Chapter 3: arrivals and Indians
Finally! They meet! This chapter is a little funky. Pov will switch between Sarah and James. This was actually the first chapter I came up with, but I decided that we needed to hear James and Sarah's pov on the matter before this point. I've been fine tuning this chapter for ages, and like fine wine, cheese, and Robert Downey Jr, I believe it has grown better with age.
I'm not even 100% sure who exactly owns liberty's kids, so it sure as heck isn't me (I think)
Late November, 1773
Sarah pov
"Land ho!" Sarah's heart leap the moment she heard those words. After two months at sea, she finally arrived at her new home. Walking out on deck, Sarah caught her first glimpse of the new world. All things considered, it didn't look all that much different from England, but at the same time, it had a different spirit than England. Sarah scanned the docks for dr. franklin's welcoming party as she walked to the railing. The sooner they came, the sooner Sarah would meet her intended.
"Don't strain your eye miss. We're weeks early. Anyone who would be coming to get you wouldn't have arrived here by now. You're welcome to stay on the ship. I give my word that no sailor will lay a hand on you. We do not have to unload the tea until the sixteenth. " The captain of this vessel, Captain Reynolds, said as he joined Sarah at the railing. Captain Reynolds knew about most of the situation Sarah was in. he also had a daughter about Sarah's age, so he had grown a soft spot for Sarah during their 7 week voyage.
"Thank you ever so much Captain Reynolds. I believe I will take you up on that offer." Sarah replied politely. The ship may have been a bit smelly and dirty, but she'd rather stay there than in some costly inn, sharing a bed with a stranger. At least on the ship, she didn't have to pay for her room. The sailors on the ship, if admittedly a bit ruff, were known to Sarah, unlike the people of this strange town and this strange land. Sarah felt as though she would be safer waiting on the ship than waiting in the home of some stranger
It's often truly funny how wrong someone could be.
James pov
"Stupid press. Stupid shirt. Stupid ink. " James muttered and cursed providence to himself as he tried to get the ink out of his second to last clean shirt. At the rate he was going at, he'd have no clean shirts by December, and he wanted at least one for when Sarah came. Even if James wasn't thrilled about the marriage, he still wanted to make a good first impression upon his fiancée. He'd been scrubbing his shirt for fifteen minutes in the kitchen wash pan and still couldn't get the stain out.
Another good thing about Sarah's coming is that finally someone would be living in the house who knew how to do laundry. At the moment, James Henri and Moses all did their own laundry with mixed results. Sarah was to do house work for them, which included laundry, so James would never have to brave the soapy hot water again. Strike that, James would probably have to wash his "unmentionables" on his own. Giving them to Sarah might be considered "inappropriate behavior". Moses had given him numerous lectures in the past couple of weeks, telling him what could be considered inappropriate without going into much detail. Sarah was not only a lady, Moses had said, but his fiancée, and as such, James must treat her differently than Henri or Moses would.
"Hold off on that James!" Moses said has he rushed into the room." I've just received word from Boston. Sarah's ship has arrived two weeks early, and we need to go get her now." Moses buzzed around the room, grabbing food for their nine day journey. James nodded and ran up into his room to pack. He grabbed his favorite vest, the one clean shirt and a pair of pants. Quickly, he folded them and put them into a carpet bag, along with some travelling clothes. Now he felt he was ready to meet his fiancée.
He hoped.
December 16 1773
Sarah pov
Sarah braced herself as another savage cried and smashed a crate of tea on the deck above her. Nearly three weeks in America and already she was facing an attack from Indians. The attack had started about half an hour ago, and most of the crew was nowhere to be seen. The barbarians had yelled out slogans for something in what seemed like English, but the wind jumbled them all together before Sarah could make out what they were so upset about.
What had she done to deserve this? True, she wasn't the most proper of ladies, and she did have a habit of talking back, but those weren't crimes enough for god to send a party of Indians to attack. What would become of her? Would she be taken away, sold as to the highest bidder into a life as a squaw? Sarah couldn't let a thing like that happen; her mother was depending on her to send much need funds to England.
Grabbing a pillow cause and a few decent sized books, Sarah prepared a makeshift mace. Any bloody savages who thought it was a good idea to take her would have to reckon with her now. Sarah didn't plan on going into a life of destitution and shame without a fight. It was bad enough she was promised to marry a perfect stranger. Being captured by barbarians would be a fate worse than death. Crouching on the other side of the door, Sarah prepared herself for imminent combat. Not two minutes after she did so, foot steeps rang out from the stairs in front of her cabin. When they seemed about a yard away, Sarah leaped out from behind the door.
"You'll never take me alive savage!" she cried and swung her weapon as hard as she could. It was a prefect hit; striking her would be kidnapper, on the head and knocking him on the ground.
"OW! I'm not no Indian!"
James pov
James could believe it! Here he was, getting the story of a lifetime, and all of a sudden, a mad woman attacked him. Rubbing his head, James stood up. "I'm a journalist." He said with pride. He didn't expect a dimwitted girl who couldn't tell a blonde Pennsylvania Dutch boy from a red skin injun to know what a journalist was.
"You're not an Indian. If you want to be a journalist, you'll have to use better grammar." The prissy red headed girl said. Man, what a snob! He'd hate to be the unlucky party that was waiting for her. She was probably some governor's or general's daughter, returning home from some tory tea party.
"Fine, fine, now, what is your option of the tax on tea?" James was trying to be polite. Everyone had their own story, even her. A tory might be valuable.
"Is that what this is all about? How dare they! The tea is private property! If they have a complaint, they should take it to their local governor, not destroy other people's means of making a living." What a tory sheep! This girl must have come straight from the heart of London! What a tory!
"So you think its okay for parliament to impose taxes on the colonies, even without their say as Englishmen?" James felt his blood boiling as he asked the question.
"I believe that loyal subjects should follow the laws of their country and you can quote me on that, Mr.…?"
"Hiller, James hiller, and who may I be quoting?" the moment he said his name, the girl dropped her makeshift weapon in shock. She opened her month, than closed it, then opened it again. James had to stifle laughter. She looked like a red haired trout.
"Sarah Phillips. My name is Sarah Phillips." The newly christened Sarah Phillips uttered in a dazed, shocked voice. James mirrored her pervious reaction.
This was his fiancée?
End
Ah, young love! What a way to meet! I personally am not too fond of the original dialog in the show (I find it a bit too political and modern), so I tried to spice it up a little. Be forewarned that I may do this a lot, but a doubt you want to read a restatement of the show. I'm also sorry for taking a bit to post this chapter. My apush teacher assigned literally 3 chapters to outline in two weeks. 25 pages per chapter and each page of notes had to be five pages of the book. Anyway, please comment and fav! I have very low self-esteem, and I need to be vindicated by people I've never meet before!