Day 4
It was eight o'clock when any actually activity in the fourth room at the top of the stairs began. It was light enough that there was no need for a candle and the fire had died down ages ago. A heavy feel of excitement was in the air as the girls hurried to get dressed. They were silently giddy, that is what had them up so early. They spent all of yesterday planning what they were going to do and now that the time was actually there, they were going to do it. Lesley brushed her hair then grabbed a hair tie to put it up in a bun. She watched Danni paint her face up in the mirror. Everything had to seam normal, Danni with out make up was abnormal. She prayed that they did not go over the top with the normalness. Some time trying to act as if nothing happened is what gives you away. Danni finished her lipstick and looked at her cat. "Bye Salem, come on Lesley, we have to meet Colonel Tavington for breakfast." Lesley finished her hair as she walked out the door and down the stairs.
Danni stared at her food. She didn't plan on eating it anytime soon. Sighing she pushed it over to Wilkins. The man could eat large amounts of food, but then he was nearly 6' 7'' and a soldier who didn't always have decent meals. Danni silently pitied him. In the 21st century, one could eat whenever they wanted too. She looked to Lesley and mouthed. "Ask him now." Lesley furrowed her brow and wagged her head. Danni nodded.
"No" she whispered.
"YES" Danni shot back. They argued quietly for a few minutes, and then it began escalating. They were shouting saying mean things as they always did. It had become so common for the girls to randomly argue that no one noticed.
"Great, we're fighting, this is normal." Lesley thought. She looked to Tavington for a millisecond; he was getting irritated and going to break them up.
"What are you two brats arguing about now?" He asked, standing and crossing his arms. Danni looked at him and felt one inch tall. She had a severe complex about being short, even though she was taller than most women were. Tavington happened to be six feet tall so he just towered over her. Then his piercing gaze would shut her up. She was terrified of him and not afraid to admit it, but only to herself of course. Lesley tensed trying to think of something to say. She was an effective lair when she had time to think about it. She looked to Danni who immediately cut in.
"You don't wanna know." She warned.
"Yes, Miss Davis I think I do." He rolled his eyes.
"No, Colonel Tavington, you don't wanna know." She said.
He gave her a dark pointed look. "If it's important enough for you to argue about it then I'm sure I do want to know."
"All right, but don't say I didn't warn you. I wanted her to ask you a question." Danni said. Then she motioned him to come a little closer. He leaned down so she could whisper in his ear. Tavington shivered and pulled away quickly. "Well, I told you didn't want to know." She shrugged. He took their leave and sat with some different officers.
Lesley looked at him strangely. "What did you say to him?" She asked. Danni just laughed and shook her head. "I am I happier not knowing?" Danni nodded. Then Lesley figured it out and started laughing. There was only one thing that made William Tavington uneasy like that, and it was her way of getting back at him. They sat back down and finished breakfast with Bordon and Wilkins.
Constance Rollins opened her closet and picked out her most conservative outfit for going out. She eyed the leather purse filled with gold and smiled to her. She wondered if her little Danny was in love with this girl so much that he was willing to shell out 300 pounds for her. Of course what could she have with O'Hara, but then that man was a dog and would…. Well she would rather not dwell on the subject. She was happy to oblige Danny in helping his girl. She was really angry and hated O'Hara for leaving her out in the cold. She looked at the clock it was nearly nine. She quickly dressed and started out towards Fort Carolina.
She arrived around ten. She passed two girls walking in the courtyard. Both were blonde-haired women; she approached them. "Excuse me, could you tell me where the parlor is?" She smiled at the two girls.
"Yes, of course" Danni smiled at her "it over to the far side of the courtyard." She pointed. They curtsied to each other and went their separate ways. Constance found a spot where she could sit and see the parlor window. It was a long time before her services would be needed.
"All right go get Tavington." Danni commanded sitting down and pulling out the bottle of pills.
"No, you go get him, I can take care of the pills." Lesley crossed her arms and towered over the girl.
"Lesley, Lesley, Lesley, let me give you an over view of the food chain. There are Whales, sharks and krill." She smiled evilly. "Now, I'm a tiny little krill, you are a shark, who leave the krill alone but still remarkably dangerous." Lesley mulled over the new information and felt satisfied with the comment. "And last, but not least, there are the whales, which in this illustration, represent Tavington. Now as we all know whales eat krill and as I am the krill, I have no desire to be eaten- ever." She took a spoon and ground the pill up then put it in the bottom of his teakettle. "I'll tell you what, we'll play rock paper scissors and then who ever wins 2 out of 3, will go." Lesley agreed. They started playing immediately.
Lesley growled and nearly cussed Danni out "How are you beating me at this?"
"I have a nine year old brother, we play hand games all the time." She grinned at Lesley. "Now, go, I don't want my plans thrown off and it's nearly ten." She pointed firmly. She looked something like Lilly Munster when she was controlling Herman. The height difference was nearly the same. Lesley threw her hands up in defeat and walked down the stairs. She began rehearsing her what she was going to say to Colonel Tavington in her head. She had just made it down the front stairs outside when she ran right into Colonel Tavington and landed smack on her butt.
"HEY You sorry- Oh Colonel" She stammered. Yes, she was an effective liar, but now she saw things from Danni's point of view. The short girl was right, when some one looks a ten feet taller than you do it is terrifying, especially when that some one is Tavington.
"Miss Davis, where is… Miss Davis?" He asked. It sounded stupid in his own ears as he was asking for two different people, unrelated, by the same name.
"I'm right here!" She came to her feet and dusted her skirt off. "Danni's inside, she's not feeling well, if you understand my meaning." Lesley winked at him. He straitened his back. "She was wondering if we could take our tea in the parlor room thingy." She didn't have the hang of the speech of this time. It sounded funny in her ears to speak so formally. In her own time, Lesley would have just told in that Danni was drinking the living room, but she was not in her own time. He nodded and started up the stairs not bothering to hold the door for her. "Jerk" she muttered going into the room on the first floor.
Danni poured Colonel Tavington some tea. She handed the kettle off to Lesley who pretended to trip and spill it all over the table. "Kill joy Lesley, you oaf!" Danni yelled. She jumped to her feet and proceeded to sop up the hot tea. "I can't believe you did that, you dense nimrod."
"HEY, it's not like I did that on purpose! It was hot and you about dropped it in my lap. And who are you calling a nimrod!" She yelled back helping Danni pick up the tea. They continued arguing all the while keeping a wary eye on Tavington. The watched him down the tea. His eyes began to droop close. Pale white lids gently falling over icy blue iris. Slowly, the two girls let their voices get lower and lower until they weren't talking at all. Tavington suddenly felt so sleepy. He had no idea why. Perhaps it was because he had been on a raid the night before, and had very little sleep that week. How could he sleep with so much noise? Tavington settled in his chair and shut his eyes just for a moment; maybe they'd stop on their own.
Danni sighed and whispered to Lesley. "I think he's asleep." Lesley nodded; she went over to the window and opened it. She scanned the crowd of people milling about and spotted Constance in the yard. She reached over to the table and saw Danni about to tap Tavington's forehead.
"What are you doing, you idiot?" She hissed. Danni glared at her as she almost tripped.
"The forehead test." Danni growled. Lesley gave her the "what" look. "If you tap a person's forehead and they don't wake up they are seriously asleep." She went forward with her plans. Both of them held their breath and waited. He fidgeted a little, but in the end, he was fast asleep. Danni waved for Lesley to go ahead and alert Constance. Constance saw her sign and went around to the front. She met up with the valet and told him to fetch General O'Hara. Danni watched from behind the lace curtains that covered the glass in the doors to the parlor and waited for O'Hara to run down the stairs from the library and immediately lead Constance away. "Come on" She waved Lesley to follow her up the stairs.
The approached the hallway and Danni stopped them. "We go in, but we can't come out the front door." Danni said. Lesley nodded. "Aw, crap"
"What?" Lesley watched the door as the valet came out. "Oh, how do we get rid of the penguin." Danni shrugged and looked at Lesley. They approached him carefully pretending to kind and sweet, but with that "I'm going to hurt you" air. "Hey," Lesley started out. "Penguin" The man turned around and looked the girls over.
"Miss Davis, and the other Miss Davis I presume?" He bowed carefully. Lesley smiled sinisterly. "I hope you are up to some good, and don't try to threaten me again Miss Danni, I know that you cannot shoot for a fact." He smirked at her. Danni shrugged.
"Well, actually, O'Hara asked me to tell you that he wanted you to go into town and get him some new stockings."
"What?" He asked disbelievingly. "I only got him some yesterday." Danni shrugged.
"You heard her penguin, MOVE!" Lesley shouted. She reminded Danni of Riddick on Pitch Black. She shook her head. Lesley had been right, no more pop culture references for her. She watched the valet storm off down the stairs muttering about O'Hara being a flower. They waited for him to go out of sight. Finally, Danni pulled a key out of her shirt. "Oh, I'm not touching that, nope, uh-uh." Lesley subconsciously rubbed her hands on her dress. Danni scowled at her.
"Shut up, you want in the room right." She unlocked the door and opened it. "Well, I have Jemina's key since she's out of town." She opened the door to a sitting room.
"Holy crap this isn't a bed room this is a mini house!" Lesley shrieked. She turned around and saw Danni locking the door. "What are you doing?" She hissed. Danni furrowed her brow.
"Will you just trust me? Gosh" She growled. "Look if we get seen going in and out then were caught, but if we're only seen going in… well please tell me how we got out." Danni pointed out. Lesley nodded. "Anyway, if anyone tries to get in we'll know. Come on help me find it." They began destroying the anteroom; turning over chairs and throwing things out of drawers. It all was tono avail.Danni opened the bedroom door and gagged. "I think I'm going to die."
"What?" Lesley came over to her and suddenly just began gagging. "Oh my gosh, so many flowers and pink I'm dying. I see a white light!" She dropped dramatically to the floor and grabbed Danni's dress. Danni just raised an eyebrow at her. "You're supposed to tell me to stay away from the light." Lesley cracked one eye and yanked Danni's dress.
"Get up, you look like an idiot, wait you are." Danni walked into the room and went to the bed. Lesley jumped up to her feet and pretended to hurt. Danni ran her hands over the flowery pink sheet and crooned. "Aw, this bed is really nice. It's really a pity that I hate O'Hara." She ripped the bedding off and threw it to the ground. Lesley smirked and went to the bureau and emptied all of the drawers. She looked over to Danni and saw her pushing the feather tick off the bed. They spent the next thirty minutes searching the room and destroying things. Lesley sighed. She had found nothing. Then her eyes fell to the wardrobe; it was untouched by the two girls in destruct-o mode. She flounced over to the closet and yanked the doors open. She saw several pristine red coats. She looked at them, took all of them out, and dumped them on the ground. "Stomp on these for me please."
"Gladly." Danni stood up and jumped on the clothes. She even tore a few of his shirts and stockings.
"A-ha!" Lesley exclaimed as she moved a plank of wood in the bottom of the wardrobe. "I found it." She held it up. Danni stopped tearing O'Hara's things up. She jerked the book out of Lesley's hands. Danni began reading the first few lines. She snapped it shut.
"EW!" She exclaimed. "I'm never reading that again."
"What?" Lesley asked. She took the book and opened to the middle. She cringed when she saw his flowery writing, more or less what he wrote. "Never mind, but I think I'm scared for life."
Danni sighed. "Should we clean up?" She asked looking at the confounded mess around her.
Lesley clutched the book to her chest. "Nah, let him worry." She looked around. "So how do we get out of here Valley Girl?"
Danni smiled. "That's the ingenious part of my plan." She walked to the wall and pushed the panel open. It was a secret passage way. "I took the liberty of searching the servants passages upon my arrival. That's how I started all this mess." She bade Lesley follow her.
"So, how do you propose we get to O'Hairless?" Lesley inquired. Danni shrugged.
"I would do another Scarlet O'Hara impersonation, but I don't think that would go over very well." She replied picking her way through the stairs. "This is so much easier in blue jeans."
They went back to the parlor and found Colonel Tavington still asleep. Quietly Danni ordered another pot of tea brought up. The servant did so quickly. The girls sat down, poured themselves cups, and pretended nothing happened. "Hey stupid" Lesley nudged him with her toe. "Wake up." She commanded. Tavington started awake.
"What?" He asked groggily.
"Colonel you feel asleep." She informed him.
"For how long?" He sat forward and looked at the clock. It was two pm. Tavington said something under his breathe then took his leave of them. They exhaled in relief; he suspected nothing, for now. Danni sighed.
"I told you those pills would work." She sat back in the chair. Lesley nodded. Danni sighed. "Hey, I got the best idea ever!" She cried.
"Oh no, it's learned to think." Her companion muttered. Danni glared at her. "All right what is your best idea ever?"
"Well it involves you, me, Tavington, and the cheap make up I get made here." Danni leaned forward. Lesley just rubbed her temples. Did this girl ever stop plotting? No, she supposed not. Danni related to her a well-laid plan to embarrass Tavington. Lesley already didn't like the man, so she just went along with it.
It was one am. Two people clad in blue jeans were sneaking across the Dragoon encampment. One was carrying a black satchel with black and white crosshatch beading on it. The other was just repulsed. The looked for the single tent at the head of the encampment, a light was on and a strong silhouette outlined in the canvas. They both waited a moment for there nerves to stop fraying. "All right you know what to do." Danni whispered. Lesley nodded and went over to the man standing guard and incapacitated him. Then she took his gun and fired it. Tavington ran out into the yard minus his shirt. Danni ran into his tent.
"Come on where's the bottle." She muttered under her breath. Then she spied the brown flask. She poured some ground up tranquilizer in there. Then she snuck back out. The girls met in the tree line. "All right-y, everything's set up." Danni murmured.
"How long will it take?" Lesley asked. They watched Tavington's strong dark form enter the tent. He got ready for bed then sat on his cot and drank the whole flask. Lesley's brow furrowed. "what if, and this is just speculation, he wakes up and finds us?" Danni looked at her then smiled.
"I'm going to shove the make up in your hands and take off running like a mad man." She said turning her attention to Tavington. They waited for a little while until there was no more activity in his tent. Carefully, they sauntered up to the tent. Danni looked around as she held up the back flap for Lesley. They both got in and Lesley tapped him on the forehead. Earlier that had been a debate (one which Lesley lost). It seemed Danni was doing the make up and was in the most danger. Danni reached into the bag and pulled out the face powder.
"Where did you get that?" Lesley whispered. She placed her hands on her hips. She had seen Danni's make up bag and the stuff she had was not any of this. Danni turned around and glared at her. She mouthed "I'll tell you later." Lesley backed down a little. She let Danni do the make up. She applied the blush and lipstick. Danni used her own plumper lip-gloss and tried to stifle a giggle as he rubbed his lips. After that, she did the eye make up. First, the white shimmer for the top and underneath the eye then a blue then a grey. Next, she applied the eyeliner and mascara. She took the black bag from Lesley and searched around in the bottom. After a few minutes, she found something small and silver. It was a digital camera.
"That's still has a battery." Lesley stared in amazement. Danni grinned maliciously. She walked over to Tavington, leaned down to take picture. Just as she pressed the button, Tavington woke up.
"WHAT IN THE…" He shouted. The flash went off; it was bright and blinded him. Danni shouted. She grabbed Lesley and dragged her out of the tent. While they were performing the task, Lesley had put the make up back into the bag, so they incriminate themselves. Lesley and Danni reached the fort in record time, laughing and giggling.
"Did you get it?" Lesley panted. Danni nodded and handed her the camera. The taller girl laughed some more. Instead of going into the house, Danni led her around the side to where their bedroom was. "Where are we going?"
"Well, I go out a lot a night, and instead of risking getting caught, I invented this." She reached into a trellis and pulled a string. A long rope ladder unfolded down to them.
"Clever, Valley Girl, especially for you." Lesley remarked climbing up. Danni snorted and followed her up the ladder.
TBC...
Wow, I don't think this is as funny, but I tried to keep it light. My arm hurts, sry, it just my cat attacked it. Anyway, so read and review
SassyBrunette: YAY you review, I wish other people would! Is my writing that bad? sniffles anyway I'm glad you thought it was funny. I like funny, but don't go away there is more funny coming up.