Story Snip from Larksong: Chapter 20 and Various Updates

have a list!

But first, a bit more of Larksong!

Larksong is set in Montreal, July 1914.


In chapter 1, Alice, after her grandmother's funeral, arrived at the family cottage to take care of her grandmother's aviary, only to find that her parents had already leased the cottage to another family for the summer.

The only way she could have one more summer in her favourite place was to surreptitiously take on the role of governess to the two young girls...

In chapter 2, we met George, laid up at the hospital with a broken leg. Instead of joining his friends on a Grand Tour of Europe, he's being sent off to recuperate at a rented cottage in the country...

In chapter 3, we returned to Alice's point of view, and saw her bonding with George's younger sisters. Then she got a surprise -- George was arriving at the cottage that very day!

In chapter 4, we had a hint that Alice finds George attractive and interesting -- but also unbearably rude.

In chapter 5, they had their first argument.

In chapter 6, they argued once more, but the stakes were higher: war is on the horizon.

In chapter 7, George attempted a rapprochement. The chapter ended with him asking, "Why don't we both go sit in the parlour?"

In chapter 8, Alice had some feelings stirring...

In chapter 9, during their first evening together, they began to suss each other out over a card game.

In chapter 10, we reached the end of the evening, with harsh words from George, but a détente of sorts before they went their separate ways for the night.

In chapter 11, we started the next morning in George's point of view, with his dawning realization of his attraction to Alice.

In chapter 12, we saw that this realization did not lead to greater friendliness.

In chapter 13 (which I mistakenly also labelled as 12!), a new complication arose, in the form of the arrival of George's rather rude brother.

In chapter 13 (hopefully I won't make any further numbering errors!), George was busy with inappropriate (as he thinks) thoughts of Alice.

(I've skipped a scene where Alice takes the girls down to the lake and needs to pretend with a neighbour, Mrs Chase, that she is not a governess, but simply helping out with the girls. Then, while Alice is distracted, trying to spin her web of half-truths and discussing the threat of war on the horizon, Lucy gets up on a rickety boat tied up at the dock and fell off into the water.)

In chapter 14, on returning from the lake, Alice and the girls overheard an argument that ended with this outburst from George to his brother Albert: "I don't need your tales of self-pity. The question is, what are you going to do about it, now that you've f***ed it all up?"

In chapter 15, we witnessed the fallout from the argument, then shared a moment between Alice and George in the garden.

In chapter 16, Alice left George and resumed her governess role, and decided not to join George and Albert that evening in the parlour.

In chapter 17, Alice went out early the next morning, to find George rowing on the lake, and joined him.

In chapter 18, we viewed the early morning idyll from George's point of view and considered the age-old art versus artist dilemma.

In chapter 19, we closed the morning with Alice's point of view

Now, in chapter 20, we finally have a rapprochement...

After the idyll on the lake, to have to face Albert's mocking across the breakfast table only served to remind Alice yet again what a trap she'd dug for herself. The endless chirps and screeches of the birds from the aviary could not drown out his barbed words. Albert's voice rose over Polly's repeated cries of "nitwit! nitwit! cra–acker!" and her blood boiled.

It was her own cursed pretence that held her back; a governess would not dare give him a piece of her mind the way she longed to do. Of course, a governess also shouldn't be led astray by George. Amidst all of that, Granny's birds were going hungry.

Finally, when Lucy decided to linger over a third slice of toast, and Eleanor pulled out her paper dolls before the table had even been cleared, Alice grasped the opportunity to slip away.

As she filled a bowl with seeds from the supply in the pantry, she shared a quick glance of understanding with Elsie, busy clearing the grate, preparatory to stoking the fire and heating water for laundry, Albert having already added a load to the basket.

She went the long way round, through the hall rather than cutting through the dining room, and spotted a glint of something in the aviary doorway before she'd reached it.

Closer to, the shards of glass were clear to see. In between, scattered droplets of blood peeked up from the flagstones.

She stepped backward away from the mess and hurried around the porch, peering into the aviary from outside.

Most of the creatures perched high up, but she caught flashes of yellow and blue at ground level, where overeaters pecked at some leftover grain.

They'd been fed already.

Intact glass in the aviary windows, and no cries of distress. Obeying instinct rather than reason, she quit the aviary and made for the garden.

George raised his head at her approach and greeted her with a grimace, eyetooth and all.

Instinct spoke, a small voice: "He wants you to forget this morning."

But she listened to reason, and found the explanation for his pain: He cradled his right hand in his lap, wrapped in a handkerchief, stained crimson along its edge.

He’d hurt himself during his first act of kindness towards her. Would acknowledging his intent, even to thank him, embarrass him further, or might it begin to breach the rift between them?

She offered him her own, clean, handkerchief–-a dove’s token.

He accepted with thanks, in a pinched voice. "I dropped the jar," he said shortly. "Thought I'd feed them for you while you were busy with my sisters."

There was so much she wanted to say in response. If she offered to help with his wound, playing nursemaid would only deeper entrench her role as a servant of the family. How could he truly see her without knowing who she was?

Before she could sift through possible replies, Eleanor and Lucy clattered down the porch steps.

"Come, girls," Alice called, making up her mind in an instant. "We're going on an expedition with your brother."

And now here's my list: blog posts to come!

• 2023 Writing Wrapup
• 2023 Reading Wrapup and how to deal with the Books Read list, which has gotten out of control
• the story of the Peregrine lunar lander and what's next for Writers on the Moon
• my 2024 goals, including for A Round of Words in 80 Days
• various blog revisits, as I take a look at over 15 years worth of posts!

In the meantime, there's news about Our Flag Means Death, and a huge upswelling of support in order to try to ensure a third and final season! Visit Renew As A Crew to sign the petition and find out all the ways in which you can help!

Have you made plans or lists or both for the new year?