He gave me a puzzled look. “They would? Why?”
If he didn’t understand what the uniform he wore meant on a frontier world, then he was right about not thinking clearly. I explained the obvious. “The Military Planet First teams cleared a host of dangerous predators from this continent to make it safe for the first colonists.”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t one of the people who did that. I’ve only ever been assigned to worlds in Kappa sector.”
“We know that,” I said gently. “This world moved from Planet First to Colony Ten stage thirty-one years ago, and you probably weren’t even born then. Whether you worked on our world or one in Kappa sector doesn’t matter. The people of Miranda are honoured to have a Military officer from Planet First among us. I’m sorry I disturbed you.”
I turned and walked off down the track, thinking of the First Families who’d taken risks to open up Miranda for full colonization and had the rewards of land grants and fine houses. It seemed entirely wrong that Captain Mobele had taken far bigger risks but was camping on our farm.
I was nearly home before I realized I’d left the buckets behind. I’d have to collect them another day, along with any empty lunch pails, because I needed to focus on a much bigger problem now. Mother would expect me to walk into the house as a betrothed girl with my hair loose round my shoulders. The second she saw my hair was still in its usual plait, she’d start asking questions.
It would be difficult to answer those questions. I couldn’t tell Mother I was betrothed when it was a secret. I couldn’t tell her I’d turned the offer down because I hadn’t. I couldn’t tell her I was waiting for a man’s parents to approve the match because that wouldn’t make any sense to her. I’d have to say I needed more time to think about my decision, and I knew Mother wouldn’t approve of me keeping some poor man waiting for an answer.
I sighed, trudged up to the house, and went into the kitchen. Mother must have heard the kitchen door’s habitual loud creak, because she came hurrying into the room. I braced myself for the expected torrent of questions about my betrothal, but then I saw there was a horribly familiar figure following her through the doorway.
My earlier comment to Rodrish had been perfectly right. Nowhere was safe from Shelby Summerhaze!
Chapter Eleven
When I set out to see Rodrish’s farm this morning, I’d expected to return and celebrate my betrothal with my family. Instead, I had Shelby Summerhaze ranting at me about my bad manners.
Mother kept trying to interrupt the lecture, but every time Shelby Summerhaze raised her voice even louder to drown her out. In the end, Mother and I both gave up, and let the Shelby Summerhaze storm rage unchecked, while a group of my younger brothers and sisters watched from the hallway in horrified excitement.
When Shelby Summerhaze finally stalked out of the house in disgust, Mother closed the door on the nosy audience in the hallway, sank down into a chair, and buried her face in her hands.
“What the chaos happened, Amalie? Did you really say all those insulting things to Shelby Summerhaze?”
“No, I didn’t,” I said. “At least, not all of them. I did say the bit about the Northern Reach cliffs crumbling to dust before I’d marry any son of hers, but the rest was her exaggerating.”
Mother groaned. “She’ll tell the whole of Jain’s Ford County about it.”
I was hit by a dreadful thought. What if Rodrish’s parents heard Shelby Summerhaze’s version of what I’d said? They’d never approve of me marrying their son after that.
I tried to reassure myself that couldn’t happen. The Founding Families of Miranda had their own separate social circle and wouldn’t spend time gossiping with Shelby Summerhaze. The only reason I’d got to know Rodrish was because he’d failed that module of his Farming Studies Certificate, stopped portalling over to the Memorial Settlement School favoured by the Founding Families, and begun attending Jain’s Ford School instead.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Shelby Summerhaze cornered me at a portal and was practically ordering me to marry her son Tate. I kept saying no politely, but she wouldn’t listen. You know that I’d promised to go and see a farm. I couldn’t do that with her trailing after me, and I lost my temper.”
Mother lifted her head. “You obviously aren’t betrothed, Amalie. Does that mean Shelby Summerhaze stopped you getting to see the farm?”
“She made me late,” I said, “but I did get there.”
“I hope you didn’t turn down the Sozanski boys’ offer just because you were angry with Shelby Summerhaze.”
“I never said it was the Sozanski boys, and I’m still thinking over the situation.”
“It’s unfair to leave them waiting for ...”
I caught a glimpse of a small head bobbing outside the open kitchen window, waved a frantic warning to Mother, and hurried across to the window. When I leaned out, I saw the twin eavesdroppers huddled on the ground below.
I slammed the window closed, but it was too late of course. The twins had heard everything. They spent the rest of the day eagerly spreading the news. By the evening, my whole family knew that I’d been dreadfully rude to Shelby Summerhaze, and was keeping some man or men in agonized suspense over whether or not I’d accept their marriage offer.
Everyone, down to and including the 4-year-old, had strong opinions on my behaviour and was keen to discuss the rights and wrongs of the situation. When they weren’t shouting because they disagreed with each other, they were shouting just to make themselves heard.
I tried hiding in three different rooms, but I was the centre of this storm so the mob kept following me. I had to give up hope of escape, pick a comfortable chair, and hold a cushion against each ear to try to reduce the noise to a bearable level. I loved every one of my ten brothers and sisters, I really did, but there were times when I thought wistfully of what it would be like to be an only child.
When we went to bed, I was grateful that none of Lisbet, Odette, and Cara were speaking to me, because that gave me some desperately needed peace and quiet. It was only a temporary respite though. Next morning, the debate started up again at the breakfast table.
“I admire Amalie for saying that to Shelby Summerhaze,” said my eldest brother, Henri. “It was about time someone told the woman to stop snooping around and mind her own business.”
“I didn’t say that to her,” I said.
“I’d love to have seen Shelby Summerhaze’s face when Amalie said that she’d never marry any boy who had such a ghastly mother as her,” said my second eldest brother, Ansel.
“I didn’t say that either,” I said. “At least, not in those exact words.”
“You may admire Amalie for telling Shelby Summerhaze she’s a malicious, interfering gossip,” said Lisbet, “but I think Amalie should have thought through how this will affect the rest of us. Shelby Summerhaze won’t just be watching for the slightest excuse to criticize Amalie after this, but grabbing every chance to pick on us too.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I’m very sorry.”
“I’m not scared of Shelby Summerhaze,” said Henri.
“It’s easy for you to say that,” said Lisbet. “The Jain’s Ford gossips always pick on girls rather than boys. You could paint yourself purple and walk through Mojay’s Bar stark naked if you wanted and nobody would care.”
“Of course they would,” said Henri.
“Lisbet’s right,” said Odette. “A man walked through Mojay’s Bar stark naked only last week, and you don’t seem to have heard a word about it.”
“You’re making that up,” said Ansel.
“You can ask Amalie if you don’t believe me,” said Odette. “She was there at the time.”
Everyone looked at me. “Did that really happen?” asked Mother.
“I didn’t notice if he was totally naked or just not wearing very much,” I said.
Odette gave me a look of exaggerated disbelief. “Hah!”
I ignored her. “The man was a newly arri
ved colonist from some planet in Beta sector. He’d been on Miranda for less than a week, and it was a very hot day. He’d taken off a few too many clothes without thinking about it, and was terribly embarrassed when we reminded him that people here aren’t as casual about nudity as they are in Beta sector.”
“Well, you have to make allowances for greenie colonists because even the best of them are bound to make a few innocent mistakes,” said Mother. “I hope you didn’t ban the poor man.”
“Of course not,” I said. “He apologized to everyone, so we gave him an old tablecloth to wear and let him stay.”
“Anyway, whether the man was totally naked or not,” said Odette, “it still proves my point. It’s easy for you boys to laugh and approve of Amalie’s behaviour, because Shelby Summerhaze won’t bother trying to cause trouble for you. She’s going to target Lisbet, Cara and me.”
“I never said I approved of Amalie’s behaviour,” said Henri. “I think that going to see the Sozanski boys’ farms and then not giving them a definite answer is shockingly cruel.”
Odette instantly swapped from attacking me to defending me. “A girl should be allowed to take a few hours to think about such an important decision.”
“She should have done her thinking before she went to look at their farms,” said Ansel.
“Amalie wouldn’t be able to think properly if she had one of her headaches,” said Lisbet.
“That’s right.” Cara joined my defence team. “You know how bad Amalie’s headaches can be.”
“Well, Amalie had better make her decision today,” said Henri. “It’s unfair the way she’s leaving them in suspense. I’ll tell them that myself.”
I’d been trying to eat the last few mouthfuls of my breakfast while they argued about me, but now I put down my fork. “You mustn’t do that, Henri.”
“The Sozanski boys are my friends,” said Henri. “I’ve a perfect right to tell them what I think about you treating them so badly.”
“But I’m not treating them badly,” I said. “It’s not their farms that I went to see.”
Everyone stared at me. “If it isn’t the Sozanski boys, who is it?” asked Odette.
I stood up and glared at them. “You should understand exactly why I can’t tell you who it really is until I’m definitely betrothed. It would be horribly unkind of a girl to go round gossiping to people about the men who’ve offered her marriage and been refused.”
“It’s not gossiping if you only tell your family,” said Odette. “We wouldn’t tell anyone else.”
“I know some of you wouldn’t, but others might.” I looked pointedly at the twins. “Remember how certain people hid in the barn and overheard Henri discussing Cella with Ansel. Remember how those certain people went to school the next day, and told all their friends about it.”
Henri gave a moan of despair. “Did you have to remind me that the whole of Jain’s Ford Settlement knows my private sexual fantasies about letting down Cella’s hair?”
“Not in front of the children!” said Mother sharply.
“You can’t expect me to worry what I say in front of those two evil little spies.” Henri gave the twins a look of loathing. “They’ve already heard it all. They’ve already spread the story to the whole of Jain’s Ford Settlement. They’ll probably send details to Epsilon Sector News as well!”
“We didn’t know it was private,” chorused the twins in the voices of cruelly misjudged innocents.
Henri ignored them. “The worst thing is knowing that Cella must have heard all about it. Whenever I see the girl, I suffer agonies of embarrassment and have to run away and hide.”
“Henri, you really don’t need to worry about meeting Cella,” I said. “She heard the story, of course, but she didn’t care about it.”
“I’m not sure if that’s reassuring or even more humiliating,” said Henri.
“We need better vid channels on Miranda,” said Mother. “There’s nothing to watch but that dreadful ent vid channel that never shows anything less than a century old, Epsilon Sector News, and an hour or two a week of Miranda’s own news channel. It’s not surprising people spend so much time gossiping.”
“The Mayor said a proper Miranda Rolling News service is in the five-year development plan,” said Father. “Amalie, I hope you’re going to settle this situation today. If we have another day of arguments, I’ll be the next one seeing Doc Jumi about headaches.”
Chaos, I wanted this situation settled quickly too. I hated being left uncertain about my betrothal. I’d had a hideous dream last night, where Rodrish’s parents were appalled at the idea of me marrying their son. Rodrish and I tried to run off together to Delta sector, but when we stepped through the interstellar portal to Epsilon Sector Interchange 1, an alarm went off because we had a troop of moon monkeys hiding in our luggage. We were charged with trying to break interstellar quarantine, and were just being dragged off to separate prisons when I woke up, gasping and confused.
“I’ll do my best,” I said, “but things will be complicated by it being a Community Day. I have to go now because the Mayor wants designated drivers and the track clearing crew to be at the livestock market freight portal by half past seven.”
Mother pointed across at a lunch pail with the lid already fixed in place. “You’d better take the Captain’s food to him on your way to the portal, Amalie. The Mayor said it would disturb him less if the same person takes his food each day.”
I thought guiltily about how much I’d disturbed Captain Mobele yesterday. With all the fuss when I got home, I’d barely had the chance to mention the makeshift pool at the almond field, let alone explain how Captain Mobele had helped me.
I collected the lunch pail and frowned as I felt the weight of it. “What’s in here? Rocks?”
“I made a pie and baked some potatoes for him,” said Mother. “I thought he could heat them up on his camp fire and have them for dinner tonight.”
Given the weight of the lunch pail, I thought he could have them for dinner three days running. I went out of the kitchen door, and strolled along the track. I was pleased to see we had a bright, sunny day for the building work at the school.
When I reached the almond field, I was relieved to see Captain Mobele was still at his camp site. He turned his head to look at me, and I gave him a wave before leaving his lunch pail at the side of the track and hurrying on to Lone Tree portal. Once there, I just had to select the livestock market as my destination, and step through the portal to arrive in front of a mob of about forty young people.
The second they saw me, they waved a terrifying assortment of cutters and axes and screamed at the top of their voices. “Yaya! Yaya! Yaya!”
I took a nervous step backwards, wondering if I should run for my life, but then Cella and Rina walked up to me.
“What’s going on?” I asked them.
Cella laughed. “We’re cheering your bravery at being so rude to Shelby Summerhaze. She’s been complaining to half of Jain’s Ford Settlement about it.”
I groaned. “That wasn’t bravery. That was desperation. If I’d had time to think about it properly, I’d never have done it.”
I was wondering if I should try to get Rina alone, and ask her why the chaos she’d been meeting Norris yesterday, but the vastly magnified voice of the Mayor interrupted our conversation.
“Track clearing crew will get into formation and move out. Designated drivers will report to me at the freight portal.”
Rina sprinted back to join the mob armed with cutters and axes, and they formed up into a column and marched out of the field. Cella and I headed across to where the Mayor and three other people were standing near the giant portal. They were looking at a line of hover sleds. There were three big transport sleds at the front, followed by two of the smaller heavy lift sleds we’d need to move heavy dome sections into position.
Each of the transport sleds was carrying a huge package that was covered in grey plastic. The one on the nearest transport sled w
as labelled in giant white letters. “Basic Dome Size 5. Package 1 of 3.” The next two in line had packages labelled as 2 and 3 respectively.
When Cella and I arrived, the Mayor nodded at us. “Amalie, you’re driving the lead transport sled. Cella, you’re driving the second one.”
I went across to the lead sled, climbed into the driver’s seat, and was disconcerted to find the Mayor getting into the passenger’s seat next to me. I admired the way she’d arrived on Miranda as a single woman colonist in her late thirties, and adjusted so quickly that within a year she had two husbands, one baby, and was elected Mayor of Jain’s Ford County. I respected the way she’d run Jain’s Ford County with brisk efficiency for the last fifteen years. However, I was also terrified of her brusque manners and legendary bad language.
“I'm riding in the lead sled to make sure the convoy doesn’t move too fast,” said the Mayor. “We can’t afford to have an accident, because we’ve borrowed these hover sleds from Miranda Central Supplies and we’re legally responsible for the cost of repairing any damage. Do you know how much it costs to import a transport sled from Gamma sector, Amalie?”
“No.”
The Mayor held out her lookup towards me. I read the numbers on the screen, gulped, and started the transport sled moving across the field at the walking speed of an elderly panda mouse with a tummy full of Mirandan cabbage. The Mayor leaned out of the window to check the convoy behind us were all in line and behaving themselves.
Once we were on the main track, I dared to speed up a fraction, and soon caught up with the slow moving track clearing crew who were trimming any bushes and trees that crowded too close to the track.
“Your father tells me you’re the one taking food to Captain Mobele,” said the Mayor.
I turned to give her a startled look. “That’s right.”