32- Karl

He let go of the seat and watched her go.  The contraption moved more awkwardly under her than it had under him– slow and wobbly.  Her soft shoes kept slipping off of the foot-levers and her balance was unsteady.  She said the clothes felt strange.  He told her that the machine would not work if she sat side-saddle on it.  They were ladies’ riding clothes.  Jacob had ordered them from Paris.  Fortitude refused to wear them.  Grushilde liked the idea of wearing them, but said they were difficult to get used to.  Like wearing men’s clothing, she said.  She had fallen three times already, but she wanted to learn.  So each time, he had helped her mount again, helped her toes find the levers, and had given her a push to get her going.  He watched her now, making slow, crooked little circles around him, gradually going a bit faster and a bit more steadily.  As he watched, the front wheel went over a rock and she lost her balance.  “Karl!” she shouted, and he leapt forward to catch her.  She fell into his arms, knocking him to the ground, and the riding machine fell with them.  He worried only for a moment, but then he heard her giggling.  She sat up and untangled herself from the machine and from him, then lifted it up off of him.  She laughed as he stood up and brushed the dust from the back of his pants.  “Thank you, Karl,” she said with a bright smile, “Now help me get back on this thing!”

Karl woke to find Jacob’s face looming over him and nearly jumped.  “Geez, Jacob, I’ve told you not to do that!  I don’t care how child-like my face looks when I’m sleeping; I don’t like people hanging over me like that when I wake up!”

Jacob laughed.  “Sorry,” he said, “but you were calling out Grushilde’s name in your sleep.  Over and over.”

Karl sat up in the bed and rubbed the sleep from his face.  “I’m sorry.  Was I loud?  Did I wake you?”

“No.  I was already awake.  But I thought maybe . . .”

“Oh.”  Karl sighed.  If only that were the case.  “No, I was only dreaming about her.”  He thought for a moment.  “But it will be soon, I think.  I doubt it will even be a year.  I’ve been thinking about going to Australia soon.  I want to get there before she awakens.”

“Is that what you were dreaming about?”

“No, actually . . . do you remember when we got that bicycle?  And you got those riding outfits for the girls?”

Jacob laughed.  “I remember.  Fortitude thought it was all so stupid.  She wanted no part of it.”

Karl grinned.  “I remember it was your idea to begin with.  Fortitude thought you were crazy.” 

“Yeah.  But Grushilde loved it,” Jacob nodded.  “She used to ride that thing everywhere.”

“And you could never get her to stop wearing those funny clothes.”

Jacob groaned.  “When I ordered them, I never thought Grushilde would want to wear them all the time.”  He laughed again.  “I don’t think I’ve seen her wear an actual skirt since.”

Karl laughed.  Jacob was exaggerating, of course.  Hilde had worn plenty of skirts and dresses since then.  She just preferred something that was easier to run around in.  “God, I miss her.”

“I know.”

A light tap at the door interrupted them.  “I’m coming in,” a soft voice warned from the other side, “Are you decent?”

Jacob got up and opened the door for Fortitude.

“Ugh!  Jacob, you’re naked!” Fortitude shouted as she pulled the door closed again.  “Cover yourself up so I can come in!”

Karl laughed again.  Jacob was wearing a pair of boxers and a t-shirt.  That was certainly not what Karl considered naked, but Fortitude apparently had her own definition of the word.  Jacob rolled his eyes and grinned as he pulled a robe on and tied it around his waist, then he tossed another robe onto the bed so that Karl could cover up his own sleep-shorts and bare chest.

Jacob let her in again and, satisfied with their new level of decency, she bounced into the room and seated herself on the edge of the bed, tucking her feet up under the bottom of her dress and flipping her ash-blonde curls back behind her as she did so.  “I talked to Hespah,” she told them.

Karl sighed.  “And?”

“She’s still very angry with me.”

Jacob shook his head.  “Of course she is.  You have to admit, that’s understandable.”

“Yes, I know.  But now I’ve apologized.  And I released the command.  So she can stop avoiding you now.”

Karl glanced at Jacob.  That was a relief.  Hopefully that whole incident would be forgiven and forgotten soon.  And Shepetheleh would never have to hear about it.  When Fortitude had first told them what she’d done, Jacob had panicked.  She, of course, hadn’t been thinking about what kinds of consequences her little “outburst” could have.  She had simply been angry, and had just lashed out at Hespah without really planning to. 

“We need to make this right,” Karl muttered.  An apology from Fortitude would go a long way, but he still felt that something else was needed.  Something that would get them all talking again.  Remind everyone how well they’d always gotten along.

Jacob shrugged.  “Why don’t we all go into town today?  We could go to a restaurant, maybe do a little window-shopping . . . The weather is really beautiful today.”

Karl rolled his eyes.  “That’s your answer?  Window-shopping?”

But Fortitude looked excited.  “No, I think it’s a good idea,” she said.  “Come on, Karl.  It’s been so long since we’ve been out of the house.  And Hespah’s been cooped up all by herself for almost two weeks now.  I’m sure she’d love to go out.”

Jacob was already in Karl’s closet, pulling out more of those ridiculously expensive clothes that he was always buying for him.  A pair of brown jeans came flying across the room to hit Karl in the face.  Then a blue t-shirt.  And a brown and blue plaid shirt.  Karl held up both shirts.  “Which one do I put on?”

Jacob paused for a moment and looked at him.  “Both, of course.”

Of course.  Jacob was always making him wear two or three shirts at once.

Jacob tossed a belt at him.  “Tuck the t-shirt in, wear the belt, leave the collared shirt unbuttoned.  And here are your shoes and socks.”

Karl laughed.  “You know, I’m not a three-year-old.  I do know how to put my own clothes on.”

Jacob and Fortitude exchanged a look, and Fortitude laughed.  “I’ll go tell Hespah,” she said as she made her way toward the door.

Karl stood up.  “No, I’ll get her.  Just give me a minute.”

Fortitude shrugged and left the room.

Karl followed Jacob’s instructions without even pausing to ask why the shirt had buttons on it if he wasn’t supposed to use them, then he rushed out of the room to find Hespah.

She was in the kitchen, sipping at a cup of coffee and staring into the pantry.  She turned to scowl at him when he came in.  “Karl,” she said with a nod.

“Hespah,” he nodded back.

“You look like you’re feeling better.”

“Yeah,” he replied.  “You were right, of course.  It only took about ten days or so to heal up.”

“Jacob, too?”

Karl nodded.

Hespah’s eyes dropped to the floor.  “Look, I’m sorry I kicked your asses so hard,” she said.  “I guess I should have gone easier on you.”

“No, it’s okay,” he assured her.  “We needed it.”  He laughed.  “Now we both know how out-of-shape we are.”

Hespah grinned.  “Yeah, well . . . I guess, since it was your first day back in the gym in a while, maybe I could have been a little more careful with you.”

“Don’t worry about it.  We’re not made of glass, you know.”

Hespah snorted, then turned back to the pantry.

“By the way, the rest of us were talking about going into town today.  Get something to eat, maybe walk around a little.  You should come with us.”

“I don’t know.  I’m not ready to start acting all chummy with that . . . with Fortitude.”

“Please?  If you don’t come, Jacob’s going to make me go shopping.”

Hespah laughed out loud that time.  “Okay.  For you, then.”

Karl smiled to himself as he followed Hespah out of the kitchen.  When he and Grushilde had first come to live here, Shepetheleh had described the arrangement as “tactically prudent”.  Allies living under the same roof made for a stronger defense.  But somehow, for Karl, these people had become like a family.  Grushilde, Jacob, Fortitude, Hespah– even Shepetheleh– they all knew each other so well.  And it just didn’t feel right when two of them were fighting.  The last two weeks had felt so wrong.  It was a relief to finally be making peace again.