A World Within Page 4

When morning broke upon Daniel’s window, he grumbled and shuffled beneath his covers. Normally, he liked to snuggle under the blankets for a good half hour, enjoying the warmth and still of early morning. But this morning he got up promptly. He supposed that Parker must have somehow carried him and William up to his room last night, but the fog of sleep had stolen the memory of it from him.

  Daniel went to his window and faced the day’s new sun. Frost covered the rim of the window and he felt the sharp chill of winter beyond as it tried to invade the room through the clear pane. A hefty blanket of snow covered everything in sight outside. Tree branches bent low under the weight of accumulated powder. Small animals flitted about, conducting their daily routines despite the weather.

  The pond would almost certainly be frozen by now, and Daniel grew anxious to get out on the ice. He searched in his walk-in closet and soon found some appropriately warm clothes and his ice skates. He watched William sleeping as he got himself dressed. His friend looked like he would be dozing in a blanket cocoon for at least another two hours, so he decided not to disturb him. This first time on the ice this season would be all his. Daniel finished his preparations and ran downstairs with his skates in tow—the laces tied together and hung upon his right shoulder.

  As he descended the staircase to the ground level, he smelled the aroma of bacon, eggs, and coffee coming from the kitchen. Mrs. Trumble had already been busy cooking for the entire household. Daniel peeked through the door. Sure enough, the kindly maid had whipped up his favorites for his first breakfast back home.

  Parker sat in the kitchen in his butler’s uniform, a dark vest and trousers, white shirt, and striped tie, eating breakfast while reading the day’s paper. He held a cup of coffee in his right hand and the paper open in his left. He offered a “Good morning, Master Daniel,” without removing his eyes from the news.

  “Good morning, Parker, Mrs. Trumble.”

  “Up a bit early this morning, aren’t you?” Mrs. Trumble asked. “Where’s your friend, William?”

  “I left him asleep—thought he might like the extra time. They make us get up so early at Ekhart.”

  “Heading out to the pond already?” Parker asked.

  “Yes, I’ve missed it.”

  “Well, not without a hardy breakfast you’re not.” Mrs. Trumble placed a well portioned plate of bacon, eggs, and jelly biscuit on the counter in front of him.

  He took it and sat at the kitchen table with Parker. It was pointless to argue with Mrs. Trumble. She had his best interests at heart. Truth be told, Daniel adored her constant mothering—a quality lacking in his real mother. He tore through the delicious breakfast, then replaced the empty plate on the island countertop where he had retrieved it.

  “I’m off,” he said. “I’ll be back later. Oh, and let William sleep in a bit, all right?”

  “If he can resist the smell of my breakfast, then he needs the rest.” Mrs. Trumble said, returning to her cooking.

  “Mind the ice, Daniel.” Parker said. “It’s been solid for about a week now, but you never know.”

  “I will.” Daniel ran out of the house and into the frigid air. It bit at his ears until he pulled on his toboggan and gloves. His breath clouded the air before his face and then disappeared. It reminded him of something William had told him a few times. “Life is but a vapor,” he would say. “Here one second and gone the next.”

  Daniel had always loved winter. Only the absence of his parents made Christmas a painful time, but he had learned to live with the fact that, despite his existence, they simply weren’t going to settle into a family lifestyle. They enjoyed traveling and spending money and that, simply, was the way things were and had always been. He’d stopped trying to grumble and complain about the situation to his parents long ago.

  When Daniel arrived at the pond, he saw that Parker was right. The pond had transformed into a gray and white layer of ice. It looked like a thousand spider webs were stretched across its surface. Daniel trudged through the new snow and made his way to the bank of the pond. He removed his skates from his shoulder and untied the laces. Then he made the switch from shoes to blades and took a first cautious step onto the ice. It appeared quite solid.

  The pond had only a four foot depth at its center, so there was no real danger of drowning in it. Daniel had plunged through on several occasions, coming home soaking wet and freezing cold. But the fire and Mrs. Trumble’s mothering had taken away the chill.

  The Harwick’s pond measured nearly fifty yards across, more than enough room for a good game of hockey or Daniel’s penchant for the dramatic on the ice. He loved speed and even had a wild side when it came to tricks. Parker had decided early on that it was best for him not to watch the boy. It only made him nervous.

  Daniel pushed off from the shore, gliding out onto the ice. He tried to get his bearings before doing anything foolish—that would come in a few minutes. A biting chill hung in the air, but out on the ice, Daniel never noticed. Here he felt free. Had he been bigger, he might have done very well at sports, but he wasn’t going to even try with the way things were for him at Ekhart.

  Daniel made his way around the outskirts of the pond, picking up speed and launching into jumps over small branches cast from their trees hanging over the pond. He spun and came around backwards. The icy wind made the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention. Then, the exposed portion of his neck, between toboggan and jacket collar, exploded with cold.

  Daniel spun around as the snow infiltrated around his shoulders and down his back. He saw a blur of motion from a person on the shore and then another snowball smashed into his face, sending his glasses flying out somewhere on the blurry pond-ice. An incessant laughter broke out among several children on the shore. Daniel recognized one voice in particular: Derek Wentworth.

  Derek had obviously come home for the Christmas holidays as well. And unfortunately the Wentworth’s property bordered his own. Derek’s voice broke through the laughter of his cronies. “Where’s ole William Hardcase now, Danny boy?”

  Everything appeared blurry without his spectacles, but Daniel saw the bodies of several boys, closer to his size than Derek’s, encircling him on the ice. He thought about shoving through them and making a break across the pond where he had the advantage, but without his glasses, he wouldn’t get far.

  “This is my family’s property,” Daniel said with feigned confidence, “you’re trespassing.”

  “Woo!” The other boys followed Derek’s mocking lead. “I’m real scared, Danny-boy.”

  Derek walked cautiously out onto the ice in his sneakers and came right up to Daniel, towering over him. With the other boys around him, he had nowhere to run. Daniel imagined Derek pounding his ungloved fist into his face. This is going to hurt.

  If he had ever needed William, it was now. But Will was nowhere in sight.

  “I told you, if I ever caught you without that beggar around, I’d make you pay,” said Derek. Then, he lunged at Daniel and shoved his shoulders with both hands. It came so fast and hard that Daniel had no time to react. His skate-laden feet flew up as his upper body succumbed to the force of gravity and the force of Derek. The blurry white world spun around him, and Daniel came crashing down backwards onto the pond.

  The back of his head smashed into the ice with such force that his vision flashed like fireworks. A terrible ache hit him like a railroad spike splitting the back of his skull through to the front. A tingling enveloped his body rapidly. Daniel couldn’t feel his hands and feet anymore, and in his vision faded to black. Within seconds he lost consciousness completely.