07-09-2015, 04:33 PM
Eloise and Max called out their goodbye's in tandem and then shared a look which was a mixture of confusion and humour. "I honestly have no idea what just happened" Eloise laughed. "Me neither" came the chuckling reply. The sun was moving into the highest point in the sky and Max began to set up the fabric canopy along the top of the stall to stop the harshest of the sun's rays getting to them. Eloise was thankful for the shade and relief it provided. They had the same skin, they were both quite pale, but Eloise was the only one who burned in the sunshine. Max just got really tanned and then pale again in a matter of days. It was quite funny really.
The hours trailed on, one after another, and slowly the market began to quiet and the crowds started to disperse. Their father had been back in the truck to drop off some more things for them to sell, and also some lunch for the hungry siblings. He had done a wonderful job of raising them both, and was attentive and caring as any mother would have been. Eloise remembered him once telling Max that children needed both of their parents to flourish, but since we only had him, he tried twice as hard to make up for that. He used to joke that he was their mother and their father all wrapped up in one, especially in the mornings when the two of them had come downstairs to find their father slaving over the stove with an apron on, desperately trying to make them breakfast without burning it.
Having been only 7 years old when they lost mother, Eloise had never really had much of a chance to discuss girly things with her. Like how to buy underwear that fit right, what to do with boys and how to do her make up properly. So when those situations arose, Jacob, their father, had called every woman he knew to ask for advice so that he could come back to her with helpful and correct answers. "Do you miss her?" she had once asked Jacob, and the look of pain and sorrow that filled his face almost broke Eloise's heart. His answer was short and simple, but had stayed with her since that day. "I miss her the way we miss the summer sunshine. Desperately sad to see it go when winter comes, but comforted by the knowledge that we'll see it again soon".
"Max, what time is it? Do you think they're coming back?" she asked as the hours rolled on and the crowd became barely a few people strong. "It's five thirty. I don't know, but if they are coming they best try and get here soon. I've got a date tonight, so when six comes, we're packing up and heading home!" he laughed. Eloise stared at him for a second, her mouth wide open. "What?" he eventually asked her, sick of her staring. "You have a date? How could you not tell me you have a date!? Who is she?" she blurted out in response, and then watched as Max's face when from confusion to seer disbelief and then he burst into laughter. "What's so funny?" she asked, giving him a nudge with her shoulder. "Calm down Miss Overprotective. Your the baby in this family. And besides. You missed my joke. I do have a date, with Betsy. Dad says she's going to birth tonight, and I want to be there. She's my favorite!" he said, a slight hint of a blush spreading across his cheeks. "Oh. Shut up!" she laughed as she turned her back on him and began to load the pallets up with what little remained from their stock.
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