TEMPEST
Marcus Mendota paced the floor for the fifteenth time. He stopped to stare at the clock. Three hours had gone by since Christine, his wife, had gone into labor. Another hour went by, and he was starting to worry.
What is taking so long? he wondered. Marcus ran his suntanned had through is wavy, if not crazy, black hair. A couple of people stole glances at him, probably wondering what his problem was. Some of the older couples in that waiting room understood what was going on, for they had been in that situation before, and gave him a reassuring smile. His haggard appearance and worried expression probably gave him away as a young man who was about to be a father for the first time.
Finally, five hours later, the nurse came and told him the news.
"I have good news and bad news Mr. Mendota." she said. "The good news is that the mother and child are alive and well, and the baby is a girl." He let out a sigh of relief.
"What's the bad news?"
"The bad news is that there were twins, but one was a still born, which made the birthing process longer than expected." Tears of sorrow for that one child mixed with the tears of joy that his wife and daughter were alive clouded his vision.
"Can I see them?"
"Of course." the nurse answered. Marcus ran to Christine's room and rushed to her side. She smiled as she held their baby, her golden hair damp from sweat and her pale blue eyes glistening. The baby was wrapped in a white blanket, with a head of chocolate hair peeking out of the cap.
"What should we name her?" he asked her. She answered
"Temperance."
Chapter One
Five years have gone by since then. Temperance is a small child for her age, but strong and stubborn. She had been taking lessons from her father, a martial arts instructor. She was heading to her first day of school, and she was not happy.
"Why do I have to go to school, Daddy?" she asked Marcus."Why can't Mommy teach me?"
"Because, sweetheart, Mommy has to go to work at the studio, and because we think you'll get a good education here and get to meet new people. If you don't get a good education, when you grow up you won't know enough to get a job." He tried hard not to grin as he glanced at Temperance doing her best to make a convincing pout.
"Don't worry; I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends." She shook her head, making her chocolate pigtails swish around her face. He noticed that she was starting to get blond and black streaks in her hair from playing in the Texas sun. Marcus walked her to her class, or more accurately dragged her considering she was clinging to his leg, not wanting to let go.
Guess she's a little shy around strangers he thought. When they reached the classroom door, he gently pulled her off his leg and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "It's going to be ok." he reassured her. They walked in together to meet the teacher.
"Hello, I'm Mrs. Cassandra Love. And you are..?"
"I'm Marcus Mendota, and this little girl is Temperance. She's a little nervous this morning." Temperance was hiding behind his legs and peeking out from behind every now and then. There were about ten students in the class. He gave her a hug, and left her with the teacher.
"Now class, we have a new student. This is Temperance Mendota. Say hello, Temperance."
Temperance looked down at the floor and said, "Hullo".
"Class, say hello to Temperance."
"Hello, Temperance" the class said in almost unison, stumbling over her name. Mrs. Love walked Temperance to her seat, and then class began.
To Temperance, every school day was the same. Went to school, had lunch, went to recess, then back to school. Even after three years of going to school it didn't changed. One day though, was different than the others. Two of the third grade boys were bullying a girl in Temperance's class to the point of tears.
Temperance is the smallest in her class, but that didn't stop her. She ran over there and before anyone could stop her punched the closest guy in the nose and kicked the other in the gut. Her teacher, Mr. Sanders, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the principal's office with the two boys following.
Mr. James Louis, the principal, called their parents and waited for them to arrive. Christine hadn't left for the studio yet, so she was the first to arrive. She glanced at her daughter, who stared at the patterned carpet, and took a seat in one of the chairs that the principal motioned to. The parents of the two boys, who were apparently brothers, arrived shortly afterward.
"We were only talking to that girl" one of the boys complained. Temperance shot them a withering look, and the boys shrank back a little.
"You weren't talking, you were making her cry!" she said.
The parents looked at them with the looks of "you're going to get it" and "you better have an explanation for this."
Temperance leaned against the back of the bench she was sitting on, crossed her arms, and glared at everyone in the room but avoiding eye contact with Christine. Two hours later…
"I believe that the issue has been settled. You may take your children home now." Christine grabbed Temperance and practically dragged her to the truck, giving her an earful all the way about how she needs to "tone her temper down a notch."
"You are going on patrol until you can straighten your attitude out." Going on patrol meant walking around outside till really late at night to make sure that nothing ate or was eating the chicks or baby goats, also called kids.
"I thought that was what the dogs are for" Temperance grumbled.
Christine shot her a look and said, "Until you can control your temper, Temperance, you are going to check the animals every night for at least two weeks. Keep it up and I'll double it and add to the list." Her tirade was then interrupted by the sound of her phone.
Temperance sighed. This is going to be a long night she thought. So that night, with her pellet gun in hand, she marched around the yard.
"Not like there's going to be anything out here," she said as she opened the barn door. Then, up in the rafters, she saw a coon.
It sat there, staring at her, daring her to shoot. She aimed and fired. Shot it in the head, but it was still alive! So she loaded and fired again, and about ten more times although she missed a few times. It fell from the rafter, and she was sure it was dead. "Don't you critters ever die?!" she hollered when she found out it wasn't as dead as she thought. Temperance fired one more shot then ran to the house to get a trash bag to put the coon's body in.
"What was all the commotion out there?" Marcus asked as Temperance burst through the kitchen.
"There was a coon, Daddy, and it was this big!" she indicated the size with her hands, stopping now and then to take a breather. "I shot him a couple time, and now he's dead, so I'm grabbing a trash bag to put him in." she paused a moment. "Can you help me?"
"Of course." So Marcus went out and helped Temperance bag the coon.
"What are you going to do with it?" she asked him.
"I'm going to throw it in the dumpster at the end of the street, because we're under a burn ban right now. You run on inside and get ready for bed." Temperance gave Marcus a hug and ran inside to tell Christine what happened.
Temperance remained on patrol for three more weeks due to the fact that she got in a fight with a neighboring child, but after the incident at the school, none of the town bullies would knock people around when she was in the area. Her mom blamed her temper on her Scotch/Irish bloodline, but her dad said she just had a wild streak that she inherited from both of them.
The next year of school year was the same, except that this year, instead of leaving her behind when they went to rodeo, they brought her along. Christine was the running champion of barrel racing, and her dad did the bull riding when he felt brave enough. She was dressed in her favorite jeans, a button-up shirt, and a pair of Justin Fatbaby boots, with a new black cowboy hat.
"We might consider teaching you how to do the barrels, if you can reign in your temper long enough," Christine told her as they walked through the stalls.
"I'm going to sign up for the bull ride. I'll meet ya'll here at the stalls." said Marcus as he walked off.
"Do I get my own horse?" Temperance asked.
"See the buckskin gelding in this stall? He's only a yearling, but he's yours." Temperance looked at the young colt, and looked back at her mom.
"You mean he's really mine?"
"Of course! When he's old enough we will start training him. What are you going to name him?"
"Anduril" she replied, for she had been reading The Lord of the Rings, and that was the name of Aragorn's sword, which meant the flame of the west.
"Is that ok?"
"If that's what you want to call him, though I have never heard of a horse being named after a sword, but then again, we are talking about you." Christine said as she saw Temperance's face.
"Where's Flyleaf?" she asked. Flyleaf was Christine's horse.
"She's in her stall farther down. Want to help me tack her up?"
"Duh!"
Temperance ran to the truck to grab the tack, although it was more like what she could carry without dropping it.
"Need help with that?" Marcus asked as he rounded the corner.
"Well…um…yes." she said as she struggled to hold the saddle, blankets, girth (which was attached to the saddle), and bridle at the same time.
Marcus took the saddle and girth because they were attached, and had her carry the blankets and bridle.
They walked to Flyleaf's stall, and all the while Temperance was singing the chorus to "Where I come from" by Alan Jackson. When they reached the stall door, Marcus opened it for her, and they walked in.
"Just finished grooming her, so now ya'll know what to do."Christine said.
She picked Temperance up so that she could reach the back of the horse to put the blankets on. Marcus placed saddle on, and while he girthed her, Christine put the bridle on Flyleaf.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Christine hollered when Temperance started lolly-gagging.
She led Flyleaf out of her stall and got ready to ride.
The death scene.
As they left the fairgrounds, Temperance started to fall asleep.
I'm ten years old and can't stay awake, she thought.
It was about 10:0 pm when they left. She closed her eyes, and the last thing she heard was the sound of a car horn, then a crash. Then everything went black.
When she woke up, she was on a hospital bed, and her dad was asleep on the couch.
"What's going on here?" She asked as a nurse passed by her door.
The nurse ignored her; Temperance thought for a second that she was thinking about some doctor, but she couldn't be. She didn't know any of the doctor's here.
A man in a white coat walked into the room at about that time.
"Who are you? And what am I doing here?" she asks.
"I am Dr. Ian Woon, and you were in a wreck last night, I need to examine your leg that was broken as of last night," he said as he started to lift her sheets.
Temperance slapped his hand away.
"You are NOT going to 'examine' anything! My leg is fine. What is going on around here?"
Temperance's yelling work Marcus up. He was still in the rodeo clothes form last night.
"Dad, what is going on? Why am I here? And where's Mom?" she asked in a rush.
Marcus sighed.
"Last night, a car ran a red light and hit us on your mother's side of the truck. You wouldn't wake up, so you were taken to the hospital. Christine…" he paused as tears came to his eyes, "She didn't make it, honey. She died on impact. Temperance, I am so sorry."
With those last words, he broke down crying. Temperance was shocked.
"She can't be dead, there is no way she's dead!"
She started crying, and all Marcus could do w as cry with her.
The funeral was simple, because they lived in a small town called Dolen. She was buried near three oak trees, near the grave of her parents and of Timothy. Timothy was the name of Temperance's twin. Temperance's thoughts and feelings didn't feel like they were hers-she then realized that they belonged to the people around her.
"Well, let's test my theory, and see if that's what I'm doing," she said to herself. She stared at the pastor's son, and all his thoughts came flooding in.
"Why do I have to be here, I didn't even know this lady! Why is that girl staring at me?"
She quickly looked away.
Ok, this is weird, she thought. I wonder if I can do it without looking at them.
She used her mind to search the crowds, and found the mind of a lady in the back.
"What a poor child, with no mother and all. I will have to remedy that."
Temperance shuddered, and while still linked to the lady's mind, thought, how can you think such a thing!
"Well…I…don't know," the lady thought.
Temperance realized what happened and broke the connection.
I can communicate with people by using my mind-how weird is that? she wondered. Confused and excited at the same time, she decided that it would be best to not tell anyone.
As they left the funeral, Marcus asks, "Do you want us to stay in our house, or move?"
"Let's stay, I don't think I'm ready to do that," she replied.
A few days after the funeral, they headed into Conroe to do some errands. Temperance wasn't going back to school as of yet, and Marcus wasn't ready to be alone.
As they went, they passed Panera Bread. "Christine used to say, 'Panera coffee, Cinnamon Crunch Bagels, and friends made life worthwhile.'"
"Well it's true!" Temperance said.
"Since when do you drink coffee?" asked Marcus, laughing when she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Only cold Carmel coffees," she nodded indignantly.
"Well, do you want to stop and get some?"
"Sure!" she answered.
So they stopped and got a bagel and a coffee to go. They headed to Kroger to grab some groceries, then Warden's Feed and Supply for animal feed.
"When can't I start learning to do barrel racing like mom did?" she asked him.
"When I can either find time to teach you or find a trainer. Why?"
"Just wondering," she answered.
As they pulled into the feed store, he said, "Don't break anything, especially if I can't afford it."
"Yes sir," she sighed.
Well that sucks the fun out of everything, she thought.
When they walked in, she saw a sign for a tack sale and immediately rushed over to see what was on sale.
"Morning Marcus, morning Temperance," said Mr. Warden, owner of the store. "What can I do for y'all?"
"Need a bag of Strategy, hen scratch-"
"Livestock feed," Temperance cut in.
"Don't interrupt. Oh, and a round bale. That's all."
"Ok, that's about $90.58." Marcus sighed. "Prices goin' up again?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
Temperance decided to "tap into his mind", as she called it; she was getting better at using and controlling her powers.
"Well, unfortunate for you, not me. I'm having no problem with prices going up, because I'm still cheaper than the others in the area," he was thinking. His emotions were kind of sad, yet content, which she couldn't figure out.
She broke the connection. So he's telling the truth, she thought.
"Hey Dad, remind me to work Anduril when we get home," she said.
"Ok, and work Flyleaf while you're at it," replied Dad.
She could feel his pain when he said that; she understood his pain, because Flyleaf was the only thing left of her mom besides memories. As they headed home, she thought about her mother. Only a couple of days ago they were all riding the trails and preparing for rodeo. Now those things won't be the same, because Christine won't be there.
"Next week you have to go back to school, and I want you to do your best."
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to. I don't want to go back!" she said.
"I know, honey, but you have to go. "
"Alright."
Friday, later that week, she went to visit her mother's grave, and Anduril was the only one with her.
"Why did you have to die, Mom?" she sobbed.
Then she ran from the grave in a fit of anger and punched a tree. As her fist connected with the tree, copper-colored fire erupted from her fist and the tree lit up in flames! After a few minutes, only cinders remained.
"What did I just do?" she asked Anduril, wide eyed with shock and surprise.
He, of course, had no idea. He simply stared at her intently, as if waiting for her explanation.