Chapter 14
It was hours later when the wave of relaxation finally subsided rather suddenly.
"Hannibal!" he cried.
I jumped in my seat and looked around for what he was talking about. "Hannibal?" I asked, confused, recovering slightly.
A green road sign came into sight, Hannibal, four miles. I gave Jasper a confused look.
"Hannibal!" he repeated. "Bella, don't tell me you don't know about Hannibal," he said, looking at me expectantly.
"Um…" I murmured, trailing off, trying to remember its significance. Perhaps it was a famous sight of the Civil War? Maybe a president was born here?
"Hannibal is the childhood home of Mark Twain. He based the setting of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and of Huckleberry Finn on this town," Jasper exclaimed with a gleam in his eyes. "You're such a bookworm I would have thought you'd know that."
"That sounds familiar," I said, struggling to recall the high school English class where Mark Twain had been taught, but that, like so many other memories, had become blurred since I'd been changed.
"Familiar! I'm shocked Bella," he said teasingly.
"Unlike you, I've only been through high school once, and that was as a human. I can't clearly recall some of the most significant events in my life as a human, let alone the mundane ones like a high school English class," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Well you're about to get an education. We're stopping," he said, turning the wheel sharply.
I flinched as Jasper narrowly squeezed past several cars and one tractor trailer as cut across two lanes of traffic and went barreling down the exit ramp.
We veered onto Mark Twain Avenue, and as we broke through a cluster of trees a bright light illuminated the sky, and then dimmed.
"What on earth…" I said, leaning forward. "It's a lighthouse."
"It's for boats on the Mississippi River," his southern drawl usually very subtle was drawn out in his pronunciation of 'Muhssuhssippeh Rivuh.'
"And here I thought it was for the Atlantic Ocean," I said sarcastically, smirking.
Jasper grinned over at me, shrugged good naturedly, and shook his head.
We passed a sign that read, 'Downtown Hannibal,' a gross overstatement for the sleepy town. Jasper paused at the traffic signal before turning. About a quarter mile away were two silver strips of metal, railroad tracks, and just beyond the tracks lay the river. The moon reflected off the lapping waves of the river, giving it a pale, mysterious glow. Little else bore light in the town, save a few streetlamps and traffic lights, as we turned onto what appeared to be the main drag. Old brick buildings crowded the streets, some antique stores, a few restaurants, and a drugstore or two. It was all rather picturesque, as if taken out of a copy of Life Magazine from the 1950s. All the windows were darkened, and the streets were empty and quiet. A block ahead there stood a large, ornate sign, painted green with gold and red lettering, boldly declaring, "Hannibal: America's Hometown." Beneath it stood large map denoting several points of interest nearby.
Jasper pulled up to the curb and got out of the car, practically running to the sign.
I was slightly daunted by his display. I'd never seen him so excited about anything that didn't involve Alice. His giddiness was so apparent he was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
I leaned over and turned the car off, then got out and joined him. I looked into his face; boyish glee had taken the place of the often stoic, determined expression he usually wore. I bit my lip to hide a grin as Jasper pointed to the map.
"There's Huckleberry Finn's house, and Becky Thatcher's house, Judge Clemens' law office, and then the Clemens' house, with Tom Sawyer's whitewashing fence, and then a statue of Huck and Tom," Jasper said in one rapid phrase, his finger jabbing at each of the sights. "Isn't this great?" he asked excitedly, spinning around and taking a few steps towards the curb and looking down the street longingly.
I watched him, completely amused, swallowing back a chuckle.
"What?" he asked, turning around after a moment to face me and noticing my expression.
"I'm not making fun of you," I said, seeing a guarded look return to his eyes. "I just never realized you were such a fan of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer," I said, a smile now playing at the corners of my lips, threatening to give way any moment now into a grin.
"Well it's not just Tom and Huck," he said, speaking as if they were old friends of his, "It's everything Mark Twain's written, it's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," it's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," it's his travel logs! They're just terrific. But I guess especially Tom and Huck. They always sparked my imagination, even reminded me of home a bit. I guess being here makes my heroes come alive," he said breathlessly.
The smile blossomed on my lips. I couldn't contain my amusement any longer. Seeing Jasper so excited, so exuberant made me feel so happy for him, his joy was almost contagious.
"So would you like to walk around and look at these places?" I suggested.
Jasper's eyes lit up. "Oh absolutely," he said, grinning. "You don't mind?"
"Jasper, no I don't mind! You only made a dream come true for me by taking me horseback riding, of course I want you to look around!" I said incredulously.
"Alright, well according to this map, if we go one block south, we'll hit all the major sights," he said, tracing a finger over the map. He paused for a moment and turned to me, "Unless you want to see the birthplace of the 'Unsinkable Molly Brown,' in which case we'll need to double back," he said looking over his shoulder.
"No, I don't think I need to see that," I chuckled.
"Show a little more respect, she did survive the Titanic," he said mockingly.
"Oh and I'm quite sure you have vivid memories of that event," I said, nudging him in the ribs with my elbow.
Jasper winced in feigned pain, and rubbed his side as we turned and started walking south. "Did you give Edward this hard a time about his age?"
I pursed my lips for a moment and then gave a wistful smile. "No, I guess I didn't really tease him that much in general. I think I was afraid if I hit a sore spot he'd get his feelings hurt and might up and disappear or something."
"Edward was a delicate flower, most assuredly, but I think he certainly deserves a bit more credit than you give him. Emmett had a good seven decades worth of making fun of him. Even I got in six, and he never disappeared on us."
"Maybe I was the delicate flower then, up to a certain point I was convinced he was going to just be gone one day," I said, slipping my hands into my pockets.
"What was that certain point?" he asked, his brow furrowing.
"When we got married," I said matter-of-factly.
"Ah," he said, looking down at his feet then back up at the street.
A moment later our first attraction came up on our left. "Oh this is so great!" Jasper cried, spying the bronze statue of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He scrambled up the pedestal and stood between the two.
"I wish I had my camera," I said chuckling, as Jasper stuck out his chin, crossed his arms, and leaned back against Tom Sawyer.
"You know I always wanted to be like Huck Finn," he said, jumping down.
"Why do I have no trouble believing that?" I said smirking.
"Probably because you've seen too many Tom Sawyer's in your life to know that I could never be a Tom," he said, flashing a grin. He feigned a sneeze that sounded very much like, "Newton!"
On one side of the street was Becky Thatcher's house, on the other stood Huckleberry Finn's house. Jasper scrambled up to the porches and peered through each of the windows, taking in everything, commenting here and excitedly giving explanations and references concerning the novels. All the while I enjoyed taking in the sights, but more so I enjoyed watching Jasper. Clearly this was his Disney World, and I was more than happy to oblige him as he chattered on about the world St. Petersburg.
Towards the corner there stood a tall fence with alternating patches of white paint and bare wood running the length of the fence. Jasper practically skipped across the street, running his hand across the wood.
"Tom Sawyer's fence," he said eagerly.
"Probably my favorite part of that book, Tom convinces local, gullible children to do his work."
"Definitely a great moment in literature," he said, nodding in agreement.
Adjoined to the fence was a dark grey house with a sign in the window that read, 'Gift shop,' and immediately past that a sign proudly marked the "The Boyhood Home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens." Jasper stood, staring up at the house in awe.
The house was a tidy looking, two story building with white siding, and brick steps leading up to a dark green door. On either side of the door was a window. On the second floor there were three additional windows, deeply set into the house. Each of these had a window box filled with winter-blooming pansies.
I followed Jasper up to the first floor windows, looking into each of them. Each of the rooms featured what one might expect to find in such a place; furniture and personal effects of the Clemens family, items of particular significance including books, portraits of the family, even a baby's blanket which the above it noted was used for each of the Clemens children.
Jasper backed away from the house and stared up at the second story intently. "Let's climb up there," he said enthusiastically.
"Jasper, I don't know about that," I said hesitantly. Looking into first floor windows was all well and good, even climbing over the statue could easily be explained and with some effort possibly excused by the local police, but scaling the second floor with no apparent place for us to climb seemed risky, not to mention highly illegal. "It's trespassing," I frowned.
"Oh come on Bella, it's not like you've never trespassed before. Besides, I'm not going to break in, I just want to get a better look," he said, giving me a pleading look.
My resolve was weakening, but it wasn't because he was influencing my emotions, simply put, I didn't want Jasper to be disappointed.
"Fine," I caved.
"Alright!" he crowed.
"Hush!" I clucked. "We don't exactly want to be attracting attention to ourselves while we're doing this."
Jasper gave me a sheepish look then took a step away from the building. He crouched low and vaulted himself upwards, landing soundlessly on the far left second floor window.
"Come on Bella!" he hissed, reaching his hand out to catch me.
I objected to his underestimating my ability to jump up that high, and feeling insolent, raised an eyebrow at him before I sprang into the air. I turned midair and caught the gutter and pulled myself up onto the roof and leaned down so that I hung upside down, clutching the gutter between my bent knees.
Jasper's jaw dropped for a split second, but he quickly snapped it shut, his teeth clicking as he did so.
"I thought we weren't trying to attract any attention to ourselves," he said in a sly voice.
I balanced myself as I turned my head to get a better look at him. "I thought you wanted a better look," I retorted.
"You look like a bat," he snorted.
"You look like jailbird, trespasser," I said, leaning forward and peering into the room. More personal effects, except this room included a bed and several mannequins wearing period clothing.
Jasper leaned forward as well, a grin having replaced his smirk. "It's just so amazing to imagine that Mark Twain was once here, that he actually grew up in this house, walked these floors, even looked through these very windows. Though," he said pausing, "I very much doubt he looked through them in quite the same manner in which we are," he said, glancing up at me.
I rolled my eyes, which I discovered was an extremely disorienting thing to do when hanging upside down. "So what's your fascination with Mark Twain?" I asked, blinking hard in order to regain my bearings.
"Most of my favorite novels of his were published after I was changed, but being in Monterrey, and being a young vampire, reading wasn't high on the list of priorities. In fact it was only by chance that I read his books at all. I found a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer when I was riding a train cross country. I had left Peter and Charlotte's company and felt drawn to the east coast. I was feeling rather miserable and lonely, not to mention a little homesick for a home I could never return to, so to pass the time I stayed in my cabin and read the book, over and over again. It kept me from encountering a human in one of the cramped corridors, and it gave me something in which I could completely lose myself."
"Do you still feel homesick?"
Jasper sighed and frowned thoughtfully. "Since everyone I ever knew and virtually any trace of the farm I grew up on was gone, not as much. That's where I envy you," he said, staring down at me.
"Envy me?" I said, pulling my hair out of my face.
"You still get to see Charlie and Renee. I never saw my parents again after I left to join the army when I was seventeen. You're very fortunate in that sense, lucky that the circumstances of your change allow you that ability."
"Yeah…" my voice trailed off. I looked away, suddenly feeling very guilty. "I probably should call Charlie. I have no idea what Carlisle will have told him about all of this."
Jasper jumped over to the next window sill, careful to spare the flowers in the window box.
I flipped myself so the world returned to being right side up, and climbed hand over hand across the gutter to the next window and dropped down next to Jasper.
"I'd like to have seen you do that when you were human," he said, chuckling.
"Oh, I'd have died," I said with confidence.
"Probably," he said, laughing. His smile faded, his face going serious. "So what are you going to tell Charlie? I mean, when you call him."
"Well," I said, turning away from the window and leaning against the glass. "I guess I'll say I'm taking some time away from Forks so I can think."
"Is that what they told him about me?" he asked, leaning on one elbow against the window's frame.
"Basically."
"Huh," he chuckled once. "What if he tries to convince you to come home?" he asked casually.
I felt a faint trickling feeling of anxiety and worry. For some reason it made me happy to know Jasper was worried that I might leave, as if he'd miss me.
"He can try," I said, looking out over the rooftops of the businesses that lined the streets and to the rows houses that ran along the next street over. "But it's not going to work," I added, meeting his eyes.
"No?" he asked, his brow pulled together in worry.
"Nah," I said, grinning, still looking out over the town.
I watched Jasper out of the corner of my eye. He wrinkled his forehead then relaxed into a small, relieved smile. Was that a look of satisfaction? I wondered, but said nothing.
Jasper turned and leapt to the last window sill, peering in. "His writing desk is in here," he commented.
"Really?" I asked, looking over with interest.
"No, I'm lying," he replied.
I rolled my eyes and leapt to the next window. My foot slipped off the ledge, I tried to catch myself, only managing to successfully trounce the flowers in the window box. I was still falling, stumbling forward, with nowhere to go, but to the ground below.
Jasper's arm snaked around my waist and caught me, keeping me from falling. He lifted me off my feet, and pulled me back over the ledge. "Clumsy vampire," he snickered.
"Thank you," I said sheepishly.
I stretched my toes to touch the wood, but it was just out of my reach, as I hovered over the window sill. Jasper made no effort to put me down. "You can put me down now," I said, grunting as I tried to wriggle away. "I can stand on my own two feet," I whined.
"I don't know," he replied teasingly. "Can you?"
"Jasper!" I protested.
"I swear Bella, you are the only clumsy vampire I've ever met. Hey, maybe that's your special ability," he suggested, tightening his hold around my ribs to keep me from getting away, and pulling my back against his body.
"Don't think I can't get out of this hold, Jasper Whitlock Hale," I snarled through gritted teeth.
"Oh I have no doubt that you could, but we wouldn't want to damage a historical monument for American literature," he said, slipping an arm behind my knees and sweeping me completely into his arms, my back pressed against his chest.
"Yeah, it's true, but you're forgetting something Jasper," I replied darkly, grinning evilly.
"What's that?" he challenged.
"I prefer British literature!" I growled, throwing my shoulders back and kicking my legs forward as hard as I could. I used the momentum of pushing off his chest to throw myself backwards, and the swing of my legs to flip me upwards. I landed in a crouch on the roof a few feet above.
I smirked down at him as I casually pulled a few strands of hair out of my eyes.
"You're amazing," he breathed, putting a hand behind his head and rubbing his neck.
"Me?" I asked, with a small laugh. "Why?"
"Because one minute you can be completely inept and helpless, and the next be utterly intimidating in your strength and the epitome of grace," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's a bit disorienting at worst and absolutely amazing at best."
I gave a sheepish smile and crept forward to the edge of the roof, leaning onto the gutter. "Thank you," I said feeling the ghostly echo of a blush in my cheeks.
He chuckled, and then glanced around him, before looking back at me.
"You know, I must admit, not in a century, not in a dozen, would I have ever though I would be on the roof of Mark Twain's house with you of all people."
'With me of all people'? It almost sounded like he would have rather been there with someone else. I sadly acknowledged to myself that it was probable that he would have much rather had the company of Alice, if he had the option. I leaned back slightly, feeling self conscious.
"It's not a bad thing, at all," Jasper said, reading my emotions. "I'm really happy we're here."
"Well I definitely didn't imagine this a year ago, hell, even a month ago that I'd be anywhere but in Forks," I said, leaning back down. "It's so hard to know where life's road will lead us."
Jasper crossed his arms and pulled himself up by his elbows onto the roof, letting his feet dangle over the ledge.
"And what about after now, now that you're here? Where do you see this road leading us?" he asked, tilting his face towards me, his eyes searching mine.
I caught myself leaning forward as well. We were at eyelevel and so close I could feel his breath rustle the flyaway strands of hair framing my face. His breath was so warm, his scent enveloped me. My vision went hazy, as if I were standing in a fog. In that moment I felt the strangest draw to him.
After a minute I realized he was looking at me expectantly.
I blinked away the fog, feeling slightly dazed, and my vision became sharpened and more focused. "Well I guess if things continue with this unpredictable pattern, I can't begin to guess where we'll end up," I answered finally, leaning back and sitting on my heels.
Jasper kept his eyes locked on mine for a moment before he lowered himself back onto the window sill.
Suddenly a sound from the street below caught our attention. Our heads snapped in the direction of a car turning the corner and coming to a stop.
"Hang on Stu. I think I've got some teenagers trespassing at the Clemens' house," said a gruff man within the Marion County Sheriff's cruiser.