The Ghost of Winn Peterson

7. Winn

20 August

I should have known that I would be busy for some time after my mishap in the rain, and for that, my dear journal, I apologise profusely! Alas, is it not better to be late doing something for the purpose of productivity? Better I be busy than idle.

After my evening with the Thomases, I was able to collect a few supplies for home and in the morning, Evie invited herself along to help deliver them. I saw nothing distasteful in this arrangement, and happily agreed to it. How exciting, to find a new friend and share with her the comforts of my home, when she had so readily done so for me! What wonderful things would we accomplish when in one another's company? Here, I will very readily admit to being carried away by my inclination toward fantasy, and I spent a long while during our walk towards the cliffs pondering the many things we would do. Only when Evie asked how long I planned to stay in Dorset did I jump from my fond reveries and address her.

"As long as needed, I suppose. I moved for my health, but I would not be opposed to staying even if I improved." This brought about a concerned frown on Evie's tanned face (no doubt from running outside as much as she could, despite the worries of her mother).

"Your health? Are you... taken with something?" She asked so politely that it was almost easy to miss just how distressed she was to hear this.

"A lifetime around ships and smoke and the excess mess of an advanced city is all that ails me," I replied, giving her a relaxing smile. "You need not worry about me!"

"I very much shall," she countered, taking my arm in hers, lest I stumble yet again over the rocky path, "and I will hear no complaints about it." With this kind soul at my side, who was I to complain at all?

Our conversations soon turned toward our futures and ideas about who we would be later in life. I expressed my desire to write novels that would inspire other women as I had been inspired, and she confessed a fondness for wandering, with no real notions of how to turn that into a living. She was delighted to know that taming animals like sheep could be an option. Was there not plenty of wandering there? The idea of farming was introduced, and then I remembered my poor plant situation, and how I wished to buy seeds or something similar to grow! I bemoaned my forgetfulness, but Evie possessed a knowledge of the area and its various plants, and my despair was quickly assuaged by her telling me of the many sorts of flowers and herbs that grew around the cliffs.

"Parsnips and clovers and chamomile and thyme! You shan't be in want of making your own teas," she winked, stopping for a moment to pick a purple blossom, trembling with dew. "If you've any interest in growing poison," she added after a moment's thought, "we've plenty of the deadly sorts growing around. Just don't catch yourself eating them!" Though interested I was in the fear and death of my writing and reading, real-life poisons made me far too anxious, and I politely declined. Upon seeing my face, Evie laughed and threw the flower up in the sky. "Perhaps you'll want to grow things to attract the fauna? Thrushes, crows, shrikes? Or perhaps the bats (of which we shall never be in want of!) and the voles?" Evie went on and on like this, naming so many creatures and flowers and trees and fish that I was soon dizzy with knowledge. An excellent farmer she would have made! She seemed to know how every critter that lived within fifty miles of the town, how it made its home, what it ate. An inspiring idea! I resolved to utilise such information in the next story I crafted, for how would its believability be doubted with the expertise of Evie Thomas?

Our walk soon ended at my lonely little home. The shutters shivered in the slight wind, as though to beckon us further inside, and we were only too happy to oblige - though I had not purchased much from her father's store, its weight was still multiplied by the length of our walk. Upon our hurried entrance to the kitchens, we deposited the various items onto a table and sighed in satisfaction as our delivery was completed. Eager to put to good use my candles, I at once lit several and deposited them across the kitchen, filling it with a friendly glow of simple light. Then, I made tea, and we swallowed down our cups of warmth with heavy smiles.