Braeland

Chapter 6. Surprising Company

When Jim returned later that day he was exhausted and ready for a bite to eat and then bed.  He was surprised to find Peter alone in the cottage and that Prudence out for a walk.  "That's odd.  Was she out of bed for the whole day?"

"She was although I don't know what she was doing.  We didn't hang out together.  What happened when you got to the city?" Peter responded.

Jim looked puzzled as his two children normally spent time together.  "There's not much to tell.  Dr. Greenburg thinks that Prue needs psychiatric help soon," he said.  "Don't look so worried, Peter.  It happens often enough when a girl loses her mother and, after treatment, the wounds almost always heal," he added. 

They heard a twig cracking outside and footsteps approaching the cottage.  "She definitely won't like it, Dad," Peter whispered.  

Jim nodded.  When Prudence came in, her father got up from his chair and gave her a big hug.  "Prudence and I need some private time to talk about something," said Mr. Jamieson.  

Peter went to the beach and skipped stones.  The stars were bright overhead and he wondered if Greenwold could be a planet circling around one of them.  He threw a stone as hard as he could up in the air and heard it splash down in the lake.  "Patience," he heard someone with a squeaky voice say but there was no one standing by as he looked nervously around, unless someone had slipped behind a tree in the dusk.  He looked down and there was Parsnips looking up at him.  

Prudence did not go to sleep until the early hours of morning.  She tormented herself over the discussion she had with her father.  She did not want to have appointments with a psychiatrist but Jim had been insistent, despite her saying that she was already on the road to recovery.  He said she could stop going after the first four or five visits if she didn't think it was helping her but that he thought she was not yet returned to her normal self.  For example, although she had gotten out of bed, she and Peter obviously had a falling out.

"How much did he tell you about that?" Prudence asked, suddenly afraid that Peter had revealed the existence of the medallion.       

  "He didn't give any details.  Is there something I should know?"

Prudence shook her head.  But now, in bed, she was burdened with so many things that her mind kept going on and around them.  There was of course, the secret.  She was excited and more than a little frightened by the little that Rula had told her that night in her hut.  She had to wait for another eight days before returning and finding out more.  Would she be able to return to the same place, and was she skilled enough in the use of the medallion to do so?  And she felt both angry with Peter and sorry for him. This time it seemed she was chosen for a quest rather than him, but she was barred from even telling him about it, at least for now.  She wished that Grandfather Martin were here and then, on second thought, she knew that not even he could be told the secret.  He might pry into her thoughts and she would have to try and block him.  It would be the same thing with the doctor she would be seeing when they got back to the city.  It was early morning before she fell into a fitful, dreamless sleep.  

There was a pattern the family followed for the remaining days at the cottage.  Prudence slept in all morning, had lunch and supper with Peter and Jim during which time she was silent and only answered questions with one word or two and then she read until late in the night.  Peter and his father went fishing each morning and had short walks together in the evening.  Prudence declined going with them.  Jim drove off to go golfing in the afternoon.  Peter spent his time with Parsnips down by the dock.  This was the best part of his day because he was learning to communicate with the little creature.  At first it was just words, sometimes jumbled and not understandable.  But, hour by hour, their word games were starting to become easier and words started joining together into phrases.  Parsnips would mouth the word and move his head but all Peter could hear was squeaking.  The way they talked was telepathic and Peter realized that it was the mouse that was teaching him, and not the other way around.