Waiting For Sunrise - The Books Of Beginning AU

18. Helping Out

"Where's Abigail?" Michael questioned. "Usually the two of you are joined at the hip."

Emma answered, "she took Ben and Polly and went out to make some extra money doin' some repair at a dance hall."

"You didn't go with her?" Michael said with surprise.

"I woke up after she had already left," Emma said mischievously, "so, lucky you, you're stuck with me for the day."

Michael smiled cheekily. "Actually, I'm not. Miss B is conducting a lesson on incantations, and I'm attending. So I'm afraid you're going to have to find your own itinerary for today."

Emma frowned. With her best friend out and a lack of opportunities to bother her brother, she didn't have any plans for the day. If she didn't find a way to keep herself busy, she'd get stuck pealing potatoes all day, and there was no way she would allow herself to end up with that task. If there was one thing that Emma could not stand in the world, it was boredom. Her gaze flicked around the breakfast tables, looking for an opportunity for entertainment. 

"Oi! Jake! Beetles!" She shouted across the table, causing Michael to flinch at her volume. "What're you doing today?"

Jake called back, "we're goin' up to Wall Street to pick some rich folks' pockets."

"You need an extra hand?"

"Nah," Beetles said, "we've got this."

Emma sulked in defeat, wondering if it would be worth it to just follow them anyways. No, she decided, they would just complain the whole time. Besides, without Abigail there, the rivalry the two sets of friends had formed couldn't properly continue, so what was the point? She looked around, wondering if her fate was to be consigned to kitchen duties, where she couldn't get away with any troublemaking, not under Addie's watchful eye and commanding nature. 

"What about Kate?" Emma asked her brother, "Do you think she's got anything exciting goin' on?"

"She's working in on her own project. She wouldn't tell me what it is, so I doubt she'll tell you either," Michael answered.

"How do you know? Maybe she trusts me with secrets more," Emma argued.

Michael merely snorted, causing his younger sister to roll her eyes. Okay, so, Kate was busy. And there was no way that Emma was going to go ask Henrietta Burke, or, god forbid, Rafe, for something to do. She liked them both a lot, but she had a reputation for disrespecting authority to maintain - it wouldn't do to have people (mostly Michael) thinking that she had gotten soft and would let those who bossed her around off easy. 

"Hey! Emma!" One of the boys, Sam, yelled across the table, "Miss B bought a delivery of food to stock up. We could use the help unloading the wagon, and after seein' you attack Jake and Beetles, we know you're real strong."

"Yeah, I'll help out!" Emma called back readily. She turned to her brother with a smug smile. "See, I've got plenty to do today."

Michael sighed. "Sure thing, Emma. Whatever you say."

***

Emma, Sam, Tom, and a few others who Emma had not been previously acquainted with - Lester, Hugh, and Josiah, she was informed their names were - had banded together to unload crates and bags of supplies delivered in a sturdy wood cart. The drivers of the cart, a dwarf couple who were friends of Henrietta, were paid a reasonable fee to deliver the groceries that Miss B kept in bulk, because they were always needed and not worth making constant supply trips for. 

"Right," Tom ordered, "most of these go to the pantry, but items that aren't food go in a regular old closet. Mr. and Mrs. O'Leary will be back for their wagon at five pm sharp, so we gotta get this done by then. Got it?"