A Bop on the Nose
T he howl of wolves carried through the crisp winter night to the warm, golden-lit kitchen of Seven Chimneys where the Berry sisters taught the child, Lala, the joys of warm sipping chocolate and games, neither of which had been present in her previous life with Second Empire, and both of which she had come to enjoy immeasurably. Esp e cially the chocolate.
However, as the howls rang out their lonely descant drawing her attention from their game of Trickits, she kept glancing toward the near window with a sorrowful expression.
“Hah!” Miss Bay cried following the clatter of dice on the tabletop. “I have thrown a seven. Let’s see you beat that, Bunch.”
Miss Bunch paused, noting Lala’s lack of attention to the game. “What is it, child?”
Lala turned back and looked down at the game board.
She was, to the minds of the sisters, a precious thing once cleaned up, with ribbons in her hair and wearing a dress.
A few calamities with her outside adventures tramping about the estate’s grounds, climbing the pirate ship masts, and roughhousing with Wolfie taught them she needed playclothes.
So, with Letitia’s assistance, they had sewn some sturdy boy clothes for such activities.
Presently, however, she was in her blue dress with matching ribbons and leggings.
She seemed to like her new wardrobe. Life with her grandmother and Second Empire had been lacking in many regards, including her schooling.
The sisters made up for it by teaching her to read and write, and do her figures.
“Nothing,” Lala said, but her expression said otherwise.
“I daresay she misses the wolf,” Miss Bay said.
Lala’s downcast expression confirmed her words.
“Child, is this so?” Miss Bunch asked.
Lala nodded.
“But he comes to play with you, does he not?”
“Yes, but not as much.”
Miss Bay tsk-tsked.
“I see,” said Miss Bunch. “He was by your side every moment for months, but now he is not.”
Lala picked up the dice and just held them. “I miss him.” Her eyes glistened with tears.
“Child,” Miss Bunch said, “do you recall the stories of Marin the Gardener we’ve read to you?”
“Yes.” The stories of Marin had been among her favorites.
“Marin is very much about the garden that is our world and its balance—predator and prey, land and sea. Everything has its place in the balance of the world. For Wolfie, that means being true to his nature and consorting with his own kind. Just as you take the society of your fellow humans, he must partake of wolf society.”
“He does not forget you, child,” Miss Bay said, “but he is broadening his circle of acquaintance. He is maturing and must learn the way of his people, just as you are. And yet, he does come to see you often. Do you see?”
Lala nodded, her expression of sorrow easing.
“Good,” Miss Bay said, “because I am on a winning streak. And I do believe we require more chocolate.”
Miss Bay went on to win the game and cackled at her good fortune, with Lala a close second. Miss Bunch came in at a dismal third.
“You should not gloat so, sister,” Miss Bunch said. “It is unseemly.”
“You are just a poor loser,” Miss Bay replied with a sniff.
“Am not.”
“Are, too.”
It occurred to the sisters that perhaps they were not exhibiting the most proper deportment for Lala.
“We are competitive with one another,” Miss Bunch ex plained to Lala, “but it is friendly competition among sisters. The players of games ought to be courteous whether winning or losing.”
“But shouldn’t Miss Bay be happy she won?”
“Certainly, child, but in a civil realm, a winner should be gracious, not gloating.” She passed Miss Bay a look.
Miss Bay sipped her chocolate as if to conceal a smile.
“The other children didn’t like me to play games with them,” Lala said.
“You mean the other children of Second Empire?” Miss Bunch asked.
“Why?” asked Miss Bay. “You are a perfectly good player of Trickits.”
“They didn’t like me.”
“How could they not? We like you very much.”
“Yes, we do,” Miss Bunch concurred. “We have not had such fun in years.”
Lala rested her chin on her hand and appeared to think hard. “They thought I was strange. I could do things they couldn’t.”
The sisters nodded in understanding.
“You’ve some abilities, yes?” Miss Bunch said.
Lala nodded. “My grandmum taught me to do things with knots. She said I was stronger than she was.”
The sisters exchanged another look.
“It seems to me,” Miss Bay declared, “those children were afraid of something they knew little about. Did you give them reason to be?”
“Well,” Lala said, “after Mattie Hew pushed me into the manure pile and called me names, I tied knots that made him pee tadpoles.”
“Oh, dear,” Miss Bunch said.
Miss Bay’s mug clunked onto the table. “Is that even possible?”
Lala recoiled as if expecting remonstration. “Yes,” she whispered. “He didn’t like it.”
“Well, I imagine—” Miss Bay’s attempt to keep a straight face failed and she snorted with laughter. “I imagine he did not.”
Miss Bunch cleared her throat. “Child, this is likely why the other children feared you, knowing you could wield such power.”
“Grandmum told me never to do it again, and I didn’t. Well, except for the snakes I put in Mistress Walker’s bed, but I didn’t make knots to do that. I found the snakes in a burrow. No one ever figured out it was me.”
Miss Bay clapped her hand over her mouth to muffle a guffaw.
“Bay,” Miss Bunch said, “you are not helping. Child, your grandmama was right to tell you not to do what you did.”
“But it felt good.”
“I am sure it did, but human beings are creatures of discernment and choosing to not hurt another in such a manner is a sign of civility and proper conduct. You could have asked your elders to intervene, and if you received no satisfaction in the matter, bopped the fellow in the nose.”
Lala looked aside as if considering Miss Bunch’s words, then asked, “How is bopping him on the nose different than making him pee tadpoles?”
Miss Bay was so beside herself she could not contribute to the discussion, only dab tears of laughter from her eyes.
Miss Bunch looked askance at her sister and resumed, “It is the difference in the order of magnitude, like using a greatsword to peel an apple when a paring knife would suffice. You’ve a power that few possess, yes?
” Lala nodded. “Well,” Miss Bunch continued, “wielding such power makes people suspicious and fearful, especially in this land where magic is largely anathema among the general populace. Believe me, we know. Our dear father was banished from Selium for his interest in studying the arcane arts. Using that great power of yours in such a manner for a situation that could have been resolved by an ordinary bop to the nose was, perhaps, a little extreme, but it also arouses primal fears in others, which in turn stirs up hate. People fear what they do not understand, especially if it means one has power over them. Bopping a nose, on the other hand, is ordinary. That is to say, do not bop the nose if a nonviolent solution presents itself, but do so if it’s the only way to make a point. ”
“The boy definitely deserved a bop,” Miss Bay said.
“Yes, so it would appear,” Miss Bunch replied. “Child, do defend yourself in need, but bring out the greatsword only when there is no other course.”
Lala fell quiet, her look one of intense concentration as she considered Miss Bunch’s words. Then she said, “Nyssa didn’t have magic and she hurt people all the time.”
“Where have we heard that name before?” Miss Bay asked her sister.
“The Fiori told us, remember?”
Miss Bay’s mouth rounded into an O . “The torturer.”
“Yes,” Lala said. “I want to be just like her when I grow up.”
“Child,” Miss Bay said, “if we are not mistaken, you have quite a bit of growing up to do and plenty of time to decide on the course of your life.”
“Nyssa had no magic,” Miss Bunch added, “so her opportunities were limited. Yours are not.”
At first Lala looked like she wanted to argue, but then she reconsidered. She sat thinking quietly while the sisters collected the Trickits tiles and put them away.
“What is your course in life?” Lala asked the sisters.
“Why, we inherited everything of our family,” Miss Bunch replied, “and are able to live comfortably here in the country. This is the course we have chosen.”
“And you’ve no husbands? Why?”
“Look who has become so talkative,” Miss Bay said.
“I daresay she has opened up with many questions,” Miss Bunch agreed. “Child, it was not as if we were not courted and pursued.”
“Most ardently,” Miss Bay said. “Do you remember Lord Jeffers?” she asked her sister.
“Memorable for smelling like a dead fish for all his good looks.”
“He did not,” Miss Bay retorted.
“You only say that because he was keen on you. He smelled like an overripe pogie that has been sitting in the sun.”
“You are just jealous.”
“Hardly. I had my own coterie of suitors. They practically smothered me with bouquets and gifts of candy and fine jewelry.”
Miss Bay grumbled under her breath.
“The point is, child,” Miss Bunch told Lala, “despite all our suitors and handsome offers of marriage, we declined.”
“But why?” Lala asked. “Aren’t you sad not to have a husband or children?”
“While marriage is a perfectly fine and rewarding endeavor for those who choose it,” Miss Bay said, “a husband is hardly the end-all of ambition for those who do not. To marry often means consigning one’s life over to the man and giving up much of one’s freedom and identity, and being his second mother, so to speak.
Though the members of the species possess many fine attributes, too few are raised to survive in a household in which they must find, on their own, whatever trinket they’ve misplaced.
Dear me, but I haven’t the patience for it.
I have chosen Seven Chimneys over that life and I have regretted nothing. ”
“Nor I,” said Miss Bunch, “though sometimes I wonder what that life would have been like. Perhaps it would not have been as difficult and confining as I imagined. The example of our beloved but absent-minded father may have prejudiced our thinking to a certain degree as he tended to be temperamental and demanding. Sadly, our long-suffering mother’s unceasing efforts to appease him only seemed to intensify his sudden bursts of high dander. ”
Miss Bay nodded knowingly.
“To be fair,” Miss Bunch added, “not all situations are like that of our papa and mama. There are many fine husbands out there, not to mention other men who have chosen, like us, to remain unmarried and enjoy perfectly satisfying lives. Maybe I am missing out, but I am happy here. I have my sister, Letitia, Rolph, and Farnham. And now we have you and Wolfie. Not to mention the occasional lost wanderer. We don’t have to do as some man commands, or anyone at all for that matter, and we can choose to have sipping chocolate whenever we want. ”
“I would like some more,” Lala said.
Miss Bunch chuckled. “When you come of age, dear, you can choose to have as much as you wish, when you wish it. But now it is time to bathe.”
“All right,” Lala said. She carried the tray of used cups over to the sideboard and walked toward the door to the outer corridor and paused.
“Maybe, when I’m old enough, I can still be a torturer, but use my powers to do the job even better.
” Then she skipped down the corridor to where the bathing room was located.
Miss Bunch dropped her face into her palm.
“Well,” Miss Bay said tartly, “how is that treating her with kindness strategy of yours working out for you?”