A Wild Yearning by Williamson Penelope

Author:Williamson, Penelope [Williamson, Penelope]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2009-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

The Merrymeeting frolic was in full swing and Meg Parkes was sulking—although she preferred to think of it as simply keeping to herself.

She was whipping her new top on a patch of packed earth in front of the Bishops’ manor house, competing against herself to see how long she could keep it going. She leaned over and started it spinning with a quick twist of her hand. Stepping back, she lashed it with the eelskin thong just as three boys, who were part of a game of whoop-and-hide, ran past her, deliberately jostling her arm and almost knocking her over. One of them was Daniel Randolf, the blacksmith’s oldest boy, whom she detested more than anyone in the whole world.

Daniel stopped to jeer at her. “Whyn’t ye give it up, Meg Parkes? Ye’re never going t’ be able t’ whip a top right.”

“I’m already better at it than you, Daniel Randolf.” It was a slight exaggeration. She was as good as he was, not better.

Daniel barked a cocky laugh. “Whoever heard of a girl bein’ any good at whippin’ tops?”

“Whoever heard of a girl being any good at anything?” his younger brother chimed in.

Meg tried to think of a particularly devastating remark, but all she could come up with was, “Your mother chews tobaccy,” and she’d already used that one on the Randolf boys before. She settled for sticking out her tongue and shouting, “Go to hell, Daniel Randolf.”

Daniel and his brother merely laughed and ran off, hooting like Indians and generally showing off, to Meg’s supreme disgust.

“He’s wrong, you know. There’s no reason why a girl can’t whip a top good as any boy.”

Meg spun around at the sound of that husky voice, a grimace of dislike already plastered on her face, for she knew who it was: Delia McQuaid, her father’s new wife. But never, she reminded herself, never would the woman be her mother, marriage or not. Nobody, not even Papa, was going to force her to admit otherwise.

She put on her best sneer. “What do you know about it?”

Delia smiled down at her, but there was a nervous quiver in her voice. “I was the champion top-spinner of Ship’s Wharf for five years. And I retired undefeated. I know a trick or two that’ll set those lads to spinning on their ears. Would you be wanting me to show you?”

“No. And it’s no use your trying to make friends with me because I’m never going to see my way to liking you.”

“Aye? That’s as may be. But then, my da always said I’m as stubborn as a hen at roosting time. So I’ll keep on trying if you don’t mind.”

Meg shrugged her thin shoulders. She pretended to ignore Delia. She looked instead toward the trestle tables set out beneath the lone white pine with its weathervaned top. A pair of greedy, noisy whiskey jacks were trying to steal the food. Mrs. Bishop shrieked at them and flapped her apron, and the other women laughed.

Meg nodded her small, pointed chin toward the tables.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.