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Chapter 3 - Confirmation

        "Isaac, can I talk to you?" Pa spotted Isaac and called him over. Isaac eyed Pa carefully, whenever Pa asked to talk to Isaac, it meant Isaac was either in trouble, or else there was bad news. Usually. "What about?" He walked with Pa towards a local cafe. 
        "So what did you want to talk about?" Isaac opened the cafe door and removed his hat.
        "Have a seat son." Pa avoided answering. Whenever Pa did this, it meant that there was most likely bad news, or else news that Isaac wouldn't want to hear.
        Isaac sat down and waited patiently for an answer.
        "How would you like some extra help on the ranch this summer?" Pa finally answered.
        Isaac wasn't sure why this would be bad news, "Sure, extra help would be great, especially considering that we have extra land this year. Why do you ask?" Surely there would be a catch.
        "You've surely heard of the war that's going on in Between England and France?" Pa twiddled his fingers.
        "Yes, that's the only thing people talk about now days..." Isaac wondered why Pa was acting so strange, "Just say it Pa."
        Pa gave Isaac a how-did-you-know-I'm-avoiding-the-subject look, "Well, surely you've heard that America is housing children from England here for the summer, or until the war stops. By children they mean people all the way up to sixteen." Pa let out a sigh, "So what do you think?"
                "I think it's great that America is doing something like that." Isaac wasn't quite sure why Pa was so worried about telling him that.
                "You don't understand," Pa leaned back in his chair, "I mean, what do you think if we offered to let some children come stay with us?"
                Isaac was expected something wild, but not this, "U-um," He rested his chin on his hands, "I think that it would be fine, if Ma is okay with it."
               "I've already talked to her, and she is all for it," Pa looked relived, "I just needed to see what you thought."
        "But," Isaac paused, "How many kids would come? And how old would they be? Would there be only boys? Or girls as well?"
         "Um, well, your Ma and I signed up for a brother and sister living in the richer section of England, so they might not know how to help around here. That's why I need you to teach them."
        "How old are they?" Now Isaac was curious, "Or at least how old is the boy?"
        "I'm not sure." Pa grinned sheepishly, "They could be toddlers, or they could be almost a grownup." 
        Isaac just raised his eyebrow, "So you signed up to do this, and then asked for my opinion?"
         "Well, not exactly," Pa shifted uncomfortably, "I had them put the registration paper aside until I gave them an answer. So technically no, I hadn't volunteered. But I had looked over the information with your Ma and knew just about everything about it. Except their age."
        "Right...um, okay." Isaac ran his hands through his dark hair, "So when will they get here?"
         "As soon as they get the 'OK' from us." Pa stood up, "So the sooner we sign the paper, the sooner they can come over."
        "Okay," Isaac scooted his chair back noisily, "So they won't even know the basics of ranching?"
        "Nope," Pa opened the door to the small cafe, replaced his hat, and stepped out into the sunlight, "So you'll probably spend a month teaching them how to do it. Now if they're younger, like under five or so, then you wouldn't have to worry about them. But since we don't know their ages, just be ready for anything." 
        "Okay," Isaac stuck his hat back on his head, "I'm not going to have to teach the girl anything, right? I mean if she is old enough to work."
        "Hopefully your Ma will take care of that." Pa untied the horses' ropes, "Girls generally don't rope cows do they?" Pa winked.
        Isaac laughed, "Just wondering."
        

~                                                                           ~                                                                           ~

        "Next!" The man behind the desk waved them forward.
        "We have a registration paper on hold." Pa fidgeted the edge of his hat. "We're registered under the name Locary. Jerome Locary."
        The man behind the desk started scouring the papers for the name Locary, "Locary...Locary...Locary..." He pushed his glasses up, "Ah-hah!" He flung a paper out from the bottom of the stack, "Found it. Registered to take two children, Alexander and Deborah Flure from Livingston, England?" He peered at them over his glasses.
        "Yes, that's correct. Do I need to sign the paper?" Pa started searching his pockets for pencil.
        "Yes thank you." The man behind the desk, upon closer inspection he had a name tag that called him Archibald, handed Pa an ink well and feather pen.
        "Yes yes of course," Pa quickly stopped searching for a pencil and scribbled his signature down on the paper. "Is that it?"
        "Yes, you will soon get a notification letter on when they will be arriving, in the mail." Archibald gave them a quick smile, "If you ever come here again you can ask for Archibald, have a nice day!"
        "Same to you," Pa waved his hand slightly and walked out the door. "Well that wasn't so hard." 
        "Yep," Isaac spoke for the first time, "Only took a few minutes."
        "Uh-huh," Pa said absentmindedly, "And we'll even get a notification letter. Hopefully before they come. Not after."
        Isaac nodded his agreement. It would not be pleasant to have them arrive before the notification came. By his calculations, the confirmation letter would take maybe a month to get to Livingston, England, they'd have to pack, then get on the next ship over to America, and come to the ranch. So they'd have a couple months to prepare for them. Not too bad.

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