Against the Stars

Chapter 17

Mother led Ginny into the parlor, and made her lie down on the couch. She put her ankle on a pillow and grimaced. "I'm sorry Ginny, are you all right?" She asked.

"I'm fine Mother," Ginny insisted.

"All right," Mother said leaving. Before she left, she turned back and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if you don't see much of that Eby boy for a while."

Ginny closed her eyes and sighed. She was right, her mother had blamed Ben for her injury. But it wasn't Ben's fault at all! It was hers. Shehad been lost in thought and hadn't been paying attention. Thoughts like...

She was a patriot.

The drive for freedom, the thing the patriots desired, was the samething she wanted. She wanted from and the ability to choose. And that was something worth fighting for.

Then Ginny remembered the promise she had made to get father. Thepromise she had broken. Her father had asked her to do a simple thingand she couldn't do it.

What was she to do? She couldn't very well tell her father what she had done. She must act. She must act like a loyalist despite her patriot heart.

Ginny heard the front door open and Blithe call, "Ginny, I've gotten the doctor!"

Blithe and a tall man entered. The man wore a white wig tinted with green powder. The man had brought blue eyes that seemed to fill the room with light.

"Hello Ginny. I'm Doctor Ward. Your sister told he what happened to your ankle. Would you like me to take a look at it?"

"Yes, that would be great," Ginny said.

Doctor Ward came over and looked at her ankle. He didn't even have to do anything before he said,  "Well I can tell you it's definitely broken. Now I just have to figure out how badly you broke it."

Doctor Ward ran his hands over her ankle causing Ginny to cry out in pain. Doctor Ward nodded as he continued to study her ankle.

After a few minutes he stood up and said, "You've haven't broken it that badly. Just a small break. I'll wrap it up and just stay off of it for a few days and you can probably start to limp in a week. Keep the bandage on till there isn't anymore pain though."

Doctor Ward wrapped up Ginny' s ankle well Ginny did her best not to cry out. After he was due, Mother walked him to the door.

After they left, Blithe came and sat by Ginny. "You're brave."

"What do you mean?"

"If I had broken my able I would have been crying so hard. You're barely even cringing."

"Oh thanks,"Ginny mumbled.

"How did your fall off your horse?"

"I just fell. What do you mean?"

"You normally are good with horses and hardly even fall. So what's the reason? Why did you fall?"

"I was lost in thought. My horse ran towards a tree dump to fast to avoid. When the horse jumped, I lost control of the reins."

"And what were you thinking about?"

Ginny looked around the room, seeing if anyone was listening. Then she lowered her voice drastically. "I am a patriot."

To Ginny's surprise, Blithe didn't seemed surprised, in fact she seemed happy.

"I thought so," Blithe said with a tone Ginny couldn't identify.

"You're not mad?"

"Mad? Mad, Ginny why would I be mad,  I'm courting Josiah Roser for crying out loud!"