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Virginia reaches out one hand, movements slow and thoughtful as her fingers close around the fat abdomen of a cherry bellied black widow. Virginia doesn't know it but the little spider is gravid, and close to dropping it's egg sack. All Virginia sees is a large and beautiful new friend, and this one is poisonous! She remembers eating one and getting very, very sick. That means she can use it to make someone else very very sick.
Yes, this time she would have real poison to paralyze the next bug unlucky enough to be caught in her trap. She holds the widow pinched between her thumb and index finger as it squirms and reaches out with its many legs. It can't bite at her though, not if she holds it like this, with it's little fangs positioned safely away from her fingers.
She watches it with dispassionate fascination. Even a spider can be caught in another spider's web, even a dangerous one. She plops it in her newest specimen jar, which used to hold jam and now has the label washed off. It has a lovely purple lid.
She runs back to the house giggling, clutching the jar to her chest, hiding it from prying eyes. she stores it in her desk with her web and knives and closes the door to it, then she skips back out to look perfectly innocent.
"I know what you're doing." an accusatory voice suddenly catches her attention. Her nose wrinkles. Elizabeth.
Elizabeth saunters closer, arms clasped behind her back "I saw you running around hiding something. You're planning some kind of trick. Bruno is gonna HATE you." She smiles victoriously, but Virginia only sticks out her tongue.
"Will not. I bet you can't even prove it." Virginia says smugly, and Elizabeth frowns.
"Can so!"
"Do it then!" Virginia punctuates her winning argument by crossing her arms and smiling. Caught, Elizabeth stomps her foot.
"I'm watching you!"
"Watch me all you like!" Virginia hops off victoriously to play marbles on the hard wood floor in the hall where it's only a little slanted. They still go all sideways but if she angles it right she can still manage a hit.
Just as she's lining up a third shot, one eye closed, she hears the door open and shoots up to her feet.
"BRUNO!" she cries happily, running towards him with her arms outstretched. Unfortunately Elizabeth is running towards him too.
"Bruno! Virginia is doing something BAD." she crosses her arms and smiles. "You should hate her."
"It's not nice to hate Elizabeth" Bruno says tiredly.
"But she's doing something bad!"
"Can you tell me what she did?" Bruno asks, looking watery eyed and nervous. He isn't sure if Elizabeth is lying or exaggerating, or if Virginia really has done something dangerous. Elizabeth frowns.
"No. But I know she's up to something!" she stomps her foot.
"Did you see her do something wrong?"
"No, but I swear! She's up to some nasty trick."
"I didn't do anything Bruno, really!" She hadnt technically... yet.
"It's not nice to call people bad without proof Elizabeth," Bruno says tiredly. He had a hard enough time going into town to shop for necessities they can't forage from their estate. "It's very important that you not accuse your sister of doing things wrong when you aren't certain, do you understand?"
"Yes..." Elizabeth says glumly, sulking with her arms crossed.
"You have to promise you won't do it again." Bruno says in his best firm voice.
"I proooomise..." she says.
"And Virginia," He continues. She looks caught off guard, as if she thought she'd gotten off free. "You must promise me you aren't doing anything dangerous."
"I promise!" she says with as much conviction as she can muster, fingers crossed behind her back.
"Now girls, I need you to get washed up for dinner. I brought you all a treat for after."
Virginia and Elizabeth clamber up the stairs without another word, racing for the tub as they knock their shoulders together in fierce competition, making a variety of indignant noises.
"No pushing, girls!" Bruno calls after them. He sighs and turns to look for Ralph. He finds him quickly, in the dumbwaiter.
"It's time to get all washed up Ralph." He coaxes. Ralph slides out and smiles as Bruno leads him to the downstairs sink to wash his hands and face. He takes great care not to get any soap in Ralph's eyes.
Upstairs, Elizabeth has won the tub for the day, while Virginia angrily washes herself in the sink.
"I'm going to get you next time" Virginia says.
"Well today I got the bath" Elizabeth sticks her tongue out. Virginia flings a towel at her.
"You just wait, I'll have that tub tomorrow." Finished and clean, Virginia runs down stairs.
"No running on the stairs, girls." Bruno says automatically from where he is in the kitchen preparing dinner. Ralph sits next to him, occasionally trying to steal food. It takes all Bruno's attention to keep him from sticking his fingers in a hot pan, so he doesn't take his eyes off for a second as Virginia stomps in.
"Elizabeth took the tub again," she says as she flounces down at the table, arms crossed.
"I told you girls to take turns with the sink." Bruno scolds.
"She's the one that used it!"
"Would you have used it if you got to it first?"
Virginia says nothing but slumps down further in her seat, the picture of guilt and frustration.
"You girls need to use the sink from now on." Even as he says it he knows it's a lost cause, but he does have to try. It's what the master would have wanted. Treat them like any other children.
"Yes, Bruno." Virginia lies.
Elizabeth flounces down the stairs in a fresh frock and skirt and sits down at the table. Bruno gently pushes Ralph's hands away from the pan of frying mushrooms again, then turns off the flame and brings it to the table to serve it on the plates he laid out earlier. He gives everyone a big heaping serving of mushrooms. He brings over a big bowl of salad, and a healthy serving of boiled red cabbage and juicy bugs for Virginia, and a small bird Ralph had killed earlier and left helpfully on the counter.
"Is everybody ready to eat?" Bruno asks, and all three children chant back.
"Yes Bruno."
They all dig in, Ralph gnawing on the small but plump roasted songbird carcass, Virginia feeling the exosksletons of bugs pop in her mouth, oozing gooey fluids, and Elizabeth enjoying her mushrooms with all the dignity she can muster, cutting them up into small bites.
"What're you doing that for?" Virginia asks incredulously.
"It's how a lady eats. I suppose you wouldn't know." She smirks. Virginia gasps indignantly and lobs a particularly fat mushroom right at Elizabeth's face. Now it's her turn to gasp, a bit of sauce smeared on her cheek.
"Now girls this is no behavior for the dinner table, or anywhere for that matter!" The girls lock eyes, glaring at each other, but return to their food. "Wipe your face Elizabeth." He points out, and she does.
They finish their dinner in relative peace and tranquility, and it's time to get ready for bed. They all crowd around the sink with a mirror while Bruno brushes Ralph's teeth and the girls brush their own.
"That's two minutes now, time to spit." Bruno says, and all three children spit their toothpaste into the sink. "Off to bed with you now, girls."
Elizabeth and Virginia run up the stairs, so pleased to change into their comfy nightgowns.
"No running on the stairs, girls!" Bruno calls after them while he takes Ralph to his own room to change him. Ralph wiggles uncooperatively the entire time, but eventually Bruno has him dressed and in bed.
"Goodnight Ralph." Bruno says. Ralph makes a pleased sound back at him and closes his eyes.
Bruno goes upstairs and checks in each of the girls rooms to say goodnight and be sure they're in bed.
Finally he's able to have a glass of water, brush his own teeth, get dressed, and at long last, get into his bed. It's been a long day. His eyes slide closed and he falls asleep almost as soon as he gets tucked in.