A late Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks as always for reading!
Chapter Five: In which we find out that some things are best lost in time and what some of the wishes were.
"John! John, I have to go!"
John rolled over. "Go back to bed, Roger. The bathroom is where it's always been," he muttered, pushing the little hands off of his face.
"JOHN! I can't!"
"Wha? Bridgie? What are you doing...oh, bother," he ended as he realized where they were. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Come on, we'll see what we can do."
"I really, really have to go, John!" Bridget danced away from him. "Titty won't wake up, and I don't want Nan—"
"Bridgie! Be quiet, you'll wake the others! And Nathan would be very cross, you know that," John said, gingerly picking her up and stepping over Dick.
It seemed to take a long time to get to the opening, and even longer to get outside. John had to navigate over Nancy, Titty, and their bags while Bridget wriggled and squirmed in his arms. She kept telling him to hurry up, and he was half afraid she would go on him if they couldn't get out in time. Having no idea of the clothing situation, and with no Susan to help him out, he really did not want that to happen, which made him very anxious to get out of the cave.
Finally, they both came out, only to be challenged at the opening by Little John. After John explained the problem, he laughed and let them through with a wink...
….only for them to discover that Bridget didn't know how to get her clothes off!
This led to an unpleasant session in the bushes ("Ow, it's scratchy! John, you can't look! Bridget, just pull it off! You are big enough to do it!") which did not work and left Bridget needing a new outfit, much to John's chagrin and disgust.
This is Susan's stuff, not mine!
Another thought struck him. What if this is the only clothes she's got?
Bridget started sobbing. "I'm sorry, John!" she wailed, staring at the wet skirt and short-things.
"It's not your fault. Let's see if Titty can clear this up for us, Bridgie," John answered, wondering why he had to be the one to deal with this, why those particular wishes got him into it and where were the others, anyway?
He pushed through the bushes. Bridget followed close behind carrying the wet things. "Titty! Where are you?" he called, hoping that she was awake by now.
"Hush, boy!" Little John's voice snapped. Bridget sulkily pointed upwards and after a little searching, John saw him perched in a tree. "Thy sister's awake and coming, if the sounds are of any note."
John nodded curtly and thrust himself out of the brambles. "Come on, Bridget."
"I hate you! And I want Susan or Mam!"
John did not answer this. He hated the situation as well, but it wouldn't be good for anyone if he started trying to reason with Bridget. Besides, he needed answers and he knew where to get them from—Titty.
SA&D-SA&D-SA&D
Titty had very few answers for John and Nancy, other than "I wished to meet Robin Hood, and I think we should stick to that story I told you, and go through our bags. I had no idea this was going to happen, and I don't know where the others are at all. Bridget, you have to wait until we sort this out. I don't know what to do next—we seem to be stuck here unless we ask to go out, given what John told us of our 'guard'. What did you wish for?"
Nancy grinned and pointed to her outfit. Titty smiled and nodded. John sighed. Of course Nancy would wish for that!
"My wish was very vague, Titty, and it hasn't come true yet," he said. "Besides, I don't think it has any bearing on the current problem."
Titty looked from him to Nancy and smiled again. Somehow, this annoyed John beyond words. Bridget whimpered again, adding to his frustration.
"What about you, Dick? Did you wish for anything?" he asked, peering about in the cave for him.
"What? Oh, no, but look here. I found quite a lot of stuff, and maybe this will help Bridget?" Dick answered from behind, holding up a pair of shorts. Titty took them with an "Oh, thank you, Dick!" and pulled Bridget further into the cave with her. Nancy and John stayed to investigate the bags.
In the first bag were cloaks for all, two extra shawls, two more sets of shorts for Bridget, three assorted sets of colorful tight pants and tunics, something that looked like a sort of jacket for a girl, two dresses, brown and grey, and two pairs of shoes, all tightly packed together. Food was re-discovered in the second bag, along with a small knife for everyone, presumably to eat with. And in Dick's satchel they found a bundle of coarse paper, a vial of ink, three quill pens, two sticks of charcoal, three rough books, a sharping stone, and a small knife.
"Why we have this is beyond me," Nancy said, fingering the paper. "This isn't even good paper!"
Titty stepped on Nancy's foot. "Father spoiled you," she said lightly, fingering the larger of the two dresses.
"And Mother ignored you!" Nancy retorted, tossing the sharping stone.
"What are we going to do with the wet pants?" Bridget asked. Nancy snorted and Titty rolled her eyes.
"Well, Bridget, we will deal with that later," she answered firmly, taking the pants from her sister.
Dick's head jerked up."Titty, Nathan...look." John's belt pouch was full of glittering silver and small pieces of gold.
"Oh, dear," Titty pulled a similar bag out of somewhere and opened it. It was full of small silver and dull copper coins. "John, please put that away, and don't let anyone see it!" she whispered. "I think that's worth quite a bit!"
"Yes, but how much?" John said. "We can't ask anyone!"
"I expect we can find out somehow, using the little coins," Titty answered. "Bridgie, you mustn't ever talk about this!"
Bridget looked very sulky, but nodded.
John swept the bag closed and tied it firmly on his belt. "What do we do now?"
"You'll be coming along with us. Word's reached the town, and I dinna think your company 'ud be welcome, now," Little John answered. "That man had a gob on him, sure, and he's related to the Sheriff, worse luck. Robin's been a-talking to some friends of ours, and we think the rest of your family made it to the town safely."
They all jumped. Just how long had he been listening at the door?