Power play

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Oh." She moved to the kettle and stirred the contents once again, then turned toward Captain Rodrigo Liam. She was calm and steady as she looked straight into his eyes. "How will that benefit me, Captain Rodrigo Liam? If you like this house, then stay here and save yourself some work. I will be gone in the spring. Remember? I'll be on the first ship back to France. You said it yourself. I am going, and nothing will stop me. You could build a palace, and I would still go. Please don't make any plans with me in it. You have

already done enough damage." "Yes, I have done enough damage." He lowered his eyes from her stare and moved back to the fire, relieved he had not confessed.

utumn came with a bracing chill and a sweep of magnificent color. The trees become dry and yet the trees enough to create a gave up their leaves to make a thick carpet of yellow, orange, and crimson over breathtaking view throughout all of Quebec. Nature was dressed beautifully, and its perfume was a clear, brisk, icy smell. It was a refreshing, colorful time when the heat of summer had passed, and winter white had not yet grabbed hold with its frigid fingers.

Most all the harvesting had been done, and the produce put up whichever way was deemed best for its type and expected length of storage. The farms were void of any green and looked unkempt, like a lazy man with cornstalk stubble and masses of brown grass hair, cut but not yet baled. Sturdy squash lay in no set pattern, brightly colored and defiant even as the vines they grew from had browned and withered. The farmers could now slow their pace. Their shelves and cellars were full. They had beaten winter.

Just as the fields were made bare by harvesting, the town of Quebec was equally quiet and bare by the departure of its most colorful occupants, the fur-traders. Their ruckus and carousing had filled the streets with life, though not the kind of life many of the decent folks of Quebec appreciated. Even so, none of the storeowners discriminated against their money. The fur-traders spent it freely as long as they had it. They didn't have much use for it when they went inland, which was where they were all headed.

The remaining people of Quebec busied themselves with winterizing their homes and pantries. Captain Rodrigo Liam and Frod Dominos did what they could to obtain provisions that would last the long winter. It took a great amount of planning to assure a winter without hunger or hardship, and often hardship would overrule even the best-laid plans. Some winters were harder than others to survive, depending upon the severity of the weather and the amount of meat-on-the-hoof for hunting. The shops in town had many empty shelves not long after the goods had arrived on the ships. Those who had not planned ahead would fare the worst. Captain Rodrigo Liam had to pay well over the normal price for the few items he'd overlooked, when he could convince the owners to part with them. He would have to be more careful with his planning. The amount of money he had brought from France would not last another year. He was glad he did not have to food and shelter for any livestock, though a mule would have made his life easier on many occasions.

The late October day started out with the sky threatening the first snow of the season, but by afternoon the old man of winter receded and the golden sun of autumn returned to warm the cheek of bundled humanity. Frod Dominos knew these days would be few in number and that even this may be nature's last kind touch until spring. That thought alone motivated her to head down the path to the LaPointes' homestead. She didn't know what she would do once the harsh winter set in. She never had much tolerance for the cold. Certainly, she would not dare venture to the LaPointes' in the winter months, and she would desperately miss Madame LaPointe's company.

Frod Dominos took with her a small woven sewing basket filled with thread and a cirde of fabric that she had been embroidering. "Just a little something fancy," she would say when asked what it was. It wasn't anything purposeful that she was making, but it was something to keep her hands busy when she visited Madame LaPointe. The elder, in contrast, kept her hands busy with a multitude of mending, breaking from the monotony every so often to skillfully add stitches to her own version of "a little something fancy." Frod Dominos supposed Madame LaPointe had been working on the lacy shawl for months, her other chores always being a priority.

Frod Dominos also carried the musket. It had become part of her wardrobe, like a handbag, but bulkier and more necessary. She had not had the opportunity to fire it, except for the unfortunate incident with Eliot, and she hoped she never would. Yet she was confident she could adequately lift, aim, and fire if the need ever arose.

The Indian attacks had lessened considerably since most of the tribes had gone inland to go about their seasonal work of trapping for furs and antagonizing each other. French fur-trappers were with them, living as the Indians had for centuries, taking Indian wives and having children. Eliot remained behind the great exodus while waiting for a companion to recover from an illness. They both would then join the band of Huron with whom they had been living.

Frod Dominos enjoyed Eliot's talks of adventure. She listened intently as he dramatically told of vicious animal attacks or creeping so close to an Iroquois camp that he could have reached out and taken one of their spears. Eliot used his whole body when he told a story his eyes widened, and his arm flew wildly with punctuated stabs in the air. He didn't stay seated, either, jumping at an intruder or crouching low as he described how he stared down a bear. Eliot amused Frod Dominos with his animated facial expressions and his voice that varied in tone and pitch with each word he spoke.

Madame LaPointe sometimes cringed and told him to stop. She couldn't bear to hear how close to disaster her son had come. In Eliot's absence Madame LaPointe and Frod Dominos laughed over his probable exaggeration of events. It seemed to ease Madame's mind.