A/N I want to thank everyone who responded to the casting call. I'll be
sending out e-mails to the other five girls tomorrow. To the other girls
who weren't chosen I'm sorry, all of the profiles were good and it was a
hard choice but I think I found the girls that are going to work the best
for my story. I hope everyone sticks around to see where this is going, I
hope that I give you all a good ride.
It had been two months since Jack and the guys had placed the ads, the house had only gotten dirtier and the guys were even more tired of their limited selection of food and entertainment. They were all waiting anxiously for the replies to their ad, but nothing was coming in. Denton had fronted the cost for running the ad in all three of the large city papers, and after making a few changes to the ad, including coming up with a fictional company to be running the ads.
Spot had been the one selected to go into Bloomington that morning, he took the last few months' worth of animal skins with him. He walked into the general store and put the skins down. "Hey Harvey how's life going in town?"
"Not bad Conlon, hey the missus got a few letters for your place from New York." Harvey Jackson said as he began weighing the skins.
"A few letters? I'll get those why you finish up here." Spot said trying not to rush to the mail counter.
"So Mr. Conlon, I see you got quite a few letters for your place. Are they from a few of you boys' sweethearts?" Mrs. Jackson asked as she handed him the stack of letters, eager for any new gossip.
"I am not sure ma'am, I haven't read them yet." Spot said as he leafed through the letters, one was from David, probably gripping about his family. Another was for Jack from Medda, but the last three were addressed to Jack Frances. He smiled charmingly to Mrs. Jackson before going back to where Harvey was waiting for him.
"Well Conlon you had about six pounds of coyote and wolf skins." Harvey said as Spot leaned on the counter.
"How much is that gonna be then Harvey?" Spot asked.
"Let's see wolf is going for 3 bucks a pound and coyote is a buck fifty a pound. You got four pounds of coyote and two of wolf. So here's nine bucks. Hope your letters ain't bad news." Harvey said giving Spot the money, which he pocketed.
"Neither do I. Thanks Harvey, one of the guys will probably be in next week to get supplies." Spot said as he walked out.
He rode as fast as he thought he could push the horse, but Sarah, Jack had named her, was a stubborn animal and refused to go faster than a plodding walk. Spot finally gave up and began to skim the letters. David's letter was just as he had guessed. The Walking Mouth was tired of living at home and was begging to come and join the others. Spot snorted, they were looking for girls not sissy mommas' boys, Davie would just have to wait until he had the money to come out.
Spot snuck a peak at Medda's letter to Jack, there was no harm in it seeing as Jack would read it aloud later. Seemed that Jack's pop was out of the clink, and was staying with Medda. Jack might find that interesting then again maybe not. His pop had been in jail for a bungled burglary. Chaney Sullivan was not the smartest man in the world, robbing the mayor's office in broad daylight took either lots of balls or you had to be low on smarts. Chaney fitted both of those criteria to a tee.
Before Spot could open the other three letters he had arrived at the house. He took the horse into the stable and feed her before going in. The guys had gathered in the parlor, as the chores were done of the evening and no one seemed to notice Spot coming in.
"Hey guys how's it rolling?" Spot asked as he flopped into one under stuffed chair.
"We got ourselves some more coyotes." Skittery said looking up from the checker game he and Bumlets were having. "What have you got there?"
"Not much just a couple of replies to our ad." Spot said off-handedly as all the eyes in the room swung to him. "You want me to read them aloud?" Spot asked with a smirk. The others quickly forgot their pastimes as Spot opened the first letter.
"Dear guys, You got to help me out here. Les and Sarah are driving me insane." Spot was stopped mid letter by a shoe flying at his head, "Oh sorry that's the wrong letter." Spot grinned before crumpling up Davie's whiny letter. He cleared his throat and began reading.
"Dear Mr. Frances, I am Helga Burstien I am new to the country and I would be happy to help you on your farm. Me and my three little ones are very excited at the chance to move to Califorina.' You know what I think that is a reject." Spot said crumpling up the letter after hearing a few groans.
"Here let me read the next one, since it was my idea." Jack said holding out his hand for a new missive.
Spot gladly surrendered the letters, "Careful what you read, you got a letter there from Medda about your pop."
Jack quirked his eyebrow, "You reading my mail again Conlon?"
"Had to sneak a peak." Spot said giving a smile, "Now come on Kelly what does the next lady say about herself?"
Jack read quietly for a minute, "Hey listen to this one, she sounds promising. Dear Mr. Frances, You may think me bold for answering such a frank letter, but let me assure you, my boldness is matched only by my determination, vivacity and scrumptious cooking skills. I am by nature ordinarily a rather shy maiden, with auburn locks, wistful gray eyes, and a petite, womanly figure. However, I am accustomed to hard work as a result of my upbringing on a farm in upstate New York. I am sure we would suit just wonderfully as husband and wife, living cozily on your sweet little farm. Please, end my agony of dreary spinsterhood, and consent to carry me off to your Eden on earth! Yours sincerely, Hazel Montgomery"
"I like her spunk," Blink said with a laugh, "Though I would never call this place an Eden."
"Yeah more like Purgatory. Why don't we put her in the go list. Maybe Kid Blink here can even write to her." Skittery said with a bit of sneer.
"Yeah she don't sound too bad." Jack said as he put the promising letter of to the side.
"What about that last letter Jackie boy, is it even close to being promising?" Spot asked expectantly.
"You didn't read through these riding in?" Bumlets asked.
"Nah, riding on the old nag is just a bit more bumpy than I like." Spot said with a shrug.
"Okay fine I'll read this last one, but let me tell you it might not be all that great. Dear Mr. Frances, I am writing in reply to your advertisement in the New York Sun. I have just come over from Ireland and had planned on moving to that part of this fine country. I am not afraid of hard work and cooking seeing as I worked as a nanny in a land owners house and before that I worked on my family's plot of land, with planting and harvesting the crops. I am around 5'10 and have brown hair and blues eyes. I do not need much to sustain me just a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in. Hoping to hear from you soon Saiorse Callan." Jack finished with a look around, "I wonder if getting her would be a good idea."
"I got one question, what if those girls are friends, and they compare letters. We don't want them getting suspicious and just taking our money." Race looked a bit worried. As this dawned on the guys it seemed like they were all worried about it.
"Okay so we each chose a girl or two to write, we can explain it away as our dad trying to marry off his sons. So if they compare letters they will see that they are actually being courted by different guys." Jack said with a shrug.
"You want us to lie?" Came a muffled response from Mush.
"You ain't gonna lie." Jack started, and the chorus of guys continued, "You just stretch the truth a bit."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Mush commented. "You know what I'll write her, I always wanted to marry an Irish girl." Race said as he got up.
"I'll write Miss Montgomery." Blink offered, when no one protested Blink and Race left to write their letters.
It had been two months since Jack and the guys had placed the ads, the house had only gotten dirtier and the guys were even more tired of their limited selection of food and entertainment. They were all waiting anxiously for the replies to their ad, but nothing was coming in. Denton had fronted the cost for running the ad in all three of the large city papers, and after making a few changes to the ad, including coming up with a fictional company to be running the ads.
Spot had been the one selected to go into Bloomington that morning, he took the last few months' worth of animal skins with him. He walked into the general store and put the skins down. "Hey Harvey how's life going in town?"
"Not bad Conlon, hey the missus got a few letters for your place from New York." Harvey Jackson said as he began weighing the skins.
"A few letters? I'll get those why you finish up here." Spot said trying not to rush to the mail counter.
"So Mr. Conlon, I see you got quite a few letters for your place. Are they from a few of you boys' sweethearts?" Mrs. Jackson asked as she handed him the stack of letters, eager for any new gossip.
"I am not sure ma'am, I haven't read them yet." Spot said as he leafed through the letters, one was from David, probably gripping about his family. Another was for Jack from Medda, but the last three were addressed to Jack Frances. He smiled charmingly to Mrs. Jackson before going back to where Harvey was waiting for him.
"Well Conlon you had about six pounds of coyote and wolf skins." Harvey said as Spot leaned on the counter.
"How much is that gonna be then Harvey?" Spot asked.
"Let's see wolf is going for 3 bucks a pound and coyote is a buck fifty a pound. You got four pounds of coyote and two of wolf. So here's nine bucks. Hope your letters ain't bad news." Harvey said giving Spot the money, which he pocketed.
"Neither do I. Thanks Harvey, one of the guys will probably be in next week to get supplies." Spot said as he walked out.
He rode as fast as he thought he could push the horse, but Sarah, Jack had named her, was a stubborn animal and refused to go faster than a plodding walk. Spot finally gave up and began to skim the letters. David's letter was just as he had guessed. The Walking Mouth was tired of living at home and was begging to come and join the others. Spot snorted, they were looking for girls not sissy mommas' boys, Davie would just have to wait until he had the money to come out.
Spot snuck a peak at Medda's letter to Jack, there was no harm in it seeing as Jack would read it aloud later. Seemed that Jack's pop was out of the clink, and was staying with Medda. Jack might find that interesting then again maybe not. His pop had been in jail for a bungled burglary. Chaney Sullivan was not the smartest man in the world, robbing the mayor's office in broad daylight took either lots of balls or you had to be low on smarts. Chaney fitted both of those criteria to a tee.
Before Spot could open the other three letters he had arrived at the house. He took the horse into the stable and feed her before going in. The guys had gathered in the parlor, as the chores were done of the evening and no one seemed to notice Spot coming in.
"Hey guys how's it rolling?" Spot asked as he flopped into one under stuffed chair.
"We got ourselves some more coyotes." Skittery said looking up from the checker game he and Bumlets were having. "What have you got there?"
"Not much just a couple of replies to our ad." Spot said off-handedly as all the eyes in the room swung to him. "You want me to read them aloud?" Spot asked with a smirk. The others quickly forgot their pastimes as Spot opened the first letter.
"Dear guys, You got to help me out here. Les and Sarah are driving me insane." Spot was stopped mid letter by a shoe flying at his head, "Oh sorry that's the wrong letter." Spot grinned before crumpling up Davie's whiny letter. He cleared his throat and began reading.
"Dear Mr. Frances, I am Helga Burstien I am new to the country and I would be happy to help you on your farm. Me and my three little ones are very excited at the chance to move to Califorina.' You know what I think that is a reject." Spot said crumpling up the letter after hearing a few groans.
"Here let me read the next one, since it was my idea." Jack said holding out his hand for a new missive.
Spot gladly surrendered the letters, "Careful what you read, you got a letter there from Medda about your pop."
Jack quirked his eyebrow, "You reading my mail again Conlon?"
"Had to sneak a peak." Spot said giving a smile, "Now come on Kelly what does the next lady say about herself?"
Jack read quietly for a minute, "Hey listen to this one, she sounds promising. Dear Mr. Frances, You may think me bold for answering such a frank letter, but let me assure you, my boldness is matched only by my determination, vivacity and scrumptious cooking skills. I am by nature ordinarily a rather shy maiden, with auburn locks, wistful gray eyes, and a petite, womanly figure. However, I am accustomed to hard work as a result of my upbringing on a farm in upstate New York. I am sure we would suit just wonderfully as husband and wife, living cozily on your sweet little farm. Please, end my agony of dreary spinsterhood, and consent to carry me off to your Eden on earth! Yours sincerely, Hazel Montgomery"
"I like her spunk," Blink said with a laugh, "Though I would never call this place an Eden."
"Yeah more like Purgatory. Why don't we put her in the go list. Maybe Kid Blink here can even write to her." Skittery said with a bit of sneer.
"Yeah she don't sound too bad." Jack said as he put the promising letter of to the side.
"What about that last letter Jackie boy, is it even close to being promising?" Spot asked expectantly.
"You didn't read through these riding in?" Bumlets asked.
"Nah, riding on the old nag is just a bit more bumpy than I like." Spot said with a shrug.
"Okay fine I'll read this last one, but let me tell you it might not be all that great. Dear Mr. Frances, I am writing in reply to your advertisement in the New York Sun. I have just come over from Ireland and had planned on moving to that part of this fine country. I am not afraid of hard work and cooking seeing as I worked as a nanny in a land owners house and before that I worked on my family's plot of land, with planting and harvesting the crops. I am around 5'10 and have brown hair and blues eyes. I do not need much to sustain me just a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in. Hoping to hear from you soon Saiorse Callan." Jack finished with a look around, "I wonder if getting her would be a good idea."
"I got one question, what if those girls are friends, and they compare letters. We don't want them getting suspicious and just taking our money." Race looked a bit worried. As this dawned on the guys it seemed like they were all worried about it.
"Okay so we each chose a girl or two to write, we can explain it away as our dad trying to marry off his sons. So if they compare letters they will see that they are actually being courted by different guys." Jack said with a shrug.
"You want us to lie?" Came a muffled response from Mush.
"You ain't gonna lie." Jack started, and the chorus of guys continued, "You just stretch the truth a bit."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Mush commented. "You know what I'll write her, I always wanted to marry an Irish girl." Race said as he got up.
"I'll write Miss Montgomery." Blink offered, when no one protested Blink and Race left to write their letters.
