Soldier at the Door(67)
“Yes, and now we can allow them to launch snowballs,” she grinned impishly, “and if a snowball happens to hit another boy, they can blame the invention and not the friend. I can’t understand why these parents won’t let their boys act like boys!”
Perrin’s eyes glowed. “I absolutely love the way your mind works, my darling wife.”
“That’s because our minds are so much alike,” she winked at him.
“After dinner I’ll work on that sled and harness for Barker. Then he’ll be able to pull the children up to the fort when you bring your Ten for their tour week after next.”
Mahrree glanced at the great black beast lying against the back door, a puddle of drool forming on the ground under his mouth. Barker was as tired out as the children, having been one of the many items the boys attempted to pick up for two hours that afternoon. Otherwise, he would have been crowding Perrin’s lap as well.
“Sure he couldn’t pull all of us?”
Perrin shrugged. “He could probably pull you.”
“Right into the river,” Mahrree shivered. “Never mind.”
“Oh, you can control him,” Perrin said. “He’s slow enough.”
“In his mind, yes. With his responses to commands, most definitely. But when he sees water? Nope.”
Perrin chuckled. “Any messages today?” he tried to say casually.
“Nothing,” she sighed, dropping several pieces of beef into the pot. “I suppose the Department of Instruction is swamped by letters. Can’t read all of them in a timely manner.”
“Yes,” he said, trying to keep the relief out of his voice, “most likely.”
“Not as if I’d have time to do my study right now anyway,” she sighed again. “But I really was looking forward to trying.”
“You’re already doing it, in a way,” he pointed out. “Just keep notes of what you’re doing with the boys, especially when you tutor them in their lessons, then record the results. That they scored higher than the rest of their class already suggests that teaching at home has potential.”
She shrugged. “But that’s only a small part of what I was hoping to test. To do this right, I really need to—”
“Not add yet another project,” he said firmly. “Mahrree, it’s enough. And don’t worry about schooling just yet. We have plenty of time still. Jaytsy’s not even two yet.”
“I know, I know,” she admitted as she stirred the pot. “But recently I realized how quickly time rushes by. Do you realize that in a few weeks it will have been a whole year since you had Gizzada go shopping for a white coat?”
The long scar on his back itched to remind him. “I see what this is all about,” he said gravely.
She cocked her head in questioning.
“You want a white rabbit fur coat, don’t you? A little jealous of how lovely I must have looked?”
She snorted and laughed. “No, not at all! When I’m feeling down, I imagine you in it quite vividly and I’m cheered up for hours. No, it really is that time’s going by so quickly. Peto pulled himself up today! Well, not for long. But he’s only seven moons old.”
“I wondered where the new bruise on his forehead came from,” Perrin said, kissing it lightly.
“Before we know it, Jaytsy will be six years old and trudging off to school. I feel like I’m running out of time.”
“I sometimes feel it, too,” he confessed. “But more like a sense of change in the air. As if things will be shifting soon, somehow.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” she cringed. “It’s not the coming of Planting Season already, so what we’re feeling is probably a warning from the Creator.”
“You know, most people would be grateful to receive warnings from the Creator.”
Mahrree shrugged guiltily. “I am. It’s just that I worry what it portends.”
He nodded slowly. “Me, too. We have to make sure that—”
A crash in the gathering room made both of them wince.
“I can fix it!” Sareen called in a frantic giggle.
“I didn’t realize we had anything left to break,” Perrin said, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Give it a few more weeks,” Mahrree said. “We may be surprised what can still break.”
After five more weeks, anything else that could possibly break did. Which made their lives much easier, now that they didn’t have to worry about preserving anything intact. Even so, each time Perrin came home he’d warily open the door, bracing himself for just about anything.
And on the days that Zenos was in charge, that ‘anything’ could be truly nerve-wracking when the cold snows and icy rains of Raining Season forced them all inside. But Teeria always showed up early those days to sit on the stairs and watch with adoring eyes the large, handsome young private who easily held the enthralled attention of all ten boys.