Though Timothy had already finished all his work in the stables, he kept hanging around and looking for something else to do. Anything at all. He really didn't want to leave - the smell of horses and the hay had completely intoxicated him.
He was certainly taken with this farm. Even its main house, so big and cumbersome, seemed quite comfortable to him now.
You would really like it here, JK. Just look at all these amazing horses. These people don't even realize what unbelievable horses they have here.
Forcing himself, Timothy picked up the bucket and slowly headed for the door. The thoughtful gaze of the horses followed him along.
A taxi pulled up to the front porch. A girl jumped out and let out a happy shriek.
'Grandma!!! Here I am!!!'
Another granddaughter. Timothy smiled. Exactly how many do the owners have? Looks like this one is another 'troublemaker' rather than 'girl', huh, JK?
'My little Princess! You're here,' Grandma exclaimed as she squeezed her treasure in the tightest of hugs.
'Grandma! Stop it! I'm not little anymore!'
'Oh no, you're not! You're all grown up! So tall!'
Wow, JK, nobody talks in this house, they all yell, that's for sure.
'Tim!' called Grandma.
He turned abruptly and stared at her questioningly.
'You're Tim, right? Tim Miller?'
He nodded.
'Very well, then,' Grandma seemed glad that her memory hadn't failed her. 'I couldn't find Sean. Would you mind taking the luggage into the house?'
Timothy put the bucket down.
'Well, Grandma, is anyone else here yet?!' exclaimed the 'troublemaker' Princess, although as soon as she saw Timothy, she stumbled over her words, stopping and turning beet red.
'Almost everyone is here. Melissa, Melinda, Melanie and all three of the boys. Emily and Eric are over at the McGregors'. They're expecting your friend Vince any day now. As soon as he heard you were coming, he changed all his plans and decided to come here instead.'
'Grandma!' hissed the poor embarrassed Princess and, trying her best to avoid looking at Timothy, rushed into the house. She tripped over the bucket on her way. The bucket rolled loudly across the yard.
Timothy finished bringing the last of the things in.
'He's our new employee.'
'Why, Grandma?! Isn't Sean enough? I'm here to help out too.'
'Well, Sean's getting old and can't carry the same load on his shoulders. Besides, he's absolutely delighted with this Tim!'
'Where should I put this?' Timothy asked.
'You can leave it right here. Come on, I'll introduce you. This is my granddaughter Sylvia.'
Timothy greeted her with a nod and went to search the yard for the bucket.
'Great guy, just a little on the quiet side. The horses adore him.'
'What an idiot I am! What's he going to think now! An idiot and a klutz! Why do we need him here anyway? Nobody ever asked my opinion,' thought Sylvia and felt so embarrassed, 'he definitely noticed my awkwardness. He probably imagined all sorts of things. And I didn't even get a good look at him. Why, why was I always so easily thrown off! He's just a guy! Why can I not be more like Melissa! All calm, smiling and self-dignified!'
Sylvia didn't stay upset for very long. Her Grandfather was already rushing in to greet her. He was limping and caring a walking stick. His eyes were shining with joy. He hugged her tight with one arm. She pressed her face into the stubble on his face.
'Sylvia! You're finally here. You need to stop getting so tall; you'll be taller than all your dates soon!'
Sylvia never got upset over Grandpa's teasing.
Did you see her, JK? A real baby horse. Gets tangled up in her own two feet. She is a 'troublemaker' for sure.
At first, everything was exactly as it seemed. In the very early hours a loud 'Good Morning!' woke the entire house. Sylvia greeted everyone, but not Timothy. He heard her loud foot stomping, her stumbling into every wall and her loud indignations over every bump.
'The clumsy Princess is up.' Sean smiled gently.
Next, she went to fly kites in the company of the 'troublemakers' - the three younger grandsons - who were finally staying out of trouble if only for the time being.
I wonder if she brought those kites with her or had them stashed away here ahead of time, JK.
The 'troublemakers'' pranks got even trickier now that they had a worthy leader. Still, the others in the house could breathe a sigh of relief, especially Grandma. At least, now the boys had someone to look after them.
***
Melissa, the oldest and the prettiest of the granddaughters, decided to throw a party. Guests, music, lots of noise. Timothy preferred to hang out quietly at the stables, where he always seemed to find something to do. Suddenly all of the 'girls', including Sylvia, burst in.
'Quiet!' laughed Melissa. 'Saddle up and take off! Next time, they'll pay more attention to us! They call themselves gentlemen...'
All the 'girls' burst into laughter.
'Who let you take the horses out at night?' Timothy asked stepping out of the dark.
The 'girls' jumped up frightened.
'Nobody!' Melanie was the first one to come to her senses as she added. 'We're allowed.'
'As long as we are accompanied by an adult,' Sylvia explained under her cousins mocking glances.
'Who's the adult here?' Timothy was smiling.
They invite a bunch of guests and then ditch them - there's female logic at work, JK. Well, it wouldn't hurt the horses to go for a ride.
'Alright, let's go then.'
Timothy led them down a wide riverside path free of any hurdles. A starry night. Full bright moon. And the quiet splashing of the river. The 'girls' giggled a little and got quiet. It was beautiful. Just like a fairy tale.
Sylvia was glancing sideways at Timothy and thinking, 'Grandma had mentioned that he was twenty-one. Too mature, like Melissa. Except he looks younger. Or maybe it just seemed that way.' She wondered why he was going along with their prank. She thought, 'Was it because of one of the cousins? Anyway, why am I always thinking about boys? About Tim, about Oscar and Vince. When is Vince finally going to get here?' The thing was, she had actually changed all her plans once she found out that he was going to spend the summer here. Sylvia wondered what if Vince changed his mind.
***
How awesome is it to be grown-up and independent? To be twenty-one, JK. Well, I've worked hard, now it's time to play hard, right? Timothy nodded to himself and opened the door in great anticipation of music, beer, and friendly girls. Everything was just as he had expected. The music was loud. Beer of any choice. Possibly, something even stronger. But he didn't manage to get around to the girls.
'Tim? Tim Miller?'
He didn't recognize Sylvia right away. He was staring down at the girl, trying to understand who was tugging at his sleeve and making him spill his beer.
'I'm lost!'
'What?!' He was now yelling over the music. He put down his glass and dragged her outside into the hall.
'Where is the bathroom?'
One look at her pale face and puffed out cheeks was enough for him to grab the nearest garbage can and stick it right under her nose. Sylvia was so embarrassed. It was awful to be standing here with her face stuck into a garbage can. On the other hand, she thought, how great it was that she found someone she knew!
Timothy listened to her long and confusing explanation about tagging along with Melissa, who had asked Ted to look after her while Melissa herself snuck out with Eric, and how she ended up losing Ted, in the crowd. She'd been looking for him for the past hour or for Melissa. And she didn't know what to do - call Grandma at home to pick her up? It was so late and, well, she didn't really want to... But Sylvia never said a word to him about how petrified she was being lost in the rowdy crowd.
'Why did you drink alcohol?' Timothy grumbled.
Sylvia got quiet and hung her head low. How could she explain this to him? How could she explain to him that she had to grab the opportunity to get a taste of the grown up life? It was too much to resist. Melissa would have made a laughingstock out of her.
'You think you can manage riding without falling off?' He pointed to his old motorcycle parked on the street and scowled at her. 'Leave the garbage can here.'
Timothy had to stop his Harley because Sylvia was banging on his back with her fist. She quickly jumped off but didn't manage to get away and threw up right onto the road. And all over his jacket. But at this point she didn't care. Let him hate her forever. Tomorrow she'd pack up and leave, not even having seen Vince.
Timothy took off his jacket and tried to wipe it off on the grass. He ended up going over to dip it in the river.
'Come here, wash up. Just don't fall into the water.'
He was laughing at her, wasn't he? The water smelled of algae. Her mouth had a nasty aftertaste. 'What a fool I am,' Sylvia thought.
Timothy handed her his flask. She grabbed it, noticed that he was looking and quickly rinsed her mouth. Heaven forbid he'd think she was too good for his water, she was just a slow thinker, that's all.
On the way home Sylvia was daydreaming about how things could be quite different. This could be her date. Tim could be her boyfriend and they were, naturally, being chased.
Timothy walked Sylvia to the house. She hesitated at the door.
'You know, I don't want to wake my Grandma. So she won't see me, um... like this. My window is open. Could you give me a lift? The rest I can climb myself.'
He looked up.
'The banging will be pretty loud if you fall down. I was the one to cover the porch roof with that sheet metal.'
And just like that, he disappeared. Sylvia was confused. Just as quickly he reappeared dragging a ladder.
'Thanks, thanks so much.'
She climbed into the window.
Well, that was fun, JK, wasn't it? Remember the first time you and I got wasted? What kind of crap did we drink that time? We were idiots too. Timothy leaned the ladder against the barn wall.
'Melissa!' Sylvia remembered drifting into sleep. 'I forgot all about her and she's going to be looking for me.'
***
'Good morning!' A loud greeting filled the stables.
Timothy turned around, nodded, sniffed the air around and questioningly raised his eyebrows at Sylvia.
'Thank you so much. I am so sorry about what happened yesterday. I won't do it again.' She rambled on and on with her prepared speech.
'What did you wash your face with?' He interrupted.
'Oh, that.' Sylvia sighed in embarrassment. 'Melissa is getting back at me. For having to look for me and not finding me and all that. She did my make-up yesterday. So I would look older. And now she won't give me anything to take it off with. Water doesn't work. I even had to try some gasoline.' She was whispering in despair.
'I see!' Timothy went back to work trying hard not to laugh out loud.
Sylvia waited around a little while and left.
'Tim! Tim! Come see me for a second!' Grandma was calling from the porch.
Timothy walked up the steps to the porch, stopped to think for a moment, took off his rubber boots and approached his boss.
'Grandma, may I go to my room?' Sylvia's head dropped.
'You sit down.'
Sylvia put her head down into her palms, shook it so the hair would fall down to cover her face. She'd gone into hiding.
'I have to thank you, Tim. I hear you helped this troublemaker out of quite an adventure. Next time, though I hope there won't be a next time, you hear me, Sylvia? Don't be afraid to call me. I won't punish you too harshly.' Grandma's voice filled the entire yard.
Timothy managed to notice that there wasn't any more make-up on Sylvia's face, Melissa must have taken pity on her at last and given her something to take it off with. Or, Sylvia must have found some other chemical to remove it.
'My granddaughter ruined your night off. And by the way, Sean is very happy with your work, he still can't believe that you have no experience working with horses! Why don't you take the day off and go enjoy yourself?'
Timothy shrugged and looked at Grandma, surprised.
'Why don't you go check out Toronto? You're not from here, right? There're lots of things to do for fun there. Or, you could just go into town. Whatever you'd like to do.'
'Can I take your granddaughter along to show me around the city?' Timothy himself was surprised with his question.
'Melissa?' Grandma also sounded surprised.
'No, Sylvia.'
Sylvia squealed in delight and jumped up:
'Oh, please, Grandma!'
'Alright then. But be sure to come back no later than eleven.' Grandma stopped to think. 'Tim, why don't you take the pickup? The one you and Sean use for everything. You know where the keys are.'
Timothy nodded and headed for the stables.
***
Sylvia was thinking, 'It must be great to be so grown-up. He's got holes in his socks and he couldn't care less. I would have died of embarrassment in his place. Oh, but he's asked me on a date! Well, almost a date. What the weather's going to be like, would I be able to wear the pink shirt? No, the blue one is better. Where he's going to take me? If I asked him right now where he was thinking of going, would I seem too desperate? But if I ask him later, how would I know what to wear?'