Dust (Of Dust and Darkness) - By Devon Ashley Page 0,58
bucket in one hand, and a bag made of tightly woven straw that’s tied with rope in the other. The bucket, I notice, is filled with nothing but water. I look to him curiously, and he replies, “Don’t worry. I washed it out several times. It’s clean.”
“O-kay…” I draw out. “But what are we going to use it for?”
He unties the rope and opens the bag, pulling out two miniature lemons already halved, and a tin container. He unscrews the lid and passes it over. The substance inside is amber in color, and thick and gooey.
I gasp, and feel my eye muscles stretch wide. Honey! “I get to wash my hair?” I ask excitedly, practically bobbing up and down right where I sit.
He chuckles at my excitement.
“Thank you, Mother Nature!” I scream.
“Mother Nature? Thank me. I’m the one sneaking this stuff in here, not her.”
“And I appreciate that beyond words, but Mother Nature’s the one that made the lemons and honey to begin with.”
“Too right. But I hope some of the credit goes to me.”
“Oh, it does.” I’m still bouncing up and down with excitement, my smile spreading wide. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted something besides water to clean my hair with.”
“Uh, yeah I do. Don’t forget, I get to see that mop on your head daily. I ain’t going to lie, Rosalie. It’s disgusting.”
Air bursts through my closed lips so fast they pop outward and vibrate. “You try going weeks without washing your hair.”
“No,” he says, huffing, a hint of laughter underlining his word. “So how do you feel about lying across my legs for a bit?”
My body snaps. Eye muscles pinching, I look at him questioningly. “You want me to what?”
My look must be really entertaining, because Jack breaks out in laughter. “It’s just…your hair is really disgusting. We’re going to have to soak it for awhile. And the only way you’re going to be able to do that without killing your neck is to get a little higher off the ground. So…I’m suggesting that you lie across my legs to do that.”
My lips press tight. Lie on his legs? On my back? That would be…awkward, to say the least. “Tell you what. Let me try it on my own first.” There’s just something too vulnerable about doing it the way he suggests.
“O-kay.” He says it like he knows my way will fail.
He cups the halves in his hands one at a time and squeezes the juice into the bucket, as I allow the honey to drip. I then dip the tin container into the water and use my fingers to loosen what honey is still clinging. Since my hand is already submerged, I swirl the water, mixing the juice and honey. The lemon burns my recent scratches.
“Have fun breaking your neck,” he teases.
I glare playfully as I sit on my knees before the bucket. “I think you’re just using this as an excuse to get me in your lap.” I don’t wait to see if my words shock him. I bend over and dip my hair into the water, rotating my head until most of my roots are submerged. Ahhhhh… The relief is immediate, the lemon stinging the bare skin on my forehead. If I’m lucky enough, the lemon juice will break off the oil on my hair, and eventually my scalp will tingle too.
I won’t lie. Bending over like this with my knees digging into the rocks isn’t exactly comfortable. Needing a distraction, I ask the suddenly quiet Jack, “So…is your mother a healer or something?”
“Yeah. And my father’s in the court system. They’re both prominent in the community, so they’ve got some mighty high expectations of me. They want me to follow in my father’s footsteps, but to be honest, his life doesn’t appeal to me much.”
“Well, what does appeal to you?” I ask, swaying my head and hair sideways, elongating my neck each time to loosen the muscles that are trying hard to tense up.
“I don’t know. Something that’ll let me venture into the forest each day. Get away from the city and the politics.”
“Do you mean village?”
“Yeah. We consider our society a city. You pixies broke off into segregated villages. We faeries mostly live together in one place, and we call it a city.”
“Sounds really big compared to my quaint little Hollow.”
“Rosalie, you’re little Hollow is looking more and more like the way to go with each passing day.