Shattered Trail

Chapter Twelve

The next few days are a flurry of activity. Mr. Reed and Mr. Chester- or Alonzo, as he told me to call him- are busy preparing the two wagons we'll be taking, and Mrs. Reed and Ruth are hastily trying to plan for food storage and how much food we'll need. Both too much food and too little could prove to be treacherous on the trail.

I don't see Liza or Samuel again for a few days- Samuel helps the men, and Liza helps her mother and Mrs. Reed. My sole job is to watch the children- which, frankly, I believe I'd prefer over planning food storage anyway.

I take the children all over Independence- to the several parks in the area, to different stores, and just to sit and watch people go by. Lavinia is always her usual uppity self, but Tobias, and especially Maudie, cling to me like I'm their second mother. Of course, will all Mrs. Reed's attention directed away from them to Lavinia, I might as well be as good as one.

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On Monday, a week before we leave, Mrs. Reed knocks on my door at the boarding house earlier than usual. “Get up, Miss Slate! I need you to dress Maudie and do Lavinia's hair. We're meeting our guide directly after breakfast.” She herds Lavinia and Maudie in and closes the door.

I was still asleep when she knocked- I roll out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “You don't wake up looking very nice,” Lavinia says pointedly. I ignore her.

I comb my hair back and ignore the fact that I'm still in my nightdress. “Let me see your hair,” I tell Lavinia, and set to taking the rag curlers out.

Despite her usual “Ouch! Your hurting me!”'s and “It looks bad- do it again',”'s, fixing her hair goes uneventful. I shuffle Lavinia out of the room, careful not to wrinkle her beautiful sky blue frock, and turn to Maudie. “Good morning, dear. How are you?”

Maudie stands up straight on my bed and wraps her arms around my neck, kissing my cheek. She started doing that about a week ago, and now she does it every time I dress her- which is every day.

I pry her hands off my shoulders and set her gently down on the bed. “Let's see what we have here,” I say, unfolding her dress. “Oh, Maudie. This is so pretty. You'll look a dear.” I sigh at the plain white fabric, knowing that she'll have it dirtied and wrinkled within a few minutes. “When will your mama learn not to dress you in white?” I ask her quietly, knowing full well that she doesn't understand. “She needs to pay more attention.” I slide her nightgown off and step her into her little frock. “Never mind, dearie. Let's get you dressed.”

After sliding on her stockings and little shoes, I turn her around. “There. Done. Now we need to get me dressed.” I quickly rummage through my trunk and pull out one of my nicer dresses- not one of the plain calico ones I've been wearing. This one is a nice, simple brown, but it's a bit fancier than some of my others. After being dressed so casually when I met Mrs. Reed's sister's family, the Chesters, I want to make sure that I'm dressed up enough to meet our guide.

After breakfast, we walk down to a dusty lot at the end of the street, where our wagons are staying before we set out. This is the first time I've seen the wagon, and only the second time I've ever seen Liza and Samuel.

As we approach, I see that the Chesters are already there. “Antonia!” Liza squeals, and rushes to take my hand. “How are you? I haven't seen you in over a week!”

“I'm well, thank you,” I tell her. “And yourself?”

She beams. “I'm feeling wonderful! I'm so excited for the journey- are you?”

I shrug. “As much as I can be, I suppose.”

She snorts. “That's not much of an answer.”

Samuel walks over from where he was talking to Mrs. Reed. “I think what she's trying to say, Liza, is that she's not really excited, but she's prepared. Am I right?” He turns to me and grins, a lock of his wavy brown hair falling into his eyes.