Midnight (A Phillidosia Story

Chapter Two

 THEO'S POV

                 As Theo hurried through the market, she tried to calculate the amount of time she had until it started to rain but, then she remembered what her mother had said and started looking for a place to hide in most of the stalls were filed with people trying to finish their purchases and the only empty one she could see was the one full of the butcher's meat. 

                   Wait, there was a mostly empty one it was a fortune teller's and the was a large table covered with crystal balls and other fortune telling objects. There was a curtain behind the table where she could hear someone asking about their future. The table was covered with a starry blue cloth. Perfect for a small girl to hide under. Theo heard the customer coming out and quick as a flash slid under the tablecloth and nearly slammed into another small person hiding underneath.

                                                    PHILIP'S POV

                 Philip would have been fine if his mother had taken only him to the market, in fact it would have been quite nice. They could get something to eat and maybe go to some stalls that were not millinery and sewing supplies. He would have been fine also if they had taken his two-year-old brother James with them or his four-year-old brother Alexander. True they might not have been able to do as much but it wouldn't have been terrible. It might even be tolerable if they brought his chatty six-year-old sister Angelica or Angie as everyone called her but, his mother had brought all four of her children and James was fussing because he was hungry, Alex was dragging his feet because he was tired, and Angie was complaining about being cold.

                 Of course, this meant that his mother was taking out her frustration out on him. Philip had simply had enough when his mother was turned around scolding his brother for getting mud on his clothes. Philip had bolted for the fortune telling stall. This wasn't because he liked fortune telling he thought that it was weird, but the booth was run by his cousins who went to a boarding school nearby. They came to the market every weekend with some new crazy idea. They usually didn't mind him coming over though.

                Philip had just slipped under the table (he could have gone behind the curtain but that would annoy his cousins because they had a customer and besides, he was planning to pop out and scare Catherine) He had only been under there a few minutes when he heard the curtain rustle and a person stepped out. This was his chance to scare Catherine! but, just as he planned to pop out thunder rumbled louder than before and a small person in a red cape and hood slid under the tablecloth and crashed into him. 

'Ohh! I'm sorry". She started to say but Philip shushed her, 

"Wait" he said, they both waited until the person had walked away. 

"What's your name?" asked Philip. 

"I'm Theodosia, What's your name?"

I'm Philip are you hiding to stay out of the rain?" 

"Yes, because my mother is taking way too long to pick out new cloth and the best needles and thread and pins." 

"My mother's doing the same thing!" said Philip "But it's my siblings that really annoy me."

"You have siblings? she asked "Tell me about them, I'm an only child" she said sadly. 

So, Philip told her about his two little brothers and his sister and how his mother was going to have another baby soon and that everyone thought it would be a girl this time. he told her about his aunts Peggy and Angelica and about his cousins Catherine and Philip (he and his cousin were both named after their grandfather Philip Schuyler) who ran the fortune telling stall with some of their friends and their two other siblings John and Elizabeth who were too young for school and were back in England with his aunt and uncle.

 Theo told him that she had two stepbrothers John and Fredrick who were grown up and had fought in the war and twin stepsisters Mary and Anna Louisa who were also grown up. She didn't know them very well since they were from her mother's first marriage. Her only full sibling Sally had died several years ago at the age of three. So, she was her father's only child and had been taught piano and French. 

 They were so busy talking that they didn't notice they had stopped whispering until someone lifted the blue tablecloth. 

"Philip, I knew you'd be under here, you were trying to scare Catherine, weren't you? You'd better come out of there both of you it's going to pour any minute now and I'm sure your mother is looking for you".

So, they hurried out in the mist of all the market chaos and back to the sewing stalls. 

"Wait! Theo" Called Philip as she headed back to her mother "Meet me at the park tomorrow". 

"Alright" she said and ran away.