Chapter IV

IV

“Well good morning Lassie!” The old man said to the youngster as she awoke rubbing her eyes. “You’ve been sleeping for almost the whole day already.”

“Hello.” Aileen said, still half asleep. “Was it you that rescued me?”

“Well, if you mean was it me who brought you in from the cold fog on yestermorn, aye, then it would be me, Jacob Fairweather. And what might the name of my pretty young friend be?” 

“Aileen McKinney is me name sir.”

“You wouldn’t want to be telling me what you happened to be doing up here on the mountain last night, now would ya Aileen McKinney. At least not until you’ve had some breakfast I think.” 

There was a cast iron pot of oatmeal bubbling on the stove and Aileen could smell it and realized she was a mite hungry after the climb and her ordeal of yesterday. “That would sure be appreciated Mr. Fairweather.”

“It was a full moon last night and I just happened to be up here at the observatory to see it.” Jacob said as he stood by the stove stirring the oatmeal and looked back over his shoulder at Aileen. He spooned some out into a bowl and took it to the girl who was already sitting up on the edge of the bed.

“Thank you sir.” Aileen said, taking the bowl from Jacob and quickly eating a few spoonfuls before she spoke again. “So, this is some kind of observatory you have here eh?” “So, what do you do, look for all the giants and dragons that the men back at Glen Hale say live up here?”

“No no, my dear this is a weather observatory. It’s operated by the University of Edinburgh.”

“So, why would you want to come up here to look at the weather?” Aileen asked. “There are giants that live up here you know.”

“We have some new instruments that can measure the wind and the barometric pressure.” Jacob said pointing to the brand new Barograph at the other end of the room.

“What kind of pressure are you talking about sir?” Aileen said as she walked over to the machine to study its detail. The barograph was a round drum with a piece of foil wrapped around it and a stylus that rested on the foil. A sort of wound clockwork was rotating the drum slowly as the stylus rose and fell over the course of the day leaving a record of the pressure changes on the foil.

“Didn’t you learn about the barometer in school Lassie.” Fairweather asked.

“I live on a farm, sir, and I didn’t ever go to a school, you know. So how could I have learned about it, eh?” She continued to study the mechanics of the marvelous machine that was before her. Jacob Fairweather, who was a bit eccentric, was studying the young lady in front of him, wondering how it could be that her fertile mind was being wasted.

“So, can you tell me what happened to you Aileen?” Fairweather asked.

“Me brother attacked me sir, and I pushed him and he fell and hit his head on a rock and died. I couldn’t go home ‘cause my father would beat me for sure.” Aileen quickly blurted out the truth fearing that if she thought about it she would never have told a stranger. In fact, her father would have beaten her as he had done many times before. Then she quickly changed the subject saying. “There aren’t any giants that live up here on the mountain are there Mr. Fairweather?”

Reviews

[Amber Nicole]

Sorry it took me so long to finally read your story. I've been working midnights and they've been kicking my butt. But so far I really enjoyed the story. Can't wait to see what you have planned next.