The Butcher's Daughter

Chapter 3

There was no way that he would believe the truth, no matter how Mabel delivered it. Lost, alone and an orphan- those were the only things that Thomas Martin would ever know her to be. Her ambiguity only drove his fascination; but Mabel knew that there were some gaps that she would have to bridge with distractions. This would be a painless task. She was half-Casey, after all, and could talk her way out of a Kryptonian toolshed!

"Every time poor Fredrick tries to hold her hand or begin a conversation, she starts belting out... melismas? But he never loses patience?" Thomas hung like a sloth from a tree branch, taking a quick bite out of a golden apple. "Now, that's devotion!"

"It's a pretty ridiculous namesake, isn't it?" Mabel smiled up at him. "I wouldn't put it past Ma, though. Fa brought a box of her books up from the basement when I was learning how to read and nearly all of them were plays and librettos. They even went to see Pirates of Penzance in Charleston several months before I was born."

"They must have been very wealthy! Not even my Aunt Charlotte can afford to see most of the plays that pass through Charlestown! And this one sounds very elaborate!" He climbed down, to the low branch that Mabel had situated herself on, and offered her an apple.

"What if she doesn't like me?" She juggled the oblong orb from hand to hand. "Fa waited for Ma outside of the building that she was teaching in and ended up changing her life for the better. But it's still an imposition, no matter how you look at it."

"Miss Casey is notoriously strange, but I understand that she is also very kind. Besides, I can't think of a person alive today who wouldn't love to meet you."

Mabel began to nervously twist the stem of the apple until it broke off in her hand. "Why are so you nice to me, Thomas? Where I come from, I'm viewed by my peers as person to beat or, on those rare occurrences when I'm not around other riders, I'm the freak who accidentally wore a riding helmet to a party at the Cineplex. That was the one time I got invited to go anywhere, too!"

"You're beautiful and mysterious," he nudged her shoulder, "and even though I have no idea what you're talking about most of the time, I can tell that you don't know how to be anything other than exactly what you are."

Mabel laughed through her nose, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Have you seen the other women in Waterford? Or even Charlestown? They're all so straight-laced, refined and irritatingly boring. You, on the other hand, you're just Mabel."

"You're a really awkward flirt, you know that?" She patted his forearm and it seemed to remedy his nervous shaking, just a little bit.

"You're the only girl I've ever been interested in, so..."

"What if," Mabel touched his arm again and this time, Thomas grabbed her hand before she could move it away, "you find out who I am and don't like me anymore?" When he gave the top of her hand a tiny kiss, this seemed to be the only answer that she needed. There was no force in heaven and on earth that would pull him from her side. "I don't think that I can be your girlfriend, Thomas."

"Then be my friend." He said, quickly. It was clear to Mabel that he wouldn't like to hear this, but he seemed to hide his disapproval well.

"I can do that," she looked down at her shiny boots as they swung back and forth in the air, "... at least, I think I can. It's strange, Buttercup became my closest friend when I lost Fa. Somehow, fate saw to it that you would come along and fill the empty space that she left me with." Her clear blue eyes moved upwards to trace the green horizon. "I just might end up liking it here after all..."

Annabelle's students erupted from the building not long after. Most of them were wearing what appeared to be masks made of painted parchment paper. Thomas gravitated towards a black-haired boy who Mabel assumed was his friend, Charlie. When she didn't see the young woman who her mother had resembled so closely and therefore, Mabel must have as well, she moved closer to the tiny red schoolhouse. Merely standing beneath the doorframe was chilling and Mabel couldn't help but briefly imagine the same building engulfed in flames as it swallowed her dear father whole.