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Jennifer Teresa Donovan ([info]wild_at_heart) wrote in [info]oldwest_rpg,
@ 2008-05-22 12:10:00

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Entry tags:floyd huntington, jenny donovan

A Mouse In The House
Who: Jenny and Floyd
Where: Kitchen of Eli Donovan's house
When: May 19, 1967; late afternoon
Status: Incomplete



"Mmmmm." Jen inhaled deeply of the freshly baked bread as it was removed from the cook stove. She loved the aroma a freshly baked loaf gave off. Which is probably why the youngest of the Donovan clan baked at least one loaf each day, the smell seemed to linger within the kitchen for at least an hours time. With a soft hum of an old Irish song learned from her mother. Jenny set the pan on the counter beside the stove and moved off to get a small, clean towel with which to cover the bread until it cooled sufficiently enough to be removed without Jen singeing the pads of her fingers. When she turned to go fetch one her breath caught in her throat and Jenny stood rigidly still at the sight of a tiny little mouse scurrying across the doorway that led into the kitchen. That sight was all it took for the woman to seek a bit of higher ground, and in this instant that higher ground turned out to be the kitchen table.



"Eli...." She squeaked out from her current perched position on the table before the realization set in that her brother wasn't around. He had gone to return a parasol that had been left hanging in the stables. "Somebody....Floyd...anybody?" She piped a bit louder hoping her voice would somehow travel beyond the doors and windows of the kitchen. "Help?" Jenny squeaked again catching sight of the small, furry, little four legged creature scurrying once more across the floor boards of the kitchen. There was no way now that she was moving from her spot until someone came to handle the small rodent.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-22 07:53 pm UTC (link)
Floyd was singing out in the stables to the horses, one of their favorite campfire songs. They seemed to listen more when she sang happy chipper songs then when she sang slow sadder songs. It'd been a warm day and Floyd was sweating like nobody's business. She wiped her forehead on her sleeve and grabbed a bunch of bridles that needed a good polishing. She figured she'd do them outside in the sun, as the stable itself was rather muggy and now that she'd led most of the horses outside to graze in the shade of the trees.

Heading out with her rag and polishing stuff she heard a small cry for Eli from inside the house. Figuring Jen would realize quickly that Eli wasn't around she continued to just walk towards the pasture when she heard her own name being called. Somebody? Anybody?. "What on earth does that girl want?" She muttered to herself and dropping the thing she had in her hands on the porch and going to look in to the kitchen window. She wasn't screaming bloody murder so she couldn't have been hurt...

Peeking in the window Floyd was surprised to find Eli's sister on the table. "Whatcha doin' in there?" She called and then heading back towards the porch and opening up the door to the kitchen, "Jen what on God's green earth are you doin' up there on that there table?" she drawled, looking rather confused. As used to 'ladies' as Floyd was, she didn't always compute fast enough what was going on.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-22 09:13 pm UTC (link)
"Oh thank the lord you're here." Jenny released a heavy sigh of relief at the sight of the stable worker. "I think he's still lurking around." Jen wouldn't be satisfied, nor climb down from the table until she witnessed the killing of or saw the tiny corpse of the little critter. "You better grab the broom quick as he's quite the little runner." Jenny informed her as twin pools of blue-gray darted around the kitchen once more for the rodent. It never dawned on the woman that Floyd wouldn't know what the heck she was going on about, cause really wasn't it all obvious? Why else would she have gotten herself up onto the table in the first place.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-23 05:43 am UTC (link)
"Him?" Floyd said, obviously boggling. She had no idea what this girl was on about. Unfortunately, Floyd was never one to kill a helpless creature and so if Jennifer needed to see a body, she'd be spending a fair long while on that table there. Floyd was always more apt to catch and animal and release it then she was to try and kill it. "Lurkin' 'round? What was it?" She asked peering at the floor, not seeing anything.

"What was it? Spider? Bug?" She asked still not seeing what Jen had seen. Oh lordy women she did not understand sometimes.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-23 02:11 pm UTC (link)
"Oh heavens no." A light, half hearted laugh was given to the thought as she looked toward Floyd. Spiders, bugs, and the like Jen could handle. "It was one of those little four legged scavengers." And having said that the woman eyes set once more to glancing around the kitchen for the little rodent who currently was no where to be seen.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-23 05:28 pm UTC (link)
Floyd blew her fringe off her forehead. She was going to have to lurk around for a mouse? Hopefully it was a mouse, rats tended to be harder to catch. "You got a jar or somethin'?" She asked the woman. The poor helpless thing. Knowing now it was probably just a small mouse, she knew she wouldn't be needing a broom. A rat...well maybe. Not a poor mouse. Mice were a given considering where the Donovan's lived and what they did for a living.

Floyd didn't have much use for women who were scared of something so much smaller then they were, but Jenny had seemed nice enough in their brief encounter before this one. Floyd was sure she wasn't completely useless.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-23 07:36 pm UTC (link)
"A jar?" The was a brief flash of a quizzical look, the there and then gone kind, across Jen's face. "You're planning on trying to catch the thing?" A look of shock at that thought overrode the questioning look, along with wide eyes. It was true with where the Donovans lived, that mice and other such critters would have been a given, but with Jen it was kind of like an out of sight out of mind sort of thing. As long as she didn't actually see one of the little rodents she was fine, but as soon as that moment happened it was to higher ground she went until she had proof the small animal was gone.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-23 09:34 pm UTC (link)
"Yes a jar." She replied looking around the kitchen and spotting one just off the side. "You got any preserves 'round? Cracker maybe?" She had thought trapping it would be best with food, poor thing probably just wanted a meal. "'Course I'm gonna try an catch it...poor thing's probably scared out of it's mind." Spotting the bread on the counter across Floyd strode confidently over to to it and gathered up some of the crumbs that had come out of the pan and then picking up the jar and walking over to where Jenny seemed to keep scanning. She knew mice moved quickly, but if she was lucky...just maybe.

Ah yes. Poor little thing, it looked to be just a baby which would make sense consider the season. She knelt down on the floor a fair ways away and dropped the bread crumbs near where the poor little mouse had gone and cornered itself behind a dust pan. She sat back very still waiting. The mouse would be out soon, she was sure of it.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-23 11:55 pm UTC (link)
"You're gonna feed it some of MY bread." Jen watched each movement the other woman made from her place on top the table with eyes that had gone wide again and with pure surprise in her voice. "That'll just keep the little varmint coming back." She protested. Why couldn't she have just braved it out. Snatched up the broom and taken care of the creature herself. Why wasn't her brother around to do that chore? One of the other hands could have returned the stupid parasol.

So here she was. Trapped a top the table until the mouse was caught or killed and removed from the kitchen. It all made Jen sigh with irritation.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-24 05:54 pm UTC (link)
"It's not like I stole the whole loaf." Floyd muttered loud enough for Jenny to hear. She was trying to be quiet to get the little mouse out from it's hiding spot. "Not if you take 'em out far enough." She replied. Hell she'd take him home with her if it bothered Jenny that much. Floyd was just not a person to kill animals. She'd never been but more recently the boy she'd taken up with and had now gone back to China, had taught her about karma and Floyd was not about to tempt fate in killing this poor creature.

"It won't take much longer, don't get yer skirts in a twist." She said with a bit of a tease, wiping her hands down on her trousers. Ahh trousers, she could never understand women in skirts, all her sister's wore them too. Pants were just so much easier, and though they were for men officially, she didn't care, she wore them anyway.

Aha, success. Floyd watched as the little mouse scurried out to greet the bread crumbs eating them up as it went in quick little movements. Floyd moved slowly and carefully and placed the jar over the mouse who at first didn't even seem to notice it was just so elated in eating. In one quick movement though, she turned the jar sideways and scooped up the little mouse, placing her hand down to make sure it stayed in the jar and righted it slowly so the mouse didn't fall to hard to the bottom. "There." She said standing up and placing the jar on the counter.

The little mouse ran around the bottom of the jar, as it was small enough, looking for a way out of it's glass cage. Floyd then scooped up the rest of the crumbs off the floor and dumped them in with the poor creature so it could finish it's meal. "Now you can get of that there table." She said with a pleased look.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-26 12:31 am UTC (link)
Jen scowled at the woman. "Don't get your skirts in a twist." She grumbled under her breath as she continued watching Floyd as the other woman worked on getting the mouse trapped within the glass container.

"Not while that thing is still in my kitchen." Jenny giving a shake of her head to add a bit more emphasis to her words. Sure the mice was presently trapped within the glass jar, but the little rodent was still in clear view. And there was no way in heck Jen was climbing down from her safe perch a top the kitchen table until the thing was gone from the house. Preferably in a non breathing state, but she a feeling Floyd wouldn't dispose of the creature that way.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-26 06:50 pm UTC (link)
"It's in a jar!" she protested, but then sighed. Women. She walked back to the door and placed the jar outside in the shade so that the little mouse wouldn't get too warm and on second thought, retrieved a bottle cap she had in her pocket and going and getting some water, placed it in the jar with the little mouse. Poor thing probably needed a drink of water as well. Floyd had small hands so reaching in and out of the jar wasn't a problem. She stopped for a second to pet the little mouse before going back inside.

"There, it's outta sight and outta mind. You can get down off that there table now, it can't hurt you." She said reaching out to help Jenny off the table. Floyd sometimes forgot she wasn't a boy but a girl, and tended to have boy manners.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-26 08:23 pm UTC (link)
"I swear. If that thing gets back into the house." Jen grumbled as she moved to step from the table onto one of the chairs circling it, and then down onto the floor. SHe didn't take a hold of the offered hand, but Jennifer did let a hand rest lightly on Floyd's shoulder to kind of steady herself on her climb down from the table to the floor.

"Eli should get a cat or two." Yep the was her whole solution to a mouse problem. Get a cat on the premise and that would wipe out any mouse population that sought to take up residence within the house proper. Well, at least that was Jennifer Donovan's view on that specific subject.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-26 09:39 pm UTC (link)
Floyd too no offense to not having Jenny take her hand. She didn't mind either that her shoulder was being used to steady herself. "It won't, and I'll go on and take it home with me tonight so you'll never see it's cute little face again ya hear?" she said with a shake of her head. "You look like you could use a drink." Floyd commented. It was just a mouse for goodness's sake.

"He should, but then he's got enough animals runnin' around to take after, then adding a few more." Floyd said thinking about all the work she had yet to do, but also wiping her brow with her rolled up sleeve. Darn it was hot out today wasn't it? "Can I bother you for a glass of water Jenny? I'm about roastin' out there." she asked.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-26 10:07 pm UTC (link)
"I don't know why you would want and go take that mouse home with you." That baffled her beyond belief, why anyone would willingly take a four legged varmint home with them. She wasn't thinking of making the little critter a pet or something, was she?

"Well, in my view, cats seem to have a way of taking care of themselves. And quite well I might add on." Jen talked as she took two glasses from a shelf and filled both with cool, refreshing water. Something that, on a day like today, would be well appreciated.

"I don't know how you can bare getting in such close proximity to a mouse." Jen giving a slight shuddering at the mere thought of that. Sure those creatures were small, could very well be squished beneath ones foot, but they had a way of giving the young woman the willies and therefore the woman never made any attempt at doing that or making use of a broom. And being in the same room again. Well, the thought just made Jen shudder lightly again.

Giving one of the water filled glasses to Floyd, Jen kept the other for herself and took a seat at the table. With the mouse having been captured and taken away she able to let herself relax.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-27 01:02 am UTC (link)
"Well if it stays around here you're just going to kill it the next time it wanders in looking for a meal. Might as well give it a fair chance." She said with a shrug. She hadn't thought about keeping it as a pet. Though the thought would occur to her while riding Shortstack home and she'll have constructed a home for it in her head by the time she reached her destination. She'd stay up late thinking of a name and finally would keep it as a pet...but that wasn't just then.

Plopping herself down unceremoniously, and very un-lady like, at the table when Jenny did, Floyd shrugged, "Still got vet bills and all." She sipped at first the water that was given to her and then, rather abruptly began to gulp it down. "Thanks kindly for the water." She said after she'd down half of the glass. "As for gettin' near 'em it's not scary. They ain't out to hurt ya." She said with a shrug. "I'm used to animals all kinds, don't know a time in life when I wasn't around 'em." She said thoughtfully.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-27 01:23 am UTC (link)
"Never could tolerate them, even as a child. And can't rightly explain why I have such a dislike for the little critters." Jen took a small, slow sip of her own water before adding more. "I remember when I was younger, maybe not more then 10, I found one in my bed and refused to sleep in it until it was proven to me that the mouse was dead. Eli was quite cross with me then as his bed was where I slept until I felt it safe enough to return to my own room. Sleeping on the floor wasn't exactly the most confortable of sleeping places in the house." Jen smiled softly at that thought and memory.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-27 03:41 am UTC (link)
Floyd couldn't help it, and didn't even try to hold it in... She snorted. Loudly. She covered her mouth, "Sorry 'bout that, just the thought of Eli bein' all angry as a kid because you two were squished up in a bed together just amused me." Yes, when referring to her boss to anybody else but Eli, she called him by his first name. She mostly called him Mister Donovan just to bug him. "Poor ole Eli. A sweet guy from the start though if he still let you sleep in 'is bed." She noted, thinking on her boss's obvious ingrained kindness.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-28 01:09 am UTC (link)
"The stories I could tell you." A light chuckle slipped past her lips with the words. And none of those tells would paint her brother as the sweet guy he was now. Some say trouble has a way of finding people, in the case of the Donovan siblings, they had a way of seeking out trouble when they were kids. A bit of a habit that Jenny hadn't seemed to fully outgrow.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-28 02:42 am UTC (link)
"Oh please do share. I love to know thing about 'em that'll just make his cheeks go all red. Eli's just too fun to bug Jenny." Floyd said drinking another quarter of the glass of water she was given by the other girl. She liked to know things about people but she had a rather fickle memory and often got things confused. Possibly why she'd not done so well in school.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-28 03:33 am UTC (link)
"Oh! I shall." She grinned. "But the story swappin is goin have to be put off for a bit. As much as I'd love to sit here and chat," and truly she did and would. Normally once one got Jenny's tongue a waggin it was pretty hard to keep the words from flowing. But a meal needed to be started. "I need to get supper cookin." She smiled with friendliness to Floyd. "Can't have anyone goin to bed on an empty belly."

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-29 02:34 am UTC (link)
Floyd had forgotten that she was still on the clock for another couple of hours. "Ooops." she said standing up, her glass still in hand. "I forgot we weren't just on a social call." She grinned and then splashed what was left in her glass over her hair and face rubbing it in. "Thanks for the water Jenny...and don't worry that there little mouse will go on home with me tonight." She said putting her glass near the sink and heading for the door.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-05-31 06:02 pm UTC (link)
"A jump in the lake would have had a more profound effect." She chuckled back over watching Floyd douse herself with what water had been left in the glass. And such an action, if taken, might have been a better way to cool off, but it also would have tongues wagging if word had gotten around.

"The least I could offer in ways of thanks for ridding the place of that little varmint there." There was a slight inclination of her head toward the jarred rodent. Even though she disagreed with the method Floyd had used for the removal of the mouse, Jenny had seemed to take an instant liking to the stable hand her brother had hired. "And you're welcome to join us for supper." Jenny seemed to have a knack for cooking more then two bellies could hold at one sitting, so Floyd's presence wouldn't be anywhere near an imposition, though if they'd pick up the conversation they had started on that afternoon it might have Eli feeling a bit outnumbered.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-05-31 10:42 pm UTC (link)
"Wearing a white shirt there darlin' we all know what happens when you douse a white shirt." She said cheekily. Jenny was okay when she wasn't having a fit over tiny little mouse that was just looking for a meal. She predicted they'd get along right famously, especially if Jennifer was willing to tattle on all her brother's funny stories as a kid.

"Awfully kind of you, but I'll have to come 'round another night, tonight's my pa's birthday, got a dinner myself to be going to. Big to do in my family's house, them birthday's." She said with a small smile. "But maybe you and I can go an find some fun 'round town one night. Don't think you've been 'round to much since you just got here? And I'm sure Eli's not 'bout to take you out for drinks." She said with a smirk. How funny would it be though to get the both of them out drinking! Oh Floyd would adore that.

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[info]wild_at_heart
2008-06-01 10:33 pm UTC (link)
Jen gave a light chuckle and a grin to that. She knew all too well what happened when a white shirt a person might happen to be wearing became drenched through and through.

"That's likely the last thing my brother would do. Especially as he doesn't seem to touch the stuff much himself." Jenny told her. "And as for fun, well in my experience there's quite the thin line between fun and trouble." She grinned lightly. Things had always started out with her in the fun phase, but they always managed to round themselves around to the trouble side.

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[info]thebestmucker
2008-06-02 08:12 pm UTC (link)
"Well I still think you an' I to go and paint the town red." She said with a grin. "Having fun sometimes does tend to lead to trouble, but with the two of us watchin' out for each other?" She laughed. "You'll have fun I promise." She nodded as she opened the door and exited outside to go back to doing the work she left outside.

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