Chapter six
Hudson farm
I left Sherwood two hours later at six o'clock and headed home, our plan was now fully formed and all of us were ready and eager for tomorrow to come, I was content and the walk home didn't take long, and after all, it was a route I had walked often over that past few months. My stomach growled at me as I headed down the lane that led to our farm house, how long had it been since I'd eaten last? I was STARVING, okay that was a bit of an overstatement but still, dinner was usaly served at four o'clock sharp in our house (working class values), and I hadn't eaten anything much since lunch. Fortunately though, due to my 'late shift at work' (a frequently used line of mine to explain my absences from the house) dinner was to be served at six o'clock, halleluiah. I could smell it already.
"…Come now Joey, you can't expect me to believe that." The jovial voice of my father greeted me much sooner and sharper due to my improved hearing and I could hear his and Joey's conversation from half way up the lane.
"Uncle Alex, I can't make these things up, the rebellion…" My cousin said animatedly as they rounded the corner and came into my view.
"Hi Robin sweetie," my dad said smiling at me, I didn't miss how he had cut Joey off mid sentence, stopping him from saying whatever it was he was going to say, , I just didn't think much of it, not at the time.
"Hi dad, hi Joey," I said greeting them "how was the farm today, anything interesting happen?" I asked falling into step with them as they headed towards the farm house.
"Not really honey, we didn't really get all that much done today," Dad said regretfully, even though in most cases farmers are pretty wealthy-when you think about it they have to be to own all that land and live stock, not to mention keeping the place running-but of course that is not the case in Locksdale. Owning a farm in this unjust town is probably one of the worst, most resource draining and tax inducing thing that you can do, you might as well take your earnings and stand on the barn roof throwing them into the wind. Baxter loved taxing us and all the other farm owners in town; he had taxed us to the point where there weren't many of us left. You see, in Baxter's head, having land ment having wealth, that's one of the reasons he craved it so much, and because of that Baxter couldn't have anyone else having money or wealth, so he took it all from them. It was crippling keeping the farm running and that was just the way Baxter liked it. Not that my dad would ever give up the farm though, he loved it too much, it had been his home all of his life, as it had been his dads home before him and his dads and so on, it was worth far more to dad than money. So anyway, any day in which dad didn't do much on the farm, ment that he wouldn't earn much, so today had been a day wasted, which in turn ment that it would be difficult to pay Baxter's many ridiculous taxes.
"Though it was certainly entertaining running around after Dolly all day," Dad finished with a laugh and I smiled.
"I'll say," Joey said grinning broadly at the memory.
"Why what did she do today?" I asked, Dolly, short for Ditzy Dolly, was the newest edition to the farm, the last calf to be born in the spring and the farm yard baby, she was motherless as a result of complications in birth, Dolly had lived but her mother hadn't, as a result she earned a special place in all of our hearts. Only she wasn't so much of a baby anymore, Ditzy Dolly had earned her name and fame in the Hudson family by being quite simply, crazy. The calf had been running everyone ragged since her first step; she was forever getting lost, running around the farm yard, escaping the barn, sneaking into the chicken coops, getting in the house, annoying the other cows, and generally being a nuisance. Dolly, was a perfectly understandable reason as to why dad and Joey hadn't done much today.
"The usual," dad replied as he opened the front door "ended up in next doors garden, well that and she pulled down their washing line and trotted into the house wearing Mrs Adams' gardening glove on the end of her nose."
I laughed, Mrs Adams had a sense of humour, and was used to dealing with our crazy cow, but still, the poor dear.
"Dolly?" Grandma asked as she walked from the living room to the kitchen carrying old woven place mats, although dinner was a simple affair, mum insisted on doing it right.
"Yep," Joey answered opening the door so that Grandma, with her arms laden with the plain white table cloth and place mats, could get into the kitchen. "Mrs Adams didn't mind too much thank God, cos one of these days that cow will have one of Baxter's men knocking on our door."
"And so what if she does, this is private property; we own this, there's nothing they can do." Dad said, referring to how they couldn't exactly kick us out; as we both stepped into the kitchen after Joey and Grandma.
"There's always something for Baxter to do," Joey commented and this time no one disagreed, we all knew it was true.
"Though, I'm not sure we'll fare so well if she ends up in the town centre again," Dad said taking the plates from mum and setting them on each of the place mats as Grandma set them down, I went to the cupboard and pulled down seven glasses falling into rhythm behind Joey who was putting down the knives and forks. We worked near silently; instinctively following the pattern dinner took every night, everyone pitching in, everyone helping.
"She didn't?" I asked looking at dad, a massive smile splitting across my face. "I can imagine that went down well with all the Haves in the town centre." Wow, town centre, that was pretty far away.
"Ah, it was alright, Dolly didn't get too far into the crowds of shoppers, though she caused enough trouble and had enough energy to have us all running around after her all day." Dad said shrugging, he looked tired, so did all of the others, I can't believe they spent the day chasing Dolly around town, on there own.
"You should have called me," I said setting down the last cup "I would have been able to help."
"What and have you miss work again?" my mum asked stirring dinner one last time before switching off the hobs. "You'll need every penny you can earn for collage next year, text books don't come cheep you know. And besides you don't want to give that boss of your any excuse to fire you, you know he doesn't like you."
True, my boss Jordans and I had a love hate relationship, meaning, that he hated me and I loved winding him up. The rest of my family made noises of agreement; clearly they knew just how much Jordans despised me.
"Cant argue with you there," I agreed taking my seat.
"It doesn't matter love," My Granddad insisted "we had it sorted in a jiffy, no fuss."
I smiled back at him, just as my mum shouted up the stairs for my little sister.
"Alice, get down here now! Dinners ready!"
Alice ran down the stairs, her blond curls bouncing as she skipped into the room carrying her 'High School Musical' singing doll, much to my annoyance, she wouldn't quit it with the bloody doll, constantly she pushed that bloody button just so she could wined me up. She was the spit of my mum though, blond angelic curls and dainty, sweet features and a slim figure, even at the age of ten, it was obvious she was going to be stunning one day. Though don't let any of this fool you, her head isn't filled with air, she's as cunning and witty as the rest of us make no mistake, the bratty kid's only mission in life, aside from manipulating her school teachers and class mates into giving her what she wants, was to humiliate me, and let me tell you now she was good at it. I however, was pretty much my dads female clone, chocolate brown hair and pale completion, except for my eyes, which where the exact same shade of emerald green as my mums.
Alice bounced over to the fridge and opened the door, before taking out the jug of orange juice my mum put in there every afternoon (another tea time tradition) and straining a little under its weight.
"I'll take that darling," my Granddad said taking the jug from Alice, she may be set for school wide domination, but she wasn't strong enough to carry the jug to the table without spilling it just yet.
Alice huffed and jumped into her chair beside me, she set down her doll on the table, leaning it against her cup.
"Alice honey, don't put your toys on the dinner table, we're about to eat." My mum said, taking the cooking pot from the hob and holding the handles with the tea towel so as not to burn herself. Grudgingly Alice put the doll on the floor and started talking.
"Mum," she said, dragging out the word in that way little kids do whenever they are about to ask for something "when Wendy comes over tomorrow, can we go into the field so I can show her the cows?"
I smiled and stood up so that I could pour everyone some orange juice, I caught Joey's eye, he was smirking and looking around the table as everyone waited, trying not to laugh, for mum to answer.
"Alice, you are not wandering into the field with the cows, you'll end up trampled, leave that sort of stuff to your dad and Joey, they know what they're doing, most of the time anyway,"
"Hey," Dad said after taking his cup from me, he and Joey glared at the rest of us as we laughed at what mum had said, though it was obvious that they were trying to not laugh themselves and blow their charade of insult.
"And besides, Wendy has seen the cow's loads of times from the window; you don't need to frighten the poor girl by taking her into the fields. Why don't you wait until daddy comes in for lunch tomorrow and he can take you into Dolly's pen, providing you two don't help her escape and someone is watching you at all times, that'll fine." Mum said spooning out meat, potato and carrot stew, which was more gravy than anything else. No one complained though, we all knew how hard things were getting.
"Sounds good kidda," my dad said holding up his hand for Alice to high five, she did but then went back to crossing her arms and sulking, she didn't like not getting her own way.
"Fine, but Wendy will be upset." She said; I highly doubted that, Wendy was Alice's best friend and my best friend Will's little sister. Wendy was such an angel, and she absolutely adored Will and she was so sweet it was unbelievable. Everyone loved Wendy and it wasn't hard to see why, that was why I didn't believe Alice when she said it was Wendy's idea to walk right up to the cows on their own, Alice was the complete opposite of Wendy.
"If you say so," Joey said tucking into dinner, Alice pulled a face at him across the table, which earned her a stern look from mum, and the warning that if she couldn't behave herself then Wendy wouldn't be coming at all tomorrow. That shut her up, everyday so far in the summer holidays, Alice had been at Wendy's house or Wendy had been at ours, what with that and all the birthday parties their other friends have been having the two of them were inseparable. Much like Will, John, Mark and I, there hasn't been a day these past few months when we haven't seen each other, what with the whole Robin Hood thing.
"Working tomorrow Robin honey?" my dad asked, I nodded.
"Yep, Jordans has me working all this week." I replied, well that was sort of true, I wasn't working tomorrow of course, but they didn't need to know that.
"Well, you gotta earn a living I suppose," my dad sighed, he looked at me then, I knew he didn't like all the hours I was working, he didn't know the half of it.
"I know dad," I said, spearing a piece of potato with my fork and eating it.
"How are Will and the others? I've not seen them in a while" mum asked me from her seat across from dad.
"Yeah, how are your boyfriends?" Alice said butting in before I could say anything.
"They're fine," I said before turning to Alice "and they're not my boyfriends."
"I should think not," my Granddad said winking at me "got to save some of the lads for the other girls Robin, you can't have them all sweetie."
I groaned, not this again, my family were under the mistaken impression that I was some sort of catch, oh yeah and a man-eater too by the way things were looking.
"Got them all chasing after her does our Robin," my Grandma gushed proudly and I was about ready for burying my head in my hands. It was like this every time I brought the others here, Will didn't get it so bad, they knew he was my best friend and nothing more, so it wasn't too bad then, but when the others come round, argh. Though you know what, I'm pretty sure my family know Will, Mark and John aren't my boyfriends or anything like that, they just like humiliating me.
I knew they weren't being serious, because dad was laughing as well, if it had been serious he would be stern faced and telling me that he didn't like his little girl having a load of lads chasing after her, and that I should be careful or some such fatherly stuff. He wasn't taking it seriously, so neither was I.
"Come on, do you lot see cues' of lads outside the front door carrying boxes of chocolates and bouquets of roses, cause I don't." I said turning my attention back to my dinner. It wasn't like I had time to spare for a boyfriend, and anyway, after what happened last time I wasn't in any hurry find myself a new guy.
"Be careful what you wish for," my mum said wisely, or she trying to be wise anyway. I didn't know then just how right she was.
"Robin and …" Alice started to sing the K.I.S.S.I.N.G. song but Joey cut across her.
"Give it a rest Alice love, what about you and Tony Parker anyway, I saw him looking at you when I picked you up from Amy's party today," Joey said coming to my rescue, though do you see what I mean about all the kids parties she goes to? My ten year old sister has more of a social life than I do! How depressing "is he your boyfriend?"
"No," Alice said clearly repulsed "he's minging, and he tripped up Katie at school before the six weeks,"
"He's just trying to impress you," Joey said all knowingly, 'thank you' I mouthed to him, grateful to my substitute big brother. It seems as though it has been decades since the issue with his parents that had lead to Joey living with us, rather than just a few years, I can't imagine life in this household without him. Joey winked at me to let me know it was okay.
"He's not!" Alice snapped going red "he's not, is he?"
"Well Joey is a boy Alice," I said as I shrugged dramatically "I think he's going to know best."
Joey nodded in agreement and Alice turned a deep shade of red.
"He's not, he's not, he's not!" she insisted.
"It's a well known fact," Grandma said getting involved "and boy's have been doing it for years, you see Alice sweetie, boy's aren't very good at showing their emotions, and they'd much sooner pretend not to have them. It's just like how men never listen. So you have to leave them to it, some grow out of it, and some never do, isn't that right?" she asked turning to Granddad.
"Huh?" Granddad asked, completely missing the question and unbeknownst to him, proving Grandma's point. We all burst out laughing as Granddad tried to think up a generic answer, and Alice's eyes widened as she took on board what Grandma had said.
"Pay no attention sweetie," dad said noticing this and trying to stop Alice from taking it too seriously "Grandma's only messing."
Alice nodded and sat back in a huff again.
"He's not," she said again and just as Joey was about to say something else, mum bet him to it.
"Leave her," she told him and he nodded still grinning, maybe we'd picked on each other enough for one day.
"You're just so easy to wined up," I said grinning and tickling Alice's knee, she giggled before batting my hand away, just like she used to when she was little and before she became a brat.
"So the cattle market next week then…" my Granddad asked dad and in no time at all, the farm was the main topic of conversation, when we finished eating and talking it was about seven o'clock, as usual dinner had consumed an hour. Everyone got to their feet and picked up their plates, cups and cutlery, Joey picked up Alice's, concerned that she might drop them, leaving us one plate down.
Another typical meal time with my family came to a close, and after a pudding of vanilla ice-cream (a regular desert, though once again no one complained) everyone was ready to leave the table. I was helping mum with the dishes and running through the finer points of the plan in my mind when I spotted something. I stepped away from the sinks draining board and walked towards the kitchen window, the one with a view of the lane, I frowned, I had been sure I had seen a dark figure out there. But inspecting the lane through the window I couldn't see anything, it would be better to go outside and check, but supposing I did find something, how would I explain it to the others, or get rid of whoever was trespassing without revealing who I was.
"Robin?" my mum asked as she went to hand me the last plate, only to realise I wasn't there.
"Sorry," I said walking back to her still frowning in confusion, I took the plate from her and began to dry it, as the emptied the sink she asked.
"Are you okay sweetie?"
"I'm fine mum," I said handing the plate to Joey to put away and becoming conscious of my mums ability to read my mind when she was tipped off that something was wrong.
"Then what was all that about?" she asked conversationally, as she pulled off a few squares of kitchen roll and began to wipe the water from around the sink, she wasn't accusing me of anything, but most of the time, her polite questions had better results in squeezing me for information than her shouting did, and she knew that.
"Nothing," I said folding the dish towel "I thought I saw something is all,"
Not a lie.
"Oh, did you?" she asked sounding a bit more worried now, she looked over my shoulder and exchanged a look with Joey who was the only person in the room besides us, something wasn't right here, they knew something that I didn't, this ment something to them.
"I guess not since when I got to the window there was nothing there," I said shrugging, I paused before I added "why?"
"No reason," she said turning to face me and smiling "just wondering."
"Okay," I said eager to get out of here and investigate "I'm just going to take a shower."
I walked out into the hall and took to the stairs.
"Okay honey, oh and will you run the bath for Alice when your done?" mum called from the kitchen loud enough so that Alice, who was playing with her doll in the room, could hear as well. Alice groaned loudly and dramatically, getting some chuckles from the older family members as she rolled around the floor.
"Will do," I called back before racing up the stairs, I ran straight past the bathroom, I would get a shower later, I had more important things to do right now, and straight into my bedroom. I ran straight to my dresser and was rummaging through its draws for my mask when I noticed something on the bed. I abandoned my search and walked towards the bed, my curtains blowing in the breeze that was coming through the open window, and saw that it was a pile of clothes with a note on the top. I relaxed as I looked down at the crisp, clean suit and picked up the note.
'Now your all set for tomorrow
Mark'
I smiled, clearly I had overreacted downstairs, every shadowy figure running around in the night wasn't an enemy, I should know that better than anyone. Mark had done just what he said he would do and dropped off my costume for tomorrow, it was obviously him that I had seen in the lane. I shook my head at my own stupidity and headed for the bathroom, well at least I could have my shower now, it certainly was a lot easier than hunting around in the dark for a trespasser, why things couldn't always have this kind of rational explanation, I didn't know. Convincing myself that I had overreacted I took my shower peacefully, I went to bed that night without even considering shutting my bedroom window, I felt safe, secure and protected. I didn't know how wrong I was.