Chapter Two, Little Twister

The sun was beginning to set at five thirty, the shadows lengthening into dusk, and still Clive Winslett had yet to come home. Kaitlyn was sitting in the dusty gutter of the horse and carriage road, elbows resting on her legs with her small petite chin being supported by her hands. This town was large and unfamiliar to her, smelling of horses and gunpowder and coloured a dull dingy orangey brown. It was very different to her old and more familiar hometown, Humphrey's Peak, which had been green and gold and had smelt like wildflowers and water. She thought this change was a little disturbing yet interesting, the girl wondering what her parents had wanted to happen. That was not on her mind right now, however. Waiting for her daddy to come home was.

Catherine was sitting on the porch of the inn they were currently staying at, residing in an incredibly light doze. She had not been sleeping well as of late, what with all the uncertain moving around they had been doing and all the worries recent situations had placed upon her mind. A gentle breeze caused her eyes to flutter open and she got up from her half-reclining position on the porch loveseat, gently rubbing her eyes. She noticed Kaitlyn sitting out near the road with a concentrated, firm look in the girl's eyes, Kaitlyn stiffening every time a horse or a carriage drove by, in the hopes that her father might not be too far behind. She was little Kaitlyn Winslett, a girl waiting patiently and faithfully for her father to return, like a tiny solemn statue.

Catherine saw this and suddenly felt like crying.

She got up from her seat and made her way over to the steps of the porch, leaning against its roof-supporting pole and blinking back tears. Clive had such pride! Look at what he was doing to his family! He could have merely asked Berlitz for some money, she knew her father would have been more than happy to aid them when they needed it the most, but Clive would have none of it. His pride prevented him to take money unless he had earned it, and so this next unusual job, arranged by Berlitz as it had been, was the closest thing Clive could do to accept charity from another. He had pulled his family from their comfortable life in Humphrey's Peak and they had entered a far more nomadic one now, where Clive did whatever he could to make a couple of extra bucks. The reason for their move had been a complete accident, but the fault remained his.

Clive and his pride.

"Kaitie honey, what are you doing?" The brown haired woman asked, moving down the steps and taking a seat next to her daughter, sitting on the edge of the gutter and near the hoofprinted street.

The little girl looked up and smiled at her mother, though the smile was automatic and activated in reflex to Catherine's voice. She held her smile at her mother for awhile, then redirected it back into the street. "I'm waiting for daddy, mommy. Daddy said he'd be back when I can see the stars in the sky. So…" Kaitlyn concluded her thought, "I'm waiting for daddy and the stars."

Catherine looked up, observing the sky. Evenings came early during this season, but still, it would at least be another hour or two until the first star would come out. Clive would have to have taken the express from Sunset Peak all the way over to Westwood Station, and then he'd have to horseback ride from there into town. That could take hours, even if the trains were running perfectly fine. Catherine hoped that Clive would come home soon, not because she personally missed his presence, but because she didn't want to have to see Kaitlyn's little face break down into disappointment. "That will be awhile, Kaitie honey. Are you sure you don't want to come inside and read your book? It will make the time go faster."

"No thanks, mommy." Kaitlyn replied without turning around. "I just wanna wait for daddy. He's gonna come down that road," She pointed to the main street, "Walking next to his horse. Daddy can't ride it all the way, he said that the bitch would break in two if he tried that."

"Kaitlyn, don't say words like that." Catherine warned, dismayed.

"What words like that?" Kaitlyn asked, genuinely confused. "'Break in two'?"

"Words like 'bitch'. It is not a very nice word at all. Little girls should not say it." Answered Catherine, talking kindly, yet firmly.

"But that's what daddy said this morning when was he putting the big seat on his horse." Kaitlyn explained to her mother in a perplexed tone. "That's what he said. Isn't daddy nice?" The little girl lowered one eyebrow slightly, as if disapproving of what her mother was trying to say.

"Those words are for grown ups to say, Kaitlyn. Even then, it is preferable if they are not spoken out loud or to other people. Your daddy can say them if he really does want to, but he's also very careful not to say it to the wrong people. Besides, your daddy isn't a little girl, is he?" Catherine smiled. Kaitlyn processed this for a few moments and burst into a fit of giggles, understanding what her mother meant. She decided to do what she was told, as it wouldn't hurt anybody that way. Putting her arms around her knees, Kaitlyn rocked back and forth a bit, sweeping her gaze along the length of the street. Catherine noticed this. "Do you miss home, Kaitlyn?" She asked softly.

Kaitlyn shook her head calmly. "Not really. Only a little. I miss Mock and Sterling and our little flower garden out back, but it's not that bad. I wanna follow where daddy goes." Catherine had only seen a few children in this town so far, and to her eyes they were just orphans and vagrants, scruffy and dirty and probably full of disease. It was a terrible thought to acknowledge, but those children were a lot like rats living and searching for food in the gutter of life. She hated it, but was so very grateful that Kaitlyn did not have to live a life that terrible and that she could be happy. Apart from that, she had not seen another young soul so far.

"Mommy, how come daddy was exiled from town?" The little girl asked suddenly, from out of the blue.

Catherine blinked once to allow the question to fully penetrate her brain. She and Clive had spent a good long time trying to find an answer that would be both the truth, but not as painful as it should have been, mild enough for Kaitlyn to hear. Catherine had forged many different answers herself, but wished that Clive was around to speak on her behalf. She sighed and put her arm around her little daughter, her gaze shifting towards the ground. "Kaitlyn, do you remember the purple-haired lady that lived down the road, the one who worked in that big lab with lots of different kinds of vials?"

The little girl nodded. "I know her. Sometimes Mock and I'd lose our ball in Ms. Melody's backyard and she'd go and get it for us. She was a nice lady, but sometimes she said mean things to other grown ups when me, Mock and the others weren't around."

"She and your daddy used to do their jobs close to one another, they were colleagues." Catherine continued, slowing down her pronunciation of the word so that Kaitlyn could properly memorize and understand it. "But she didn't like your daddy very much. Your daddy didn't really like her either. Last year they found out some things that would make them both very rich, and bring everybody lots of money, so they went out with the rest of their group to celebrate. All of them drank far too much that night."

Kaitlyn immediately started to pay twice as much attention than she had been doing before. She knew what that last part was about, it was about the-
(Bad painful screaming anger up my hand up my arm in my daddy's face he's angry but he's smiling and it hurts hurts hurts)
-Bad Thing that daddy did sometimes, that it was something he couldn't help but was trying to help with all his heart and soul. The rest of the story was particularly interesting to her as well, as neither of her parents had had the courage to answer this question for her before.

"They had a big party that night but your daddy behaved well. But not very long after that, Melody contacted the police and told them that your daddy had… uh… 'hurt' her when he hadn't, and he got in very big trouble for it."

Rape…

"How come he got in trouble for it when daddy didn't hurt her?" Came Kaitlyn's meek question, wondering why.

"It took a long time for them to prove it, Kaitie honey, to prove that your daddy wasn't a bad man. We all knew he was innocent but there had to be proof as well. Daddy's reputation suffered a lot because of it, even though he didn't do a thing to her. Then, he started to drink a lot more and he got very angry with her. The drink made him hit her a lot and shake her. Sometimes… sometimes he does things that he's sorry for later-
(Mommy it HURTS!)
"-And sometimes he does things that he can't take back. That's why everybody in the town decided that it would be best if he just left. And we went with him." Catherine bit back another wave of sad tears when Kaitlyn seemed to comprehend her jumbled explanation, the girl looking down the road again. Her grey eyes looked big and older than the young eight year-old who owned them, the girl narrowing them slightly.

"It's just like the paper dollies…" Kaitlyn agreed in a whispery voice, nodding her head. "Okay." She nodded her head one more time, like it was a natural function, and just like that, it was like she had locked up the topic and sealed it with an iron padlock and key, before throwing it away. Catherine didn't want to push the topic any further than she had to. If Kaitlyn was satisfied with her answer, then that was good enough for her.

The brown haired woman stood up, brushing the rising dust from the front of her dress. "I am going to go inside and get dinner ready, Kaitie honey. Come in when you think you've had enough. I'll leave a snack out for you, just in case." She paused, then added. "Are you sure you don't want to come in?"

"I wanna wait for daddy." Kaitlyn replied with wistful childlike determination.

"Stay away from the horses, Kaitlyn." Catherine sighed, turning and going back up the porch steps again, brushing chestnut hair away from her face that was somewhat messy due to her short little nap.

"Mommy?"

Catherine paused, the turned. "Yes Kaitlyn?"

She had her hands on her knees, her hair parted on either sides of her little face, held in place by two ribbons. Her grey eyes, which were usually reflective and sparkly, were wide and deep, like they were trying to look far into Catherine's inside. "Do you wanna go and live in the big monster castle like grandpa arranged it?" She asked, tentatively.

Like with the last question, Catherine had many different answers for this one as well. There were her thoughts about safety, about the loneliness, about Kaitlyn's happiness, about Clive's happiness, about her own desire, and which decision was best. In truth, her opinion was constantly changing regarding the old Gunner's Heaven, and whether Clive' pride was of greater importance than her own peace of mind.

Clive and his pride.

"If that what your daddy wants to do, then it is what I want to do too." She said, disliking the answer. A few seconds of thought, then she spoke again. "Kaitlyn? What about you?"

She shrugged. "I don't mind, mommy. I wanna stay with you and daddy. There aren't any kids around here anyway."

Going back over to Kaitlyn, Catherine knelt a little and patted Kaitlyn softly on the head, feeling her pretty golden curls that were like soft strands of spun gold. It was dulling a little as she got older, but it was still beautiful nevertheless. "You miss your friends…" Catherine stated guiltily. "Don't worry, once we are finished with the big castle, we will be able to go somewhere where you can meet some new friends."

Kaitlyn grinned, liking that idea. "Okay, mommy."

Catherine went indoors. The small kitchen within their tiny inn room was somehow tragic and sad, tucked away from the rest of the rest of the room like a hated pariah. The woman stood on the verge of the dreary navy blue carpeting, almost standing on the cold kitchen tiles. Her hands were by her sides. Looking carefully over everything, one single solitary dinner plate was wedged into the pathetic sink diagonally, the only way that the plate could fit in there. A cobweb had been spun and discarded between the plate's surface and the side of the sink, the occupant of the web having departed a long time ago.

This was too much for her and Catherine broke down, crying for all that had happened in the past, what was happening to her dear sweet family in the present, and what lay in store for them in the future.