Jemima Wigfall

Other Characters by this Player

Recent Posts

1. 

   Not to Worry

   May 10

   "Ms. Jemima, I didn't mean to speak so harshly.  I just want to find her.  And I don't want to go dragging anyone else out there that don't have ta be.  I've seen my fair share of blood shed and gore ..." because of the war... "and it ain't something you can un-see.  I don't want no one to have to through that, that don't have to."
    
   Arabella gave a little cough, the boys were still present during this gloomy monolog.
    
   Then quickly he realized that perhaps what he had said could elude that there may be blood shed and gore to be seen at the hands of Addy and anyone else that had been with her. "Not that I'm expectin' there ta be any for those that are rescued....but I do hate ta see what's going to happen to those Indians!" Because he knew had he been there and got his hands on any of those Indians that had gotten a hold of Addy .... well it wouldn't be pretty!
    
   "Wonder how that pie's doing?" asked Arabella, half-heartedly trying to change the subject. Isiah was clearly worried, Jemima was in a mood, the boys were probably worried, too. Arabella was certainly worried about Caroline, even more so now after Mr Chappel's speech: before then she had almost been able to pretend to herself it wasn't happening, that they were all just here for some fun sleepover. Now she sat with her chin on her steepled fingers, as depressed as everybody else. 
    
   Isiah had no appetite but he could tell everyone was hungry. "Why don't ya'll eat and then maybe Weedy and I, and whoever else wants, can go into town and see if anyone there's gotten any news?" 
    
   Jemima was about to point out that there was no point in doing that, her brother would come with news as soon as there was any, but, well, why deny the man the salve to his conscience? She nodded in sombre agreement instead. She opened her mouth to offer to take Isiah to the telegraph office, but remembering her previous rejection, closed it shut again, so that she resembled big ugly goldfish, opening and closing its mouth as it swam around its bowl.
    
   @Bongo @MD
   
2. 

   Not to Worry

   May 5

   “Ms. Wigfall, with all due respect I have no desire for a stiff drink, but I do have a desire to go out and help the Calvary rescue my sister.” He spoke with urgency as he continued. “Please, don’t waste a moment with any other information you may have on her situation." 
    
   Jemima nodded and, in her flat nasal voice, told what she knew as succinctly and as swiftly as possible.
    
   "Well, all right. Seems the stage got hit sometime late this morning on the road to Helena. Friend of my brother called Jake Lutz found it, Addy's shotgun feller and two passengers killed and mutilated, Addy and Miss Mundee from the saloon missing..." she frowned at the thought of the beautiful and glamourous singer, who was everything that she was not "... she ain't a fit person for you to know!" she couldn't help informing the handsome Mr. Chappel "Anyway, a party went out from the Fort this afternoon under Captain Barlow: if anyone can find them, he can, he's an experienced man and he's got Indian scouts and everything."
    
   She then pointedly added another fact. 
    
   "Jake wanted to go with them but they wouldn't allow it: in fact they threatened to throw him in the stockade if he tried to follow the Troop, they said civilians just got in the way of Army operations." This was clearly aimed at Isiah's insistence on going along and helping. However she narrowed her piggy little back eyes at the restless and rugged looking widower.
    
   "But, Mr Chappel, I don't think something like that would stop a man like you from trying to find his sister. I think I know the place where the attack must've happened from what Hector said, it'd take hours for you to find it in the dark." for indeed, the Sun was now setting in the Western sky "Sir, I've lived here all my life: I know a short cut through the pass, I can ride and I know how to use a gun: I can guide you there." she said simply. 
    
   @MD
    
   
3. 

   Not to Worry

   May 4

   Then the topic of pirate ships came up, and, of course, Arabella started asking questions, and Weedy shot Jemima a sharp glance. 
    
   "It's nothing," he insisted, "just stories we were making up, that's all."
    
   "Oooh, I love pirate stories!" Arabella beamed "Hey, after supper, why don't we play pirates? I can be the Spanish Princess, and you two pirates capture me and torture me to reveal where the treasure's buried. First you tie me up and then you tickle my..." but the rest was lost as the front door opened. Maye it was Hector with news of Addy and Caroline!! 
    
   The three of them waited with baited breath, but it was the voice of a stranger, at least to the girls, that sounded. 
    
   "Uncle Isiah!"  Dropping (literally) what he was doing, the boy ran to the man and nearly leapt into his arms, hugging him tightly and starting to sob.
    
   "UncleIsiahMizAddygotattackedbyIndiansandshehasn'tcomebackandthey'regoingtoscalpherandMissCarolineandMarshalGuyerandthecavalryaretryingtorescuethemandI'msoscared!"
    
   Arabella looked the big handsome widower up and down and muttered in a not so quiet voice: "Ugh, does that mean we gotta share this pie five ways instead of three?"
    
   Jemima was much more friendly. She knew of Isiah and Josh, she had seen the two of them through Professor Browne's window and was aware they were Addy's brother and nephew, but had never before had an excuse to talk to him... er. .. them. 
    
   She didn't quite shove Weedy out of the way, but she interposed herself between him and his Uncle with a command of "Porter, you and your cousin stay here with Arabella, us adults need to talk alone." She knew he'd object so she immediately followed it up with a stern "No ifs or buts!" and a wag of her finger, but then a softer "Please. It's important."
    
   She indicated the door to Isiah "Mr Chappel, if I may?" 
    
   As Weedy and Josh watched them go, Arabella shook her head. "Poor feller. Listen, if they ain't back in half an hour we'll need to send the U.S. Cavalry to go and save him!"
    
   -------
    
   In the dark hallway, Jemima moved close to Isiah, all the better to convey the grim intelligence she had out of the earshot of the youngsters.
    
   "My name's Jemima Wigfall, Mr Chappel, and I'm afraid I have some dreadful news for you. I'm sorry to be the one to inform you that your sister has been captured by a band of renegade Indians. At last report the Cavalry were moving in on them and still had some hopes of rescuing her, but... well, I thought you should know the worst. We haven't told Porter how bad the situation is, but obviously he is very worried." 
    
   She glanced to the door opposite. "Maybe you'd like to sit down in the parlour, I'll bring you a stiff drink for the shock." she offered. "Miss Mudd is very good at distracting the children, I can fill you in with what else I know."
    
   She did feel a slight... all right, massive twinge of guilt: this tragic situation was actually great for her! She suddenly had a reason to talk with the handsome man next door, more... she had information for him he needed to know, and she was morally bound to comfort him. Normally a nice looking feller like him woundn't give an plan-looking girl like her the time of day, but now, who knew? He might collapse into her arms in an emotional breakdown at any moment and she would have to hold him in her arms while he wept onto her breast. Damn! She wished she'd waxed her moustache now. 
    
   @MD @Bongo
   
4. 

   Not to Worry

   May 2

   "All right.  I guess Arabella and I can start at the potatoes for you.  What else goes into it?"  While he knew that not all pies were for dessert, he was sort of envisioning ''tater pie' with potatoes and sugar, sort of like an apple pie.
    
   "I've already started!" Arabella said proudly, holding up a naked spud. Jemima hefted over a pan of cold water to pop it into, before it started going brown. She rooted out an onion which was big and oldish looking but would probably do, if they did away with the outer layers.
    
   "This, for a start!" Jemima answered Weedy's earlier question. "Peel that and chop it up, if it doesn't make you cry too much!" she said. "Let me see what else Addy's got in" she muttered to herself as she rooted around in the small cool larder off the main kitchen area. 
    
   "There's some canned peaches, I think," he commented (he thought) slyly, "if we're making pies anyway.  Miz Addy really likes peach pie!"  And she could have a treat when she got home!
    
   Arabella laughed scornfully "Ha ha! Who ever heard of peaches in 'Tater pie?!" But then, thinking on, added "We can have them afterwards, If we ain't too full."
    
   Jemima rejoined them, sniffing at some left-over cooked ham and butter. "This seems all right" she said. In the next half hour she barked orders at the two sous-chefs while she made pastry, frazzled up the bacon and onions, par-boiled up the spuds and eventually got the whole thing together and into the oven, which Weedy and Arabella had stocked with kindling and gotten fired up. 
    
   By the time they'd finished, the three of them had faces lathered with sweat. 
    
   Jemima smiled her little smile at Weedy "It's like working in the boiler room of our Ironclad pirate ship!" she jested, then realised she'd opened her big mouth.
    
   "What pirate ship?!!" asked Arabella excitedly as she was wiping her hands on a tea-towel.
    
   @Bongo
    
   
   
5. 

   Not to Worry

   April 30

   [OOC: Oops, sorry, this got buried by other threads and I forgot I was up!]
    
   When Jemima asked about the kitchen, he shrugged.  "There's flour and sugar, some canned milk and stuff here."  He opened the cupboards, then added, "Usually if it's this late and supper hasn't been started, Miz Addy and me just go over to the Lickskillet, but I guess we can make some biscuits and gravy...and collard greens."  A nod to Miss Arabella, since she seemed sort of set on that!
    
   Jemima pulled a face and shook her head at the idea of kow-towing to Arabella's weird Southern ways. 
    
   "Of course, sometimes, when it's a bad day, we just have pie at the Lickskillet for supper."  Not really, Miz Addy insisted on eating proper, but it was worth a shot!
    
   "We're not gonna pay good money for store bought food when we can make it ourselves for next to nothing!" admonished the thrifty Jemima, who had spent her whole life helping her mother run the boarding house: people paying them for food and a roof over their head. The idea of Jemima paying for someone to cook for her was anathema.
    
   When they got there, Arabella was already peeling potatoes.
    
   "I'm already peelin' spuds!" she announced when they entered the kitchen.
    
   Well, fait accompli. 
    
   "Let's have 'tater pie!" Arabella suggested. Jemima's natural reflex was to say 'no' and shutdown anything the Southern girl suggested, but such an undertaking would take a bit of time and keep their mind off the fate of their loved ones. And by the time they got to eat it, they'd be plenty hungry!
    
   She looked at Weedy. "Yeah?"
    
   @Bongo
    
   
6. 

   The interviews

   April 26

   "And to you, Miss Wigfall, Jemima. And yes indeed there is something not quite right, heir to the Orr estate or not. But you have a pleasant rest of your day, and enjoy the mans attentiveness while you have it."
    
   Jemima wrinkled her nose at the last part and gave a non-committal grunt.
    
   He placed his top hat on his head as he stepped outside, then turned. "And should you have any new information concerning our Mister Reeve, I would enjoy hearing it. Not to worry, Mister Pettigrew's  mention in the paper will not reflect what was said her today."
    
   She gave him a nod. She didn't care too much what Mr McVey printed about her boss, as long as it didn't materially affect her job. But talking to someone about her suspicions who was actually interested in what she had to say was an appealing concept to the usually ignored drudge.
    
   "I'll let you know what I hear. I'm wide awake." she assured him.  
    
   @Flip
    
   [OOC: I think that's it, until she makes her first report!]
   
7. 

   The interviews

   April 25

   "He does, well, Miss Wigfall, why wouldn't he be nice to you?
    
   She shook her head. "I don't mean just polite, like you're being right now. I mean..." she was so unused to anyone, especially handsome young men, being this to her that it took her a second to fish around for the exact word, but it came to her presently  "... attentive."
    
   "Mr Pettigrew had a, what he called a soiree, the other night. He had Mister Vaughn there and Mr Reeve was being attentive to the girls, and I can understand that, like Anaesthesia Orr, because she's pretty and sorta rich now, and Arabella Mudd because, well for all her faults, she can play the piano nicely, but I was just there to wait on and take their coats and hats, but that Reeve feller was all sorts of attentive to me too!" she said with an undisguised frown of confusion. 
    
   She had actually checked in the mirror when she got home afterwards,  to see if she'd miraculously turned pretty all of a sudden, but it was still the same old frowsy face looking back at her. 
    
   "I mean, is he staying here? Not that it's any of my business. I can't say my first impression is a good one, and yes, there seems an undercurrent with him, funny would be an apt description, to be sure." There was something about the man that just didn't set right.
    
   "He stays over at the Orr's" Jemima shrugged "That cockroach Mister Orr left him some money and property in his will, Reeve was at the reading last week. Left me some, too, for some reason. Don't know why: I hated that dirty great snake!" she spat quite vehemently. 
    
   Her piggy little black eyes suddenly burned intensely and she hissed to McVey as they reached the front door "I'm glad he burned to death!!" Then she opened it for the journalist and said pleasantly "Well, evening Mr McVey. Nice talking with you." 
    
   @Flip
   
8. 

   The interviews

   April 24

   After this final broadside, Jemima showed McVey out. She looked at him sideways when they reached the bottom of the stairs. "So, is that how these newspaper interviews usually go, Mr McVey?" she asked, curiously.
    
   She'd heard every word through the door, of course. Mr Pettigrew she knew well, of course, working for him day in day out. He was usually a kind and considerate employer; but she had, too, witnessed his explosions of anger: the catalyst never being anything she or Miriam did wrong, the odd little mistakes that might be expected in the running of any business. No, it was sometimes the slightest of things that customers or their husbands said or did, anything that impugned his honour as a gentleman. As far as Jemima Wigfall was concerned, Worchester Pettigrew had acted completely to type in the last half hour. 
    
   No, it was the man Reeve who was an enigma to her.
    
   She peeped at McVey sideways as she pulled apart the curtain and let the reporter into the front of the shop, which was empty now. "What do you think of that Reeve feller?" she suddenly asked, blurted it out loud. "There's something funny about him!" she intoned, narrowing her piggy little black eyes and turning her plain features to McVey "He keeps being nice to me!"
    
   @Flip
   
9. 

   Not to Worry

   April 22

   "Supper?"  He'd forgotten about that, what with all the fanciful talk of pirates, and being the scourge of the seas!  "Oh, um, no, ma'am, I haven't."  Because cookies didn't count as supper, right? 
    
   "Well, we don't want Miss Chappel coming back and finding a skeleton instead of Porter James, do we?" Jemima said, again showing that rare little smile. 
    
   He hopped down from the gate, giving Arabesque a final pat on the nose, then heading for the side door.  The horses were settled for the night, so there was nothing more to do here.
    
   "We'll fetch 'you know who' and get you something to eat" Jemima decided as they walked back to the Professor's - Jemima wasn't letting Weedy out of her sight, she still thought the brave little chap might make a bolt for it and try and rescue the woman who had become the responsible and loving Mother the lad had never known.
    
   "I can help if you need it," he offered as they started back for the Professor's house.  "Miz Addy lets me help her a lot, so I'm pretty good at things like stirring and mixing."  Fact was, he enjoyed cooking, and was passably good at making eggs, biscuits and flapjacks, and he wanted to learn more.
    
   "A feller that cooks, huh? I'd be a fool to refuse an offer like that." Jemima agreed "Let's just try and keep Arabella out of it: she's not as bad a cook as you'd expect, but she's got funny tastes: she'll have us eatin' corn pone, collard greens and chitlins for our supper." 
    
   When they reached the house, they found Arabella pinning a note to the front door.
    
   "dEar hektoR, we aLL gon too Adys lOve A.S.M. xxx"
    
   Jemima peered at the missive and murmured a low "Jesus!" "Hey, that's my best copperplate handwriting!" grumped Arabella. "Copperplate? It's barely English!" countered the frowsy girl.
    
   "Listen, me and Porter are going to cook you supper to say 'thank you' for coming and sitting up with us in our vigil" she slightly lied. Arabella got excited at the idea of cooking:
    
   "Oooh! I can help! Say Port', you ever tried  corn pone an'...." but Jemima cut her off "No, no, no, it's our treat. we just want you to sit back and relax and let us wait on you hand and foot." 
    
   So they headed back to the empty Chappel house, Buster joining them en route. The cat-lover Arabella bent down and tickled him just behind and below his ear "You'd like chitlins, wou'n't you puss?" she asked the purring tom. "Cat food's all it's good for" Jemima intoned to Weedy. 
    
   The three (four) of them made the way to Miss Addy's kitchen. "You'll have to show me where things are." Jemima said to Weedy, looking about. When she'd seen what ingredients were available, she'd be able to decide what to cook.
    
   @Bongo
   
10. 

    Not to Worry

    April 20

    Weedy rolled his eyes at the mention of Arabella.  "She'd never stop talking!  Besides, we don't want girls, they're unlucky."  Of course, Jemima fell into the category that Addy did, sure, she was a girl, but she wasn't a girl.
     
    "Yep!" Jemima agreed "And besides, there's only room for one Pirate Queen on the oceans. It'll be handy having Captain Cut-throat James and Redbeard Redmond on hand though, you can take over any warships we capture; we'll just loot and sink the other prizes. We'll have an entire fleet pretty soon. Then the three of us can have a cutlass duel to see who becomes Grand Admiral of the pirate fleet." she said as Fred lazily ate the hay she was feeding him.
     
    "I can ask Wyatt if you can come...er....my friend if you can come.  It might be all right.  But for the ship..."  Maybe she hadn't listened in history class?  "Um...the USS Tecumseh..."  That one was sunk by a mine or something, so he figured as long as they stayed away from mines and torpedoes!
     
    This made Jemima frown, as she couldn't swim. "They probably weren't keeping look out properly. Any man I find asleep in the crow's nest, he'll be tied up and stripped and then I'll personally flog the skin off his back with my cat-o-nine tails!" she cooed excitedly "And if he's still alive at the end of it, I'll go to his cabin and personally rub the salt into his wounds." 
     
    She shook her head and brought herself back to reality.
     
    "Anyway, ironclads are the way to go for today's pirate on the move."
     
    "If we can find one, that would be a good idea, I guess.  I wonder if there are any in San Francisco?"  Most of that aspect of the War had been fought in the east, and he wasn't sure if any had made it this far here.  "Or maybe we can figure out how to make one?"
     
    "That'd take too long." Jemima replied "If there isn't one there, we'll take over the Navy telegraph office and force the operator to send a signal to the nearest ship 'come quickly - pirates in san Francisco' then when it arrives, we'll take her in a midnight raid. And we'll line up all of those sailors in their nice uniforms and say, either walk the plank, you scurvy dogs, or swear loyalty to The Three Terrors of the Caribbean!" 
     
    He shrugged, pondering the matter.  "We want to capture merchant ships, to get their cargo, right?  Things from all over the world, then we can go to Tortuga and have a feast!"
     
    Jemima frowned, that reminded her: "Have you had any supper yet?" she asked. That remiss of her. If the whole pirate thing didn't work out, she really just wanted to be a good wife and mother to some nice man: no use if she forgot to feed the family. 
     
    @Bongo