it, he told me that he had picked it up from a friend of his. As I sat in the kitchen with everyone around me, I felt a sense of family. What would make it perfect now was Nina to toddle up to me and say, "Franny, can I have some chocolate?" I reached out to hug Nina, but instead my hand whapped Judith on the back of the head. I felt what seemed like an electrical shock flow through my body. I sat up straight. Mother caught my movements. "Frances, is anything the matter?" "No, nothing." I got up and slowly left the room. Charlie and Judith followed me. Judith, who has the uncanny ability to almost read your mind, spoke first. "You lost Nina, didn't you?" "I didn't lose her! Anyhow, how did you know that I had.... we had lost her anyway?" "You and Father are so easy to analyze." That was all she said, but she put so much scorn into how she said it that I had to retort in a similar tone. "You think you're so clever Miss Scientist. How you and Charlie go out to cut up dead cows for The Sake of Science is beyond me. And you can stop using that word alynize..." "Analyze." "I'll say it how I please! .... that word analyze on Father and I! We may be a bit thick but..." I couldn't go on. I had worked myself into a regular temper tantrum and by this time I was choking on my own words. I wheeled around and flew out the door and into the rain. I yelled for Nina until my lungs were sore from the air mixed with water rushing through them and making them raw. I then ran into the barn so that I wouldn't have to confront Mother and Father and Judith and Charlie and Pedro and..... did I just hear something? I walked around the corner of a fencepost and found Nina, cuddled up against the cows and heartily snoring. I also heard footsteps. I whirled around, ready to confront Pedro, or Judith at the least, but I found myself face-to-face with Father instead. "Frances, what went on in there?" I looked at the floor. I never liked to hurt Father's feelings toward me and I felt by now as if I had committed murder, theft, and... well, murder. I muttered something incoherent and pointed to Nina, all the while staring fixedly at the floor. Father took me outside to where there was a little overhang of the barn roof and there we stood, watching the rain. Finally Father spoke, "You've been a very good sister Frances. Your mother and I... find that we couldn't go on without you. I think that Judith and Charlie couldn't either. I.... I think that it would be helpful to your mother and I...well, if you could look after Charlie and Judith and let Nina grow up on her own..." I was a little hurt. Up until that moment I thought Mother and Father had completely approved of my doings. Father must have seen my hurt, for he quickly added, "You've been doing a jolly good job Frances, but we think that if you put your kindness toward some real good.... "What do you mean, "real good?" As far as I can see, raising Nina to be a lovely young girl is a good cause." "Your Mother and I believe that if Charlie has some good influence in his life, such as yourself, he might not become what he's becoming." "What is he becoming?" Father spoke cautiously. "Your brother is consorting with the wrong sort of person more often. He is friends with the wrong sort of boys at school, and he has even been picking up all sorts of undesirable habits here." "Here?" I asked astonished, "who would there be here of all places to teach him anything we wouldn't approve of?" "Frances," Father answered my inquiry with a question of his own, "you knew that Pedro battled a jaguar and survived?" "Yes," I whispered, too curious to offer a longer response. "Well, did you also know that he killed a man?" I did not trust myself to speak. I had always suspected something of the kind, but I had never in my wildest dreams thought of murder! "He would have gotten off scot-free if there hadn't been a girl who had witnessed the whole thing. A mere child, but she landed him in prison for ten years." I made a sort of gasping noise, and then settled down to hear the rest of what Father had to say. "Charlie takes a great interest in the detection of crime, like myself," Father always liked a good detective thriller, but said that the detectives didn't know "half the tricks of the trade," whatever that meant, "but," he added continuing, "he approaches it from the wrong side I find." "Do you mean he has the methods down the wrong way?" "No, I mean that he is just a bit more interested in the criminal than the detective." While I digested this bit of information, I asked, "And Judith?" "Judith is not, as far as I know, interested in pursuing the same line of work as Charlie, however she has lots of time to think for herself and I have reason to believe that her thoughts are not good ones." Of course, Father might think this of any woman who had time to think, but instead of smiling at this comment, as I usually do, I hung on his words with rapt curiosity. However, he said nothing more, but turned to leave. I ran after him and accosted him. "Why are Charlie and Judith acting this way?" I inquired, rain dribbling down my face. Father paused before he replied to my question. "Your mother and I think that it is something hereditary." Again he turned to go and again I stopped him. "What hereditary flaw?" This pause lasted a full minute. Finally Father said, "Your mother's brother was convicted for murder."
I proposed a trip to London. Charlie instantly agreed, but Judith was harder to convince. She came up with every excuse on earth, but in the end she ran out of excuses and meekly obeyed, which in itself was odd, for Judith never did anything meekly. We left that Saturday. I was sad to leave, because it would be my last day at the ranch for four years, or more. I'd been accepted into a college just outside of London. I hugged my mother and father and we left. Our boat left from Montevideo, Uruguay the next day, and the time it took to get there was spent on a train. Finally we boarded the boat and set sail. Immediately Charlie became acquainted with the fact that he was prone to be seasick. He spent most of the voyage leaning over the rail, his face an odd green color. Judith spent most of her time with the sailors, learning the arts of sailing, the scientific aspects of the ocean, and whatnot. I looked forward to my studies, but I hated leaving the place that had influenced my life. I was caught up in these revelations when someone yelled, "Plymouth!" and I was startled out of my dream. As I watched the coast of Plymouth approaching, I wondered what the future had in store for me, and what things would change my life.
On May nineteenth, 1920 my mother stood up abruptly from whatever she was doing and loudly declared in that North American accent, which is all her own, "Juana, I think you had better get Dr. Paldito right away. And," she called after her, "get the captain, he's out in the fields with Pedro, and tell him its coming!" Ten hours later, she gave birth to me. I was a relatively easy baby. My mother said that I was always that way. When I had finally gone to sleep, my father sat down next to my mother on their bed and enfolded her in an embrace. "What shall the baby's name be?" "Well, I was leaning toward a British name, so that she'll keep that darling accent of yours more easily." My father hugged her closer. "But then I started thinking. 'Don't we owe something to our grandparents?' After that I found it fairly obvious. The name must either be Nina or Frances. Frances was your grandmother's name, right?" "Yes it was. My paternal grandmother. I don't remember my other one because she died before I was born." "Anyway, since those are both Irish names, I thought it was just as well. I love the name Nina, but it has a kind of helpless ring, and this baby is so sweet you know, so I finally decided on Frances, with an "E." That's the girls' spelling. It is, isn't it?" She lifted her pretty face with its elfin appearance and dark dancing eyes surrounded by shining black hair up toward my father's. Her looks were quite the contrast to my father's brownish blond hair, deep blue eyes, and straight nose. He looked like the typical English man, whereas my mother was a rare beauty of North America. 'She's so pretty,' thought my father,' and so brave.' he added, thinking of the circumstance that had caused them to meet. He kissed her on the end of her nose and started thinking of middle names.
Two years later, Charlie was born. I only remember bits of his birth. He was more difficult, and it took my mother two hours. She yelled all the way through. I sat outside the room with my father, playing with my toys. He winced at each cry. Looking back, I realize that each yell was tearing him to the heart and he was afraid of losing her. At the time I didn't seem to see much, but I knew enough to reach my small arms around him and squeeze. Soon we heard a long shrill wail. I remember the relief on Father's face. "That's your brother Charlie, Frances." When I was three, Charlie was one. We used to go out in the fields with Father and the men. Charlie would ride on Father's shoulders and I would ride on Pedro's. Pedro was our ranch hand. I never trusted him, which was odd, because next to my parents the person I loved most in the world was his wife, Juana. Pedro and Juana were ten years younger than my parents, but hardly looked their 24 years and Pedro hardly acted it. He let me ride on his back and he told me stories of the wild jungles we could see from our ranch on the Pampas. While these actions should have promoted love, they only caused fear. Pedro was from Brazil. He had battled with a jaguar and survived. Although jaguars seldom ventured out of their jungle habitat in most of Argentina, they were often seen near our cattle because we were so close to the jungle. My sister Judith was born that year. She was by far the most difficult. At the time, my childish mind thought it was because of her looks. I had my father's hair, eyes, and nose. There was nothing of my mother in me, except her intellect, as I learned later. Charlie and Judith were a completely different story. They had jet-black hair, like my mother, and dark black eyes, like my mother. The only thing missing was the thing that they could have inherited from either Father or Mother, a broad grin. This I had, and I was glad of it. In Judith's first years, I would catch Mother looking at Judith and Charlie with worry in her face. I didn't understand it then. I do now. Judith was serious as a baby, as she is now. She never smiled but, where Charlie howled at ungodly hours, Judith remained silent as a rock. I was eight when I got up the courage to ask her about it. "Judith, you aren't any fun. Why won't you play with me?" The pale five-year-old looked up at me and smiled. It was not a kind smile, but more of a sad one. "Teach me how Franny. Teach me how."
I was fourteen. I was curious. It was inviting. It was Judith's idea. My whole life I had wanted to explore the neighboring jungle and when my little sister expressed the same desire, I couldn't stop her.... or myself. Judith was eleven and had never done anything out of the ordinary. Her whole life consisted of: Wake up, go to school, come back home, do schoolwork, go to bed, and so on. One morning, after a large rain (school was closed because of muddy roads) Judith woke me at six in the morning and we set off. We tiptoed past Charlie's room. My thirteen-year-old brother was completely his own master and would not tell Mother and Father, but he would want to go too. As Judith always says, "Two's company; three's a crowd." It was hard negotiating the ground near Mother and Father's room. Judith thinks Father loosened the floorboards there on purpose so they creaked. I told her that it was nonsense, but none the less, she persisted in thinking so. We finally made it outside just as the sun was rising. Judith wasn't quite sure how we were going to get to the mile away forest, but knew that she wouldn't waste any energy. I was perfectly content to walk. It was a lovely morning but, as Judith put it, we would be doing lots of walking in the jungle and we would need all our strength. In the end, Judith purloined a little foal; a runt and just right for our purpose. We both got on its back and Judith urged it into a trot. Within no time we were in the jungle. The first thing Judith did was to send the foal back. She pointed it in the direction of the ranch and slapped it on the rear end. It took off in a flash. "Judith, was that wise? What if we're hurt and can't walk? We'd need the foal then." "Nothing's going to happen. I've brought Mother's kitchen knife." I rolled my eyes but went along with it.
In about two hours, I was getting tired. Judith still wanted to push on and find a river, but I wanted to go home. "Let's start walking back. Maybe we'll find a river on the way." Judith sulked and said nothing. I started walking ahead. Judith had taken the lead all day, but she refused to do it now. I had not gone ten paces before I heard rushing water. I called out to Judith and at the same time looked down and saw to my horror that what I had taken for bushes were actually the tops of trees. With a sinking feeling I felt the earth under my feet move. "Judith," I whispered," don't move." "What do you mean?" she asked and poked me with a stick. That was it. The ground under my feet started to crumble and I found myself falling. The next thing I remember was water. And it was cold too. It was filling my lungs. I couldn't breath. Then I found my strength and fought to the top. I choked and gasped, spitting up water and replenishing my stock of fresh air. Only then was I aware of my predicament. When I looked up I could see a cliff above the canopy of trees. It was one hundred some feet high and massive limbs of equally massive trees supported it. Judith was waving to me and shouting my name. She sounded frightened. I spit out the last of my water and bellowed loud enough that it would reach her, "Meet you back at the ranch!" I was then submerged again and when I came back up, she was gone. Then I fell to hoping against rapids, sharp rocks, and above all: waterfalls. Soon I found myself drifting towards the edge of the river. I got out as fast as I could and stumbled off to the side to ponder my position. My parents would certainly send a party out after me when Judith arrived, if they hadn't already done so. Pedro would probably be leading it, seeing as he knew the forest the best. That thought got me up and moving to try and get home myself. I didn't really want to be in the forest with Pedro. I looked at the sun and, judging from its position, headed north. I had been walking for about an hour when I started to hear the sound of wind rushing across the tall grasses of the Pampas. I broke into a run, which was more like a hobble because my leg smarted painfully (it had probably hit a tree going down.) When I arrived at the edge of the plain I could distinguish our house. I walked quickly over the grassland and very soon I was there. I was within ten paces of the house when my father burst out. Following him was Judith, sobbing hysterically. They both stopped in their tracks when they saw me. Judith made a small gurgling sound, and then flew back towards the house as one chased by Satan, yelling, "Mother! Oh Mother...Charlie! Charlie!" In the end she resorted to the American word taught by my mother and sent up a final shriek of, "MOMMY!!!" as she entered the house. All this while my father had stood as if he were tethered to his spot. When Judith went in the spell was broken and he rushed forward to embrace me tightly. While I was still enfolded in his bear hug, Mother arrived. I was frightened when she joined us, for she was due any day now with a little girl and she was deadly pale, looking as if she would faint. Father backed up to give her and me air, trying to be British and control his emotions, but it wasn't working very well. Mother was moved beyond tears. She hugged me, repeating over and over again that she had thought I had "kicked the bucket." I replied that I had not and this only caused her to sob. I remember walking into the house and being laid down, but I remember nothing more. I must have been asleep many hours when I was woken by an unearthly shriek, signaling the arrival of my little sister. Nina was perfect. If Judith looked like Charlie, Nina looked like me. She was the little sister I had always wanted, and waited so long to get. True, her first glimpse of me was of a mud-bespattered girl with a cut lip and circles under her eyes, but she took an immediate liking to me. On a sourer note, Mother almost died having Nina, and agreed when Dr. Paldito said, "No more babies." I took care of Nina as if she were my own child. When Charlie went off to dissect a dead cow (or something else morbid) or Judith left to be alone and think dark thoughts to her, I would play with Nina. At first I spoiled her a little, but then I stiffened up and treated her as a good parent would. Three years later I let go and let her run rampant a bit. I was studying for my upcoming test to graduate from secondary school and I needed more free time to myself. Nina took a great liking to the cows. Every spare moment she was out in the field with Father and Pedro and the men and, of course, the cows.
One morning, I had just risen and was about to wake Judith. Nina's cot was empty, but then again, this was normal. The ranch hands and Father went out at dawn. I shook Judith and was about to tell her that it was her turn to make the bed, when lightening struck and the clouds burst, sending rain down. I left Judith alone and rushed to wake Charlie. Charlie and I, as the eldest two children, had the responsibility to help the men bring the cows in and cover the crops. So close to the rain forest, the rain can come down in sheets, killing all vegetation for miles around. That's why we must cover the crops and grazing grass. When we arrived outside, Charlie still wiping sleep from his eyes, we found that since a storm had been brewing all week, that the cows hadn't been let out that morning. We counted our blessings and then fell to covering the vegetation. We got them all covered before the big storm hit, the one that would probably flood the roads and close school. As we ran inside with all the others, I began to pray for rain on my test day. It was a tradition that on days that it rained everyone would crowd into our kitchen for a cup of hot chocolate. Father hated the stuff, but he had taught the art of making it to my mother. When I asked him why he knew how to do it if he didn't like it, he told me that he had picked it up from a friend of his. As I sat in the kitchen with everyone around me, I felt a sense of family. What would make it perfect now was Nina to toddle up to me and say, "Franny, can I have some chocolate?" I reached out to hug Nina, but instead my hand whapped Judith on the back of the head. I felt what seemed like an electrical shock flow through my body. I sat up straight. Mother caught my movements. "Frances, is anything the matter?" "No, nothing." I got up and slowly left the room. Charlie and Judith followed me. Judith, who has the uncanny ability to almost read your mind, spoke first. "You lost Nina, didn't you?" "I didn't lose her! Anyhow, how did you know that I had.... we had lost her anyway?" "You and Father are so easy to analyze." That was all she said, but she put so much scorn into how she said it that I had to retort in a similar tone. "You think you're so clever Miss Scientist. How you and Charlie go out to cut up dead cows for The Sake of Science is beyond me. And you can stop using that word alynize..." "Analyze." "I'll say it how I please! .... that word analyze on Father and I! We may be a bit thick but..." I couldn't go on. I had worked myself into a regular temper tantrum and by this time I was choking on my own words. I wheeled around and flew out the door and into the rain. I yelled for Nina until my lungs were sore from the air mixed with water rushing through them and making them raw. I then ran into the barn so that I wouldn't have to confront Mother and Father and Judith and Charlie and Pedro and..... did I just hear something? I walked around the corner of a fencepost and found Nina, cuddled up against the cows and heartily snoring. I also heard footsteps. I whirled around, ready to confront Pedro, or Judith at the least, but I found myself face-to-face with Father instead. "Frances, what went on in there?" I looked at the floor. I never liked to hurt Father's feelings toward me and I felt by now as if I had committed murder, theft, and... well, murder. I muttered something incoherent and pointed to Nina, all the while staring fixedly at the floor. Father took me outside to where there was a little overhang of the barn roof and there we stood, watching the rain. Finally Father spoke, "You've been a very good sister Frances. Your mother and I... find that we couldn't go on without you. I think that Judith and Charlie couldn't either. I.... I think that it would be helpful to your mother and I...well, if you could look after Charlie and Judith and let Nina grow up on her own..." I was a little hurt. Up until that moment I thought Mother and Father had completely approved of my doings. Father must have seen my hurt, for he quickly added, "You've been doing a jolly good job Frances, but we think that if you put your kindness toward some real good.... "What do you mean, "real good?" As far as I can see, raising Nina to be a lovely young girl is a good cause." "Your Mother and I believe that if Charlie has some good influence in his life, such as yourself, he might not become what he's becoming." "What is he becoming?" Father spoke cautiously. "Your brother is consorting with the wrong sort of person more often. He is friends with the wrong sort of boys at school, and he has even been picking up all sorts of undesirable habits here." "Here?" I asked astonished, "who would there be here of all places to teach him anything we wouldn't approve of?" "Frances," Father answered my inquiry with a question of his own, "you knew that Pedro battled a jaguar and survived?" "Yes," I whispered, too curious to offer a longer response. "Well, did you also know that he killed a man?" I did not trust myself to speak. I had always suspected something of the kind, but I had never in my wildest dreams thought of murder! "He would have gotten off scot-free if there hadn't been a girl who had witnessed the whole thing. A mere child, but she landed him in prison for ten years." I made a sort of gasping noise, and then settled down to hear the rest of what Father had to say. "Charlie takes a great interest in the detection of crime, like myself," Father always liked a good detective thriller, but said that the detectives didn't know "half the tricks of the trade," whatever that meant, "but," he added continuing, "he approaches it from the wrong side I find." "Do you mean he has the methods down the wrong way?" "No, I mean that he is just a bit more interested in the criminal than the detective." While I digested this bit of information, I asked, "And Judith?" "Judith is not, as far as I know, interested in pursuing the same line of work as Charlie, however she has lots of time to think for herself and I have reason to believe that her thoughts are not good ones." Of course, Father might think this of any woman who had time to think, but instead of smiling at this comment, as I usually do, I hung on his words with rapt curiosity. However, he said nothing more, but turned to leave. I ran after him and accosted him. "Why are Charlie and Judith acting this way?" I inquired, rain dribbling down my face. Father paused before he replied to my question. "Your mother and I think that it is something hereditary." Again he turned to go and again I stopped him. "What hereditary flaw?" This pause lasted a full minute. Finally Father said, "Your mother's brother was convicted for murder."
I proposed a trip to London. Charlie instantly agreed, but Judith was harder to convince. She came up with every excuse on earth, but in the end she ran out of excuses and meekly obeyed, which in itself was odd, for Judith never did anything meekly. We left that Saturday. I was sad to leave, because it would be my last day at the ranch for four years, or more. I'd been accepted into a college just outside of London. I hugged my mother and father and we left. Our boat left from Montevideo, Uruguay the next day, and the time it took to get there was spent on a train. Finally we boarded the boat and set sail. Immediately Charlie became acquainted with the fact that he was prone to be seasick. He spent most of the voyage leaning over the rail, his face an odd green color. Judith spent most of her time with the sailors, learning the arts of sailing, the scientific aspects of the ocean, and whatnot. I looked forward to my studies, but I hated leaving the place that had influenced my life. I was caught up in these revelations when someone yelled, "Plymouth!" and I was startled out of my dream. As I watched the coast of Plymouth approaching, I wondered what the future had in store for me, and what things would change my life.