My gosh it has been a while! I haven't been writing at all lately…bad me! But with a brand new chapter of Hannah who wants to sit here and listen to me babble?
"Emma?" Emma looked up from the letter she was writing and waited for May to speak. "Will you tell me a story?" the girl asked. After a moment she added "Please?"
Emma sighed and put down her pen as the little girl's eyes lit up. "Alright, May, you can have a story. Have a seat on the couch before Barley gets home." May did as Emma said and waited eagerly as Emma folded the paper she had been writing on, stuffed it in her pocket, and joined her on Barley's couch. Emma thought for a moment then she began.
"Once upon a time there was a handsome man named-"
"Jack," May finished for her. "His name should be Jack."
"Jack? Oh, come on, May, he is not handsome." Emma pretended to gag and May giggled. "And you can hardly call him a man in that fruity apron," she said under her breath.
"Well?" May said.
"Well what?"
"Well, continue the story."
"Okay, okay! I'm thinking.
"Jack, who wasn't that handsome, was poor and terrible at everything he did. Yet he was always happy. He was so happy that everyone hated him. Because he was so disliked, the village sent him as a sacrifice to the incredibly large and ferocious polar bear that had been terrorizing the city and its local residents. Some of the men in the village took Jack to cave of the bear then the polar bear ate him up and never bothered the city again because Jack was so delicious and filling. The end."
May rolled her eyes. "When I asked for you to tell me a story, I meant I wanted you to tell me a good story. Where's the love interest? Where's the rising climax and the conclusion? Where's the freakin' moral?"
"Touchy," Emma said crossing her arms. "And it had a moral." May crossed her arms and gave a 'oh yeah?' sort of look. "Sure…if you are a stupid farmer like Jack, you should always think of others before yourself. And don't do drugs."
"That's stupid. Tell a better story," May demanded. "Make it a good one."
"Okay, lemme just think how Jack dies in this one."
"No! Jack can't die because he is the handsome hero! Let me start. Once upon a time there was a handsome man named Jack. Jack was the apprentice to a black-smith, but he hated the boring life in his village. He knew he was destined for greater things. And those greater things would be?" She said looking at Emma expectantly.
Emma thought for a moment and at last said. "Jack wanted to be a musician and perform for the beautiful Princess. Well, he hadn't actually met her, but his good friend Charles the Songbird would sing on the Princess's window every morning and he said she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, even for a human." May's eyes were lost in the story and Emma could tell she liked this one better. "So Jack went off and bought himself a violin and took it to the palace and requested to play for the Princess and her father, the king. Jack took out his violin and played a song that sounded like cats being run over by two trains that were crashing into each other. The king couldn't stand it so he through poor Jack into the dungeon."
May's smile disappeared into a disapproving frown. She opened her mouth to say something, but Emma held up a finger and May stopped. "But the Princess felt sorry for Jack and came down to the dungeon every day to talk to him. They soon fell in love. When the king heard of this, he was outraged because he didn't want a commoner to marry his daughter. So he told Jack that he had to capture a pig with exactly 43 spots on it. But not just any 43 spotted pig, but one from the royal pig pen that that had no less than 246 pigs, all with spots. And if he didn't catch the pig in twenty minutes, he would have to give his life.
"Now, obviously the princess was quite upset. She didn't want to lose Jack, so that night she invited all her friends over and after they watched Miss Congeniality, they all went to the royal pig pen and painted exactly 43 spots on each one. So the next morning, when Jack caught not one pig that met the standards, but 246, the king had to let the princess marry Jack. Then they spent the rest of the day making out in one of the corridors. The end."
"Much better. I'd give it about a B minus considering you made it up on the spot." May said. "But you didn't say the name of the princess."
"Oh, you want to know her name? It was…"
"Oh, I already know the princess's name," May interrupted, trying to hold back giggles.
"What? What is it?"
"EMMA!" she shouted with a wide grin across her face.
Emma's mouth dropped open and she was at a lost for words. Well, several phrases came into her mind, such as I will kill you if you say that again or Jack is the stupidest, ugliest, guy I have ever met and I hope he shall soon curl up and die, but she seemed to have lost the ability to put words together. May just giggled. Finally, she said "I don't think so. No, I know that is totally wrong. I hate him! I absolutely, positively, undeniably, hate-"
Emma was interrupted as Barley opened the door with a wide grin on his face. "I got lucky at bingo night," he shouted dropping his coat on Emma. "Dr. Pepper anyone? My treat!"
"But it's your house…." Emma stated quietly.
Barley, not paying attention to Emma the slightest bit, sat his old bones down next to Emma on his moldy old couch. "Funny thing, I ran into Jack on the way back here. I swear I heard someone shouting his name, then your name Emma," he said turning to her. "Strange, eh?"
Emma and May exchanged glances. "Yeah, real strange," May said at last.
Emma sat up and headed towards the door. "Guess I better be getting back to the farm before Jack burns the house down. I'd be happy to baby-sit May anytime," She said with a smile as she grabbed her jacket and headed out the door.
As the door closed behind Emma, Barley patted his lap and May took a seat on it. "How's my little girl?" he asked kindly as he put a hand on her back.
"Fine, Grandpa. I had a lot of fun with Emma," she answered with a smile.
"Good, good." He returned her smile.
After a moment May looked at Barley and asked, "Where did Emma come from?"
Barley was silent for some time as he squirmed in his seat until at last he said uncomfortably, "May, when a man and a woman love each other much…"
May rolled her eyes. "No, Grandpa! I mean where she came from. She was just here all of a sudden."
Barley relaxed. "Oh." He thought for a moment then finally said, "I don't know…but I'm sure she doesn't like it nearly as much as here."
"Yes, I think she will be staying here a long time."
&&&&&
Emma felt the cool night air meet her face and wind run through her hair as she walked home down the brick path. She took her time, enjoying the quiet emptiness of the streets. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself to keep away the chill that the wind had brought. She turned behind her and saw through Barley's window that he was sitting on his couch with May on his lap. Emma smiled. It was so gosh darn-
A loud metal crash rang through the streets.
"Damn it!" Emma shouted as she clutched her throbbing head. "When the hell is Jack going to move that mailbox?" She cursed under her breath for a moment, then noticed Jack inside his house and remembered what she was supposed to be doing, which involved being quiet and not swearing at the top of her lungs.
She jumped to the ground and began to crawl as quietly as she could to Jack's front door. She would have walked normally, but she couldn't risk him noticing her through his window. Plus she felt all "commando" when she was doing the army crawl. When she reached his door, she took the letter she had written out of her pocket. It was all crumpled so she flattened it out the best she could before she slipped it under the door and into Jack's house. She rang the door bell, and turned into the dog that had been causing so much trouble (and would be causing more) and after grabbing her clothes in her mouth ducked into the nearest bush.
She was not a moment to soon as Jack stepped out of his house with the letter in his hand just as the tip of her tail followed her into the bush. Jack looked around trying to find out who left the note, but the farm was empty. He shrugged and turned the letter right-side-up and began to read it out loud. "Hey Jack, this note is from Karen. Let's go to the Spring Festival together! As you know, it's tomorrow at 6:00. Meet me there, okay? PS: Don't forget it's a costume party!"
He looked at the not again. "Costume party?" he said with a wide grin. He ran inside and shut the door behind, Emma guessing he had big plans for this "costume party". Hannah jumped out of the bush and shook all the leaves off of her. She wanted to try and get a look at what Jack's costume was going to be, but she decided it would be more fun if it was a surprise.
The dog opened the barn door with her paw and crawled inside. It wasn't late, but she felt tired enough to go to bed. Besides, the sooner she went to bed, the sooner tomorrow would come when she would watch her plan unfold. She rolled onto her back contently and closed her eyes and dreamed of the look on Jack's face when he found out he was the only one who 'remembered' his costume.
&&&&
Emma did the morning chores with such speed and joy, that Jack knew that something was up. But he couldn't seem to get a strait answer out of her. She could always think of replies that answered him enough that he couldn't ask again, but didn't actually tell him anything. At lunch while they sat under a shady tree and ate cucumber sandwiches, he tried again.
"Emma," he began, "you seem so happy today. What's up?" He took another bite of his lunch and waited for her answer, however vague it most likely was.
"I think your bright attitude is rubbing on to me," she answered.
"Seriously, why are you so happy?" Emma is not a happy person. Something is wrong. He wanted to find out, and he wanted to find out now.
"I just know today is a good day," she said as she lay down on her back and closed her eyes. "At least for me…" she added.
Jack let out an irritated sigh. "I guess you just won't tell me what it is making you act so…so not you." He got up and stretched then gathered the plates they had been using. "If you aren't going to tell, then I better get started on those dishes. We need to get a move on on the rest of the chores. We don't want to be late for the festival."
Emma sat up and said with a knowing smirk, "No, we most certainly do not."
At a quarter past six, Jack was late, but not because he had to finish farm chores. He was late because his costume was not too easy to put on in a cramped house with many things to trip on and no one to help him. When he thought he was ready, it turned out he had his whole costume on back wards and he had to redo it. Then his dog stole his wig and he had to chase him all around the farm to get it back. To make a long story short, he might be there a while.
But Emma didn't know that Jack was having wardrobe difficulties and was becoming more anxious as the minutes passed. She stood alone in a long brown skirt and a white shirt looking anxiously at the clock every five seconds.
She seemed to be the only person that was not enjoying the party. Everyone else was talking together, smiling, and eating. Rose Square had been decorated with paper lanterns and brightly colored table cloths, an exciting change from the simple look that usually clung to it. The place was incredibly noisy, not only from enthusiastic voices, but also from the music being blasted out of speakers next to the large stage on one side of the brick area.
Emma was beginning to consider forgetting about Jack. If he was coming, wouldn't he be here already? A sudden rush of panic came over Emma. What if he found out the note was a fake? He didn't say anything to her, but they hadn't really talked much this afternoon. She swallowed the large lump in her throat. Thinking about it wouldn't do any good, she thought. She should do something; perhaps join in one of the noisy conversations.
But Emma missed her chance. The whole party silenced. The crowd was staring and Emma turned to see what it was that had captured the interest of the entire party. Jack stood in the entrance looking very frightened dressed in an amazingly accurate Kabuki costume. His face was painted white with red around his mouth and above his eyes and other parts of his face making him look quite frightening. On his feet were wajari sandals about 5 inches tall. His robe was decorated in a masculine design and tucked into a maroon sash was the scabbard of a fake sword. And on his head he wore a large black wig that made him look three inches taller. It was obvious that he had spent many hours on this costume.
No one spoke for a good minute. Several people coughed, but no one said a word. All were too in aw to do much of anything. Jack's eyes glazed over the crowd until he spotted Karen and he walked over to her with as much confidence as he could manage. The eyes of the crowd followed him waiting to see what would happen.
He coughed then quietly Jack said to Karen "Uh, hey. You want some punch?"
Karen seemed to be having a hard time deciding whether to try and say no politely or just walk away. Or possibly smack him before he touched her. With a confused face that was trying to twist into a smile, she answered "Err, sorry I have to go now. Bye." She turned and left as quickly as she could without it showing that she was trying to get away.
Jack looked back at the audience who tried to act like they hadn't been watching him, but it was obvious they had heard every word of him being ditched by Karen. He tried to make himself smaller and less noticeable, but it was rather difficult with the costume he was wearing. Normally when Jack was embarrassed, he would try to laugh it off, make it seem like it was nothing. But right now he didn't think he could. So instead he left with one look at a blonde haired girl who seemed quite please with herself.
A/N: I got a review from water shard saying make it more fluffy and I know this chapter had little fluff. Don't worry, there will be enough emotion and stuff later to make up for the lack of it now.
