A winter story, part nine

by: Olivia Dale

"Your parents don't seem to care for my old fashioned ways, I suppose."

Felix was awakened, again, by Great Aunt Eliza's rattling. Only this time, she wasn't speaking to him,
she was chatting quietly to baby Daniel, who sat in his high chair, sniffing.
"There, there, my boy. Great Auntie Eliza is going to fix you a nice cup of chocolate tea. Not like that nasty brew of your mothers'." she was explaining to the child. "We need to get that fever of yours down."
Felix, now wide awake, got up from the cot and went over to his aunt.
"Did I hear you say chocolate?" he asked, "Or was I dreaming?" he mumbled sleepily, unsure whether he was awake or dreaming.
"Oh, no not chocolate, Felix. Water Raven's Tea it's called, but it tastes like chocolate." Eliza explained.
Felix suddenly became thirsty. "Can I try a sip, Aunt Eliza?" he asked.
"Why certainly." she replied, handing him the cup of tea. Felix took the cup from her feeble hand and sipped."Mmm....this does taste like chocolate." he said, handing the cup back.
"Indeed it does. It will help lessen muscle pains and fevers, and it tastes good, too, which will make small children drink it down eagerly." she told her nephew. She turned to the child in the high chair. "Now, now, Daniel. We need to get this inside of you. There, that's a good boy, yes, drink it all down." she told the toddler, who seemed to enjoy the tea considerably.
"You should get Father to drink some of that stuff." Felix said as he heard his father cough in his sleep.
Eliza sighed, "I doubt that your Father will, your parents don't seem to care for my old fashioned ways, I suppose." she shivered, and rubbed her hands together. "Dear me, I can't seem to get warm, and my bedroom is even colder, if you ask me. This rickety old farmhouse lets in all the drafts as if all the doors and windows were open on a hot summer day."
Felix swallowed, suddenly becoming uneasy as his conscience pricked him.
"Umm, Great Aunt Eliza, I....I have something that I need to tell you..." he stammered. "You see umm...I turned off the heat going towards your room. I'm....I'm sorry.....Great Aunt Eliza." he finished, reddening with shame.
Eliza stifled a giggle, and looked at him earnestly. "You are a very clever boy, Felix. I suppose I have been rather difficult lately, and I cannot blame you for what you did."
Felix looked up at his aunt, surprised. "Really?"
Eliza smiled. "I'm sure I would have done the exact same thing when I was young."
"You would?" he asked, not quite imagining his old aunt playing senseless pranks.
"Oh indeed I would have. I used to be quite rambunctious when I was about your age. I was quite stubborn and determined at the same time. I always went for my dreams and ambitions," she looked at Felix with a twinkle in her eye, "I can see alot of me in you."
"You do?" Felix asked, "I know you really weren't like me, Great Aunt Eliza. I mean, whenever I get a dumb idea into my head I just go ahead and do it, without thinking, and then later after I did it I just realize how stupid that really was. Just like my dreams for later in life."
He frowned, remembering the tragic event last fall with his horse, Blakkie, when Felix had made an unwise decision that had cost his horse its life. Felix swallowed and blinked back tears.
Eliza saw his emotion.
"Oh Felix," she comforted, "It's never wrong to go after your dreams, as long as you know it's the right thing to do and that you have your parents wisdom and advice to go with it."
Felix sniffed, and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
"You really think so?" he asked, turning his attention towards his aunt.
"Do you think that I have reached this old age without any unfortunate happenings? Felix, my boy, following your dreams isn't all roses and butterflies. Yes, there will be bumps and bruises along the way, but, it's the reward and satisfaction of completing your journey that you go for." Eliza said, softening her voice.
Felix smiled, glad to have had this talk with his old aunt. "Thanks, Great Aunt Eliza."
He noticed his baby brother fast asleep in his high chair, when all of a sudden he got an idea. "Great Aunt Eliza, you can sleep down here. It's much warmer here in the kitchen and I can take my own room back. I'll bring your blankets and things down here." he said, picking his baby brother up.
Eliza smiled. "Thank you, Felix, that is a good idea."
And with that, Felix went upstairs carrying his sleeping baby brother, glad at heart.

A winter story, part eight

by: Olivia Dale

"C'mon, Sara, it's over here!" Felix King shouted over his shoulder in his Uncle Jasper Dale's workshop.
Since Jasper had been working in Carmody a lot lately, Sara and Felix were assigned to keep the workshop tidy from any pesky rodents that might just pop by for an unwelcome visit to nibble on whatever invention Jasper had been working on. And since Aunt Olivia seemed to be keeping her proper distance from the mice, she had gladly given the unpleasant task of throwing out dead mice to the children.
Sara came rushing over to Felix. "You found another one?" she asked, "Mice are always a problem in the winter, aren't they?" she continued. But Felix wasn't holding a dead mouse by the tail, he was observing one of Jasper's inventions. An odd, boxlike contraption was hooked up with cables to a bicycle, and then other wires and strings connected to a large plank with light bulbs screwed onto it.
Sara and Felix eyed it all over.
"What is this supposed to be?" Felix asked.
"I don't know." Sara replied, "But the light bulbs we brought in last week is all screwed onto a plank. What do you suppose that's for?" she asked, pointing to the bicycle.
"I don't know." Felix replied.
Sara cautiously seated herself onto the bicycle, and started peddling. Nothing happened.
"Peddle harder." Felix suggested. Sara began peddling faster, but still nothing of interest happened.
Out of the corner of his eye, Felix spotted a loose wire.
"Aha," he stated, picking up the strand of wire. "I think this is our problem."
He wiggled the wire onto the box when all of a sudden, the light bulbs turned on, a static tick sounded, and threw Felix across the room. Sara stopped peddling and rushed over to her cousins' side, surprised indeed.
                                                                        ~*~

"It was like an invisible hand grabbed me and threw me across the room." Felix mused, eyes wide with excitement of his small adventure.
"Felix, really," Aunt Hetty chided, wiping off the blood and dirt from Felix's electrocuted finger."You know you mustn't play around in Uncle Jasper's workshop."
Janet came scuttling over to her sons' side with a dish of butter and quickly dressed down his finger in it. "I suppose you deserve this for prying into someone else's belongings." she scolded him as she looked at his swollen finger.
"Aunt Hetty," Sara piped up in Felix's defense, "Uncle Jasper told us that we could work around in his workshop."
Eliza saw the butter dripping from Felix's finger. "Ice, Janet, not butter." she said as she handed Hetty the ice tray.
"Eliza's right." Hetty said as she wiped the butter off of his finger and cooled it down with a chip of ice. Then she wrapped it up with a strip of cloth.
"What were you doing in there, anyway, besides cleaning up dead rats? You could have been badly hurt, as if this,"Alec said, pointing to Felix's sore finger, "isn't bad enough?"
Felix shrugged. "Just looking around, I suppose." he told his father.
Alec didn't smile but his lip twitched and his eyes held a sparkle of amusement.
"Your curiosity got the better of you two didn't it?" he asked, looking at his son and niece.
They looked at him sheepishly.
"Play it safe the next time." he finished, putting on his coat and hat. "I've got to tend to the lambs. Felicity, Hetty, Cecily, Sara and Felix," he said to them, "I'll need you all in the barn after your'e finished in here."
Hetty quickly finished wrapping Felix's finger. "I'm going out with you right now." she said, grabbing her coat and mitts. Alec, along with Hetty, closed the door behind them.
Janet cleared the table and rushed the rest of the children out to the barn, leaving just her and Eliza in the kitchen.
Eliza was complaining, as usual, with her infamous tjsk-tjsk.
"You really ought to know better, Janet, speaking of medicinal things, that butter does not help a burn at all, infact it just makes it even worse." she said, picking up baby Daniel. She felt him all over."And this baby here, is burning up with fever!"
Janet paled and quickly took the happily chortling child from Eliza's arms.
"I have always warned you about the sicknesses that can arise in a drafty old house, yet you never listen to me, do you? I can blame you for this." she said with a rise in her tone of voice.
Janet breathed a sigh of relief, the baby didn't have a fever at all. She hugged him close. But her cheeks flamed with furry at her old aunt. How dare she blame her for all the mishappenings!
"There is nothing wrong with this baby. He's just overheated, is all. And I thank you to keep your opinions to yourself." she finished with stomping out of the kitchen.

a winter story, part seven

by: Olivia Dale

"Felix King, what are you doing?" Sara asked.
"Getting my room back." Felix replied, turning the handle on the stove pipe.

Hetty was sipping her tea, gently letting the hot liquid slide down her throat and into her stomach,
allowing it to warm her from the inside out.
Janet came down the stairs, holding a sniffling toddler, Daniel.
"It's been so cold lately that Daniel has gotten a cold." she told her sister-in-law, setting the child down into his highchair.
"Alec doesn't seem to be much better." Hetty replied, refilling her tea cup with the steaming liquid. "Colds seem to be going around these days, not much you can do to prevent them, except for staying warm and indoors."
"Not that Alec has, or will." Janet said, sitting herself into a chair next to Hetty, with tea in hand. "I only hope it won't spread from a minor cold to influenza, especially with the lambing keeping him busy and Great Aunt Eliza in the house."
From upstairs, a ringing bell sounded, catching all of their attention, except for Janet's, who sagged inwardly.
"What on earth is that?" Hetty questioned with a glance up the stairs.
"I'm coming!" Janet said in a high voice, getting up from her relaxed position. "Great Aunt Eliza is turning the household into a tizzy with that bell." Janet hissed for Hetty's ears only.
The bell sounded again.
"I'm coming!" Janet's high voice sailed up the stairs, this time with a hint of exasperation in it.
She disappeared upstairs, leaving Hetty and Daniel alone in the kitchen.
"Look, Daniel," Hetty cooed to her nephew, "a lambs' bottle." she said, pointing to the the bottle on the stove's top. Daniel looked at it eagerly with large, blue eyes.
A cold rush of air blew through the kitchen. Hetty shivered.
"Goodness, children," she told Sara and Felix as they quickly scampered for the warmth of the kitchen, "mind you close that door. Do you want Daniel to catch a chill?" she huffed.
Felix paid her no mind and reached for the cookie tin, while Sara made herself a steaming hot cup of cocoa. Hetty sneezed, which was quickly followed by a "bless you" from both children.
"I'm going back out to help with the lambing. Keep an eye on Daniel for me until your mother, Felix, comes back down. She's tending to Great Aunt Eliza." Hetty explained as she wrapped herself in a thick layer of shawls, sweaters and a scraggly barn coat. She picked up the lambs' bottle and headed out. "See you later in the barn."
"Yes, Aunt Hetty." Both children replied as she closed the door behind her.
Felix tore into his cookie. "Want one?" he offered his cousin the box full of delicacies.
"Sure. Here's a cup of hot chocolate. Be careful, don't spill it." Sara cautioned him.
Felix took the cup, and gingerly took a sip. "Mmm, that's good, Sara, you're a good cook." he told her.
Sara smiled. "Thanks, but I didn't make it. It was already on the stove. Aunt Janet probably made it."
Just then, Janet came down the stairs, eagerly awaiting her cup of tea, which had probably turned cold by now. As she almost reached for her tea, the irritating bell sounded again.
Daniel howled. Janet groaned, picked up the baby and chugged back up the stairs.
"I'm coming!" her high voice rang once again.
Sara and Felix both looked at Janet's retrieving back. "Poor Aunt Janet." Sara commented.
Felix said nothing, but pulled up a chair next to the stove. Next thing he hopped right on it, and, trying to balance his bulky weight on the wobbly chair, he reached for the handle on the stove pipe.
"Felix King, what are you doing?" Sara asked, wide eyed.
"Getting my room back." Felix replied, turning the handle on the stove pipe.
Sara stood aghast. "Felix, she'll freeze!" she said, imagining a blue Great Aunt Eliza the next morning.
Felix brushed aside her comment, jumped off the chair and quickly put it back in place before his mother came back down the stairs. He tugged Sara towards the door.
"C'mon, we've got chores to do." he said, making his escape to the barn.
He chuckled gleefully. That'll show the old aunt a thing or two. he thought, dreaming of his own warm bed that would soon be his again.

a winter story, part six

by: Olivia Dale

"Maybe five or six of them will survive." -Alec

Felix and Sara hurried back to the King barn, where they quickly entered into the lambing pens.
"Uncle Alec, do you need any help?" Sara called over the bleating of the sheep. Hetty King came scuttling up, lamb in arms and bottle in hand.
"Yes, indeed we do, Sara. Here," she said, plopping the lamb, bottle and all into her niece's arms, "you feed this one, and Felix, help me with the others." she said, shoving Felix towards the rest of the bottles.
He picked up one of the bottles. "It's frozen...." he lamented to his aunt.
Hetty jerked it from his hand. "Goodness, Alec," she shaked the bottle, "it's frozen. Frozen!"
"I see, Hetty." Alec told her, pushing the bottle away that she was shaking inches from his face.
"We need to do something to keep the animals warm, and ourselves for that matter." he stated, looking around at the shivering, new born lambs, and rubbing his arms together for warmth.
"Warmth." Sara thought out loud. "Well, warmth is heat."
"Heat's energy." Felicity put in while struggling to dress a lamb in a sheep's blanket. "Stop squirming." she commanded the lamb.
"Like when you jump up and down." Felix joined the going-no-wheres conversation.
Alec sighed, then coughed, as his cold was getting worse. "Children, I know your just trying to help, but really, this is not getting us anywhere. All we can do is try to huddle the lambs closer together and maybe five or six will survive." he instructed, urging the sheep closer to the corner.
Five or six out of nineteen lambs, Hetty thought, gulping, This is not going to be good.

a winter story, part five

by: Olivia Dale

Felix knocked on the door, and Sara peered through the window.

"Mr. Pettibone assigned us a science project to do, including an experiment." Sara was telling her cousin Felix as they were walking towards Jasper Dale's workshop. "And we had to do it about either light, electricity, or heat."
Felix held on to a very big, but light box, and trudged after Sara.
"Yeah," he grumbled, "and all of those topics aren't easy, either."
"Well, we can pair up in teams. You an' me can be partners in science." Sara smiled to her cousin. "The only problem we have now is figuring out which topic."
Felix placed the huge box down knocked on the workshop's door. Sara peered through the window.
"Uncle Jasper?" she called. No answer. Felix knocked again on the door, much louder this time.
"Sara, Felix." a voice from behind them called. It was Olivia.
"Jasper's not here, he left for Carmody this morning." Olivia explained to the children. "Did you want to talk to him about something?" she asked them.
"Oh, no, Aunt Olivia," Felix piped up, "We just had to deliver this big package to him. We were just about to put it in his workshop."
"Oh, all right then." Olivia replied and headed back to the warmth of her house.
Sara and Felix made their way into the workshop with the large box.
"It's so light!" Sara chattered. "I wonder what's in it."
They put the box down and somehow, the flap fell open. Felix moved the flap off of the box and both children peered inside. Felix shrugged. "It's only straw." He said, stating the obvious.
But Sara was curious, she lifted the straw off of the contents and caught her breath.
Felix's eyes widened. "Light bulbs!" he shrieked. "In Avonlea!?"
"Just like the ones in Montreal!" Sara stared at Felix, her blue eyes sparkling.
Felix stared back, his smile widening. "You know what I'm thinking??" He asked his cousin.
"This will be the best science project of the year." she said, awed by the sheer excitement of it all.

a winter story, part four

"Your parents will hear of this, Felix." 

by: Olivia Dale

Felix was awakened early in the morning by Great Aunt Eliza rousing him. He looked around. It was still dark. What is Great Aunt Eliza doing up and around at this time of the night? He thought.
"The pump's frozen stiff, Felix, and I need water for my tea." Eliza hissed in his ear, trying to sound quiet, not wanting to wake up the rest of the family.
Felix groaned. "What time is it?" He muttered sleepily.
"It's past midnight, and I need hot tea to warm me up." Eliza said, shivering. A snore indicated that Felix had drifted back to sleep. She yanked the covers off of Felix, which jerked him awake again.
"Come on, boy, don't be so lazy." she pulled him up from the cot. Of course, Eliza now sleeping in the boys' room, Felix had been moved down to the kitchen, and toddler Daniel had moved into the girls' room. Lucky them, Felix thought as he trudged his way over to the pump, Eliza at his heels.
He easily pumped the handle up and down twice, filling the tea kettle with icy cold water. He set it on the stove for his aunt and crawled back into his creaky bed, the cot.
Eliza peered into the stove. "Felix, the fire has gone out." she told him.
"Well, then i'll have to go outside and get the wood." Felix muttered wearily from his sleepy position on the cot.
Eliza frowned, clearly wishing for her warm tea. "But two or three pieces of wood would be enough for a bit of tea." she said, wringing her cold hands together.
Felix sighed, exasperated. "Goodness, Great Aunt Eliza, I can't get any sleep around here. If you want the wood, well then you'll just have to go out and get it yourself." He said before he could catch his tongue. Eliza's eyes popped open wide. "Your parents will hear of this, Felix. " she said turning towards the stairs.
Felix jumped from the cot and quickly faced his petite aunt. "No, wait!" he said, "I'll get the wood."
Eliza nodded her approval. He quickly went outside, in the cold and the dark he got a few blocks of wood. He came in, shivering, and filled the stove. Then he made his way, again, to the cot.
"Thank-you, Felix." Eliza said cheerfully as she went upstairs to her room, with her hot, steaming tea in hand.
Felix looked up at her with the covers over his ears. "No problem." he yawned, and soon enough he drifted back into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

a winter story, part three

by: Olivia Dale


"Now, child," Great Aunt Eliza babbled to Cecily, "which room in this house is the warmest?"
"The kitchen." Cecily answered, innocently.
Eliza sighed. "I mean the warmest bedroom." She explained to the child.
"The warmest room really has to be the boys' room, Great Aunt Eliza." Felicity answered before Cecily had the chance to speak. I wish to keep my room, if it means all the same to you, little sister, Felicity thought selfishly.
"Oh, perfect, then perhaps, Alec, you can move my things into the boys' room." Eliza said cheerfully. "Come on, then, Felix, you know I can't possibly manage those dreadful stairs on my own." She said, motioning to her young nephew.
Felix took her feeble hand and carefully, but firmly, helped his old aunt up the stairs. Alec looked at Janet with an exasperated sigh. "So how long is she supposed to be here?"
"Oh, Alec," Janet chided, "now really, Great Aunt Eliza is just here for a visit, a long visit, I'm sure, but it's just a visit. She's not moving in, if that's what's bothering you."
Alec looked at her bleakly.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, "You look kind of pale." Janet reached out her hand and felt his forehead. "You're feverish. I'll make you a nice hot cup of tea, that'll do you good."
Alec coughed. "No, no I'm fine, Janet. Besides, I need to go and check on the lambs." He coughed again. Janet looked at him, a line of worry etched across her face.
"Well, bundle up well then, it's way below 15 with a wind chill, too." she said, wrapping her shawl around her. Eliza was right about the house being cold, Felix probably forgot to fill the wood stove. She peered into the stove, and only saw a few bright red embers glowing.
"Felix King, I'll have your hide for letting the fire go out." she muttered, poking into the embers with a poker. She filled the stove with wood herself.
Felix came running down the stairs, nearly bumping into his mother as he passed her on his way to the hallway.
"Oh, Felix, really, watch where you're going." Janet scolded, still poking into the embers, trying to get a flame. Felix quickly put on his barn coat, hat, and mittens.
"Sorry, Mother, I'm in a hurry. Father needs me right away to help with the lambing. Felicity, hurry up!" he shouted, unaware that his baby brother was taking a nap.
"Shhh!" Janet placed her finger over her lips, "Don't you dare wake your brother, I finally got him asleep." Felicity quietly came walking down the stairs, also making her way towards the hallway.
"And you woke up Great Aunt Eliza, too, with your hollering." she said to Felix. "I was coming with or without your bellowing." She finished, slipping into her jacket.
Finally, Janet managed to get a small, flickering fire going in the stove, and she peered into the wood box, it was empty.
"Felix," Janet instructed, "When you come in from the barn I want you to fill the wood box to the brim, goodness, with Great Aunt Eliza here she'll make me fill the stove until every tree is cleared from the Island." Felix made his way to the door with Felicity behind his heels. "Yes, Mother." he answered, before rushing out into the cold. Felicity trailed behind him, running rather unladylike towards the barn.