Pocket Full of Posies

Chapter Two

  The fact that I’d worked the late shift last night obviously meant nothing to the twins. At ten in the morning they were up, and nosier than ever. Without even thinking, I’d bought them both new caps for their cap guns about a week ago. Guess what they were doing now?

  So, wearing only my big Flash T-shirt, I stomped out of my room in search of those two little devils. Judging by the loud pops going off, the terrible two made it quite clear they were taking their fight all around the house; though currently downstairs. Aunt Nelly must have already left for work, along with my uncle. This cap-gun fight never would have gone on this long if either of them were still home.

  “I swear, you two!” I called out loud enough for them to hear me. “If you mess up this house, I’ll throw those guns in the trash compactor!”

  These days, it was really hard to threaten those two. Being as though they were twelve years old, I couldn’t really spank them or put their noses into a corner. So now I played keep-away. I think they hated that more than anything, honestly.
  Felicity was supposed to be down in a few days for Christmas break. Aunt Nelly, Sally, and I had busted our butts getting the house spotless. If those boys placed anything slightly out of order….

  I heard their teasing laughter and then maniacal footsteps as they ran into another room. Luckily, I didn’t hear anything break, but there was still time.

  I quickened my pace in the event that I might be too late to stop anything awful from happening. Just by the obnoxious sounds of them, I knew they were in the living room. Quieter than they could ever hope to be, I crept around the house, sticking my back against the wall. Time for stealth mode! I’d catch those little cretins and scare the living daylight out of them in the process.

  Just as I was ready to pounce, I heard them giggle and run out the front door. The brats! I chased after them, not caring to be stealthy anymore. It was so on! I wasn’t even mad at them anymore, not really. Now I was in on the fighting—and I would come out the victor.

  My bare feet kicked up dirt behind me. I was so used to going outside barefoot that the gravel I was currently running atop of didn’t even faze me in the slightest. It’d be just my luck those minions climbed up a tree.

  “I’m gonna get ya now!” I promised, trying to hold in my laughter

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw blonde hair. Whirling around, I just barely caught the two of them rushing into the barn pasture, looking back at me worriedly but in amusement.

  Laughing under my breath, I ducked beneath the fence and barbed wire, skipping the gate entirely as my cousins had done before me. By the time I made it into the pasture, they’d run into the barn. I silently prayed the horses were already out. I didn’t think it was my turn to let them out this morning, anyway……

  “You’d better stay outta those stalls!” I warned them, only a little bit nervous. Our horses were nice and everything, but they got antsy when they wanted to be let out. Even those two morons knew better to go in their stalls. But just in case….

  I climbed the barn gate, my eyes surveying the barn for those rascals. Well, they were nowhere in sight. But others were. Aunt Nelly and Sally, in fact. Plus one. I didn’t recognize him, though. In the back of my mind I vaguely recalled something about having to get new a new farrier. The guy we usually got out here, Jeff, wasn’t available when we needed him and Sally was getting ready for a Sheba show. Her horse, Velvet, was in the cross ties and everything.