Bears by Richard Labonte

Author:Richard Labonte
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cleis Press
Published: 2010-08-16T00:00:00+00:00

The next morning I awoke with the light. As I had been forewarned, no one had come to awaken me. If I required a fire, it was already laid and I should light it. During the winter, I was also told, the household slept later to suit the season; while in summer, as long as the weather was fine, more time was spent on the grounds than in the manor. I thought this a bit odd, but then remembered I was in a country house, in a far-flung province, and hundreds of miles from Town.

My rooms were cozy, and more than sufficient. My sitting room boasted a large window seat facing south where one might read, and a handsome suite of masculine furniture of a quality that I could only have dreamed of enjoying before my current situation. Attached to the sitting room was a bedroom large enough for what was needed, including—as if expecting that it might provide comfort for more than one man—the largest bed in which I had ever reposed. How unlike the dingy horrors of Mr. Dickens’ novels! My rooms were not dark and dirty, as I had feared they must be, but bright, and clean, and well appointed. Fiction, then, was not to be taken as seriously as so many did; there was no moral caution in this peculiar household, only joy in productivity and each other’s company.

After a generous breakfast from a sideboard providing a veritable feast to sate the hunger that country air inevitably inspired in one, I went to my new desk to await my Lord’s pleasure. My duties, I learned, were simple and straightforward. I was to take care of my Lord’s correspondence, making fair copies for his signature as well as for his files. My duties took only a few hours a day, after which I might be sent into Bearington to post letters or run whatever errands were needed, but would otherwise be free to wander the grounds at my leisure, awaiting my Lord’s pleasure. Any purchases made in Bearington, or even ordered from Town, I was told, even if it were for no one but myself, were to be charged to my Lord’s accounts.

“For one thing, man, you need a pair of proper riding boots and proper breeches like the rest of us, clothes you can move in. No need for your city threads here—at least not most of the time.”

That very afternoon, after my duties were completed, Davith took me in the gig to Bearington that I might purchase my Lord’s livery.

“Davith, can you tell me please how each of you fit into my Lord’s household? What are each dependent’s duties?”

Davith laughed, his blue eyes sparkling in the spring air.

“Now let’s see: Mr. Bottom does milord’s accounting; Selwyn supervises milord’s stables; Mrs. Brinker looks after the kitchen and the larder, and Mrs. Bannon the housekeeping. I take care of the orchards and hives, and young Colin looks after the game when he’s not helping Mr. Bottom. And milord looks after the manor and tenants himself.

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