Chapter 10- Annoyance

It was warm that day, warmer than it had been the entire year. The breeze shook the tree leaves and the clothes on the line. The sun had shone brightly on everything earlier that day, but now it was calming into its late afternoon shine. But all was not calm at the moment.

There had been another tense week of hiding out in the dark room of the loft. The night he returned from his rough ride, he wasn't even allowed to remain sleeping when he dozed off at the kitchen table. Jamie understood this, of course. It would have been dangerous if we were found there, in the off chance the German soldiers returned. But, admittedly, there had been a moment of extreme bitterness towards Grandpére when Jamie had been shaken awake by the old man.

But that week had ended, and he was freed into the sun once again.

All signs that the bushes and vines ever held any sort of fruit or the ground any vegetables were non-existent. The farm had, once again, been striped clean of any produce. The jam shelves were once more empty, though there seemed to be new jars already taking their places.

Emilie had fit her first proper ride in, and then would not stop. Every chance she could, she was atop Joey in his newly polished saddle. It was a great effort to get Emilie to do anything else than care for the horses. A small, sad frown would grace her lips whenever she was denied a ride. And today was one of those days, for it was simply too hot for all the horses to be cantering around and jumping logs.

It was these days that the horses were left to graze peacefully, which was a bit more effort than usual grazing. This was because, unlike everywhere else Jamie had ever set horses out to graze, this farm had no fenced-in fields. There was a small, grey stone wall that ran along the side of the road, but no more than that. So instead of being let free to eat the now lush green grass, Joey and Topthorn were hooked up in halters with long ropes attached, and then tied to trees in the meadow. Maybell, however, was just dressed up in a halter of her own and simply let out of the barn. This didn't surprise Jamie at all, for the little horse was obedient.

That had been in the morning, and they had been left there the entire day while the chores were completed and a brief, harmless hay fight with Emilie (which was great fun, in Jamie's opinion). At the end of the day, Joey and Topthorn were untied from their trees (the grass in a circle around the trees had been eaten down to the dirt) and taken back to their stalls.

But then the calmness that had weaved its way around the day's activities drained quickly at that moment. It had been Maybell (Jamie found it fitting) that shattered the peace. Her obedience slipped as her Mistress came to fetch her to take back to the barn.

Marie had whistled for Maybell to come, but the little horse did not move her feet. She raised her head from the ground to look at her mistress, large dark eyes staring for a moment, before her pale head dropped down again. Her jaw stared to move again, showing both Jamie and Marie that she was not coming over to them.

And then the war began. Jamie glanced to Marie, noticing the woman's jaw set in determination. The brunette marched towards the little horse. Jamie followed closely behind with a much less brave stride than the woman before him. He was not going to lie to himself; Maybell terrified him. The little horse looked like the perfect little girl's pony from a far, with her pretty pale coat, wide eyes, pricked ears and pink nostrils. But if one got too close, the eyes grew viciously dark, the ears pressed back against her skull and the nostrils flared and turned red. She looked like a small, white demotic horse, in short.

But Marie continued to march towards the little beast, starting to hunch slightly in preparation to grab at Maybell's halter as she fed. Except, as the woman bent to grab the cheek strap of Maybell's halter, the little horse threw her head up in a flurry of flying mane strands and loud snorts. Her head slammed straight into Marie's gut, pushing the woman over with a grunt from both parties. Maybell trotted off towards the tree line, but Jamie was not paying attention to the little, trouble making horse. Instead, he was paying attention to Marie, who was now on her side on the ground and clutching her stomach where Maybell had struck her.

Jamie wasn't sure what to do to comfort her. Jamie had never dealt with such an attack from a horse, nor had he ever needed to comfort a pained Marie. So he treated her like he would any other person. So he crouched down beside her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder and gave it a gentle pat. A low groan was escaping Marie's mouth in an endless stream that didn't seem like it was going to end anytime soon. Then it ended with a grumble in hurried French words (swears, presumably).

"Are you alright, Miss Marie?" Jamie spoke quietly to her and placed his hand on her elbow to help her to sit up. Marie gasped for breath a moment, bowing her head with her arms still around her stomach, and he could see her grimace through her curtain of hair. Then she raised her head slightly, just enough for her vicious glare directed at Maybell to be seen by Jamie. She spoke, though it sounded much like a growl. "Je vais tuer ce maudit cheval."

Jamie had been here long enough to begin to grasp the basics of the French language. He knew the 'Cheval' was the word for horse, and maybe 'Je vais' meant something like 'I go', but the rest of the sentence was lost on him. He doubted what she said was all that nice, though.

Marie suddenly grabbed onto Jamie's arm and pulled herself up with a big 'humph', almost dragging Jamie down to the ground.

She was off again, brown skirt streaming out behind her. She stomped her way towards Maybell, perhaps thinking that the little white horse would be frightened into submission. But Maybell saw her coming and was most defiantly not afraid. She simply picked her head up and cantered off.

She stopped by Jamie, in fact. He carefully walked forward, treading much more calmly than Marie had, think perhaps she had just been spooked. The horse's head had just dropped to graze once more when he reached for her nose band. Just as he was about to grasp the leather, Maybell snapped her head to the side. Her eyes wide and wild, and her teeth made a loud click as Jamie just managed to swipe his hand to avoid a nip.

Then it seemed to be a game to the horse. A dance, perhaps. For the little horse darted around, dodging all attempts to be captured and dragged back to her stall in the barn. Marie and Jamie played along, chasing after the little mare around the open meadow behind the hill. But nothing worked. Maybell was quick on her small hooves, jumping around to avoid either of the reaching pairs of hands.

Maybell began to graze once more, chewing happily on the long grass that was there. Jamie was bent over, hands on his knees and gasping for breath. This was tiring, yet Maybell did not show any signs of coming to either of them. Jamie looked up, and locked eyes with Marie across the horse's back. She stared at him a moment before her eyes darted to Maybell than back to him. Jamie understood.

They both crept forward. Maybell kept munching away, not seeming to notice them (she never looked like she noticed them until they were in biting distance). Both Jamie and Marie bent down right near the ground now, and they looked at each other again through the space behind the little horse's neck. Marie nodded once, and they both leaped forward.

Maybell's jumped back and threw her head up, ears back and eyes wide. She pranced once with high steps before spinning around quickly and cantered off towards the tree line once more. Jamie and Marie rammed straight into each other, heads banging together. They both cried out and began clutching their foreheads.

Onlookers would have found the pair of them ridiculous. Marie and Jamie were both on their knees in a grassy field, clutching their heads and wincing. They both remained there, groaning, for quite some time.

Jamie looked at Marie. Her mouth was twisted in pain and her eyes were screwed tightly shut. When Jamie spotted the blotch on her forehead, he could not help but laugh. Marie's eye snapped open, already glaring at him, but it was half hearted and covered in pain. She was still tenderly rubbing her forehead. Jamie swallowed the last of his chuckles and explained himself.

"There is a large red mark on your head, Marie." And there was. There was a large, red blotch was smack bam in the middle of her forehead. Marie stopped glaring at him then and stared at him with a slack face. Then, after a moment, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Do I?" She asked. She began to feel around on her head. Then she giggled. And giggled a bit more. She was feeling a sudden, slightly painful head rush. It made her giggle some more. She moved her hand from her head and pointed to Jamie's own forehead. She spoke, voice uncharacteristically bubbly and light. "You 'ave one too!"

He was laughing again now, joining Marie's girly giggles. "Yours is quite large."

"Oh?" Her voice was still light.

"Yes, Marie." He reached a hand out and traced the mark. "This large."

"Yourz iz large too." She also reached an arm out and traced the mark on Jamie's own forehead.

This is when they came back to themselves. Marie's head rush turned into a light thumping against her abused head. The stopped laughing and paused suddenly. They were there, on their knees in a meadow, softly touching each other's faces. They just looked at each other. Jamie's finger was still tracing the quickly fading mark on her head. They didn't move apart. Jamie could not help but noticing how smooth and warm Marie's fingertip felt against his forehead.

It was Maybell that finally broke them apart. Her head darted in between the two of them, breaking their arms from each other's faces and quickly pulled a little thistle from it stem. Marie was on the little horse in an instant, face now creased with anger as her had shot out and grabbed Maybell's nose band. Harsh, French grumbles streamed swiftly out of the little woman's mouth. She hauled herself to her feet and pulled the white horse harshly towards the farm.

Jamie though that Marie had already been distracted by a more pressing matter than the issue with the face touching. She seemed normal and confident as she walked up the hill, one hand holding up her skirt slightly to keep up with the little horse trotting lazily beside her. But he could not see her face. He could not tell that she was quickly fleeing up and over the hill so he would not see her blush that was blossoming on her cheeks.

*00*

To thee I present that shortest and crappiest chapter yet. YAY!

It is Halloween soon, and it's time for me to Steampunk up.

Been writing this while watching 'Ancient Behaving Badly'. Don't know why I have presented you with this information, but here, you can have it anyway. Also just watched the 'Terror at the Mall' documentary on youtube for the bjillionth time.

I shall ask everyone for the hundredth time: How is your day?

(Update: Terror at the Mall is no longer on youtube.)