Summer Challenge: Natural Selection
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:56 am
Part I- New York, December 1st, 1859
New York looks its best in wintertime. The snow made everything sparkling. It hid the garbage and dirt on the streets, kissed the buildings and made them look brand new. But it doesn’t mean winter is the most comfortable time of the year, Sarah Kersey thought with a wry smile, clenching her fingers inside her muff. She was a slender girl, almost too slender, her small frame making her seem younger than her 17 years. Her features weren’t terribly striking, although they were pretty enough. What made her special were her eyes, as green as the sea. Her brown hair was long, and hung like a sheet down her back when it was down. But today she twisted it in a complicated set of coils and curls, pinning it back like she had every day since she started to bleed. The mass of hair was hidden under her favorite winter bonnet, and a gust of wind threatened to blow the cap right off her head. She quickened her pace and nearly jumped into her uncle’s book store, the heat a shock.
“My word, Sarah, you must be chilled to the bone!” Her aunt Phyllis greeted her at the door, helping Sarah with her cape and bonnet. “I thought I told your mother to keep you in today. You shouldn’t be out in this weather so soon after your fever.”
“Really, Aunt, I’m fine,” Sarah insisted. “I ate today and my limbs are completely healed.”
“Well, I have some tea and cold meats in the back for you, just in case,” Phyllis ushered her niece to the backroom, weaving between waiting customers. “You must drink the tea, at least.”
“Yes, Aunt,” was Sarah’s dutiful reply as they passed her Uncle Gabriel.
“Sarah!” he cried. “Did you brave the cold just to come help me out today?”
“Only for you and Aunt Phyllis,” she replied before entering the backroom. As promised, her aunt had laid out cold meats, bread, and hot tea for her niece.
“Now, help yourself, child,” Phyllis said kindly. “When you’re finished, there’s a new arrival waiting to be shelved.”
“Thank you,” Sarah set down her bonnet.
Satisfied, Phyllis turned to go, but not before pausing at the door. “Has there been any other...changes?”
Sarah blushed. “No. Thankfully.”
Her aunt nodded, relieved, and headed out. Sighing, Sarah plopped herself down, petticoats flying. The wind had left her thirsty, and she welcomed the warming feel of fresh black tea. Although she didn’t say so to her aunt, there had been another instance of her ‘change’ this morning.
However, it wasn’t the first time the basin water had come up to meet her face on its own, so Sarah didn’t count it as a change. She stirred her tea thoughtfully, remembering the water quivering in her washbasin before rising up like a snake to wash her face. This had to be the fourth time, at least. Then there was the lemonade incident. The feel of the liquid hovering above her hand, twirling with her fingers, made Sarah shiver.
Yet so far, the tea remained in her cup. Sarah eyed the drink warily, finishing it quickly before rising to join her aunt and uncle.
The shop was in the middle of its morning rush. Gabriel’s Bookstore and Apothecary was small, but well loved. People came for books and for Phyllis’ herbal remedies, and stayed for Gabriel’s lively conversation and his wife’s gossip. Sarah donned her apron and surveyed the store, smiling at the familiar sight. She spotted the crate her aunt told her about. A fresh shipment of books! She couldn’t wait to get her hands on them. The sweet smell of new paper, the heady scent of ink, the weight and crisp sound of a never-opened cover...Sarah picked up a volume and read the title. On the Origin of Species. Darwin?? This was Charles Darwin’s new book! The very same she heard her minister condemning last Sunday. Could her uncle really be carrying this book in his store? Was it not a grave sin? Did it not go against the teachings of their church?
“Ah, so there’s the new shipment,” Gabriel was suddenly at her side. “I was wondering what Phyllis did with it.”
“Uncle Gabriel,” Sarah looked up at him, eyes wide. “You can’t carry this book here.”
“Why not?”
“B-because, it’s a...forbidden book!”
“Forbidden? By who?” Gabriel snorted. “By Reverend Joseph? This is the United States, Sarah. No one can tell us what to read or not to read. We have the right to carry whatever book we want in our shop. Now, stock them next to the botanical books, please.”
He winked at his niece and went to attend to a customer looking for Marlowe. Sarah watched him go, her eyes still widened in surprise. She looked back down at the book in her hand, its maroon cover daring her to open it. She glanced around, and then back down again. Gingerly, she opened the book, half afraid Rev. Joseph would pop up and condemn her to hell on the spot.
'It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly working at the improvement of each organic being in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of life.'
Sarah stiffened. Natural selection. What could he mean?
“Excuse me, miss, but would you happen to carry Tom Jones?”
Putting the volume down quickly, she turned and gave her customer a brilliant smile.
“Of course, ma’am, right this way.”
Darwin and his natural selection would have to wait. But Sarah had an eerie feeling that his book, with its maroon cover, would be a very enlightening read.
[Edited on 7/7/08 by Love das flockige]
New York looks its best in wintertime. The snow made everything sparkling. It hid the garbage and dirt on the streets, kissed the buildings and made them look brand new. But it doesn’t mean winter is the most comfortable time of the year, Sarah Kersey thought with a wry smile, clenching her fingers inside her muff. She was a slender girl, almost too slender, her small frame making her seem younger than her 17 years. Her features weren’t terribly striking, although they were pretty enough. What made her special were her eyes, as green as the sea. Her brown hair was long, and hung like a sheet down her back when it was down. But today she twisted it in a complicated set of coils and curls, pinning it back like she had every day since she started to bleed. The mass of hair was hidden under her favorite winter bonnet, and a gust of wind threatened to blow the cap right off her head. She quickened her pace and nearly jumped into her uncle’s book store, the heat a shock.
“My word, Sarah, you must be chilled to the bone!” Her aunt Phyllis greeted her at the door, helping Sarah with her cape and bonnet. “I thought I told your mother to keep you in today. You shouldn’t be out in this weather so soon after your fever.”
“Really, Aunt, I’m fine,” Sarah insisted. “I ate today and my limbs are completely healed.”
“Well, I have some tea and cold meats in the back for you, just in case,” Phyllis ushered her niece to the backroom, weaving between waiting customers. “You must drink the tea, at least.”
“Yes, Aunt,” was Sarah’s dutiful reply as they passed her Uncle Gabriel.
“Sarah!” he cried. “Did you brave the cold just to come help me out today?”
“Only for you and Aunt Phyllis,” she replied before entering the backroom. As promised, her aunt had laid out cold meats, bread, and hot tea for her niece.
“Now, help yourself, child,” Phyllis said kindly. “When you’re finished, there’s a new arrival waiting to be shelved.”
“Thank you,” Sarah set down her bonnet.
Satisfied, Phyllis turned to go, but not before pausing at the door. “Has there been any other...changes?”
Sarah blushed. “No. Thankfully.”
Her aunt nodded, relieved, and headed out. Sighing, Sarah plopped herself down, petticoats flying. The wind had left her thirsty, and she welcomed the warming feel of fresh black tea. Although she didn’t say so to her aunt, there had been another instance of her ‘change’ this morning.
However, it wasn’t the first time the basin water had come up to meet her face on its own, so Sarah didn’t count it as a change. She stirred her tea thoughtfully, remembering the water quivering in her washbasin before rising up like a snake to wash her face. This had to be the fourth time, at least. Then there was the lemonade incident. The feel of the liquid hovering above her hand, twirling with her fingers, made Sarah shiver.
Yet so far, the tea remained in her cup. Sarah eyed the drink warily, finishing it quickly before rising to join her aunt and uncle.
The shop was in the middle of its morning rush. Gabriel’s Bookstore and Apothecary was small, but well loved. People came for books and for Phyllis’ herbal remedies, and stayed for Gabriel’s lively conversation and his wife’s gossip. Sarah donned her apron and surveyed the store, smiling at the familiar sight. She spotted the crate her aunt told her about. A fresh shipment of books! She couldn’t wait to get her hands on them. The sweet smell of new paper, the heady scent of ink, the weight and crisp sound of a never-opened cover...Sarah picked up a volume and read the title. On the Origin of Species. Darwin?? This was Charles Darwin’s new book! The very same she heard her minister condemning last Sunday. Could her uncle really be carrying this book in his store? Was it not a grave sin? Did it not go against the teachings of their church?
“Ah, so there’s the new shipment,” Gabriel was suddenly at her side. “I was wondering what Phyllis did with it.”
“Uncle Gabriel,” Sarah looked up at him, eyes wide. “You can’t carry this book here.”
“Why not?”
“B-because, it’s a...forbidden book!”
“Forbidden? By who?” Gabriel snorted. “By Reverend Joseph? This is the United States, Sarah. No one can tell us what to read or not to read. We have the right to carry whatever book we want in our shop. Now, stock them next to the botanical books, please.”
He winked at his niece and went to attend to a customer looking for Marlowe. Sarah watched him go, her eyes still widened in surprise. She looked back down at the book in her hand, its maroon cover daring her to open it. She glanced around, and then back down again. Gingerly, she opened the book, half afraid Rev. Joseph would pop up and condemn her to hell on the spot.
'It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly working at the improvement of each organic being in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of life.'
Sarah stiffened. Natural selection. What could he mean?
“Excuse me, miss, but would you happen to carry Tom Jones?”
Putting the volume down quickly, she turned and gave her customer a brilliant smile.
“Of course, ma’am, right this way.”
Darwin and his natural selection would have to wait. But Sarah had an eerie feeling that his book, with its maroon cover, would be a very enlightening read.
[Edited on 7/7/08 by Love das flockige]