Clockwork Firefly

Clockwork Firefly - Chapter Seven

The door shut hard behind her as Mary walked through the living room and toward the kitchen.

"Hazel, go to your room."

"But..." she protested. She was always the one getting into trouble and now that it was finally Mary's turn, she wanted a front row seat.

"Go!" He spoke unusually sharply and she jumped, never having seen him this angry. She had thought she'd enjoy seeing Mary get chastised, but at the moment, she felt a stab of pity for her. She ran up the stairs toward the attic, but stopped on the landing of the second floor and hung back to try and eavesdrop.

Robert Mickleson barreled through in pursuit of his eldest daughter, only to find her putting water in the kettle as casually as if this was just a Sunday afternoon tea. He wanted to grab hold of her and shake her until her ears rang. He had always expected trouble from Hazel. She was pretty and a bit fluffy between the ears, not stupid, but flighty and fickle and she was always flirting. He hadn't ever thought he'd have to worry over Mary. He waited until she had the kettle on the stove before he spoke, slamming his hand down on the counter to get her attention.

"What were you thinking?! What possessed you to ... to ...?"

"Father, your blood pressure." She said quietly and fetched down the mugs. She seemed so unnaturally calm it actually chilled him. He panted, his face ruddy and hot, and he stumbled back to pull out a chair at the breakfast table and fall, heavily into it. He pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and ran it over his sweating face and watched her. Had he been overreacting? If it had just been Hazel who had told him about it he might have chalked it up to her wanting to get her sister into trouble, but he'd heard it from several people before he found his daughter, sitting calmly behind the school booth with her hands in her lap as if she'd been knitting or something.

"Just... tell me what happened." He undid his collar and dropped it to the table, his shirt's top button undone as well.

She sighed and turned around, her hands on the counter behind her at either side of her hip. She spoke quietly, both to soothe her father's temper and to not broadcast the conversation to every neighbor. "As you know, I went this morning to see the fair being set up. I was admiring the black and red tent, and I nearly got beaned by one of the big marquee signs. The man who was hanging it, he's the son of the man who created the Steam Man Band, and he asked if I would like to meet them. I admit, it wasn't the wisest sort of thing to do, but I figured there were plenty of people around if there was any trouble. Besides, when would I get a chance to see something like that again? So, I went inside. They're very interesting, Father..."

"I'm sure. Skip to what happened tonight."

She paused as she knew that this point of the story that was a bit more troublesome. "To understand the rest, I have to explain something about their family. The creator of the band, that is Peter Walter, the first. He has two sons who he named Peter Walter the second, and his twin brother, Peter Walter the third." She turned to take the tea can down and fill the mesh ball with the leaves. "For the sake of this story, I will call the eldest son Peter, and the younger, Pete." She did not like the look of thunderous anticipatory anger that was still brewing on her father's face. "Peter was counting in the receipts, and I was talking with The Jon and The Spine and Rabbit. " She left out that she'd brought presents, it wouldn't help her case. "Then Pete came in. Rabbit, the ... the one with the accordion?" She saw the confusion on her father's features clarify. "He hid in a movie house some time back and watched two days worth of showings of The Sheik..."

The kettle began to sing and she plucked it up, turning off the burner and pouring the hot water over the tea strainer. "So we got on the subject of Rudolph Valentino. Rabbit said Pete was a fan, and if you'd ever met Peter Walter the third, you'd know how incongruous that image is. He's like his father, very intelligent and mechanical minded and not the sort who you'd imagine would go to the picture show, much less become a fan. Well, I think I hurt his pride when I said Rabbit probably did a better Valentino impression than he did. And so... he did it and he um... kissed me and then he left and Peter escorted me to find Hazel and then .. that's it."