AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The interior of the cavernous place was cool. Thankful to be inside and out of the sun, Rhine pulled out his handkerchief and mopped at his neck. Even though he’d been in Virginia City for years now, he still found the desert heat oppressive.
“So where is MissMary?”
“Out back. It’s wash day.”
“And you’re not helping?”
“She told us to stay inside so we wouldn’t get dirty.”
Ten-year-old Susannah Bird walked up. “Hello, Mr.Fontaine.”
“Hello, Susannah.” She was of Mexican and Paiute descent and smarter than some of the adults Rhine knew. He handed her the bag of penny candy he’d picked up on the way. “Will you put this in a safe place?”
Micah cried, “How come you gave it to her?”
Susannah answered, “Because I am the oldest and the most trustworthy.”
When Christian silently mimicked her, Rhine struggled to keep a straight face. She was right though. In her hands the sweets wouldn’t be hidden under her bed and eaten secretly, as the boys had done the first and last time they’d been entrusted with the bag.
She then added, “You two can’t have any anyway. You’re both on punishment.”
Rhine swung his attention their way and they squirmed under his scrutiny. Before he could ask for an explanation, Susannah confessed for them. “They put a baby snake in MissWilla’s bloomers drawer.”
The spinster Willa Grace was the housekeeper, and like Mary, had a heart of gold. Rhine said to the twins, who now looked like they wanted to disappear, “Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t MissWilla Grace make you two a birthday cake a few months back large enough to feed half the town?”
Heads bowed, they nodded.
“And when you came down with those terrible colds last winter, didn’t she stay up three nights straight nursing you back to health?”
Shamefaced, they nodded again.
“So, do you think someone who cares for you the way she does deserves to be scared half out of her wits by a snake?” he asked pointedly.
They whispered in unison, “No sir.”
“What’s your punishment this time?”
They mumbled.
Susannah translated. “No sweets, desserts, and early to bed for the next three nights.”
As much as they loved desserts, he knew they were very unhappy with their sentence.
“Mr.Fontaine. Do you want me to tell MissMary you’re here?” Susannah asked.
“Please.”
She departed, leaving Rhine with the guilty boys. “Have you apologized to MissWilla?” he asked.
They nodded. Before he could interrogate them further, Mary appeared holding the hand of her youngest charge, a three-year-old girl named Lin whose parents had returned to China and left her behind. Mary was short and stocky and had a face weathered from the desert sun. Her gray hair was cut short as a man’s. Having worn a nun’s habit most of her adult life, she said she preferred it that way. “Mr.Fontaine, how are you?”
He met her kind blue eyes. “I’m well. I hear Trouble One and Two have been living up to their names.”
The boys stared down at the toes of their brown brogans.
“They have, and unless they’d care for a full week of no dessert they will be on their best behavior while with you today. Is that understood?” she asked them.
Rhine was taking them into town for haircuts.
