Samantha groaned yet again as her grandmother sat down in a chair with her embroidery.
“Hush, Samantha, that’s no way to act when we have company coming over.”
“But does it have to include a boy?”
“He has to come, Mrs. Douglas is his caregiver. Don’t worry, I’m sure we can convince him to go over to the Rylands. But until then, you will need to be a good hostess and put up with him.”
Samantha huffed. “I guess I can handle him for a little while.”
Grandmary smiled. “Good, thank you.”
Jessie came into the room and curtsied. “Mrs. Douglas and her boy are here, ma’am.”
Grandmary nodded. “Thank you, Jessie, please show them in.”
Jessie curtsied again and left, returning a minute later with a woman who looked to be about a few years younger than Grandmary and a boy not much older than Samantha, about eleven or so. The boy looked as uncomfortable as Samantha felt. He reached into his collar and pulled on it, shooting a pout at the woman. Samantha began to feel a little bad about her quick assessment of him before having even met him. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as Eddie Ryland, but he was still a boy.
Grandmary rose from her chair and hugged the woman. “Hello, Mrs. Douglas.”
Mrs. Douglas chuckled. “Oh goodness, just call me Harriet, Mary, I’m not much older than you are!”
Grandmary smiled. “Oh yes, of course, it’s just going to take me a little while to get used to it.”
Mrs. Douglas smiled. “I can understand that. Well, let me introduce you to Huckleberry Finn.” Samantha snorted, but did her best to hide her smile while Huckleberry glared at her. She couldn’t help it if he had a funny name.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Finn,” said Grandmary with her usual politeness. “This is my granddaughter, Samantha Parkington.” Samantha stood up and gave a little curtsy. Mrs. Douglas cleared her throat, and with a sigh, Huck gave a quick, stiff bow.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Douglas, Mr. Finn.”
“A pleasure to meet you too, Mrs. Edwards, Miss Parkington,” mumbled Huckleberry.
“Now, I know a strapping young boy like you wouldn’t want to stay here with us ladies while we chat, so, I was wondering if you would like to go next door? Our neighbors have a boy your age, Edward.”
Huckleberry seemed to perk up at that. “I would like that, ma’am.”
“Very well. Samantha, can you please show Mr. Finn the way to the Rylands? I’m sure once he knows his way, he can find his way back .”
Samantha began to complain about it, but thought better of it. The faster she got Huckleberry over to Eddie’s the better. Besides, it would give her a chance to see Nellie, even if it would be very quick. “I would be happy to, Grandmary. Right this way, Mr. Finn.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Edwards,” said Huckleberry with a quick bow before following Samantha out of the house.
The two walked quietly towards the Ryland house. Samantha didn’t quite know what to talk about, but she knew Grandmary would want her to be hospitable and racked her brain to try and find something. Well, she could ask him about their trip to New York, and maybe find out how Grandmary met them.
Samantha opened her mouth to speak, but Huckleberry spoke first. “What river is that?”
Samantha looked at the Hudson and smiled. “That’s the Hudson River.”
“That’s the Hudson?”
“Oh yes!”
“Looks smaller than the Mississippi.”
“You’ve seen the Mississippi?”
“Yup, we live near it, just like you live near the Hudson.”
“What’s it like?”
“Well a lot bigger than this, that’s for sure.”
“Have you ever traveled down it?”
“Shoot, I’ve practically traveled the whole length of it.”
Samantha gasped. “Really? Did you see other people?”
“Well of course! I’ve even run into river pirates.”
“River pirates? There’s such a thing?”
Huckleberry nodded. “Oh, yes.”
“How did you escape from them? Were you scared?”
“Of course, he was scared.” came a taunting voice, “He’s a big wussy and he’s dumb for hanging out with little dumb you.” Samantha huffed as she glared at Eddie Ryland.
“Eddie Ryland, you keep your mouth shut or I’m going to find your money jar and dump it into the river. Besides, I was just being a good hostess. Grandmary wanted me to escort him to your house to play with you. But if you think he’s too good for you to play with, I’ll play with him instead.” Huckleberry snickered.
Eddie gasped. “Too good for me? What are you suggesting, Samantha Parkington?”
“If you’re so smart, you figure it out,” said Samantha.
Eddie did think for a bit before shaking his head. “Ah forget it, you little dummy. Well, you brought him to play with me, here I am, now get lost.”
Samantha humphed before turning to Huckleberry. “I hope you have fun, Huckleberry Finn.”
Eddie burst out laughing. “That is such a wussy name! Who named you that?”
“My mom,” mumbled Huckleberry. Samantha’s heart seemed to melt a little, he lost his mom too and that alone finally endeared him to her. Having lost both of her parents, she understood the pain all too well.
“Sounds like your mom would have been fun to be around.”
Huckleberry looked at her and smiled just a little. “Yeah, she was.”
“Aw, did wussy Huckleberry lose his mommy too?”
Huckleberry glanced at Eddie. “Too?”
Eddie’s hand shot out and Samantha shrieked. Her precious locket was now in that horrible boy’s hands! “Eddie Ryland, you give that back!”
He dangled the locket in front of Samantha’s face. “Give me a nickel, and I’ll give it back to you.”
Samantha lunged for it, but Eddie kept it out of her reach. “Give it back!” She was on the verge of tears. She didn’t care that she had to be a good hostess, that was her locket with pictures of her parents in it, keeping them close.
“I’ll pay for it.” Samantha and Eddie looked at Huckleberry.
Eddie grinned at him. “You got a nickel?”
“Oh, you’re getting five alright.”
Eddie’s grin got bigger. “Five? Wow, that’s . . . ah!” Huckleberry’s right hand shot out and hit Eddie square on the nose.
Huckleberry smirked. “I didn’t say five of what though.”
Eddie growled. “You wussy!” He lunged at Huckleberry, and the two went tumbling down the hill towards the river. Samantha ran after them. She paused and gasped as she spotted something gold on the way down. Eddie had dropped her locket! She quickly snatched up her precious treasure and put it back on. She watched the fight while doing so. Huckleberry was holding his own quite well against Eddie. But his back was to the river, and Samantha was worried that Eddie might pull some dirty trick and push him in. Sure, he would just be wet, but if he wanted to change clothes, Eddie was the only one with any clothes nearby. And she was sure that Huckleberry didn’t want to do that, she certainly didn’t wish it on him. But the next moment, that fear turned into laughter. Eddie had tried to pull that dirty trick, but Huckleberry seemed to anticipate it, ducked, and sent Eddie tumbling over him into the river.
“Oh be quiet, you dumb girl!” shouted Eddie when he stood up. Samantha only laughed harder. Seeing Eddie Ryland a dripping mess was incredibly funny.
“Eddie! Eddie! Eddie Ryland, where are you?”
Eddie pointed at Huckleberry. “This isn’t over.”
“Oh, it’s definitely not, but I don’t think you would like it once it was.” Eddie growled and took a step forward.
“Eddie!”
“I’ll get you yet, Dumberry.” With that, he walked off. Huckleberry stood there blinking in surprise for a moment before looking at Samantha.
“Did he just call me Dumberry?”
Samantha shrugged. “At least he’s not calling you a wuss anymore.” She walked towards him. “But, I do want to thank you for getting my locket back.” Her hand clasped around the heart-shaped jewelry. “And . . . and to apologise.”
“Whatever for?”
“For thinking you were like Eddie Ryland, but you’re obviously not. Sorry.”
Huckleberry shrugged. “You’re fine, call it even if you want.”
Samantha looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I thought you were going to be like this girl I know, Susan Wilks, she can get pretty annoying, and downright ornery.”
Samantha snickered. “Sounds like she would get along quite well with Eddie Ryland.”
Huckleberry nodded. “I think she would too.” He pointed at the locket. “Did that used to be your Ma’s?”
“Well, actually . . .” She opened it up to show the pictures of her parents. “It’s how I keep them close.”
“Those are some nice pictures, and your Ma sure is awful pretty.”
Samantha smiled as she closed the locket. “Thank you.”
“So, um, how did, uh . . .”
“They die?” Huckleberry nodded. Samantha let out a breath. “A boating accident.”
Huckleberry sucked in a breath and turned to look at the river. “That’s harsh.”
“Yes, I miss them so much.”
“Well, I almost died twice on the Mississippi.”
Samantha blinked. “What?”
“Yeah, the first time was when I ran into those river pirates. Their boat was going down. The second time, Jim and I were nearly run over by a steamboat.”
“What? Now this I have to hear. And who’s Jim?” The two walked back to Samantha’s house, Huckleberry telling her all about his adventures with his friends Jim and Tom Sawyer.
An hour later, Mrs. Douglas and Grandmary saw them from the window, swinging their legs from a tree bough. Grandmary wanted to go out and get them down, but Mrs. Douglas stopped him.
“Come now, Mary, they’re children, let them have their fun. Besides, they’re just sitting there talking.”
“But Samantha knows she shouldn’t be up in a tree.”
Mrs. Douglas chuckled. “I consider this a happy medium. Huckleberry would be off running amok. The fact that he’s sitting in a tree just talking with her is about as tame as you’re going to get with him.”
“But what’s he telling her?”
“Oh, probably all of his adventures, one of which involved saving me from a man who wanted revenge because my husband, God bless his soul, put him in jail.”
“Really?” Mary sat down in her rocking chair. “This sounds intriguing, do tell this story.” Mrs. Douglas smiled and told her all about it, while two children continued to swing their legs from a tree bough, chatting away like old friends.