Post by E. R. O'Donnegale on Jul 27, 2008 19:21:55 GMT -5
Escape to the Forest of Arden
Chapter 2
Bedroom Assignments, Arachnophobia, and Other Disasters
Chapter 2
Bedroom Assignments, Arachnophobia, and Other Disasters
“Oh, and my mind really is a nice place. would you like to visit? But if you do, don't pet the goats.
Or the dogs.
Or the cats.
And don't go near anything, you could get eaten or turned into a hedgehog. Not kidding.”-Hannah Rabbideau
Or the dogs.
Or the cats.
And don't go near anything, you could get eaten or turned into a hedgehog. Not kidding.”-Hannah Rabbideau
E.’s story was in full swing by the time Maverick and Jane entered the kitchen where she was seated.
“So Ryan began to tell stories to keep us from despair,” she was saying, “And Kay provided commentary on these tales. I provided the audience. And I laughed in all the right places. Didn’t I?” She looked to Ryan, who was sipping some lemonade that Laurel had made.
“You did,” he concurred, “And some of the wrong places, too.” E. squished her face into a frown as everyone else laughed.
“So…anything new since we left?” asked Kay, tactfully changing the subject.
“Well, we’re just getting settled in,” said Jane.
“Bedelia bit me,” Maverick volunteered, making his presence known.
“Again?’ asked E. in disbelief.
“And she keeps getting attacked by bushes!” said the large brunette girl on E.’s right side.
“Again?” echoed Ryan, “Remember when she crawled under that bush, blindfolded, to get away from me?”
“I don’t blame her,” E. grumbled. The girl on her right laughed again.
“So how is ‘settling’ going?” Ryan asked sweetly, choosing to ignore E.’s comment.
“We found a spider the size of Tanna’s head when we came in,” the girl on E.’s right said cheerfully.
Kay gave an involuntary twitch and E. said, “McJane, please. You know I don’t like to even hear about spiders.”
“We’re going to start work on assigning the bedrooms today,” a short girl with long, chestnut-brown hair piped up.
“Man, they have a lot of rooms in this place,” said Maverick, “And they all seem like they haven’t been used since the civil war!”
“Oh, surely it hasn’t been that long,” Jane started, but the girl called McJane cut her off.
“Actually, by my calculations, Maverick is about right,” she said. There was a stunned pause, then everyone laughed.
“So that’s our plan for the day?” asked E.
“Just about,” answered Jane, “We didn’t have any big events planned, other then you guys coming back.”
“Yet, something exciting always seems to happen, even on the boring days,” McJane pointed out.
“Well, what do you expect with us?” sighed E.
“Look!” said the short brunette girl, “Someone’s at the front door!” Everyone gave an involuntary start at the girl’s words and E. stood to look out the window.
“E.!” Kay hissed, “Get down! What if it’s-?”
“It’s not!” exclaimed E. joyfully, rushing out the door, “Come see!” By the time Ryan had pulled McJane out from under the table and everyone had accoutered themselves enough to follow, E. had already thrown open the door and was in the act of embracing one of the people who was outside.
“Kelcia!” she was exclaiming over the person she was knocking the breath out of.
“E…” gasped the other, staggering under E.’s unexpected weight.
“I wasn’t expecting you!” E. continued, releasing Kelcia, “But here you are! Welcome! And Brendan!” She turned to Kelcia’s companion, who quickly moved backward, onto the grass.
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that, if I were you!” McJane warned him cheerfully, “We’re not entirely sure about that grass. We think it might be carnivorous.” Brendan quickly moved off of the grass, eyeing it warily.
“The rest of them are coming soon,” Kelcia told E., “But Brendan and I had to go ahead of them, ‘cause Brendan was having some…” Kelcia cleared her throat, “Troubles with the authorities.”
“I just told them that everyone is entitled to their own opinion!” said Brendan, outraged.
“And…?” said E. shrewdly.
“And theirs is wrong,” he mumbled. Ryan grinned and clapped him on the back.
“So, let’s get cracking then,” said E., rubbing her hands together, “We need to assign rooms and suchlike, so Ryan, Kay, Maverick and Brendan, you’re in charge of the luggage. Tanna, Jane and Lauraine, you start on assigning the rooms. Laurel, round up Bedelia and Rae and get started on dinner. McJane, can you come with me and get started on a guest list?”
“I think we should put E. and McJane in this room,” Jane said, gesturing to a room across from the stairs.
“Fine,” said Lauraine, “I think they’ll like that.”
“Ung…” said Maverick, tugging a suitcase behind him.
“And then maybe me and Bedelia in that room,” said Tanna, opening the door of the next room.
“All right,” said Jane.
“Mhrm…” said Ryan, trying to adjust the large grip on his back into a more comfortable position.
“We’ll put you and Jane Erika in that room, if that’s all right with you,” Jane said to Lauraine, pointing to the farthest room on the side with E., McJane, Tanna and Bedelia’s rooms, “And we’ll put Ryan and Kay in the room next to the stairwell.” Kay grunted.
“We’ll have to put Brendan with Maverick if we want Roy and Shawn to be together,” said Lauraine thoughtfully.
“I wouldn’t wish Maverick on anyone,” said Jane fervently.
“What?!” said Maverick loudly, his words accompanied by several loud thumps and a crash. The girls turned to see Ryan, Kay and Brendan at the top of the stairs, all carrying lots of luggage.
“He fell down the stairs,” said Kay matter-of-factly.
“Oh, I see,” said Jane, nodding.
“He has to stop doing dangerous things like that,” chided Lauraine, “He’ll break his neck someday.”
“Excellent!” said Ryan.
“What happened now?” A head poked out of one of bedrooms, grinning roguishly.
“Just Maverick, Roy,” said Jane dismissively.
“What has he set on fire this time?” asked a second head, which appeared next to Roy. As Jane was about to answer, Maverick reappeared, looking disgruntled.
“Why do you have so much luggage?!” he demanded of the party at large.
“Because you need it!” retorted Jane. At this, Maverick merely grunted.
“So where do we put it?” he asked.
“I’ve put you and Shawn in the bedroom at the end of the hall, Roy,” said Jane, ignoring Maverick.
“Good,” said Roy, “’Cause that’s where we’ve been putting our stuff.”
“Hel-lo!” said Maverick, “We’re still carrying heavy luggage!”
“Oh,” said Jane in surprise, “Well, you can put that in my room.”
“Where does this go?” asked Kay, indicating the large bag he had slung over his back.
“That’s Drika’s,” said Jane dismissively, “Up another flight.” Kay gave a small moan as he hefted the bag onto the stairs.
“What’s in here?” he demanded.
“Kay, it’s Drika,” said Lauraine, “You don’t want to know.”
“True, that,” said a small girl who was descending the stairs, swinging her long, brown hair behind her.
“Drika,” said Jane, “What have you been doing? Or do we want to know?”
“’Tis all right,” said Drika, “I was just putting these up.” She held up some small plaques with numbers on them.
“What’re they for?” asked Ryan.
“This,” said Drika, tacking up one of the plaques (one that said “106”) onto the door of the room that Jane had assigned to E. and McJane. “E. asked me to do it,” she said, “She thought we would get lost without them. I have to finish them off now, cheerio!” With a jaunty wave, she set off down the hall, putting up the plaques as she went. After a small pause, Jane spoke.
“Right,” she said, “We should get going. Maverick, come with me, we’ll put my stuff away. Kay, you take that upstairs to Drika’s room. Ryan, Brendan, you take those to wherever they go.” Everyone obeyed her, with only minimal grumbling from Maverick.
“So, who made E. the supreme boss of everything?” Brendan asked Ryan as they wrestled Kelcia’s bags into her room.
“No one,” said Ryan, “It just sort of happened. I have to admit she’s good at it, though. She must get it from her dad.” He paused in thought, leaning on an upended suitcase.
“And the bossy girl with the luggage, is she E.’s right hand man, er, woman?” asked Brendan.
“Jane,” corrected Ryan, “And, surprisingly, no. McJane has that covered.”
“Who’s she?” asked Brendan.
“You’re met her,” said Ryan, turning the suitcase he was holding over, “Tall, laughs loudly and shouts ‘DONALD DUCK!’ at inopportune moments?”
“Oh, yeah I remember her,” said Brendan.
“She’s kind of hard to forget,” Ryan pointed out.
“All right,” said Lauraine, surveying the luggage they had ported into Tanna and Bedelia’s room (marked as “104” by Drika), “That should do it.”
“I’m glad we usually have boys for this stuff,” puffed Tanna, sitting down on a suitcase. Lauraine laughed.
“Come on,” she said, “We’d better go see what Jane and Maverick are up to.” As soon as they exited the room, raised voices reached their ears.
“I’m sure about this!” said Maverick, gesturing wildly.
“Right,” Jane snorted, “Like you were sure about that roadkill on the way here.”
“I’m telling you, that was a monkey!” Maverick insisted.
“What’s this about?” asked Lauraine as Tanna gave Maverick one of her better disdainful looks. Jane rolled her eyes.
“Who knows?” she said as Maverick launched into a detailed description of the flattened monkey.
“There!” E. held the list she had been working on out in front of her to survey it.
“Good work!” said McJane, giving her a thumbs up.
“You helped, too,” E. pointed out.
“True,” McJane acquiesced, “You would’ve forgotten Roy without me.”
“I don’t understand that,” said E., furrowing her brow, “He’s not an easy person to forget. And I’ve tried. Oh, speaking of all things Hazelnut, could you go see what his sister is up to?”
“Sure,” said McJane, hopping off her chair and heading into the kitchen. Just then, a head popped though the window of the room, upside down, akin to spider-man.
“Do you know where Drika is?’ It asked.
“I set her fixing plaques to the bedroom doors, Rae,” E. said. The head nodded and vanished.
“You know, our friends are quite the motley bunch,” said a voice from the door that McJane had disappeared through a few minutes ago.
“Oh, Kay,” said E., turning around, “How did you get down here? I thought you were upstairs with the luggage.”
“I came down the chimney,” Kay said with an air of complete seriousness.
“You’re right,” said E., “We are a strange bunch.”
With impeccable timing, McJane shouted, “BANANA FIGHT!”
