Chapter Two: Of Chicken, Peas, and Pirates

"Dad? Daaad?" A voice called out to him the next afternoon.

Will groaned and rolled over to the opposite side.

Alaina rolled her eyes in annoyance and began to shake him. "If you don't want to miss lunch, I suggest you get up," she warned her father with a grin.

Will immediately sat up and opened his eyes to be greeted by the bright afternoon sun. He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked over to see Alaina, already with stains and wrinkles on her dress. "What time is it?" he asked sleepily.

"Uhh, one," she replied, having to look over at the clock on the mantle.

Will fell back onto the bed and sighed. He couldn't believe that it was past noon; he had just closed his eyes!

Alaina looked at her father with unseen pity. She knew he hardly slept, even now. "I'll save some for you later," she told him, going over and shutting the heavy drapes on the windows.

Will gratefully accepted his daughter's idea.

"Sorry I woke you," Alaina apologized, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Will shrugged and smiled at her. He knew she was always trying to make up for her mother and appreciated the things she did for him.

"Alaina," he said suddenly as she was about to close the door. Alaina popped her dark head back in and looked at him. "Thank you," he told her, and she gave him a bright smile and closed the door.

Immediately Will fell back to sleep.

Alaina hummed to herself as she walked down the stairs and into the dining room to find her brothers mock dueling each other with forks. Alaina immediately joined the fun by picking up her father's unused spoon and sending a pea flying at them.

"We're being attacked!" James said suddenly as the pea landed in his glass.

"Aye! And by none other than the sister!" Jack affirmed as Alaina took her seat across from them.



"Dad's not coming down?" James asked, not hearing his usual footsteps down the stairs.

"No, he's tired," Alaina told him, stabbing at the chicken that was on her plate.

"Oh," the twins said in unison, both expressing their disappointment.

"I'm sure he'll be up by dinner though," Alaina said, picking up her glass.

The boys' faces began to glow as she took a sip of her drink. Immediately she began to choke at the vile liquid that she swallowed. The boys were grinning from ear to ear as she fell out of her chair coughing.

"What did you—put in—that?" Alaina asked in-between gasps for breath.

"Oh just some coffee, a little tea, some sugar, a little orange and apple juice, a few lemons, and water. Why, is it bad?" Jack asked, standing up on his chair so he could see his sister.

"Its disgusting!" she cried out suddenly, getting back up and flinging peas at them.

"Abandon ship! Abandon ship!" Jack cried, scrambling off the chair and onto the floor.

James immediately followed and soon the dining room became a war zone as peas flew from one end of the table to the next.

"Captain we're almost out of ammo!" James cried out in alarm.

"Prepare to surrender!" Alaina said from behind the tablecloth.

"Never will I surrender to the likes of you!" Jack cried, grabbing a handful of food from his plate and springing up from behind the table.

Alaina, at the second, got up with some more peas in her spoon ready to fling at them, but instead was met with fistfuls of mash potatoes, gravy, peas, and chicken as Jack and James both emptied their plates onto their sister. Alaina threw up her hands trying to block it off from getting in her face as the twins scrambled once again onto their chairs throwing fist after fist after fistful of food at her.

"Do you surrender?" Alaina asked in the mists of her laughter.

"Ha! It is you who shall surrender to us!" Jack cried, then suddenly realized he had no more food left.

"Uh oh," he and James said at the same time, looking at one another, and then at Alaina who was covered from head to toe in food.

Alaina suppressed a giggle as she picked up her plate full of food. Alaina immediately flung her food at them and they tried to block it with their plates, but it was pointless, for Alaina was moving closer to them and managed to get Jack in a headlock position. "Do you surrender, Captain Turner?" she asked playfully, knowing what his reply would be.

"Never!" he cried proudly, then looked over at his twin who had backed away. "Come and help me, you confounded idiot!" Jack cried to his brother.

"Sorry Captain, just following the code." James said with pity written all over his face. "What? I'm your brother, your twin, your captain, one of those ought to save me."

James shrugged and shook his head. "Sorry, I'm not nearly as bold as to challenge Alaina."

"What?" Jack asked in horror, looking at his brother then at his sister who was grinning at him.

"We can stop this all now if you just surrender," Alaina told him sweetly. "Never! I will have peas running out of my ears before I surrender to you!" Jack yelled, and Alaina dumped her entire plate on him and rubbed it into his hair; then she began to tickle him.

"I surrender! I surrender!" Jack laughed, trying to squirm out of her grasp.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you?" Alaina asked, winking at James.

"I surrender!" he cried out again.

James began to giggle at the sight. Alaina was in the process of putting peas in Jack's ears when Mrs. Bates came in.

"Holy St. Francis!" she cried, dropping the plate of cookies she had had in her hands.

All three of them stopped dead in their tracks as Mrs. Bates looked at the dining room in horror.

"What have you done?" She cried out seeing the walls, carpet and chairs covered in what had been their lunch. "Alaina, let him go." Mrs. Bates commanded, and Alaina did what she was told.

"Mrs. Bates we're really sorry," James said, looking at the woman with large green eyes.

"We'll clean it up, I promise," Jack said, beginning to pick up some of the peas on the table and putting them back on a plate.

"Go outside, boys," Mrs. Bates commanded, and the boys obeyed, but slowed down their pace once they got into the kitchen so they could hear what was going to happen.

"Alaina Marie Elizabeth Turner, just what were you doing?" Mrs. Bates demanded to know after the boys left. Alaina's face turned red at the sound of her full name. "You're sixteen and far too old to be doing these sort of things. I expect them from your brothers but not from you. You're a lady now and should act like one even if you're in no one else's company but your own."

Alaina's brown eyes began to fill with tears.

The boys stood in the kitchen doorway with their mouths open. They were still getting over her being called by her full name. As the yelling went on Jack motioned for them to go outside.

"I hope she doesn't get in too much trouble," James said as they sat down on the back porch steps.

"I know," Jack agreed, picking the peas out of his ear.

"What does Mrs. Bates mean by Alaina's sixteen?" James wondered aloud as they could still hear the muffled shouting.

"I think she means Alaina's supposed to grow up," Jack said after a minute.

"I hope not; Alaina's fun."

Jack nodded his head; then their ears both perked as another voice began shouting.

"I don't care to grow up Mrs. Bates! I don't care to be a lady and do such any nonsense! I will act how I feel like acting and not have to explain myself to anyone! Especially you!" Alaina screamed, her mind not being able to take it anymore. Mrs. Bates stood in awe as Alaina continued to scream at her. "How dare you tell me that my brothers are ill behaved! Or how I don't act how a woman's supposed to." Alaina paused and caught her breath. "And how dare you even suggest that my mother didn't do a fine enough job on me because she didn't ship me off to some damn school!"

With the last word in Alaina ran out of the dining room, up the stairs and into the security of her own room. Shutting the door quickly but quietly, so not to wake her father, she locked it and sank to the floor in tears and sobs.



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