Sarah's Roses, Book II: Roses of White

Chapter XXIII

Thought I'd place a bit of a warning and say that this chapter does deal with a rather mature issue. Don't worry, I've kept it PG and nothing terrible actually happens, but I felt it only fair that I should warn you.

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Chapter XXIII

I could hear the faint sounds of laughter as I slipped into the kitchen. Who was in the parlor and what on earth was going on there? I was too tired to go and find out though. All I wanted was a cup of tea and then to go to bed. I put the kettle on the stove and when the water boiled I brewed a very weak tea, we had precious little of it and had to be sparing, and drank it in silence. I was just about to put the cup away when the door opened and Elsie entered.

“Ah, Sarah, Evy sleeping?”

“She is. I looked in on Kristoffs and he really wants to see Sam, do you think you could arrange it somehow? I haven’t got the strength.”

“Sure thing, honey, don’t you worry. You should just go to bed.”

“That exactly what I plan to do, I only want to check in on Prissy first. What is going on in the parlor?”

“Oh, that is all Lulu’s doing,” Elsie said with a laugh. “She got the Sergeant to get the Colonel to come to the parlor so she could ask him his age. Turns out you was right, he is forty seven, will be forty eight in August.”

“Oh, so I’m free from housework tomorrow?” My eyes brightened; at least I had some good news today.

“It is terribly unfair if you was to ask me,” Elsie grumbled.

“No, Elsie, unfair would have been if Prissy would have bet with us and won.”

“Now that would have been injustice in its purest form.” We both laughed at this. “Anyway,” Elsie resumed, “we got to talking about everyone’s age and then we moved to places of birth and then to places of travel. You know, Colonel White has traveled all over Europe.”

“Has he now?” I mumbled.

“And of course once we got to travel we moved on to languages, turns out the colonel can speak five. Then we got to music and Sergeant Hosehigh said Colonel White is quite the musician and singer and now Lulu is trying to get him to serenade her.”

 “What?” I tried to stifle my laugh and didn’t succeed.

“Once again, it is all Hosehigh’s doing. He said the colonel had a large stash of love songs and Lulu wants to hear one. I just came here to bring these cups back. We served them hot tea; I hope you’s alright with that.”

“I don’t mind heaping coals of fire on their head,” I replied with a shrug. “Is the colonel really going to sing?”

“I don’t know,” Elsie shrugged and left. I figured Prissy and sleep could wait, this was something I couldn’t miss out on. I followed Elsie back to the parlor but didn’t actually go inside. I only planned to stay a moment and didn’t want to draw attention to myslf.

“Come on, Colonel Sir,” Robert was saying, “just one song. Sing that little Italian song, remember, the one you sang it to the men once.”

“No,” Colonel White was very reluctant, “I’m tired, I’ve had a long day and I’m not in the mood to sing.”

“Now, Colonel Sir,” Elsie put in, “look at poor Lulu here. Her husband was sold by that horrible Massa Beverly and all her children, save on, died. She’s put in blood, sweat and tears for this family and for this house. Don’t you think she deserves a song? A love song? You boasted to us of how well you know Italian, now go ahead and prove it and do a kind deed while you are at it. It is Christmas after all, the best time to do good deeds.”