Sabbath's 2 Darlings- The 12: Book Two

12. Detective Games

Providence petted Bambi as she sat in the yard beneath the clothing line. Saturday had come again but this time hollow. With a sigh she got up and returned the rabbit to its cage. She went inside and sat cross legged on the floor before the lime plaid fabric her sister had been working on.

"Are we going to stay here, Ottaline?"

"I would like to," Ottaline said. She was in their father's bedroom using the washtub. "We don't have anywhere else to go. Daddy didn't have a family. And if Mama did, we never knew them."

"But I've been doing some thinking," Providence said running her hand over the fabric. "Daddy didn't come from thin air. If we could find his real family, maybe they would want us."

"That's a stretch, Rovy," Ottaline said from the next room. She stood in the washtub and poured a pitcher over her head to wash away the suds. She stepped out onto an old towel and used another to dry off. "I wouldn't even begin to know where to look." She quickly towel dried her hair then pulled on her nightdress and long underwear.

Providence looked up when he sister came into the room. "How do you always look so beautiful, Ottaline?"

Ottaline laughed. "I'm flattered, Rovy," she said taking a biscuit from the stove. "You are beautiful too. And just wait until we get you in this new dress!" She broke the biscuit in half and joined her sister on the floor before the fireplace. "Aren't you hungry?" she asked her sister when she realized she wasn't eating.

Providence took a deep breath. "I'm just really worried what will happen to us," she said. "Ottaline, what if they send us away on the orphan train? That's what happened to Daddy. He went from orphanage to orphanage until he was grown." She shook her head. "Even if his mother regretted giving him up she would have never been able to find him."

Ottaline looked down, trying not to let her optimistic side accept her sister's words. "It will be different for us. I can get a job sewing or cooking. I love to cook."

Providence looked down at the biscuit in her hand. "Do you think Daddy ever cried? Since no one ever wanted him?"

Ottaline sighed. "I suppose. But that really doesn't matter now. What matters is that we are together now and that we stay together. No one is going to take you from me, Rovy. They'll try but they'll have to take me down screaming and thrashing."

Providence watched her sister dust off her hands and pick of the fabric. Her sister was good at keeping house and sewing but she fell short in those things and being crippled didn't help.

/

That night she found it hard to sleep. She knew they couldn't stay in the house forever and Ottaline had tried that morning to find work but no one would take her. Providence rolled over and watched her sister sleeping. She wished she could be as optimistic about their situation but she could only think of the worse. What if they were sent to an orphanage? What if they were separated? She didn't think her sister had planned for all of the ifs.

Somewhere in the night sleep found her and she suddenly found herself awakened by a sound. She sat up slowly and looked at Ottaline next to her. She had kicked off the blanket and her pillow had fallen onto the floor. She sat still, waiting to see if she would hear the sound again. When she heard the floor boards creak she immediately shook Ottaline.

"Wake up," she whispered. "Someone is in the house."

Ottaline raised herself up, blinking the sleepy from her eyes. When she heard a noise she got to her knees and took hold of her sister. "What do you think it is; an animal perhaps?"