Perhaps her emotions toward him were not as friendly as he had thought.
“Leah, what is this?” He held his papers in the air, shaking them to garner her attention.
She turned innocent eyes in his direction. “What do you mean?”
“What do I mean?” He stood. “It says ‘Donkey Number Two’.”
“Yes,” she said, nodding.
“Is this an error?”
“No. I fear I lost the lines for Donkey Number One so I had to give you the second part. I hope you do not mind.”
He smacked the papers against his knee. “I do mind. I do not want to be a donkey, for goodness sake.”
“The other part seems to have gotten lost.” She sighed, then jerked her head up, clapping her hands. “Shall we begin?”
Jonas stood, giving Owen an all-knowing grin. Leahwasupset. That much was clear.
But he only had four more days, and he wasn’t going to spend it pretending to be a flea-ridden donkey. And no, he had not added the flea-ridden part. That was explicitly stated in his character description at the top of the first page.
He took in her haughty look, her face stoic. Was she repaying him? Of all the years they had known each other, she had never once retaliated for all the little tricks he had played on her. She would merely stomp her foot or whine or go running to her parents. But this? This was different. And it meant that he had to change his plans for the weekend. No longer was this a trip for relaxing and reminiscing.
His eyes settled on her, and she jerked slightly when she met his gaze. Was he smiling? He corrected his face, swallowing and averting his eyes. If she was going to play this game, she did not know what she was getting herself into. He had many more years of practice than she did.
Why was this making his blood thrum in his veins? Perhaps peopledidn’tchange. If the idea of pulling pranks on Leah Thompson was just as compelling as it had once been, he really hadn’t matured as much as he thought. But, it was also temporary. Just the next few days. Then, it was back to work.
“All right, Donkey Number Two.” Jonas came over, shoving Owen’s shoulder down until he was forced to kneel on the ground.
Owen looked around at all six of the siblings, every single one snickering at him. “Is this really necessary? Could I not be an evolved donkey? One perhaps with magical powers that can speak?”
“Oh, you can speak.” Leah kept her face even, though Owen swore he saw something flicker across her lips. It was so quick that he wasn’t sure if he actually saw it or imagined it. “You have at least ten lines if I remember correctly.”
“Yes, but they are all animal sounds.” He shook the paper again.
“They are very important to the plot of the story,” Leah insisted. “One line is what garners the attention of the fair maiden. If it weren’t for your dramatic and dynamic braying, then she would walk by the hero without a backward glance.”
“Fine,” he bit out. “I will be the donkey.”
Jonas patted his head. “Good boy.”
Owen swatted his hand away, sitting on a pillow on the ground to make his predicament a bit more comfortable.
The play began, Cecily playing the leading lady, and Graham reluctantly playing opposite her. In time, Owen found he got over being the donkey and sat back to enjoy all of them laughing at their silly mistakes or poor acting skills.
It came up to his first line and he had two choices. He could be a wet blanket—be embarrassed and let Leah win—or he could embrace his role and give it all he had.
The choice was easy.
Cecily began walking across the room and he was supposed to make a sound as if in great pain. He rolled onto his side, laying with his one leg limply out in front of him as if injured, giving his best impression of a donkey in agony.
“Hee-hawwww.”
The room fell silent. Cecily stopped, putting a hand to her mouth before bursting out in a laugh while the rest of the siblings erupted in a roar. Miranda had to take a seat because she was laughing so hard.
Even Leah was holding her mouth, snickering before clearing her throat and settling her features.
“Owen,” Rose said, chuckling on the floor. “That is the best donkey sound I have ever heard.”
