Phoenix and Ashes

Reggie had every intention of being the sufferer that evening, but one of the others beat him to it.

Joseph Atherton's hour of discontent was made evident by his heavy footsteps as he pushed open the door. He ordered his pint, took a long draught of it, and as the rest waited and listened in expectation, the cause of his unhappiness was revealed.

'Women!' said Farmer Joe, with unusual vehemence.

Murmurs of sympathy all around, intended to encourage more revelation.

'I mean!' he continued, aggrieved, 'A fellow's got enough to do in his day, don't he? And when she says that May Day is all stuff and nonsense, and that she don't hold with sech childish farradiddle, a fellow's got a right to take her at her word, don't he? I mean! Cows need milkin', stock needs feedin', and there's enough to do without muckin' about gettin' a lot of silly flowers, and on the day of fair and school treat, no less, and all them tents and kiddies to be hauled up t'manor!'

With those words, it all came clear to every man in the pub. Clearly, Mrs. Tina had been expecting to get her May Day tribute, no matter what she had said to the contrary. Clearly, what with young Adam being the sort to 'volunteer' his father's services—Joseph having one of the few farm horses old enough to have escaped being 'conscripted,' but young enough to do his work—Joseph had found himself dragooned unwilling into helping out on top of an already heavy workload.

And clearly, when the aforementioned May Day tribute did not materialize, Mrs. Tina had made her displeasure known. Which was probably why Joe was here, and not sitting down to his dinner.

'Unfair, that's what it is,' replied another farmer, Albert Norman. 'How's a man to guess, when they say one thing, and mean the opposite?'

'Or when they don't say anything at all,' Reggie put in, with feeling. 'And they expect you to somehow understand what's going on in their heads without any clue! And then when you blunder into some hideous mistake, they turn on you!'

'That's a fact,' Joseph sighed. Albert nodded glumly.

'Dunno why they can't just say straight out what they want.' A new country heard from: Michael Van, off in the corner with Mad Ross. 'I mean! Tha's logical, ain't it? Do we go around sayin' one thing and meanin' the contrariwise?'

Reggie nodded along with the others, and signaled for another pint.

'You say to a girl,' said young Albert, to no one in particular, 'You say, 'a feller I know was wonderin' if you're seein' anyone in particaler,' an' she says, 'no, not in particaler,' and you get all set to—to see if she'd like to be seein' anyone in particaler, and then you turns around, and whup, there she is, at fair, with another feller, with all the parish t'see! So if she ain't with 'im, then why's she actin' like she's with 'im, is what I want to know!'

More shaking of heads. 'Can't account for it,' said Michael Van. 'And you'd think, wouldn't you, if you'd offended some 'un, they'd tell you, wouldn't you?' He appealed to Ross. 'If I said something that made you mad, you'd say!'

'I'd say,' Mad Ross replied, with a glint in his eye. 'Or I'd punch your nose. Either way, you'd know.'

'So there's no call to be mad at a body if he's said summat you didn't like, and you didn't tell him, is there?' Michael continued, sounded aggrieved. 'And 'specially if it was months and months ago, and you never said, till it's too late for him to remember what he did say, much less why you should be mad about it!'

'That's a fact,' replied Albert.

'My round, I think,' Reggie said.

Reggie would have liked to air his own grievance—but with his nerves rawly sensitive, he didn't want to put his standing in jeopardy with the other Broom regulars. He ran it over in his mind. No matter what I say, it's going to offend someone. If I tell them what I told her, surely they'll think I was being patronizing too. It's that lord of the manor business—and it wouldn't matter that not one of them has ever given thought to his daughter doing anything other than marrying another farmer or laborer—the moment I say anything about it, they're going to think the worse of me.

So instead, he just shook his head and murmured, 'Women! There's no pleasing them.'

The others nodded sagely.

The barmaid, Jessamine Heggins, glanced sideways at young Albert with compressed lips as she passed him, collecting glasses, delivering fresh pints. Reggie wondered if she was the one that Albert was referring to, and felt a distinct touch of annoyance at her. That was a cruel thing, stringing the poor fellow along!