January 1888
Hearing noises repeatedly hitting his front door, Damon gets up from his chair to go see what's going on. Splitting the curtains, he sees those kids lobbing rocks at it again. Shaking his head, he throws his scarf around his neck, slips his heavy coat on and then pulls the door open, catching the boys off guard. He yells at them to stop. When they snicker, he starts stalking towards them.
Seeing his formidable stature closing the distance, they run like gangbusters, jumping over his fence and onto the gravel road before they disappear over the hill. Shaking his fist at them, Damon curses under his breath. Knowing he won't catch them anymore, he picks up some logs and then goes back into his house. After setting the wood down, he removes his coat and scarf, hanging them up on the peg.
Taking the poker, he stirs up the fire then drops some eggs and potatoes into the cast iron bucket to make himself something to eat. Dropping into the rocking chair, he takes off his leg and starts to rub the stump. Having been born with a congenital leg malformation, the doctor told his parents that the only way he would ever walk would be with a prosthetic so they allowed him to amputate it. Even after all these years, it still bothers him. Sometimes he thinks it's in his head and sometimes the pain feels so real, it's hard to believe that he's imagining it.
Leaning back in the rocker, he opens his eyes when he feels his dog Jack, lay down at his feet in front of the toasty fire. Reaching down, he pets him for a few moments then closes his eyes to relax for a little while.
Once the kids are certain that Damon isn't following them, the boys slow to a stop so they can catch their breath. "He's too slow to catch us," Johnny laughs, taking off one of his mittens to pick up some snow to put in his mouth.
"What's wrong with him?" Beryl, the new boy asks, looking behind them to make sure Damon isn't still following them.
"He gots a fake leg. My father said he was born without a real one."
"Why are you guys mean to him?"
"Because he doesn't have any friends," Timmy says, looking at Beryl as if he has two heads.
Once they catch their breaths, the boys start to walk home, taking their time to have a snowball fight on the way.
Elena steps outside to ring the school bell. Smiling when she sees the children playing, she reaches up and grabs the pull, ringing it loudly. The kids stop what they're doing and hurry up the stairs and into the little country school. Elena is new in Dakota territory, she's lived here for about a month. There's talk of it becoming a state, it isn't one yet but there's a lot of clamoring about it.
As soon as all the children are seated, Elena puts another log on the fire and stirs it up. Satisfied with her effort, she stands up and walks over to her desk, stopping in front of it. The old teacher, Mrs. Flowers, fell and broke her hip which is how Elena got the job.
There are twenty three children in the classroom. They're of all ages and grades up to eighth. "Good morning everyone," she greets them, her hands clasped at her lower belly.
"Good morning, Miss Gilbert," they say, their voices all filling the small one room schoolhouse.
"How was your weekend?" she asks pointing at Johnny first. He goes over a laundry list of everything he's done. Next she points to the new boy, Beryl who goes into detail about how he went ice fishing with his dad and uncle. Next she turns to Sarah, who tells the class that she helped her mom make cookies. By the time they all have a turn, Elena has to put more wood on the fire. Then she tells them to open their math books. When that lesson is done, it's time for reading. With the room quiet, she pulls out the geography book so they can start in on that as soon as reading and lunch time are over.
For the most part, things have been great here. Even though she has had to exercise discipline more than once, the children are good for the most part. When they misbehave, she doesn't allow them to get away with it but she refused to take a switch to their backsides nor a ruler to their fingers. This is her first teaching job and a couple of the parents have looked at her rather skeptically. But hopefully with time and determination, she'll triumph over their doubts and misconceptions about her.
When she hears her name, she looks up, smiling when she sees little Josephine. She's eight and although a good student, she's very quiet. "It's nice outside, can we go for a walk at recess time?"
"You know what, Josephine? I think that's a wonderful idea. So you go finish your reading and then after we have lunch we'll go for a walk."
"Thank you , Miss Gilbert."
"You are welcome. Thank you for the wonderful idea."
The little girl smiles widely then hurries back to her desk. Smiling at her, Elena can't help but remember herself as a girl that age. She was a voracious reader, she still is as a matter of fact. Opening her top drawer, she looks around. Since their noses are all buried in their books, Elena pulls the letter out and opens it. It's from her brother Jeremy. Elena smiles so wide, she almost beams because he's going to board a train to pay her a visit next week. Carefully she puts it back into its envelope then tucks it into a book and closes the drawer, her eyes now on the clock as she waits the final few minutes before she can announce that it's lunch time.
When the children finish with their lunch, Elena instructs them to put on their coats, hats, scarves and mittens so they can go for a walk. As soon as they're ready, Elena slips into her own outdoor clothing. They walk down the stairs and out onto the gravel road. There isn't much snow on the ground right now, the temperature must be close to freezing, Elena thinks, her breath visible before her eyes when she speaks. The farther they get from the school, they see a few cattle huddled together, eating hay that the farmer must've put out for them.
In the dead of winter in Dakota territory there isn't much for plant life, other than a few sparse pine trees. Most of the others stand like stark sentinels, their branches empty having lost their leafy foliage last fall. The dead corn stocks stand guard in the fields until the farmers can get to them once springtime arrives. When a bunny scampers in the field to their left, Sarah runs over to the fence to get a closer look but it skitters away when it hears the crackle of old snow beneath her shoes.
Continuing their journey, they hear a pounding sound. Looking around, Elena sees Mr. Salvatore. He looks like he's working on some fence repair. Running around the field behind him is a big old yellow dog. When he hears them, he startles slightly. But when his big blue eyes meet hers, it's like she's falling through the looking glass. The man is such a delight to look at. She's seen him in church on Sundays but other than that, he keeps pretty much to himself or so she's been told by Caroline Forbes.
She explained how he was born with a birth defect and because of it, he lost a leg. Kids were cruel to him, she went on to explain. He must have grown up a very lonely little boy. Just the thought of that hurts Elena's heart. But she is glad that Caroline didn't look down on him with such judgment, she and her husband being some of the only town's folk that Damon will visit with. She would very much like to get to know him better. He's a decent, hard working man from what she can tell, having seen his muscular frame when he's taken his coat off during Sunday services.
"Hello, Mr. Salvatore," she greets him, talking loudly to be heard over Jack's barking.
"Miss Gilbert," he says, a rare smile forming on his face. Taking his cap off, he bows slightly much to her delight.
"I hope you don't mind, the children and I are taking a stroll. We'll be turning around soon. We have our science lesson next."
Hearing the kids snickering behind her, Elena turns around and raises an eyebrow. Knowing that she means business, they stop their chortling.
"Do you mind, Mr. Salvatore, if we walk onto your property a little bit? I'd like to show them that pine tree over there," she mentions pointing to the lone tree sitting in the middle of nowhere.
"Of course, take your time but I need to get back to work," Damon adds. With a nod of his head and a whistle to his dog, he limps away with Jack at his side.
Elena lives in a boarding house on the outskirts of town. The building is owned and run by the parents of Johnny, one of her students. He can be a little hellion, Elena has scolded him more than once for acting out. Having heard the snickering, she asks him what it was about. She frowns when he reluctantly explains what they did. When she asks if he participated, he drops his eyes and nods his head. Shaking her own, she tells him that he needs to tell his parents what he did. As soon as the two of them arrive home, they look for his father, finding him in his office looking over the boarding house accounts.
With Elena standing behind him, he tells his dad what happened with Mr. Salvatore today. Elena watches intently as his father frowns. Standing up, he walks around to the front of the desk. He then stoops down and asks his son why they would pick on someone that he doesn't even know? Johnny goes on to explain that the other kids were doing it too. Shaking his head back and forth, Mr. Rolag sends his son out of the room.
"Why did you think it was necessary for my son to tell me this?"
"Mr. Rolag, children should have respect for adults, not ridicule someone because they're different."
"Miss Gilbert, I have no interest in what my son may or may not say to Mr. Salvatore. He's an outcast, someone to be made fun of. Hell, I do it myself," the man scoffs, sitting back down in his chair.
Speechless, she's now not at all surprised that Johnny behaves the way he does. Sucking in a breath, Elena moves to stand in front of the desk, clearing her throat to get his attention.
"Was there something else?" he asks, picking up his cigar and taking a long pull on it.
"It's wrong and you know it," she adds, her hands on her hips.
"You are dismissed, Miss Gilbert. I don't want to hear any more of this foolishness from you."
Her mouth parts in anger but knowing she needs her job and a place to stay and that it's really not her place to interfere with their family business, she turns on her heels and marches out, slamming his door shut when she exits the room.
I hope you'll all like this short story. As many of you know now, I love history and as such, I very much enjoy adding Damon and Elena to the historical record as it were. I have another one in mind that I have the prologue written for, one of the things on my bucket list has a starring role. ;)
There is a book by David Laskin about this event. I have not read it. Any similarities are entirely coincidental. I did my own research online as I do with all of my stories.
Thank you all so much. I don't have words enough to truly express how grateful Eva and I are to all of you. Thank you for loving Damon and Elena as much as we do, for all of your incredible reviews, the follows and the favorites... Really, you're all amazing and beautiful people, thank you. It's your enthusiasm, hunger for stories starring our holy ship that keeps us all here.
And Eva, I love you dearly, thank you.
I did post the conclusion to "Eyes Without a Face" yesterday.
Have a safe and wonderful day. We'll see you next with 'November Rain'.