Hiding the Evidence

“You stained the sheets!”

“I did not!”

“You stained Mama’s sheets. She’s going to murder you, Bit.”

“I did not and she will not, so shut your mouth!” Keaira glared fiercely over her shoulder at her brother as she scrubbed the linens in question. There was black ink everywhere, splattering across the stark white of the fabric in great blotches and lines. Unfortunately, no matter how hard Keaira scrubbed the deep black only seemed to further imbed itself into the cloth, branding it irreparably.

She had not meant to spill the ink onto the sheets. The bottle had been on the edge of writing table beside her mother’s bed, she had been using it to write when her elbow had knocked the container from its perch, effectively covering a large portion of the sheets with the thick, dark substance. Now, she was up to her arms in soap and water trying to wash her mistake clean and getting nowhere with it. Her brother’s taunting did not help the matter.

“She’s home, Bit. You can’t hide that from her, she’ll know what happened.” Keaira grit her teeth, knowing him to be right.

“But, I–” She heard the click of the front door, sure sign her mother had return from her shopping. There was nothing else left to do.

“Keaira? Drace?” Abruptly she dropped the fabric and straightened her clothes, smoothing frazzled hair. Her only option was to explain what had happened and work to pay for new linens. Surely, her mother would understand the mistake of a daughter. “Keaira? Kea– Here you are. What are you doing?”

The moment of truth. She opened her mouth to explain, to tell her before the short, dark-haired woman could see the hopeless sheets soaking in the washbin, but Drace spoke first.

“Keaira was just washing your sheets for you, Mama. See? Look how clean they are! Wasn’t that nice of her?” Suddenly, her mother’s face lit with appreciation, and Keaira vowed bitterly to beat her older brother with his own flute. She turned, a scathing remark poised on her tongue, and stopped abruptly when her eyes landed on wet, white linen. The black was gone.

Her mother brushed forward, smiling at the clean fabric, before turning back to her daughter and enveloping her in a hug. “Such fine children I have. Such fine, fine children. Thank you, Keaira, I’ve had no time to clean of late with the harvest going on.” Baffled, the girl’s eyes continued to stare at the clean sheets even as she returned the hug.

“It was nothing, Mama, nothing at all.”

“I’d best fix supper now, so be sure to wash up. I’ll make something special for us tonight.” Her mother squeezed her tightly one last time, then left the room, her steps somehow lighter, and Keaira was left gazing at her brother as he relinquished the sheets back into the soapy water.

“How…?”

He winked, blue eyes dancing with an unspoken secret. “Magic, dear sister.” He laughed gently and brushed past, a large hand ruffling her hair as he went.

~ by eeratka on February 11, 2007.