Me, You And The Raccoon

CHAPTER VI

After thinking for an hour, I still had no idea how to make the living room smaller.

I came to the conclusion that I needed to change my goal. Instead of changing the size of the heated room, I needed to find a way to heat the smaller rooms.

The fireplace in the kitchen offered a big advantage. If we had to, we could always huddle there to warm our noses in the winter. However, the cold from the ice blocks beneath and inside the icebox chilled one half of the room, stealing some of that warmth. But the kitchen remained a solid plan B.

Our bedroom, I figured, was a good place to start.

I paced the length of our square chamber, muttering to myself while Jade inscribed furiously across a blank page. She had princess handwriting, thin and loopy. I remember watching my father write in his careless scribbles and thinking how smart he was.

Mother couldn't write, but she knew numbers. These, she taught Rose and I. Basic math facts, too. Four and four is eight. Four times four is sixteen. Four minus four is zero.

Jade glanced up every few minutes or so, eyebrows raised in something between concern and perplexion, but left me otherwise undisturbed.

I wanted to build a fireplace. And why couldn't I?

We had some stone slabs in the basement, and got delivered plenty of firewood each morning along with our ice and milk. All it would take was a little hard work and a good plan.

I thought I might ask Jade for her help when she was in a better mood. She made better plans than I did.

I sighed, thinking how much better I would be at everything if I'd been born royal. Jade had so many built in advantages, instilled in her by years of being a princess. She spoke prudently, thinking before she spilled the contents of her head. She ate small bites and made polite noises if anyone spoke to her while she chewed. She always looked lovely and poised, no matter what situation she found herself in.

All things I would never have.

No use in thinking these things, I supposed. I was who I was. Nothing I could do about it.

A warm bedroom would be nice, I thought, even mandatory. During the winter, night temperatures often dropped far below freezing. If we had a giant living room and a stone-cold bedroom, we would have been forced to sleep on the kitchen floor.

I glanced at Jade, clearing my throat. She continued to scrawl away, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Was she writing about me, I wondered? About my ignorance and annoying idiosyncrasies? About my stupid peasant ways and bad posture and improper grammar?

I shook my head. Why, of all the things to write about, would she chose to ridicule me?

Scolding my thoughts away, I sank down beside her on the thin mattress. Looking over her shoulder, I couldn't decipher a single word. Her calligraphy looked like on giant, loopy brick wall to me, all stuck together with mortar.

It took her a moment to realize my presence. She must have felt my breath on her neck because she shivered violently, snapping her book shut. "Scarlett!" She cried. "You scared me. I thought you were still pacing."

I shrugged. "Not anymore."

There were a million things I wanted to say to her. Do I annoy you? Does part of you despise me? Am I ugly? Do you pity me? Who would you rather be locked up with? I'm sorry. Do you wish we hadn't fallen in love? Do you wish I didn't exist? You have lovely eyes. Do I? How many suitors did you have at the castle? Did you ever think of marrying one of them? Why me? Why me, Jade?

But instead, I told her. "I'm going to build us a fireplace in here."

"In the bedroom?" Jade's eyes widened. She clapped her hands, grinning. "Why, I couldn't think of a more delightful idea. May I help?"

May I. I smiled to myself. "Course you can. I was thinking, maybe you can come up with a plan and I can build it. You're better with measurements and all that."

Jade nodded, placing her journal back in her stack of possessions. I mentally added nightstands to my list of furniture to build. "I would love to."

So for the next half hour, we laid side by side on our stomachs, my chin on Jade's shoulder while she sketched a small stone fireplace, muttering to herself about volume and centimeters. Depth and height. All words that I listened to like a pretty song in another language.

I watched her hands move across the page, admiring the elegant length of her fingers. What a beautiful person to even have lovely hands.

Finally, she gave the page a tug, pulling it clean out of the notebook. "Done!" she announced, launching herself to her feet. "Now, I will let you do your magic, Dear. Speaking of which, I've grown rather hungry. You?"

We had no clocks in the tower, and no way of knowing when would be a reasonable time to sup. I shrugged. Nodded. That was all Jade needed.

She clapped her hands together, presenting the sheet to me pinched between her perfect, long nailed fingers. "Oh, Scarlett, you just have the best ideas!" she gushed, already on her way to the kitchen.

"But you make them happen," I said after her, knowing she wouldn't hear.