Read Online Brookland by Emily Barton - Free Book Online Page A

a bouquet of wooden mugs.
    As the Horsfield boys grabbed for their food, Prue thought briefly of Persephone, who had eaten the pomegranate seeds in Hell and ever after been bound to the place. But the clams were sweet as sugar and the cider more alcoholic than that her mother served; there was no good argument against eating in a New York inn.
    â€œWhy’re you so quiet?” Ben asked her.
    She flinched a little, shy to have been caught. Roxana answered for her: “Because she’s a dark-minded critter; you know that, Ben.” This made Prue want to slump down on her bench, but she could see that both her mother and Ben were still smiling and that her father had put his arm around her mother’s shoulders. They remained mysterious,though Prue felt she had learned a good deal about the world outside Brooklyn that day.
    By the time the meal was through, the afternoon was already settling in toward evening; a shadow covered the whole side of the street. Tem was drooping, and Roxana slung her over her shoulder like a washrag. Prue could see her mother working up some reproach for her father, but before she could voice it, he said, “We’ll get them home quick as we can.”
    â€œShame for such a day to end,” Joe Loosely said. “It’ll be a long time before we have another holiday.”
    Mrs. Loosely picked up Maggie, who had refused to eat any lunch and still looked disgruntled. Pearl got to perch on her father’s shoulders; while Ben and Isaiah, as promised, moved under their own power. Prue felt relieved to find them tired enough to walk along without any shoving or games. After a few minutes weaving through traffic on the busy streets, even the adults fell quiet, and the Looselys ended up walking somewhat ahead of the rest of the party. Ben began directing Isaiah to collect mementos from the journey: a discarded newssheet, some gray New York pebbles, an apple pilfered from a cart. As they stepped out onto the surface of the water, Prue marveled at how natural it now seemed to walk over the surface of a frozen river. This was how quickly one’s view could change.
    â€œRoxy?” Matty said softly.
    Prue moved away from the group as if in search of something for Ben’s collection, so she might keep her parents in view and continue to listen. Her mother raised her thin eyebrows in reply.
    â€œIf we aren’t—if we don’t try for a boy, we shall have to train one of the girls to run the distillery.”
    She dropped her head to one side, as if releasing water from her ear. “I don’t know,” she said. “I suppose it wouldn’t be the worst thing.”
    â€œNot Pearlie, of course, and Tem’s too little yet to know what she’ll be good for. But Prue.”
    Roxana caught Prue’s eye and raised her chin to indicate she shouldn’t be so nosy. “It’s a serious business. Do you suppose you could manage, Prue?”
    Prue glanced at the boys, who were lost in their endeavor. Her heart almost leapt from her body at the thought of being trained to the distillery.This was the thing she most coveted. The machines, and the mysteries of the business, seemed such a worthwhile and practical pursuit compared to wondering where the dead resided; and she’d be able to spend whole days and years in her father’s company. “I imagine I could,” she said. Then, fearing her mother would see the eagerness in her eyes and refuse her, she headed back toward the boys and pushed hard on Ben’s slender back. She had no real desire to fight with him—and indeed, she grew sorry she’d started anything when he pulled her to her knees—but she didn’t know what else to do with her enthusiasm.
    Her father said to her mother, “I know it’s what she wants. She might prove to have a talent for it.”
    â€œShe might,” her mother replied more quietly. But Prue’s ears were attuned to her even