Ahead of schedule this time: Dawn.

Stone

16. Preparing to travel

Stone slowly drifted into the half-sleep that comes with morning, and cuddled the small body next to him. Suddenly enough brain cells started working for him to realize that the body was not Rayla. It was Emily, who had somehow wormed into the space between them, and as Stone stood up, he saw Jason at the door between the rooms.

“I lost Em’ly,” he said with more than a note of fear in his voice.

“She’s right there, under the covers with Rayla, safe and sound.”

“Whew,” the boy said in relief. “Is it morning?”

“Close enough,” Stone said. He then went into the little room. There was a chair with a hole in the seat, and a porcelain pot underneath. The big man sat down: Rayla had claimed his aim was bad when he tried using the pot while standing. He barely fit into the chair, which had been specially made to fit him. When he was finished, he came out and Jason went into the room, which he considered a luxury after weeks of peeing in the trees.

Stone was dressed when the boy got out, and helped the youngster get dressed. “Phew,” he said. “We are going to have to get you some new clothes. I don’t think a simple washing will get the stink out of these. Come on.”

The two walked out of the house and then the three blocks to the business section. They went into the bakery, the only business open so far. The aromas were enticing.

“I’d like to get six of your penny rolls,” Stone told the baker, and a six penny loaf of bread.” He noticed Jason staring at some pastries. “How much are the pastries?”

“Tuppence,” the baker said.

“One of those for the boy,” Stone said, and Jason looked up with joy on his face.

“And one for Em’ly?”

“Make it three,” Stone said, “Rayla will complain if she doesn’t get one too.” He handed the man a silver and a six pence. The bread was wrapped in one sheet of waxed paper, and the baker wrapped the rolls in the other. The pastries were carried loose by Jason, although he managed to get one into his mouth as he carried the others in his hand.

Back at the house, Emily squealed when she saw Stone and her brother, and then squealed again when Jason handed her a pastry, his not having lasted through the walk home. “Thank you, sir,” Rayla told him as he handed her one. She seemed to enjoy it. It was clear that Jason had enjoyed one, since he had the syrup all over his face, which Rayla washed immediately. Then she almost managed to eat her treat before seeing that Emily’s face was also covered in the syrup. But before she could stop to clean the girl, Stone reached over and washed her face.

“I need to take the kids for clothes,” Rayla said. “Hopefully the seamstresses are free.”

“I think they are mostly making cloth bags to hold coal and coke. And apparently they found a salt vein up in the hills, so they will start needing bags for that too,” Stone said. I want to lead a trade wagon down to Sarn in the next week or so. I need to check up on the Duke. While you are with the women, I will be at the new bridge. I think they are close to needing the cross braces.”

“I want to see the bridge,” Jason said.

“You go with Rayla this morning, and look after your sister. That is your job, isn’t it,” Stone said. “Nothing is probably happening at the bridge until later. You should have a couple free hours until Rayla needs to register you into the afternoon classes at the school.”

“I don’t want to go to school,” Jason said.

“You need to learn how to read and write,” Stone said. “And this morning at the store: you saw that you need to know how money works, so we can send you on errands when you are a bit older. You didn’t know that six penny rolls and a sixpence loaf cost a silver, did you?”

“No sir.”

“Well, most merchants are honest, but some will cheat you if they know you don’t understand your numbers. So you will go to school. It’s only a few hours a day, and Rayla will try to get you into Miss Relants’ class.”

“Is Em’ly goin’ to school?”

“No, but Rayla will get her into the pre-school with her friend Lillibet,” Stone said, and this caused Emily to dance with glee, ending Jason’s small rebellion.

When Rayla had left with the children, Stone walked to the stables to get Doug. It wasn’t much further walking the other way to the river, but Doug was in contact with Arthur, and Stone could find out if there was any danger approaching. There was not.

As he got near the river, he saw a man he recognized whittling a pile of sticks. It was clear that he was making parts for a chair. The old fellow was a talented joiner, and had been a slave of a master joiner in another town, before being sold when his master died and the widow shut up the shop.

“Andrees,” Stone called out. “You are up early. Is business that busy?”

“Tis, Captain,” the man said. “Last week it was all beds, but now more and more people want a chair or a set in their house. Do you need one?”

“Probably soon,” Stone said. “We have some small visitors for the next little while. But what I am really interested in is a wagon.”

“Hooper is the wainwright,” Andrees said. “He’s down the other way a couple of blocks. Pretty busy too, I understand.”

“No, I’m not looking for a carter’s wagon,” Stone said. “I’m thinking of something fancier.”

“Like that thing the Vicomte guy had?”

“Not exactly,” Stone dismounted and started sketching in the sand, drawing pictures of what he wanted from front, side, and rear views. It finally clicked for Andrees.

“Yeah, I can make something like that: except the wheels. And the wheelwright is backed up. You’re going to need something different than the ones he makes. Probably 40 inches on the diameter, and two inches thick. If you can get them with steel hoops on the treads they’ll last forever, and carry all that weight.”

“I’m headed south next week, I think,” Stone said. “I’ll order a set when I’m in Sarn, or one of the other towns.”

“Make sure you get five,” Andrees said. “I’ll make a little holder on the back for the spare. You never know when you need an extra, and they always seem to break when you are miles from anywhere to fix them.”

“Great. When will it be ready?”

“Well, your trip south should take two weeks. I should have the body done by then. If you bring wheels back with you, it will take two days to install them.”

Stone rode over to the area where the wood wrights were working on the bridge beams. They were about the size of the dam beam, but there were two. While he watched the men square off the final edge of the second beam, he saw Jason run up and stand behind him.

“You want to get up here to see better?” Stone asked, and the little fellow nodded. Stone reached down and lifted the boy up until he was on the horse in front of him.

“We are ready for you, Captain,” the leader of the woodsmen said. “We have a team of geldings to tow the beam down to the river. Cuts down on the amount of carrying.

«Horse, eunuchs,» Doug said with a sneer. He wasn’t a big fan of gelded horses, preferring the mares. But the geldings were stronger, except for stallions, and Doug was the only stallion in the town. And Doug considered most manual labor to be beneath his dignity.

The team of six horses managed to drag the first beam down to the riverside in about a half hour. Then Stone slid off the horse, which had agreed to let Jason sit on him to watch. Pretty much every boy in town that was not in school was watching, and many envied Jason’s perch on the Captain’s horse.

Stone went to the middle of the beam, and strained mightily to lift it. Three large men were on either end of the beam, and they all waded into the river, and lifted the beam up onto the two pilings at either side of the river. The last two feet of the lift were the hardest, since Stone had to lift alone, with the other men too short to reach where he was. Finally the beam dropped into place in the dados left for it in the pilings, and quickly smaller men were hoisted up to allow them to use spikes to secure it.

By this time, the second beam was ready, and the men hoisted it up and dropped it into position on the second pair of pilings. As soon as it was nailed in, men started putting the cross pieces into position, working from each end to the middle. The cross pieces stabilized the bridge, and when they were half way to the middle, the bridge was very stable. As well as putting the cross planks down, men at either end were working on the approaches to the bridge.

Stone got out of the water, dripping wet, and hoisted himself onto Doug behind Jason. “Wow,” the boy said. “You are very strong. Will I be strong like that when I grow up?”

“You probably won’t be as big as me,” Stone said. “But you can still be a good fighter if you practice hard. I’ll get you a wooden practice sword when you get a bit older, and teach you to fight. Then, when you are 15, you will be able to get a real sword. Right now I’m pretty wet. I’ll ride you over to the lunch area, and you can find your sister and take her to lunch, and then to school.”

“Okay. School is going to be pretty cool. All the guys saw me on your big horse, and were impressed. I’m going to work really hard at the school and try to learn everything so I can be smart like you.”

Stone smiled as he let the boy down near where Emily was playing with Lillibet. He saw the boy get the girls to stand and head over to the table, where a lunch of sandwiches was prepared for the students, along with a glass of goat milk. With a full stomach, classes in the school or the pre-school were more productive.

Stone went to the house, where Rayla was making him a sandwich of his own. It was actually two of the rolls they had bought in the morning, with a dab of honey on each. Stone had to change his wet clothes, as the fall sun was not as warm today.

“Jason in getting two sets of clothes like yours,” Rayla said. “The seamstresses have a bit of deerskin leathers available. Emily’s clothes are a bit more difficult. There is a real shortage of cloth in town, with most of it going to dresses for the adults. But apparently the bakery gets its flour and sugar in cloth bags, and one of the ladies said she could make something cute for her from that.”

“My daughter is not going to go around town in a flour sack,” Stone said, clearly enraged.

“Your daughter? I didn’t know we had decided to adopt,” Rayla said. “I’m in favor, by the way, but I would have appreciate being a part of the decision.”

Stone realized that the argument was no longer about flour sacks, and that he was on shaky ground.

“Sorry,” he said. “I guess we need to talk. But I love the both of them so much; I can’t imagine them not being a part of our family. And what would we do? Let them go back into sleeping under tents?”

“I agree,” Rayla said. “What do we do? Do we have to go before a judge or something?”

“Well, it seems I am the judge around here.” Stone said. “But I think we need to let the children decide if they want to join our family. It is only fair. If they say yes, then we will let people know they are ours.”

“Good. And on the other matter, you haven’t seen the dress, so keep your opinion to yourself until you do.”

After that, the rest of the lunch went well, with Stone wisely complimenting Rayla on the meal.

During the afternoon, Stone went around town organizing a trade caravan to Greenwood, Greenford, and Sarn, to leave in two days. He bought several wagons, and got suitable horses to pull them: mares only, to placate Doug. He then bought 12 100-pound sacks of coal, 8 of coke, and five 50-pound sacks of salt, filling one wagon that would have four horses pulling. Another two-horse wagon would have some handmade chairs, carved knick-knacks from a whittler, and the food needed for the two week round trip: mostly beans, flour, and vegetables. Rayla and Arthur would go hunting for meat as needed. Stone also made room for a small selection of slates from the quarry: not enough to roof a house, but enough that people could decide if they wanted to order more. He also arranged for two experienced drivers for the wagons. The children would come along: Stone couldn’t imagine leaving them behind so early in the relationship.

That evening Stone and Rayla were not first at the serving tables, but one of the men who was complained loudly about being asked to pay for rolls.

“This is ridiculous,” the man fumed. “This is supposed to be a free meal. And then you want a penny for a roll. I’m going to complain to someone about this!”

“You can complain to me,” Stone said. “I am the one paying for your free meal, which I see you are still taking even though the town is paying you to work on the bridge. The meal will continue into the future, for people who are new to town, but it is not intended to be free forever. Once you start earning silver, you are expected to pay. I think they expect three or four pence for a meal, and that includes a roll.”

“I see you eat here every night,” the man stated.

“I do, and many say I should eat for free, since I pay for most of the costs of the meal, and my wife provides much of the game used in the stew,” Stone said. “But I have been paying a silver or more each night ever since the meal started.” One of the servers nodded in agreement.

“If I pay, can I get two rolls,” the man said, no longer shouting.

“A penny per roll,” the server lady said. The man handed over a tuppence: “Two please.”

“Thank you,” the server said. Then, as the man walked away, she turned to Stone and added another “Thank you.”

Stone and Rayla then got their plates filled, and Stone paid a silver and four pence for the four meals. They went and found Jason and Emily sitting with the Ranston family, with Lillabet next to her friend Emily. Rayla oohed and aahed over the twin babies she had helped deliver, who were growing like crazy. They had a six-year-old son, and he and Jason were seated next to each other.

“I hear you are heading south tomorrow,” Ranston said. “Keep a look-out for a saw blade. I own a sawmill, but can’t cut wood. I manage to keep my men busy splitting logs into planks, but it is slow work and barely covers costs.” Stone noted that there were no rolls on the plates of the Ranston family, only the free stew. He tore his roll in half, and handed it to Ranston, and then watched proudly as his family did the same, sharing their treat with their friends.”

“Oh, these are lovely,” Nessa said to Rayla. “I wish we could afford these. It is hard trying to keep a family on next to nothing.”

“You will be a rich mill owner’s wife in no time,” Stone said. “I will look for a saw blade. The trip south isn’t until the day after tomorrow.”

“What about the children?” Nessa asked. “Will they miss school?”

“Yes, but both Rayla and I are literate, so we will school them during the trip.”

After the friendly supper Stone and Rayla took the children home. The past few days Stone had gotten down on the floor and told the little ones stories, usually fairy tales he remembered from Earth. Apparently this was now a tradition, and the pair begged him for another ‘story’. Stone got down, and Emily crawled up on his lap, while Jason cuddled in beside him. Even Rayla got down, sitting on the other side as Stone recited a fairy tale he could remember. When Stone finished the third story of the night, he decided that was enough.

“Now children,” he said. “Rayla and I have something to ask you. Both of you must agree on this. Do you want us to be your new parents?”

“Daddy!” Emily shrieked. “I have a Daddy now. A good Daddy. Yes, yes, yes. Please be my Daddy.”

Stone turned to Jason, who appeared to be thinking it over. “Yes please,” he said. “The boys at school used to throw stones at me because I was black, and poor. But now that I know the Captain, and ride his horse, they like me. I would love if you were my father and mother, as long as I can continue to look after Emily. I promised my old mother that I would.”

“Rayla and I will look after Emily,” Stone said. “But you are her big brother so you will help. Is that okay?”

Jason nodded. “Right,” Rayla said. “Time for the mean old Mommie to step in. We are going on a trip in two days, so I want to know what you are learning at school now. Stone and I will be your teachers while we are away, and learning while we are on the wagon will be a good way to pass the time.”

Emily was learning her letters, and she and Rayla practiced, with the woman drawing a capital letter on the slate, and the girl identifying it, then trying to draw one on her own. Jason was learning counting, and the odd money system in the community, so Stone got out his purse and spread out the coins within, so the boy could identify the denominations, and to learn the values of each, from forthing to golden pound.

Eventually, small eyes began to get tired looking, and Stone told Jason to take his sister to bed.