Once at home, Charlie went in search of Murdoch, finding him in the library, engrossed in stacks of paperwork.
She went to stand beside him, at the desk, and he looked up, over the top of his glasses. "Hello, my sweet. How was your
trip to town?"
"It was alright."
"So enthusiastic," he teased her.
"Scott made me go to the school, and meet the teacher."
Murdoch took his glasses off, laying them on the desk, and barely concealing his amusement. "Did he? What sort of
torture will he think of for you next?"
"Aw, Murdoch," Charlie said, giving him a half-smile. "You're teasing."
"What did you think of Miss Axton?"
"She was nice. I liked her," Charlie admitted. Then she added, "Of course, it's hard to tell about a person that you just
meet, don't you think?"
Murdoch reached out and pulled Charlie over close. "Are you striving to make a point of some sort, darling?"
"I just wish Scott would let me do home school for a little while."
Murdoch had heard this specific plea and argument before over the last bit of the summer, and so he was familiar with it.
"I believe that particular idea has been put forth, and rejected," Murdoch said. "Has it not?"
"Yes."
"Well, then." He paused, giving Charlie an intent look.
Charlie felt her face get warm in embarrassment. "I guess I have to go to the town school," she said, in grudging acceptance.
"I really believe that you'll enjoy it, once you get into the routine," Murdoch told her.
"I hope so." And then, remembering, Charlie pulled the sack of gumdrops from her side, and held it out to him. "We got you something."
Murdoch took the sack, pretending doubt. "It's not-it can't be gumdrops, can it?" He opened the sack. "And, it is. Thank you,
darling."
As Murdoch immediately took a couple of candies from the sack, Charlie resumed her good humor.
"I don't want to tattletale, but Scott ate all the red ones," she said, with a grin.
L
Later, once at the cool water of the shaded swimming hole, Charlie swam back over to the bank. Johnny lounged on the
grass there, his feet bare. Charlie sat at the edge of the water, watching him as he twisted blades of the green grass.
"What are you doing?" she asked him.
"Makin' a grass ring."
"What's that?" Charlie asked.
Johnny looked up, surprised. "Didn't you ever make grass rings?" he asked her.
Charlie shook her head. "No. Never."
"Well, then," Johnny said, finishing and reaching out for one of her hands. "Here you go." He slipped the grass ring
onto one of her fingers.
"Thanks," Charlie told him.
"Sometimes I wonder about you. And Scott, too. I think the both of you missed out on a whole passel of things
that a kid's supposed to do," Johnny said, with a grin.
"I don't think Scott ever made grass rings, either," Charlie said.
"I'll bet that's right, too."
Charlie scooted over more on the creek bank to sit closer to him. "There was lots of things that I didn't know how to do
before I came here."
"Well, you're learnin' them now. That's what's important."
"Scott didn't know that Murdoch loves gumdrops," Charlie said. "I knew it, but he didn't."
"Murdoch?" Johnny asked, in exaggerated surprise. "Our Murdoch? He loves gumdrops? You must be teasin'."
"No. I'm not teasing. He really does," Charlie said, with a big smile at him.
"Well, there you go, pequeno. You knew somethin' about him that Scott or I neither one knew."
Charlie brought her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I think that's sort of nice. Knowing something
about him first. I wonder if Teresa knew."
"I've never heard her say a word about it. I'll bet she didn't. You'll have to tell her."
Johnny laid back a bit more, resting on his elbow.
"There was a horse auction today in town," Charlie told him.
Instantly Johnny's expression showed regret. "Was there? That's right. I forgot all about it."
"There were a lot of horses being brought in."
"I imagine so. It's going to continue tomorrow, too, I think," he said.
"Really?" Charlie asked, her thoughts already hopping.
"Now that I remember, yeah, I think it is."
"Could we go?" Charlie asked him, hopefully. "I wanted to stay today, but Scott said he had too much to do."
"I don't know," Johnny said, looking thoughtful. "I probably ought not to go. There is a lot of work to do."
"Just for a little while?" Charlie asked, doing what Scott called her 'wheedling'. "Please, Johnny?"
"Scott might decide to go tomorrow."
Charlie shook her head. "I don't think he will. He says he's not in the market for another horse."
She studied Johnny's face, and said again, "Will you take me? Please? I've never been to an auction like that, or seen
so many horses all in one place."
"I spose we could go," Johnny said, and Charlie unclasped her arms from her knees and flung them around his
neck.
"Yea!" she said, in excitement.
L
And so, it was, at the table, during the supper meal, that Charlie spoke animatedly about the horse auction.
Scott, in the process of cutting his steak, paused, knife in hand. He gave his brother a glance. "You let her talk you
into it, hmm?" he asked.
Johnny shook his head. "I was thinkin' about goin' in to take a look myself, anyway."
Scott turned to give Charlie a cautionary look. "Don't forget, you have those sums to finish. Have you done that?"
"I'm mostly finished with them," Charlie said.
"Mostly finished isn't finished," Scott told her.
Charlie nodded, but looked away from his gaze. She hated doing sums. She well and truly did hate it. Scott, and Murdoch too, Charlie suspected,
had decided that she needed to begin having some practice in order to prepare for school's beginning.
After she'd been sent upstairs at eight o'clock to prepare for bed, Charlie sat down at the desk in her bedroom, and
struggled thru several more of the arithmetic problems that Scott had written out. She gave up after completing five or six, going to
sit in her window seat, and look out, waiting for Scott to come upstairs.
When he did come, he tapped lightly, and Charlie called, "Come in!"
Scott opened the door, coming in, and Charlie turned to greet him with a giggle. "Scott, come and look! Jelly's trying to catch
his pig!"
Scott came over closer to the window, following where Charlie pointed. The sight of Jelly scrambling around, trying to persuade his
pig to get back into her pen caused Scott to smile.
"How'd she get out again?" Scott asked, shaking his head.
"She's a very intelligent pig. That's what Jelly says," Charlie reported.
"I don't imagine he's calling her anything as polite as intelligent right about now," Scott said wryly.
Scott tapped the book in his hand. They'd recently begun reading 'Black Beauty'.
"Want to sit here?" he asked, gesturing to the window seat. "Or on the bed?"
"Here," Charlie said, moving her feet and tucking them underneath herself, so there would be room for Scott to sit
down.
As he sat down, and began finding the page that they'd stopped on the evening before, Charlie said, "I think this is
the saddest book I've ever read."
"It is sad at times," Scott agreed.
And so, Scott read thru an entire chapter, before marking the page, and closing the book.
"It's getting interesting," Charlie said.
"It is."
"Have you read it before?" Charlie asked, the thought suddenly occurring to her that it might not be very interesting to him.
"No. I haven't. But, even if I have read a certain book before, it wouldn't bother me to read it again, with you," he said.
Charlie squeezed his arm. "That's nice," she said, with satisfaction.
Scott looked towards the desk, and said, "You've been working on your sums tonight?"
"Yes."
"How is it going?"
Charlie shrugged in answer.
"Do you want me to take a look?" he asked. "See if there's any that are incorrect?"
"They're all incorrect," Charlie said glumly.
"Oh, I doubt that," Scott said, and laid the book aside, standing up to go over to the desk. He picked up the crumpled paper, rife with numbers that had
been marked out, and redone. He walked back over to the window seat and sat down beside Charlie, still looking over the paper.
"It's horrible, right?" Charlie asked.
"No, it's not horrible." For the next few minutes Scott went over the sums that she'd completed, coaching her thru the ones
that needed to be refigured. Charlie found that with his help, sitting right beside her, that it wasn't so difficult, and things seemed
clearer.
"There you go," Scott said, in encouragement. "You're getting it."
He smoothed out the crumples in the paper. "You might try to take it easier on the paper. It's beginning to look rough."
"I get frustrated."
"No reason to be," Scott said, turning to look at her.
Charlie shrugged again. "I hate it. All of it. Figuring out the sum. Figuring out how to get the sum. Figuring out the
fastest way to get the sum. All of it."
"If you have that mindset, you'll set yourself up for frustration, true enough."
"I can't help it."
"You did a fine job, working them thru tonight," Scott told her.
"That's because you're sitting right here with me." Charlie turned her big eyes onto him. "It's different when I'm alone."
"Do it in stages. Steps, like I showed you just now. It will come easier with practice," Scott said.
"Ugh," Charlie said.
Scott tapped the paper that he still held. "Well, finish these tomorrow, alright? There's only six left. You should
be able to do that."
"Do I have to finish them before I go with Johnny, to the auction?" Charlie asked, pleadingly.
"I think you could, if you set your mind to it."
"Can I do them after we get back home again? Please?"
"Alright," he said, and got up, going to lay the paper back on the desk. He gestured towards the bed. "Come on. Time to
get settled, and asleep."
Charlie popped up, and once under the covers, she reached out to give Scott their customary hug goodnight.
L
The next morning at breakfast, Teresa was full of news of the evening before. She'd attended a party held at a friend's house,
and it had been a supper party, with dancing afterwards. When she talked about the young man she'd been courting, her eyes sparkled. Watching her,
Charlie thought it looked as though there was a candle lit up inside of Teresa.
Johnny uttered his customary comments, telling her that she was too interested in this particular suitor, and shouldn't be
so quick to tie herself down.
"I'm not doing any such thing," Teresa protested, and the conversation proceeded from there. With a comment or two from
Murdoch, it was prevented from reaching an argument.
"Teresa has good judgement," Murdoch defended. "And I have faith she'll continue to show it."
"Thank you," Teresa told him, and when she got up to begin clearing the table, she took Johnny's plate from
under his nose.
"Hey," he said in protest. "I wasn't finished!"
"Oh, I think you were," Teresa said, in a breezy tone, continuing on her way out of the dining room.
Charlie couldn't contain the giggle that escaped her. An action which earned her an eyebrow raised look from
Johnny.
"Who's side are you on, anyway, pequeno?" he accused.
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