Sweet Saturday Samples - September 8, 2012

Welcome back to Sweet Saturday Samples. I've been gone for a spell, on a research road trip. The morsel from Spinster's Folly below is a short scene showing Bill Henry's interaction with some of the folks he's in contact with at the barn-raising. I hope you enjoy it.
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Bill hadn't seen Marie all morning. The fact that he'd been busy lifting logs and pegging them into place hadn't kept his eyes from scanning the female figures that brought water to the crew. Not one had the dark, waving hair, the winsome smile, the light step of Marie. Not one made his heart swell in his chest. Not one made him ache to converse with her, to touch her arm. Where was she keeping herself?

"Henry!" Mr. Owen bellowed.

Bill looked down at the boss standing at the foot of the ladder and waving for him to descend.

"Yes, sir?"

"Come down."

He went down. Once on the ground, he took off his hat and wiped the sweat out of his eyes with his sleeve. "Yes, sir?"

"Where's that bale of leather thongs you had Carl cut?"

"I wrapped them strings in a piece of holey hide and put ‘em on a shelf in the stable. Want me to fetch ‘em?"

"No, I'll send Albert. Return to your work up there."

Bill swept his hair back with his fingers and put his hat on his head. He nodded, climbed to his previous position, and grasped the log that was being levered atop the last. He got it on his shoulder and heaved. He still hadn't seen Marie.

The man next to him grunted and swore as he dropped his end of the log onto his own fingers.

"Careful," Bill said automatically.

The man swore again, berating Bill for not catching the log when he had dropped it.

"Beg pardon, friend. I'll do better next time." He gritted his teeth. How was he supposed to know when a man was going to fumble his load?

Although his neighbor groused for quite a spell, Bill tried to ignore the man and deal with the unfamiliar work. Give him adobe blocks for a building material any day. This business of constructing with logs was out of his experience.

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