Mornelly Fan Stories: A Week With My Guardian- Part Three

To read the previous part, click HERE.

Part Three: Wednesday

In which my guardian learn how to play riggamarole

I awoke to my alarm buzzing and my two older sisters’ grumpy commands to turn it off immediately. I did so, slid from bed, grabbed a clean change of clothes, and then tiptoed down to take a shower. Dad was already up and making coffee, so I bid him a good-morning before waking myself up the rest of the way with a warm shower.

By the time I was done, most of the rest of my family was up, and some of the boys were already having breakfast. Since our family already had their coffee done up in a neat row of five mugs, I started a second pot for the Mornelly boys.

While waiting for it to drip through, I thought about more things to do with my special guests. We had already cooked something, taken a walk in our woods, had swordsmanship lessons, played football, and talked about books. What now?

I know Breandan wants to see some of my books… I thought. But I want to save that for later today. What should we do this morning?

A beep told me the second coffee pot was done and ready to be served, so I took five more mugs from our cupboard and did them up for the Mornelly boys. After the first trip into the study with two mugs for Aichear and Bran I grabbed Damhán to help me with the last load. He took his mug and I got the other two for Ciarán and Breandan. All of them were awake and ready for coffee.

“Can I have some too?” Aileen asked Aichear when all the coffee had been delivered.

The oldest Mornelly exchanged a glace with me.

“There’s enough,” I said. “She’s welcome to it if you don’t mind.”

He hesitated a moment, but finally nodded his head. “She can have a small cup.”

Aileen clapped her hands together gleefully and I hurried back into the house one last time for another cup of coffee. Once her mug was done up, I grabbed my coffee and joined the Mornellys out in the study.

On the way out, the already overcast sky opened up and began pouring down rain. I covered the mugs as best as I could and rushed through the study door that Bran was holding open for me.

“Thanks,” I said as he closed it behind me.

“Anytime,” he answered with a wink.

“Here’s your coffee Aileen,” I said, handing the small cup to her. She thanked me and I sat down cross-legged on the floor since there weren’t enough seats for everyone.

Aichear noticed me on the floor and offered his seat to me. I thanked him, but said that I was fine where I was.

“Once my legs fall asleep I might want it though,” I warned with a grin.

Aichear nodded. “Just tell me when you want it and I’ll move.”

“Thanks again.”

Damhán stood by the window and sighed loudly. “Of course, it would rain.”

“At least it’s not hailing,” I pointed out.  

“I was hoping to give your brothers another lesson today,” he complained. “I can’t give them a lesson in the rain.”

“No,” I agreed. “And you can’t give them a lesson in the house either. Mom would have a conniption. Probably several conniptions along with a heart-attack,” I added.

“So what should we do then?” Ciarán asked, turning to me.

I chewed on my lip thoughtfully. “Have you ever played riggamarole?” I asked finally after a few minutes of thought.

“Rigga-what?” Damhán asked.

“Riggamarole,” I corrected. “It’s a game.”

“I don’t think we have,” Breandan answered my first question. “Could you give us some explanation?”

“Well, we’d have to be sitting in a circle, then one of us would start by telling a story,” I said. “After a little bit of story, the first person would give the story over to the next person by ending with ‘suddenly’ or ‘then’ or something like that. Then the next person would take up the story and keep it going for a little bit before giving it over to the next person and so on and so forth. Does that make sense?”

Breandan nodded. “I think so.”

“It sounds interesting,” Bran added.

“We could at least try it,” Aileen said.

“Only if Damhán can manage to not ruin it,” Ciarán interjected.

“I won’t!” the accused exclaimed hotly.

“We’ll try it,” Aichear declared, ending the debate. We made a circle on the floor. I was chosen as the first person.

I started, “One beautiful day a girl was walking along the sidewalk of her neighborhood. Her name was Hannah Long, and her father was the chief police officer of her town. Sometimes she would help with his cases, but today wasn’t one of those days. As she went along, humming a song, she didn’t realize that she was being watched. Suddenly…” I trailed off and looked at Bran, the person next to me on the right.

“She was jumped on by a band of desperate men!” Bran exclaimed, his eyes flaming with sudden excitement. “She did her best to escape their hands, and cry out for help, but her screams went unheard and her struggles were of no avail. The men soon had her tied up and dragged her to their hiding place in the woods about a mile from the town. It was then when…”

Breandan was next, and he too jumped right in with: “She finally managed to let loose one loud cry for help. The next minute one of the men managed to gag her. She wouldn’t know if her cry had attracted any help until later, but for the moment she tried to get as comfortable as possible on the hard floor of the men’s shack. With a little wriggling she managed to loosen her bonds enough to be comfortable. All at once…”

Aichear came in, calmly picking up the story line as if he had done it all himself. “The men began talking of their plans. Hannah tried to hear as much as possible without letting them know she could hear and soon she was able to grasp why these men had taken her and what they were planning on doing with her while she was in their power. Apparently, they had taken her as a part of their revenge against her father and were hoping to lure him to his death. Just then, as she was straining to hear the end of the desperate plan…”

Damhán, realizing it was his turn, sat up suddenly. “She heard footsteps outside the shack. Working at her bonds furiously, she managed to get her hands free and tore the gag from her mouth. As the men lunged towards her she cried out once more for help. The door burst open and ten armed police officers stormed into the room Hannah ducked to the ground as bullets began to fly…” here Damhán added sound effects to his story despite the strange looks he got from his brothers.

Ciarán took this as his cue and came in after Damhán’s explosion noises had died down to the occasional cough. “As the gunshots stopped, the smoke cleared to reveal a bloody scene. All the desperate men who had first taken Hannah were now either tied up or dead, lying prostrate on the dirty floor. Two of the ten policemen had also been killed in the hectic firing, but they had at least died honorably. Wondering how the policemen had managed to find their targets amidst the smoke, Hannah busily worked at her leg bonds and was soon able to stand up and thank the men who had come to her rescue. Then suddenly…”

Aileen, sitting next to me, finished our story. “She looked up and saw her father standing in the doorway. His eyes were filled with tears of thanksgiving that she was all right. Hannah wasted no time throwing herself into his warm embrace. It was there where she was safe.”

After the happy ending to the somewhat bloody story (thanks to Damhán and Ciarán’s additions) we sat for a moment in silence.

Breandan spoke first. “That was a good idea of yours.”

I grinned. “Thanks! You guys figured out how to do it really quickly. I thought that since you all enjoy books you would enjoy that game. It’s always been a favorite of mine, since I’m a writer and enjoy telling stories.”

“It was a very entertaining game Rebekah,” Aichear said. “Thank you for showing us how to do it.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“And Damhán didn’t ruin it!” Ciarán added with unveiled surprise.

Damhán rolled his eyes. “I told you that I wouldn’t,” he reminded.

“I think it was a lovely story too,” Aileen put in, smiling around the circle.

“You did a wonderful job of ending it as happily as it had begun,” I told her.

Damhán let out a long sigh and leaned back against the bookshelf behind him. “What should we do now?”

Bran stood up and stretched. “Damhán, Rebekah isn’t here to fill your days with endless, exciting activities.”

“However,” I interjected quickly before Damhán could say anything else, “I do have something else for us to do. But you’ll all have to come inside.”

Obediently they all stood up and followed me inside.

“It’s lunch time,” I said with a grin as I walked into the kitchen. “Help yourself!”