Lirssa crouched down on the wet, snow-slushed sidewalk and checked Dante's paws. The deliveries for Miss Eless that morning had been many, even with the other delivery runners helping out at the busy season. With Mister Lucky out of the office on extended leave, she did not have those deliveries as well. All the same, Lirssa's body was warm from the activity, but she dare not take off the cap, mittens, or even unbutton her coat. That was, she recalled very clearly from Bubber, the fastest way to wreck her health.
It was not only her health that was her concern. Dante's paws were treated each night with a paraffin based salve to keep the pads healthy. With the last delivery done at the gloomy pitch of a cloudy afternoon, Lirssa checked to make sure the dog's feet were not suffering from their work that day.
Not a spot of cracking to be seen, she patted his sweater clad side and smiled to his panting face. "We'll be inside most of the rest of the day before dinner. We just need to get the kids from High Spires going to help us decorate the Palazzo."
With another pat to his side, Lirssa stood and took the winding path through busy streets to High Spires. It had been some time since she had visited once the reconstruction was complete. The children there had mostly forgiven her. There were even a few new faces she had directed to the house, but she had not gone inside.
When she stood at the gate, looking over the house with its decorations " some which made no sense to her at all " she found her fingers did not want to let go of the bars and push aside the iron barrier. Her palms were sweating inside the mittens. She wiggled her fingers a little to try and use the cloth to dry them. If she did not go in, then High Spires would not get the donation from the Ergin-Falconnes. And there was a thirty mile drive to happen to get them there at the appointed time.
"Nothing for it, Dante. We gotta go in."
Finally pushing aside the gate, she stepped up the cleared stone path to the porch. She reached for the door handle, but then stopped and instead used the brass knocker to announce her arrival. Through the ornate glass and wood door, Lirssa heard the bird calling chatter of voices all calling they would get the door. She was greeted by seven faces all around the foyer, four of them very familiar to her.
"Why'd ya knock?" Anasta frowned, not hiding her disappointment. "Just come inside."
"Don't you all lock your doors?" Lirssa asked as she stepped through to the foyer and Dante at her side.
"During the day' Have we ever?" Paddy snorted and turned away, tail swishing, and trotted off with the disappointment of one who hoped a present was something else.
Anasta waved his comment away. "Don't mind him. He heard some story about wise men bringing gifts to a kid born in a stable, and he says he was born in a stable and the wise men are late."
Lirssa knew what story Anasta meant and she winced. "Poor Paddy."
The other children started to go back to their activities when Mrs. June arrived from the kitchen with the usual display of cooking dusted upon her apron. She greeted Lirssa with that squishing hug smelling of flour and vanilla. "What brings you here?"
"I've come to take some kids out to the Palazzo," no need to specify since Jess and her family lived there, "to decorate it for the holidays. It'll mean a killer big donation to High Spires, and since I'm gonna go to school soon I won't be able to help out as much, and I just gotta do this one last big thing before that happens."
Mrs. June had gotten accustomed to Lirssa's waterfall way of giving information. "Right then, well, we will need to round up some of the children to help, and you will need a wagon to get there."
The flurry of activity that happened, with scarves, coats mittens, and boots was only a trivial notion of the hustling hurry that children on a rare outing can stir. Add to that the delight of a big meal, candies, and the joy of decorating someone's fancy home, there was laughter and merriment all around. And Lirssa climbed all over, hanging things up, until her legs were tingling with the fire of overdoing it. She ignored the warnings.
It was not only her health that was her concern. Dante's paws were treated each night with a paraffin based salve to keep the pads healthy. With the last delivery done at the gloomy pitch of a cloudy afternoon, Lirssa checked to make sure the dog's feet were not suffering from their work that day.
Not a spot of cracking to be seen, she patted his sweater clad side and smiled to his panting face. "We'll be inside most of the rest of the day before dinner. We just need to get the kids from High Spires going to help us decorate the Palazzo."
With another pat to his side, Lirssa stood and took the winding path through busy streets to High Spires. It had been some time since she had visited once the reconstruction was complete. The children there had mostly forgiven her. There were even a few new faces she had directed to the house, but she had not gone inside.
When she stood at the gate, looking over the house with its decorations " some which made no sense to her at all " she found her fingers did not want to let go of the bars and push aside the iron barrier. Her palms were sweating inside the mittens. She wiggled her fingers a little to try and use the cloth to dry them. If she did not go in, then High Spires would not get the donation from the Ergin-Falconnes. And there was a thirty mile drive to happen to get them there at the appointed time.
"Nothing for it, Dante. We gotta go in."
Finally pushing aside the gate, she stepped up the cleared stone path to the porch. She reached for the door handle, but then stopped and instead used the brass knocker to announce her arrival. Through the ornate glass and wood door, Lirssa heard the bird calling chatter of voices all calling they would get the door. She was greeted by seven faces all around the foyer, four of them very familiar to her.
"Why'd ya knock?" Anasta frowned, not hiding her disappointment. "Just come inside."
"Don't you all lock your doors?" Lirssa asked as she stepped through to the foyer and Dante at her side.
"During the day' Have we ever?" Paddy snorted and turned away, tail swishing, and trotted off with the disappointment of one who hoped a present was something else.
Anasta waved his comment away. "Don't mind him. He heard some story about wise men bringing gifts to a kid born in a stable, and he says he was born in a stable and the wise men are late."
Lirssa knew what story Anasta meant and she winced. "Poor Paddy."
The other children started to go back to their activities when Mrs. June arrived from the kitchen with the usual display of cooking dusted upon her apron. She greeted Lirssa with that squishing hug smelling of flour and vanilla. "What brings you here?"
"I've come to take some kids out to the Palazzo," no need to specify since Jess and her family lived there, "to decorate it for the holidays. It'll mean a killer big donation to High Spires, and since I'm gonna go to school soon I won't be able to help out as much, and I just gotta do this one last big thing before that happens."
Mrs. June had gotten accustomed to Lirssa's waterfall way of giving information. "Right then, well, we will need to round up some of the children to help, and you will need a wagon to get there."
The flurry of activity that happened, with scarves, coats mittens, and boots was only a trivial notion of the hustling hurry that children on a rare outing can stir. Add to that the delight of a big meal, candies, and the joy of decorating someone's fancy home, there was laughter and merriment all around. And Lirssa climbed all over, hanging things up, until her legs were tingling with the fire of overdoing it. She ignored the warnings.