Disclaimer: I own nothing of GWTW.
Chapter 5
Dark and barely visible, the shape of the chimney rose against the mountain behind it.
Rhett pulled up as close as possible and they began to disembark. Somehow he got the door open and Scarlett, holding Ella and Bonnie entered first, followed by Wade and Rhett, who carried both valises and the burlap bags at the same time.
She peered into the darkened interior, which at first glance consisted of a main room with a fireplace and a large bed situated right in front of it with two rocking chairs on the sides. There was a ladder going up to a loft on one end of the room, as well as a kitchen area and a rickety-looking table with ladder-back chairs.
Two windows let in a tiny bit of light. Scarlett saw the doorway to another room off to the side but could not make out anything further.
"Start working on the fire," Rhett instructed as if that wasn't the first thing she would do. "I'll go see to the horse." He grabbed a shovel from beside the door and went back outside.
Scarlett set the girls down with Wade and moved the large cast iron cauldron and kettle out of the fireplace. There was a pile of dry wood to the side and she built up the tinder with the smaller pieces before retrieving the matches from Rhett's cigar box and lighting it from underneath. She opened the bottle of whiskey and threw a bit of the precious liquid on it as well; it helped immensely.
The children, nearly sleepwalking, pulled closer to the fireplace, which lacked a screen.
"Step back," Scarlett said, more sharply than she'd intended. "It will be warmer soon, I promise, but we don't need to catch your clothes on fire."
Bonnie clung to Ella, who held her little sister in her arms quite sweetly. Wade stood silent, looking about the room.
"There's a lantern, Mother," he said as he crossed the room to retrieve it from the kitchen. She held it up to the light. About three inches of kerosene in the base, not much, but perhaps they could afford to burn a little until the room warmed up. She lit it with another match and its flame, along with that of the fire, helped chase away the bleakness of their accommodations.
She instructed the children to strip off their gloves and shoes and to warm their feet and hands first.
They all turned from back to front, trying to heat themselves on both sides. She kept them in their overcoats, and she in hers, for the time being.
Scarlett heard some scraping noises from the roof after a few minutes, and then a loud thump from outside.
The fire was doing better but wasn't going fast enough; she gave it another jigger of whiskey. She took the lantern and surveyed the smaller room. Narrow beds were stacked on one another, apparently used for storage, as three of the four beds were piled with various tools and such.
She dragged the mattress (thanking God it was cotton-stuffed and not corn husk or straw) off the only empty bed into the big room by the fire, by the light of which she inspected it; it appeared fairly clean, with coarsely-woven linens, if a little dusty. She wiped it down with her damp gloves.
Rhett entered, stomping his boots to clean them at the doorway.
"The chimney's cleared."
"Did you fall off the roof? I heard a thump."
"No," he said, but she could see the snow still caked on the back of his overcoat. His hair was covered in it, as well.
He glanced at the fire, which wasn't exactly roaring but was going fairly well, and lifted an eyebrow at her.
She pointed to the whiskey and matches.
His eyes lit at the sight. "You did well, Scarlett." She waited for the barb, but it did not come.
Bonnie started fussing, Ella not far behind her, both girls beyond exhaustion. Rhett spoke kind and soothing words, and they settled down somewhat. He barely warmed his own hands before the fire before commencing to prowl about the room.
"The blankets aren't wet, I shook all the snow off before I brought them inside. I need to sleep in here to watch the fire. I gather there are beds in the other room."
"There are and this mattress is from the best of them. We're all sleeping in here tonight. I can't see well enough in that room or the loft to know what shape the beds are in, and there might be varmints and vermin."
"There might be varmints and vermin in here," he pointed out.
"There's one very large varmint right in front of me," she said tiredly. "My point is we can see in here."
He opened his mouth as if to protest but then shut it.
"Wade, come with me," he said after a moment, and they both went into the room and a few minutes later proceeded to drag a bed frame in beside the big bed in front of the fireplace, and then another one, this time with a mattress.
Scarlett warmed the blankets by the fire and freshened the quilts and coarse sheets folded on top of the beds the best she could. She didn't see any bugs or spiders, for which she was grateful. Rhett helped.
They worked together to dress the drowsy girls in their nightgowns, who still clung together as the room warmed up. Wade went to the other room to change.
Ella and Bonnie wordlessly climbed into one twin together, Wade in the other. Rhett tried to lift Bonnie out but she wouldn't let go of her sister.
"Ellie," she murmured sleepily, "want Ellie."
Ella, who had never been chosen over anyone or anything in her entire short life, looked nonplussed yet pleased despite her tiredness.
A forlorn expression fleetingly crossed Rhett's face. Scarlett almost felt sorry for him.
"Let them be, Rhett, it's nothing against you. Sisters can comfort each other in a way no one else can."
"And you know this because you and Suellen—"
"Not Suellen, Careen." The baby sister she lost to the church. "Careen used to be like that with me."
He raised a mocking brow and turned to the large bed. "Are you planning to bunk with the varmints and vermin? Surely not the large varmint standing in front of you. How coarse and unrefined would that be to your—"
"No." He started to speak again but she cut him off. "It's been a long day, Rhett, let's not argue. I'll stay on my side of the bed sheet seam as long as you stay on yours."
"Considering the circumstances I'll assume the ambiguity of that statement is unintentional," he replied, flashing a predatory grin. "For the time being."
Oh, what was he on about now? She didn't have the energy for word trickery. "Thank you." Scarlett removed her overcoat and sank into one of the two rocking chairs by the hearth. Rhett removed his as well and seated himself across from her.
"What did you do with the food?"
"Surprised it took you this long to ask. I buried it too deep for animals to detect, all but the dry goods and the greens and apples. The cold will keep it fresh. Is there anything here?"
"There's a bag of cornmeal and some salt in the cauldron, it looks all right."
"You missed supper." He picked up the whiskey bottle, looked around a bare moment for a glass, and then took a swig right out of it. "I think I'll drink mine."
"Yes but oh!" She hurried to the valise and pulled out the roast beef and rolls, as well as the cigar box. The bread was slightly defrosted but still hard, of course. She found a skillet in the cupboard and returned with it, wiping it out with one of the linen napkins from the train.
"We can have a sort of supper here," she said as she slid the skillet across the hearth to the fire.
Rhett regarded the meat-stuffed rolls and laughed. "You are surprisingly resourceful, my dear. And you saved my whiskey and cigars. I am astounded at all this thoughtfulness."
"Don't read too much into it," she said, riled yet again. "I didn't want to put up with how you'd be without them."
"Ah." He reached for a cigar and lit it, not bothering to keep the satisfaction from his expression.
She went back to the cupboard and searched more thoroughly. A set of mismatched plates and cups, and enough forks and spoons to do. Only one large, sharp knife. It would have to get them by. She grabbed a chipped pitcher and, taking a deep breath, opened the front door, ventured out a couple of feet, and filled it quickly with snow, before returning inside and slamming the door shut.
"We'll have to let this melt to wash it and the cups out, then fill it again in case anyone wants water during the night," her words slowed along with her weary mind. Tomorrow she'd fill up the kettle and cauldron and start washing and cleaning with hot water. There would be enough food for a couple of days, with what Rhett had pilfered. Beyond that, however …
"Did you get the horse settled?"
"About that. There was a horse stable, nothing more than a shed, really. Unfortunately, a huge tree fell through its roof in the storm. It would not shelter the animal."
"Oh." Scarlett's shoulders slumped. They had to find shelter for the horse or they'd have to live with it in the cabin, which would be just—oh, she couldn't think about it. But she'd do it if she had to; she'd lived with worse.
"There's a privy, which is good for us, and a smokehouse. But it's too small for the horse."
"So where is it?"
"I let it go."
"What? Why?"
"Nowhere to keep it and nothing to feed it, Scarlett. I had to let it go. If it makes it back down to the bridge perhaps someone will recognize it and figure out that we're up here, if the farmer's around to tell them."
Her heart sank further.
"So we're stuck here snowed in until—"
"Yes," he said and his eyes glinted in the firelight. "We're stuck here together until one of us can walk out."
OOOOooooOOOOoooo
Fun facts:
Sheet seams?
Sheets were painstakingly hand-woven until the early 1900s. The hand-stitched center seams, which stitched two hand-woven cloth panels together to make a wider width, stopped in the 1930s with the advent of wide machine looms—textile trunk dot com
Bunk Beds
It's hard to pinpoint the origin of bunk beds, but several sources online attribute their creation to Native Americans. 'The Iroquoian longhouses housed several families together. The concept of bunk beds was developed by these Native American peoples since these longhouses included several bed combinations which featured one bed built on top of another, akin to bunk beds in modern times.' —Wikipedia
A/N Hello lovelies! Yes, Ella and Bonnie bonded in the bed of that wagon. Poor Rhett. But it's for the best. She's not going to forget her daddy, anyway.
Hope you all are well! Just trying to get into the pioneer-life spirit over here. It's been a while since I've done anything remotely close to roughing it, Scarlett and Rhett as well. There will be a learning curve for these two, in more ways than one.
Last summer my aunt-in-law gifted me with a large antique cast iron cauldron and tea kettle. That kettle is hella heavy. I can't imagine what it was like to try to cook with those things, but I am not an outdoorsy person, as I have mentioned before, and I never cook over campfires. I don't quite know what to do with these gifts, but they were kept in a hickory wood barn built in the early forties and they are in mint condition. I have them in my basement until I can fathom a use for them. I trekked down to the basement and viewed them before I wrote this chapter, and I even tried to lift and move them around to get a feel for them. People used to be so much tougher than we are today. I thought of that while I wrote.
I haven't even started on the next chapter beyond the first couple of paragraphs. Will update you when possible. Take care, drop me a few words if you have time, and peace be with you, misscyn