Pirates, Kings, and Love. Oh my.

Chapter 2

[(so i've been extremely busy with homework and lacrosse and so much other stuff that tonight i FINALLY got the chance to write. tell me what you honestly think!! criticism is so welcome so please give me some! even if you dont like it, tell me how to make it better please! but if your just going to trash talk it and have nothing good to say, dont even bother.)]

II

Dinner at the Relling house was always a formal event, even if we had no guests to entertain. But the formality was almost unnoticed compared to the almost visible tension between Father and Ben. Father was at the head of the table, Mother on his right and Julia on his left. I was next to Mother and Ben next to Julia. Nobody said a thing. We all just looked down at our plates and occasionally looked up at the blank space above each others' heads.

After dinner we all sat in the parlor made to hold 100 people comfortably, not our measly five. Julia was perched at the pianoforte, filling the room with soft music. I sat at the window next to her, looking out at the setting sky. Mother chose a sport close to the fireplace so she could see her embroidery better. Father and Ben stood as far as possible from each other, which wasn't hard to do in this extravagantly large room.

Father was inspecting the furniture, taking mental notes of weather or not he liked their condition. Ben was looking at the globe, spinning it, studying every inch of its surface.

"Little Lettie, come here." Ben waved me over. I stood and walked over slowly, remembering my posture. Shoulders back, head high, chin slightly forward, light step, and repeat. It felt like centuries until I was taking the last step towards my brother.

"Here is where we are," he pointed to a large island North of France. I knew this, of course, because Benjamin was always showing Julia and me where England and many other places were, and telling us stories he's heard from sailors and tradesmen about different peoples and cultures and religions. And who doesn't know their own country?

He kept his finger on the globe and spun it so he drew a line from England to a place below China; a large island all alone in the middle of the Pacific.

"There," he said and tapped his finger on the place. "There is where I want to visit." I looked closer to read it's name.

"Af-ray-ca." I read. Benjamin clamped his mouth shut, making a strangled sound; trying not to laugh.

"Benjamin!" I said and pushed him. Of course he wasn't affected by me; the sound he kept making intensified. "Okay then Mister University, tell me how you pronounce it."

"Africa." He said. "Kind of like how you said it but you don't drag the syllable's."

I stuck my tongue out at him and he stuck his at me. I stole a glance to see if Mother had seen my childish behavior but was relieved when I saw her completely engulfed in her work.

"I want to travel there. I want to see a lion, a giraffe, a zebra! I want to roam the jungle, ride along the Amazon river. I want to experience the culture." He was looking directly at the elbow-shaped continent on the map.

"I'm going to run away someday Colette. I'm going to get away from all this pompous idiocy Father and Mother relish in. It's not what I want in life." His voice was low and ragged. His gaze never faltered from the globe.

I knew he'd never liked the way we lived, but he never once actually said he was going to run away. I felt my eyes prick with tears.

To be a free woman, to travel, to live my own life; a dream that I knew would never happened seeing as my whole life was mapped out already.

"Ben," I choked. He looked at me surprised, not expecting to see me upset. "Take me with you when you leave. Please Ben, please."

He reached over and wiped away a renegade tear. "I'm not leaving without you and Julia." He kissed my forehead and hugged me.