Here is another story featuring Luis (Florida) and Rosslyn (Georgia). It's more of an extension of the previous one-shot, really. Enjoy!
"And then, Mary, Uncle Arthur said that I was his favorite niece!" The honey-sweet voice of a little strawberry blonde-headed child was carried along with the wind, making the ears of close by white-tailed deer raise in apprehension. The humans hunted them and so human noises scared them, but hearing only the voice and no footsteps, they went back to munching on some grass, assured that they would not become food today.
An oak leaf, floating carelessly through the air, landed on the child's head, which went unnoticed. "Only daddy said I was Uncle Arthur's only niece, so I had to be his favorite." The child combed the golden hair of the doll with delicate little finger tips. "Oh!" Her fingers stopped moving as she paused. Something important that she had been waiting to share with Mary came back to her at this moment. "I meant to tell you sooner Mary," she brought the doll up to her eye level, "but I forgot. Mr. Oglethorpe (You remember him, right, Mary?) taught me some Spanish words. He wasn't curious at all as to why I wanted to know! Do you want to hear?"
She cleared her throat, much in the way she'd seen her Uncle Arthur do it when he wanted to say something important. "Hola, soy un amigo." Surprisingly, she managed to pronounce it exactly as Mr. Oglethorpe had, and grinned happily to herself at this accomplishment.
"No, es 'Hola, soy una amiga'." A voice called from behind her, the same Spanish voice she remembered from two weeks ago. She quickly turned around to be greeted by the madman grin of the Spanish boy. Luis, she reminded herself, was his name.
Luis was pointing at himself again. Rosslyn thought to herself that he rather enjoyed doing that. "Mi un amigo," and now he pointed at Rosslyn, "you una amiga." It had sounded very odd to hear him speak English, even if it was only one word. Obviously, she had not been the only one to inquire about foreign languages.
"Ahora probarlo," he opened his palms towards her, gesturing for her to 'try' something. But Rosslyn did not understand and so, she used the only other word Mr. Oglethorpe had taught her. It was a very good word, useful in situations such as this.
"Qué?" It came out sounding like the 'kay' part of 'okay', which sounded so very odd coming from her mouth, though she'd been practicing for days now.
She watched Luis now, who had his hand placed underneath his chin, pacing back in forth in front of her. It was quite amusing and reminded her of the stuffy old men that governed her colony whenever they were trying to find a solution to something very troubling.
Luis suddenly turned back to her, the hand gone from his chin, and now standing perfectly still. It seemed he had found a solution to his troubling matter. "Girl," he said this tentatively, pointing at Rosslyn, who slowly responded by nodding her head to confirm that she was indeed a girl. "Ni – no, boy," and he pointed at himself, to which Rosslyn again nodded her head.
"You," he pointed back at Rosslyn (Rosslyn was getting rather tired of all this pointing herself), "amiga." To this, Rosslyn raised her eyebrows in confusion. She was an 'amiga'? He had said the word earlier. It sounded like a disease. "Amiga," he continued, "girl. Girl es amiga."
Girl es amiga? Excluding the fact that she had no idea what 'es' mean, Rosslyn could only assume that 'amiga' was the way to say 'girl' in Spanish. At least, she thought so.
"Boy es amigo." Luis said this quicker, not explaining slowly like with the girl to 'amiga' thing. Obviously, he assumed Rosslyn was a quick learner. She wished he didn't. This whole Spanish deal was hard, even more so without a proper teacher.
"So," she looked up into the eager face of Luis, "Hola, soy un amigo for you." She pointed at Luis, who nodded at her. Good heavens, now she was doing the pointing thing. She almost wished she knew Spanish so that they could a stop to this senselessness. That's what her Uncle Arthur would call it for sure. "But it's, 'Hola, soy una amiga' for me." Here she pointed at herself, receiving a vigorous nod from Luis, along with shouts of 'Si'. Rosslyn now knew that 'Si' meant 'yes', thanks to this little language exercise she and Luis had just gone through.
A hand touched the top of her head shortly, and she just barely caught Luis' tan hand retracting towards him. He was fast, she decided, maybe even faster than her – she wouldn't allow that. Curiously, she watched as he twirled an oak leaf between his fingers, recognizing that he must have grabbed it from her head. She often found leaves in her hair once she'd gotten home. Her Uncle Rhys would pick them out carefully, commenting quietly, in that gentle voice of his, how much she was like her daddy in this manner. He – her daddy – Uncle Rhys said, would come home covered in all things imaginable and their mother would do for him what he – Rhys – did for Rosslyn.
"You," Luis again caught her attention with his use of English, "Voy a casarme contigo." He cupped her hands with his, studying her face for a reaction. Rosslyn found this to be a bit too awkward and close for her. Females and males were not supposed to be in such close proximity with each other (even as children, but they were both much more than children, really), were they? "¿Qué es lo que?¿Quieres casarte conmigo?"
Not knowing what would be an appropriate response to these questions – questions she could not understand – Rosslyn simply nodded. This earned her a squeezing hug from the Spaniard and rosy cheeks as a reaction to the hug. Awkwardly, the two continued a routine for the rest of the day; Luis hugging her, Rosslyn pushing him away, and then a good hour or two trying to interpret one another's language.
Luis corrected Rosslyn, because she used the masculine form instead of feminine. Don't forget those masculine and feminine forms, folks! I want some guesses as to what Rosslyn unknowingly agreed to that made Luis hug her, okay? ;D
James Oglethorpe was a British general, philanthropist, Member of Parliament, and founder of the colony of Georgia. He was a huge humanitarian and particularly concerned with the living conditions of sailors and debtors in London prisons. So Oglethorpe (and fellow members of a committee) started petitioning in 1930 for the colony of Georgia to be founded as a home for the "worthy poor". Ultimately, few debtors (the "worthy poor") ended up in Georgia. The first colonists included many Scots (the reason I chose Scotland as Georgia's father) whose pioneering skills greatly assisted the colony.
Not to be forgotten, many of Georgia's new settlers also consisted of poor English tradesmen and artisans and religious refugees from Switzerland, France and Germany, as well as a number of Jewish refugees. And Oglethorpe negotiated with the Yamacraw tribe for land (he and the chief became great friends) for land, instead of just taking it. Slavery in Georgia? It was banned, originally, thanks to Oglethorpe. I could go on about this fantastic human being, but I don't want to get too boring, so I'll stop now.