The Glass Blower's Daughter

Finally getting to help out

I wake up to my ma yelling for all of us to wake up and come down for breakfast. I sit up and stretch, then slide over to the edge of the bed to put on my slippers. I make my way downstairs and everyone is already there. The table has a plate of pancakes in the middle and fresh maple syrup in a glass jar. Ma loves to heat up the syrup. I sit down and grab one of the pancakes from the plate.

Halfway through breakfast my pa grunts as he sits his fork down on his plate. "So, your ma says you want to work at the store. I have debated all night. I know you are getting older Aura and you need to venture out a little more. I will let you work at the store, but you will need to ride with Ember every day. You will do whatever he asks you to do. Don't give him a hard time."

I glance up at Ember and he doesn't seem too happy at all that I will be going with him for now on. I know that he thought he had to watch over me but I would assure him later that he would not have to watch over me.

My pa continues, "After breakfast I need the two of you to meet me in the barn. We need to talk about a few things before you go."

I nod and finish up eating. After breakfast, ma has Finn ad Briar busy doing cleaning while Ember and I make our way out to the barn with pa. He closes the door behind us. "Aura, I hope I am not making a mistake by doing this. I talked to your ma and I know you are getting older and one day you will go out into the world doing your own thing. I know no matter what I do, I will not be able to keep you here forever. I can't tell you everything right now but the men that came the other night do business with me. You may see them often at the store. Ember will deal with them do you understand?"

I shake my head yes. I wanted to ask him who Mr. Lindstrom was but I thought against it because then he would know that I had opened the box.

"You stay at the store the whole time. I don't need you roaming the streets. Don't make me regret my decision."

"I won't; I will help out at the store and listen to Ember. I promise you pa I can do this."

"Very well then, here is the box for today. They should be there his afternoon to pick it up." He hands the box to Ember. We walk out to the truck and Ember drives us into town.

"I can't believe he agreed to let you do this. You are better off staying at home where you belong," he sighs in irritation.

I roll my eyes back at him. "I'm sorry Ember. You don't have to watch over me you know. I can hold my own. I can help out."

"It's not just about helping out Aura. If these men come to the shop you act like you are just there working, helping me out you understand. You are not my sister; don't refer to me as your brother. I don't need you getting hurt. And if you do, pa will have my hide."

"Hurt. Why would they hurt me? What is so important about blown glass bottles?"

He scrunches up his face while gritting his teeth. "It's not the glass Aura; it's what's in the glass. Pa is mixed in something that is out of his control and if we don't do what they want we will all face consequences, therefore they don't need to know that we are even related."

"What's in the glass?" I had to ask; I had to know what my pa was involved in.

"I not at liberty to say; pa never wanted me involved either but he had no choice. And since they are making more demands, we have to do whatever they want." He comes to a stop sign and looks over at me. "Aura, I don't want to scare you, I also don't want you to get hurt or involved. These men are not good people. Believe me if they find out who you really are they will find a way to use you to get what they want."

"How do you know what they want?" I look back over at him with a questionable look on my face. "What do they want?"

"The land...they want the land, Aura. Our land holds precious minerals and the location with the caves makes it easier to transport the supplies. Pa refuses to sale the land so he does the only thing he knows what to do and that is to get them the supplies they want."