Trail Guard

Chapter One-2

Tossing over on her side, Meris noticed an owl was perched in the tree outside, silhouetted against the waning moon. She focused on the shadowy phantom, dismissing thoughts of Daniel. If the answer had been there, then there she’d be. Not in this distant room, companioned by a dull ache with no rational explanation.

***

There was a perfunctory knock and Meris turned from the window to see a tall, young redhead standing in the open doorway with an armload of fresh folded sheets and towels.

“Oh, sorry! I’ll come back later.”

“No, it’s alright,” Meris said. “You can come in now.”

“I won’t be long.” The girl stepped in and set the linens on the chair. She pulled a rag from her back pocket and briskly swiped over the surface of the bedside table. “You’re usually out by now.”

“A bit slow off the mark this morning,” Meris replied.

The redhead moved on to the dresser. “You must be horribly bored around here,” she remarked.

“In Cherish? Not a bit.”

“What do you find to do all day?”

“I poke around the shops. Walk. Think.”

“Not the most exciting place.”

“I like it quite a lot,” Meris said.

The redhead made a quick swipe around a picture postcard of the town’s main street propped on the dresser. “I guess so.”

“By the way, I’m Meris.”

The redhead paused in her work and offered her hand. “Shar Taylor. Pleased to meet you.”

“You’re Ben and Nance’s daughter, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“The inn is beautiful. Have they owned it long?”

“Ever since they got married.” Shar moved on to the bed which was stripped in seconds. She added Meris’s used towels to the pile of soiled linens on the floor, replacing them on the rail with fresh ones from the chair.

“Do you like working around the inn?” Meris asked.

“I never thought much about it, I’ve been doing it so long.” Shar shook out the contour sheet, deftly tucking the near side corner before skirting the bed to stretch the second across the head of the mattress. “But I may not be here much longer.”

“You’re leaving?”

“I hope to, if things work out the way I’d like.” Shar moved down to the foot of the mattress, expertly snapping the last two corners in place. “I suppose you’ll be moving on yourself pretty soon.”

“Oh, I’ll need to get a job before I can go much further.”

“A job?” Shar paused and looked at Meris as though readjusting her perceptions of her. “In Cherish?”

“Or someplace nearby. I’m nearly out of money.”

Shar grabbed Meris’s pillow, enveloping it in a fresh slip with unconscious proficiency. “Sounds like poor planning.”

“No planning,” Meris confessed with a wry smile.

Shar tossed the pillow, landing it squarely at the head of the bed.

“Maybe I’ll ask Nance for your job, if you go.”

“You want this job?”

“It’s honest work.”

“Not much money in it,” Shar huffed, snapping the top sheet free of its folds.

“You don’t need much in Cherish,” Meris reasoned, meeting Shar at the foot of the bed where they raised the mattress in unison and tucked the sheet neatly under.

“Free room and board, in any case,” Shar said as she and Meris spread and smoothed the quilt over the top.

“More than enough.”

Shar huffed again and bent to collect up the pile of linens. “I guess.”

***

Behind the shops across the street from the inn, the land dropped gently into a flowering meadow. It was apparently used as a gathering ground, for it was well kept and there were roads leading down to it from both sides. Meris had discovered it her second day in town and the grassy hill overlooking this meadow was a good place to think, and usually private.

This afternoon, however, there were two girls about Meris’s age down in the meadow. They seemed unaware of Meris, concentrated as they were with practicing the steps of a dance that appeared Gaelic in origin. Meris loved to dance and she was soon engrossed in the lovely movements as the girls circled round and round a tall wooden pole. She was wound up in a kind of spell that was broken only when the girls decided to quit and moved off, deeply engrossed in conversation.

It wasn’t until then that Meris noticed Shar seated on the grass a few hundred yards away. As the others drifted from view, Shar made her way tentatively down to the post and Meris realized that Shar must have been observing them also.

Meris now watched as Shar stood under the towering pole. She stared up at the thing for a few moments, then looked down at the ground. It seemed she would do nothing more, but eventually she began to move. It was a halting, self-conscious thing she did, but it was apparent she was mimicking the footwork the other girls had demonstrated with such charm.

A few steps into it Shar stopped, aware she’d made an error. Twice more she attempted the intricate jig, but she gave up easily, ultimately stamping her foot in heartfelt frustration.

“You’ve nearly got it,” Meris called out, trying to sound encouraging, but Shar’s expression plainly revealed her anger and embarrassment at being seen.

Meris stood up and walked slowly down.

“I haven’t got it at all,” Shar said, as if to dissuade Meris from coming closer.

Meris continued to approach until she stood on the well worn path around the pole and looked up at it, much as Shar had done. “You’re just crossing your foot in front, where you should be stepping behind.”

“Oh, you know all about it, I suppose.”

“I was watching the others. It’s a pretty jig but it’s intricate.”

“Too intricate for someone with two left feet. And too intricate for a casual observer to learn by watching for five minutes,” Shar retorted.

“Is this what you were talking about at breakfast this morning?”

“A know-it-all and eavesdropper.”

Meris smiled. “It’s a small dining room.”

Shar’s lips pursed.

“I was watching for more than five minutes,” Meris said. “I’m sure we can work it out together.”

“I’ll do it on my own, thanks.”

Meris’s head c****d to the side. “This is important to you, isn’t it?”

“I guess you know that, too.”

Meris nodded, then in a fluid movement, she pivoted on her toes and executed eight beats of the most complex steps in the routine. “See? Right foot behind. Makes the turn smooth and easy.”

“I see,” Shar conceded.

Meris demonstrated a little more, making it obvious to Shar she had indeed memorized the most difficult executions of the routine.

“Well, it won’t be so easy once the ribbons are in place,” Shar said.

“Ribbons?”

“From the top.”

Meris’s eyes climbed the pole again. “A maypole.”

“That’s right. Does a girl like you know about such things?”

“Well, I’ve never actually seen one before. Ribbons, huh?”

“Yes.”

Meris’s sea green gaze once again met Shar’s skeptical glare. “Which hand?”

“The right.”

“Beautifully held, no doubt.”

Shar’s furrowed brow smoothed at last and she gave in to a wry smile. “Very beautifully.”

Meris nodded seriously. “And there are crossovers,” she deduced, recalling the interaction of the two girls at the post before them.

“And interweaving,” Shar said. “Sometimes three strands, and of course unraveling, back to single strands.”

“I see... Then I guess we must imagine the third girl.”

“I guess so.”

“And the ribbons.”

“Yes.”

“But first, the steps.”

Shar nodded.

“By Sunday.”

“By Sunday,” Shar confirmed.

“We’d better get busy.”

***

That evening, Meris was invited to the Taylors’ table for dinner and Shar’s growing confidence and excitement was apparent. Meris was pretty excited herself. The color and animation in Shar’s sallow features was inspiration in itself and they were all swept up by the wave of Shar’s new hope.

For the next couple of days, Nance took over Shar’s morning duties at the inn so the girls could work on the dance. Come mid-afternoon, Shar returned to the inn to help set up for dinner. Meris went down to the stream behind the inn for a while. Upon her return, she encountered Nance, seated on a bench on the back porch.

“Time out?” Meris asked, climbing the steps.

“I like to come out for a few minutes at sunset.”

“Pretty out here this time of the evening,” Meris said, taking a seat on the bench.

“You seem to be enjoying our little town.”

“It’s peaceful here.”

“That it is, but a little off the beaten track. What brought you to Cherish?”

“An expired bus ticket.”

“Really?”

Meris chuckled. “Yes, really.”

Jasper padded up the steps, paused to check out the selection of scents on the top landing, then crossed to the bench and hopped up to settle down between the two women.

“You’ve been on the road a while, then.”

“Quite a while.”

“I guess you’ve seen a lot during your travels.”

“Everything and nothing, I suppose,” Meris said, comforted by the flutter of Jasper’s instantaneous purring as she stroked him.

“It takes guts to strike out on your own like that,” Nance remarked.

“I’m beginning to think it takes more guts to stay in one place,” Meris said.

“You may be right. Of course, it helps to have a good reason to stay.”

“That would make all the difference, I should think.” A wad of molted fur loosened by Meris’s stroking shed free of Jasper’s coat and drifted off on the sweet scented breeze. “It’s funny,” she said, “I thought going away for a while would give me a more definite sense of where I came from. But it hasn’t worked out that way.”

“Oh?” Nance encouraged.

“Now it’s just another distant spot on the map. More like a dream than a reality I can picture myself returning to.”

“And you find yourself in Cherish.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think you might stay a while?”

“I may not have a choice.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Shar mentioned she might be leaving.”

“It’s possible.”

“I was considering asking you for her job.”

“Were you?”

“I need to make some money.”

“Then, it might work out for all concerned. Things are still uncertain with Shar, but I won’t say no until we see how things come out.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Have you thought about joining the dance on Sunday?”

“Oh, I don’t really belong.”

“I know Shar would appreciate having you there.”

Just then, Shar burst through the screen door. “There you are! Mom, have you told her?”

“Not yet,” Nance replied.

“Told me what?” Meris asked.

Nance stood up with a conspiratorial smile. “Come inside. We have something to show you.”

Laid out on Nance and Ben’s bed in the small apartment shared by the Taylor family was a prairie style skirt of sky blue, the hem trimmed around with white eyelet lace. Teamed with the skirt was a white peasant blouse with a gathered neckline and puff sleeves, also trimmed with lace.

“This is beautiful,” Meris remarked, fingering the fresh pressed cotton. “Did you make this?”

“Mom did,” Shar replied, eyes gleaming. “It’s my outfit for Sunday.”

“This one is for you,” Nance said and Meris turned. The second ensemble Nance took from the closet was identical to Shar’s, except for the color of the skirt. Meris was speechless.

“We’d all be honored if you’d join Shar in representing our family in the dance on Sunday,” Nance said and that pretty well settled the matter.