Recluse Island

Chapter 9

July 1845

Taylor's Landing, Texas

In the early morning hours of a warm mid-July day Ted Spinosum awoke knowing he would not fall back to sleep. Unfortunately, it was the norm for him to only get a few hours of rest each night. With his left side paralyzed it was difficult for him to find a comfortable position that allowed him to doze peacefully. So rather than lie awake waiting until dawn he would rouse himself, put on some tea and adjourn to the garden where he would sit inside the gazebo Robert had constructed at the request of Sara Ann.

            Ted couldn't use his cane and hold his cup of tea with one hand so once he had settled himself on the long bench in the gazebo the stable hand Fernando Benitez would enter the house and bring the beverage out to him once he had spotted Ted in his usual place.

            "There you are, old friend," said Fernando, placing the teacup and saucer on a small circular table that Robert had built so Ted could enjoy his morning tea outside. "And how are you today?"

            Fernando was in his early twenties and had emigrated three years ago from Mexico with his two sisters Rosalinda and Araceli. The girls worked in town as seamstresses and Robert always hired them out when Sara Ann needed new gowns.

Fernando had initially struggled with finding work until one day Robert's favorite horse Thackery suddenly turned wild and become uncontrollable. Fernando had been able to tame the horse explaining the horse's symptoms were a result of his ingesting Johnsongrass. A type of grass that can grow six feet tall and produce large multibranched seed heads that when eaten by a horse can cause tremors, rapid breathing, and convulsions. Robert, impressed with the young man's horse skills and soothing manner, promptly offered him a job which Fernando was only too happy to accept.

            "Doing fine, thanks for the tea." Ted was used to people asking how he was ever since the stroke; it seemed he was asked that question more often than any other.

            Dawn was slowly approaching; in the distance he could see the sun steadily rising. This was his favorite part of the day, when it was quiet and calm, and he could remember his former life in peace.

            "Any time my friend. I'll be off to work, shout if you need anything."

            Ted nodded and lifted his cup in farewell. Fernando's English had come a long way since he first took up here. Elizabeth has been teaching him and his sisters an hour every day after she had concluded Sara Ann's lessons. The sisters provided her with dresses and frilly things as a thank you for her services and Fernando painted her bedroom and built her a writing desk.

            Ted had a good life here. He was lucky Robert offered him a place to stay after the stroke had left him disabled. He supposed he could have become depressed as well in view of all he had already lost besides his physical abilities.

            Ted had understandably been devastated when his wife Lottie died giving birth to their son Franklin. She had only been eighteen at the time and for many years after Ted blamed himself for their deaths even though rationally, he knew there was nothing he could have done to save them.

Ted had been the son of a farmer though he hated farm life. He yearned to leave behind the rolling fields and repetitive days to a life of excitement on the seas. When Ted turned eighteen, he left home and took a job as a lookout on a cargo ship. Then one day about a year later they made port in New Orleans and that's when Ted met Charlotte Matthew's. She was the daughter of a bank manager with four older sisters and a tendency toward forgetfulness. He had found her wandering the pier while reading Gulliver's Travels.