Chapter 1.5

Mrs. Engle was mortified. She left her breakfast untouched and sat at the table biting her fingernails instead; fixated by the idea that her reputation was on the brink of collapse.

“You cannot live on fingernails alone, dear, and they serve a greater purpose on your hands than on the floor. Make a husband happy and eat some toast. ” Mr. Engle pleaded as he quit the table. How could she help feeling agitated when the banquet which marked her debut performance as hostess Mrs. Bethany Engle had resulted in such horror and humiliation? Mrs. Engle was sure that the whole community must by now be blaming her for the accident and strongly doubting her abilities to keep the staff in order. She could see them all rolling their eyes and shaking their heads at such novel inexperience. Or perhaps people would be wondering whether the ruby-ridden torte was a ploy to eliminate for her husband the temptation of Miss Rosewood’s attractiveness.
Mrs. Engle was so insecure and so obsessed with appearances that she insisted on planning another function in a few days time with the hope that impressions from the first of that season would be erased. She gave the invitations to be delivered, and admonished every cook and baker to meticulously inspect all intended ingredients in future, at the risk of instant expulsion.

Chapter 2.

"But how is it that you were given the ruby? If it wasn't claimed by anyone, shouldn't Miss Rosewood have received it as a sort of recompense for the trauma she experienced?" Robin and Edith had reached the Spanish Oak on the far side of the lawn and were enjoying a short respite.

"That would have been the end of the story, and who could settle for such an ending? Who could consider such an occurrence to be 'just another time when a mysterious gemstone materialized inside one's torte'? Of course, this was to be prevented at all costs. I announced that some effort must be made to discover the ruby's true owner and how the gem could have strayed as far as Mrs. Engle's kitchen. Mrs. Engle could not have tried harder to diminish the party's interest in such particulars (such an event was, no doubt, of great embarrassment to her), but her hushing was not to be supported. I was all curiosity, and set about interviewing everyone with a contagious level of earnest. Once a proper buzz was in effect, I made it known that I would be traveling around the county with the gem to make inquiries, and that, as they all knew I would be taking it, there was no risk of its suddenly going unaccounted for."

Edith was quite used to the her cousin's stubborn impulses, though they sometimes gave rise to concern for the futurity of his good reputation. He was well-liked by the other families in the area as he was handsome, well-mannered, and a sparkling confabulator. It was also common knowledge that he was next in line to inherit the family fortune. Therefore, his attentions were much more assiduously sought than those of the other bachelors in the area, and in this Edith found great amusement as he was liable to be awkwardly enveloped by an effusion of saccharine smiles and fawnings at almost every social function he attended.

"So, my dear madame, is this malevolent gem at all familiar to you?" Robin held it up with feigned formality for her to inspect. It was the largest gem she had ever seen, with a diameter of almost two centimeters. Its cut was stunning and when the gem caught a beam of light glinting through the budding canopy, it glowed a red so rich that for a moment nothing else was known to them

Edith smiled and shook her head. She had never seen anything like it.

Storytime......

The door opened and in blew Robin with enough enthusiasm to dissolve Edith’s reveries.

“I bring extremely good news.” Edith sat upright and cocked her head accordingly.

“Well,” he continued, “ I say ‘good’ because it is of the most peculiar kind.”
“Excellent. My imagination is long overdue for a good stretch. Let's here it."
“Last night, at the Spring Banquet hosted by Mr. Edwin Engle, (where I could not but notice your absence- after, you can explain this to me) Lady Rosewood was said to have been nibbling a fiddlehead torte when her front tooth was most shockingly broken off by the unyielding surface of a large ruby disguised therein.” He crossed the room to the bench where he often sat during his visits with Edith, and removing an apple from his pocket, contented himself with the ration while she stared silently into space.

“Am I to understand that this gem wasn’t claimed by Lady Engle and that it didn’t merely fall from its setting in Lady Rosewood’s necklace onto the torte? Also, I am surprised you should forget; my allergies to tulips are too severe to permit my joining any of Mr. Edwin’s Spring parties. He practically supplants his dining hall with his greenhouse. I would not have lasted five minutes.”

Robin nodded as he tossed the apple core into the fireplace.

“So no one has any idea where the jewel came from? The bakers were questioned?”

Robin replied that, yes, Mrs. Engle's entire staff was brought forward, but to no advantage. The servers, cooks, and bakers were all very puzzled. The party did learn, however, that it had been the only fiddlehead torte to make it to the table. According to the head baker, who seemed particularly angry with one of his underlings, the batch of tortes had been neglected while in the oven, and the one containing the ruby had only just survived. These details had failed to remove anyone at the banquet from a thoroughly nonplussed state. Though, Robin suspected that the one of Miss Rosewood’s teeth felt it the most.

“Poor girl," sighed Edith. "I can’t imagine this will help to expedite a proposal from Mr. Wallis. What an unfortunate turn for her.”

“Indeed. Every time she smiled at me thereafter I was tormented by the desire not to look away but to revel in the change a missing tooth has given her countenance. Though, she deserves credit for such composure; parting her lips in public at all! I applaud her self-assurance.”

Though Robin seldom made these sorts of remarks in public, he was at ease to jest in such a way with Edith whom he had known from infancy and who he enjoyed provoking without the fear that offense could be taken.

“And where is the ruby now?” Edith rose and opened the windows to the racket of a great many starlings pecking through the lawn below. It was a perfect day; Mild, dry, and bright, and on turning around to ask Robin if he’d care to go walking, she was astonished to see a glimmering red thing stuck in his face. He released the gem from his scrunched eye with a laugh, and Edith, who couldn’t help but giggle, attempted to scold her cousin as they made their way out of doors.

Getting back on the blog...or the pen.

It has been a while. I have still been writing; though, only in journals and on random slips of paper in my pockets. The style has been different. This is due to the fact that I rarely write short stories or lengthy descriptions for myself alone...especially when there are other formal tasks at hand.
Therefore, this blog will become more of a reflection of my thoughts lately.

This is a mind like a cloud. It never settles. It never resembles exactly the same shape to anyone.

It can't stop blowing to other vantages. So what.

I have difficulty understand how people can remain attached to a single idea for their whole lives. How can this be done and the thrill of discovery not be done away with? The glory of anything soon fades with too much attention. Like a star under one's direct gaze. For those like me, the peripheral is most often what is truly seen. Thank goodness that art of all kinds is allowed, and often revered. Rational behavior is one of life’s most unfortunate demands. If the freedom to express what lies outside of sensible boundaries was withdrawn, a smile would be a very rare thing.

The mind is not free anymore. It is minion to the gods of competition and money. Those that are brave enough to stand in the sunlight of their own imagination and ideas are considered lost, worthless, irresponsible. How is this? How have people learned such self-denial so well as to scorn self-love, self-acceptance in others? No, ……we all must work one another into the ground.