"That's me last apple!"
Damn!
"Ye won't get away with this! I'm the reeve! Ye hear me, the reeve!"
***
"Reeve Kenneth?"
"Something wrong?" Kenneth asked the guard.
"Not anymore. I have a whore fer ye."
"Excuse me?"
"She was running to the brothel. Clearly this ain't no midwife. What other woman would run to a brothel? So I caught up with her, and she had a bright shiny apple."
"How do ye know it weren't mine in the first place?" a voice called from the back of the wagon.
"'Cause if ye picked it at the brothel, ye would've ate it there." She turned back to Kenneth. "Ye can take her from here. Her name is Sultry May. Come on out!"
"Come."
This time the girl followed. Kenneth wished she were repentant, but he knew it more likely she didn't see the point with the constable outside. Kenneth smiled. She guessed this wasn't the first time the lady constable had been underestimated.
"After ye."
"A barn?"
"Did ye expect a castle tower? Now I"m locking it and I'll trust ye to not climb through the stalls and out the window. If the splinters aren't enough to keep ye from it, than the constable will jest bring ye right back."
He gestured toward the sound of the constable's horses, heading down the road.
""Ahh!"
"I don't even want to know where ye were hidin' that. Ye insolent-"
Sultry stood there glowering at him.
Kenneth marched out and returned with a mop.
"Here."
"It ain't right to steal ye know. Yer lucky ye are. In some kingdoms ye could lose yer whole hand fer doin' that. Yer lucky I'm reeve. I wouldn't do that...not even to a thief."
She dropped the mop.
"I was jest feedin' me girl!"
"I'm sorry some bad man fathered yer girl but it weren't me and it ain't me fault!"
Kenneth had enough of this guiltless creature.
"They ain't all bad men," she said sadly. "Me girl's da is a good man."
Woods knew most ever man went there now and again. But he was still angry. He snorted.
This got her riled up all over again.
"Ye would call a monk a bad man?"
Kenneth felt a little sorry now. He took a gentler tone.
"I can't fault an old monk fer looking fer a place ter...meet his earthly needs."
"Me girl's pa ain't no old monk. He were a young blond one."
"Jest what are ye implyin'?"
"I ain't implyin' I'm sayin'. It were Brother Chip. And he ain't no bad man neither."
"Wasn't a bad man....if ye be tellin' the truth which ye ain't."
"Why would I lie? I'm already jailed in this ol' barn! It were Brother Chip. And he is still a good man."
"Not anymore. He's dead."
"Oh."
Kenneth expected more emotion, but then, would a whore be attached to any man? Then he shook himself. Of course it ain't true.
"Yer jest tryin' to get ter me."
"Well I didn't mean to spoil yer image of one of the brethren,' she said with sarcasm.
"Ye shouldn't be sayin' lies about a good man all over."
"It ain't no lie and it ain't all over. It's only ye standin' there."
"And ye must know who Brother Chip is to me then."
"What, yer favorite monk?"
"Me son. He is me son."
"Like ye could have sired a good man like that."
Kenneth was taken aback. First because if she didn't know Chip is his son, maybe she told the truth. Second that she didn't seem to think much of him.
Oh. Why would she? We've been fightin' like feral cats.
Kenneth left wordlessly.
He came for the wench bright and early the next morning.
"Come along. I fetched a carriage fer ye."
"Those horses out there...fer me?"
"Not ter keep, jest to get home, to see yer girl."
"Willow," Sultry said softly. "Me girl's name is Willow."
"Willow," Sultry said softly. "Me girl's name is Willow."
Soon the carriage rumbled away leaving Kenneth to wonder if he might not be the last of his family after all.
Oooh, I like May! She does what she has to do and ain't nobody gonna stop her. :)
ReplyDeleteSo Kenneth is a grandpa. I wonder what he'll do about this--if he'll try to strike up some sort of relationship with his granddaughter and her mother, perhaps help them start some kind of new life.
Her first name is Sultry. Poor thing. Can you imagine an awful first name like that? No wonder Sultry May is so feisty.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part about her is my teen daughter's reaction. She thinks she looks just like the girl in The Grudge. Not intentional! She was born in game...well, Dame Remembrance Roberts changed her hair, but that was to make her look more like she worked in a brothel, not to make her look like The Grudge.