Adventures

Croquet

Croquet ..... Xenoclea

“Who wants to play croquet?” Annemarie asked to her crew gathered in the parlor. “The man I was talking to about shipping some ivory invited us all to his country home for a spot of tea, some luncheon and croquet."

Maria sprang up and clasped her hands together. “Tea? Do you mean real tea and not that ghastly stuff you give us?”

“What’s wrong with my tea?” the captain asked.

“It’s horrible,” said Adalè from on top of the piano. “Don’t let Maria sugarcoat it. The stuff you make tastes like a cat peed in it.” Adalè, it seemed had a knack of first finding uncomfortable truths and then letting everyone else know of them.

"I happen to like my tea," said Annemarie in a hurt voice.

Adalè continued, ignoring her. “But I think that croquet may be fun, or at least a good way to waste an afternoon. I’m game.”

“So am I,” said Maria. “What about you boys?” All Jameson and Scot shook their heads as Rogers retreated to the engine room.

“Oh, come on, you two,” said Adalè cheerfully. “Jameson, croquet is a game you don’t need any upper body strength for, so there’s no problem for you." The doctor looked miffed but didn't say anything, probably realizing that she was right. "Scot, you get to hit things with other things. You can imagine the balls are severed heads if you wish. Doesn’t that seem fun?”

“Severed heads or no, croquet is a game for little girls,” Scot grumbled.

“What are you talking about? I used to play croquet all the time!” Jameson piped up. Scot smirked. He continued, “But I’m not going to play today. Too many people around me, and there might be spiders hiding in the grass just waiting to crawl under one’s spat and up one’s leg… ugh,” he shuddered. Maria rolled her eyes. At this point, the already reclusive scientist would soon be spending his days locked in the laboratory in dread of going outside and meeting one of his many phobias. 

“I guess it shall just be we ladies then. I can hardly wait to wear my fascinator and not be called overdressed!” Maria said with a pointed look at Scot.

“And I can wear my hoop without it smashing into the instruments or getting caught between cogwheels!” Annemarie said, calm exterior completely dissolved.

“And perchance there may be some lonely English gentlemen to serve us tea and maybe dance with,” said Adalè, her eyes winking coquettishly over the top of her favorite black parasol.

“Ey, lassies, you have yourselves some a fine gentleman right here,” said Scott, his leg planted firmly on the top of the piano bench in what might have been a heroic pose if he had been wearing pants. His kilt hung in flaps over his thighs.

“Oh, dear Lord,” said Jameson, looking more uncomfortable than usual. Behind him, the three women shrieked and covered their eyes, cowering behind Adalè’s parasol.

“I think we are off to dress, gentlemen. Please excuse us,” Annemarie said as courteously as she could as she as the other girls climbed the staircase, trying their hardest not to accidentally look behind them.

After docking, the ladies, dressed in favorite daytime frocks, departed the airship and hired a cab driver at the airdocks. The coachman shook the reins and they headed off towards the country estate where croquet in the garden awaited them. The rolling green landscape that waited beyond the dingy city was lush beneath a polite gray sky. “I used to love carriage rides,” Maria told the others as she daintily smoothed her blue dress. “It always meant I was going someplace exciting. Isn’t it curious to think that just a few years ago, a ride like this was the most interesting trip I had ever taken but now I’m traveling the world?”