Triple Creek Ranch - Part 22

Good Morning FFFs!
It is hot here! Last evening it was 110 degrees! And that's not counting the heat index. Did I mention it was hot?


Do you ever feel like you have twenty things you want to do all at once? Or thirty? That's about how I'm feeling. There are so many things to do or that I want to do, but they aren't getting done. I could try a schedule, but they usually drive me crazy. I do better with routines. The hard part is figuring out a new routine and then sticking to it because it seems that every time I try, something else comes up several days in a row and interrupts everything!
And I won't give you a list of all the things I'm wanting to at least work on. :)

Now, what did I do last week? I mentioned that on Friday we were going to babysit the N. children. Well, we did, from 8:20 - 2:40. And some played with legos the entire time!

 I did get to play some other games. The one girl and I played Mouse Trap with the two little boys twice and the youngest one won both times. :) He was quite pleased.
Saturday was usual things I think.
On Sunday, however, we had Ice Cream Sunday at church. Since July is National Ice Cream month, we've enjoyed having a Sunday where every family brings ice cream to share for their dessert. (We always share a meal after church.) Miss S. and several of the younger/middle ones got to serve the ice cream after everyone had eaten. It was such fun and very good. Many people brought homemade ice cream.
I know I did somethings on Monday and Tuesday but, like Saturday, I can't remember what.
Wednesday Dad & I had election training. Well, it was training to use the i-Pads for the Aug. elections. Very easy and it should be faster than the books. We'll see how it really goes. Then that night we invited my two best friends (who live just down the street from us) and their two sisters to have supper with us since the rest of their family was gone for a week. It was a lot of fun and we all sat around and talked for quite a while.
 

Yesterday I posted a new letter on Priscilla's blog about the "trip." Oh, and last night. This picture was taken. Can you guess what I was working on?


Today I clean house and try to get some other things done.
But, you are wanting TCR, aren't you? Well, thanks for taking time to read this blog and for those few of you who faithfully leave a comment or at least a reaction to the stories.

Part 22

    Norman felt tired as he thought of talking to his sister, but having once made up his mind to do something that needed done, he wasn’t the sort of man to back out of it no matter how difficult it was.
    Finding Orlena in the cool parlor curled up on a chair with a book as he had left her, Norman drew a deep breath, dropped into a nearby chair and began.
    “Orlena, we need to talk about some things.”
    Curiously, Orlena looked up from her book. Norman wanted to talk? She wondered what it was about. Aloud she said, “I hope it is about my future for there is only so much a person of good breeding can stand.”
    “It is about your future,” he agreed unsure quite how to go about it, for he didn’t want another explosion to occur as it had in the city. “You have now been at the Triple Creek Ranch for a week. Jenelle and I have tried to make things easy so you could have a chance to adjust yourself, but now you will have to start pulling your own weight. To begin with,” he went on quickly for he saw that his sister seemed about to speak. “To begin with, you will eat breakfast with us each morning. Jenelle doesn’t have the time to prepare breakfast for you at all hours of the morning. She has enough to do without that. Second you will be expected to do a few chores about the place, either in the house or outside. Which chores they will be I will leave up to you and Jenelle.”
    Norman paused, collecting his thoughts, and before he could speak again, Orlena broke the silence.
    “That is what you think,” she flashed, shutting her book with a thud. “Well, I will have you know a few things Norman Mavrich which you seem to have forgotten. In the first place, I am not your servant nor a hired hand! I am a guest, granddaughter and sole heir of the late Mrs. Marshall Mavrich, and I was not bred to be a ranch drudge. Secondly, I will not be staying here long enough to be bothered by chores. As soon as the new term opens at Madam Viscount’s Seminary I will be leaving here and will herafter spend my vacations with my friends unless you decide to leave this place and live in the city like you should. Have I made myself clear?” Nothing could have been more haughty that Miss Orlena Mavrich’s voice, nor more regal than the toss of her brown ringlets as she looked at her brother with raised eyebrows.
    “Perfectly.”
    “There there is nothing more to be said, is there?” and Orlena opened her book once more.
    “Actually there is more to be said.” Norman’s jaw squared and his shoulders straightened. It appeared to be another battle of wills and Norman was determined not to lose it. “You are right when you say you are the granddaughter of Mrs. Marshall Mavrich; however, you are not her sole heir, and until you reach the age of twenty-one, which is not for another ten years, I am your legal guardian and will decide where you will live, where you will attend school and what you are to do. And you may as well know now that you will not be going back to that seminary this school term nor any other term. No,” he held up his hand as his sister again opened her mouth. “Let me finish. When you say you are not a servant nor a hired hand, you are right. You are a member of the Triple Creek Ranch and as a member you have certain responsibilities. You have claimed that you were not bred to be a ranch drudge. Neither was I. Don’t forget Orlena that I am your brother and the only son and heir of Marshall Norman Mavrich and spent the first twelve years of my life attending the finest schools back east before I was moved to Blank City. There I was tutored for three years. After our parents’ death I was sent to live out here with Uncle Hiram where I worked and learned until I was able to send myself to college where I graduated second in my class.” Norman was not one who boasted about his accomplishments, and few references did he ever make of his childhood, but now it was different. If Orlena thought living on a ranch meant one was an ignorant person, he would be happy to enlighten her.
    For a moment after he stopped talking, Orlena simply stared at him. She had never known her brother was a college graduate. True she had never inquired into it. But if Norman was so well educated, why had he married Jenelle and why on earth had he stayed on this stupid ranch? Shutting her book again she pushed her feet off the chair to the floor and faced her bother. “If you have so much knowledge,” she snorted, “why did you ruin the honored family name by marrying an ignorant country nobody and continuing to live out in the middle of nowhere?”
    The mention of Jenelle in those belittling tones brought a flash to Norman’s eyes and a set to his jaw that the few troublemakers in town knew too well. He swallowed hard and struggled to keep his voice low and steady. “If you think that Jenelle is an ignorant country nobody, you had better think again. She attended Sheldon’s Academy for young ladies, speaks three foreign languages fluently, and is a descendent of a French nobleman. As for living out here, it is because I happen to greatly enjoy the freedom of the great outdoors and working on a ranch is something I enjoy. Now is there anything else you wish me to set explain to you? If there is nothing else, perhaps we should prepare for our dinner.”

What do you think of this part?

Any questions?

Comments?

Thoughts or feelings?

Does it answer any questions or give you new ones?