Sunday, December 04, 2005

JM Fan Fiction: Adventure in New York

“Did you hear what I just said, Victoria?” Jason Fielding asked.“Yes I heard you and yes I understand as I did the first time you told me.” His wife answered in a disgruntled voice. “I believe that is the hundredth time you told me that and I swear Jason, you are succeeding in ruining my day.” She finished with a scowl.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Wakefield are currently in New York because Jason and his business partners are embarking on another new business and they are going to meet with their contact to finalize everything. Jason decided to bring his wife along so that they could see together the newly built Patrick Seaton Memorial Hospital in Portage which he built in honor of Victoria’s father. When his friends learned that he is bringing his wife, they also thought it was a splendid idea so they brought theirs too.

They had arrived the night before and so, for the last hour, Jason has been telling Victoria again and again not to venture to the streets if they are not accompanied by any man because the streets are not safe for ladies alone. He told them that they have to remain in the hotel and wait for them to come back from their meeting so they all could go wander and see the sights together.

“The meeting won’t be long, half an hour the most it would take, so you should wait for us.” Jason said.

“Did you forget that I grew up in this country? I swear those stories you heard were just rumors, my lord,” Victoria said as they were walking down the stairs to meet their friends.

“Victoria, you lived in a remote place which I am very sure was filled with goodhearted people and is not dangerous in the least. But this is the city and life here is different. There are thugs everywhere here.”“If you say so, my lord, I do not wish to argue anymore.” She replied and hastily skipped down the steps.

Jason was rendered speechless for a moment and he groaned in exasperation. How his wife managed to turn the conversation around, he could not comprehend. Now, she made it seem that he has offended her one way or another when all he had done was merely caution her.He was not able to say anything to his wife anymore then because he caught sight of their friends gathered in one corner.

From the faces of the ladies, he could surmise that the gentlemen were also giving their wives a piece of their minds about the dangers of the streets in New York. And all of their expressions were not different from what Victoria has shown him earlier.

Whitney Allison Westmoreland, the Duchess of Claymore, suddenly looked up, saw Victoria coming and rudely walked off in the middle of Clayton’s sentence to greet her friend. The other ladies’ face suddenly lit up too for a reprieve from their husbands’ admonition. Alexandra Townsende, the Duchess of Hawthorne, Sheridan Westmoreland, Countess of Langford, Julianna DuVille, Countess of Glenmore and Elizabeth Thornton, the Marchioness of Kensington, hurried forward to hug Tory as their respective husbands, Jordan, Stephen, Nicki and Ian turned to greet Jason too. A few minutes and a last round of reminder later, the gentlemen went on their way and left the ladies talking among themselves.

An hour has passed before the ladies felt the boredom and restlessness of being cooped up and doing nothing. “Our husbands have not arrived until now. I am sure they lost track of the time. What do you say if we just go to the shop next door?” Alexandra suggested.

“That would be no problem I think since it’s only a few feet away,” Whitney added hopefully.Sheridan looked at Victoria and said, “Tory, what do you think?”

Victoria, who has been longing to walk outside, just can’t contain her agreement. “I think our husbands were just exaggerating about the perils of the streets here. I have grown up here and I have never known about murders and thieves roaming the streets.”

“So that means we can go and still be safe?” Elizabeth asked.“I don’t think there’s going to be a problem. After all, it’s very near.” Julianna piped in.

They all stood up and grinned happily when their happiness was doused when somebody blocked their path and said, “So sorry, ladies, but I have been told by your husbands to keep my eyes on you and not let you step even one foot on the pavement outside this door. So I am standing guard.”

Jake Wiley finished his sentence with a squirm when he saw the indignant faces and sharp looks that were being sent his way. “How dare he!” Elizabeth exclaimed, and the others spoke aloud their disagreement. But Jake admirably held his ground despite the ladies attempt to reason, argue, sweet-talk and even bribe him.

Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a scream and shout from across the street. They all looked up to see a girl of about twelve to fifteen years old being hurtled from the inside of one of the shops in it. Less than a second later, a man came out of the same door and kicked the scampering girl in the back with all his might and she was sprawled in the dirt once more.

Victoria, Whitney and the rest of the ladies gasped in horror at the scene before them. They all tried to push Jake out of their way to help the girl but he won’t stir.One minute Jake was standing firm and unmoving but the next second he was doubled over in pain. “I’m sorry Jake, I don’t want to do it but you leave me no choice. Come on ladies!” Alexandra called over her shoulder. She was the one who punched Jake in the abdomen, just to loosen his stance so that she and the rest of the ladies could go and help the girl.When they arrived at the scene, the man is still beating and kicking the whimpering girl.

“I should have let you die, you ungrateful bitch!” The man screamed. And to the astonishment of the ladies, the three men who were standing on the sides were giving encouragement to the man doing the beating.

“Hey mister, stop beating that girl!” Whitney shouted.The man paused, looked up and replied “Stay out of this bitch, this is none of your concern.”

“You are abusing her, stop it now or you’ll have to deal with us!” Alex shouted back at him.The three men on the sides suddenly focused their attention on the ladies and laughed at them.“You think you’d make Harold stop in one of his fits?” One of them asked incredulously and erupted into gales of mirth again. “You sound funny. Guess you’re not from here. Wanna have a good time? Lemme show you how,” one of them said which made the other two erupt into laughter again.

“Harold, look at these girls. Betcha they’d taste good.” One of them remarked.“I’ll take that red hair. She looks mighty fine to me,” the other one said.

However, the ladies and Harold were not listening to them because they were intent on their goal. Harold was raising his hands to slap the girl when suddenly he found himself stumbling on the pavement. Somebody struck him on the back of his knees. When he looked back he saw that it was the one of the ladies with a stick on her hand.“You bitch! Now you will get what you’re wanting.” Harold shouted.

To Be Continued.....