Delphinium picked at the bandages and sulked. She had done a GOOD thing, a NOBLE and BRAVE thing, but here she was, in disgrace, and locked in the Grubb Room awaiting her sister's return from the Tooklands and further punishment. Hope probably wouldn't understand either.
Someone had to stop Mr. Frodo when he got into one of his 'moods.' His cold, heartless turns that arrived irregardless of the day or the season and lingered for hours or sometimes days. His warmth would disappear and his charm would turn sarcastic. Today he broke his all time record by making FOUR Gardner girls cry, including Daisy, and Del had decided enough was enough.
Determined to head him off she had decided that a mean mood called for a mean game. The meanest game she knew was Hot Rock. A simple activity involving two or more people tossing a burning hot coal back and forth until someone cried Uncle.
Del was not one for surrender and neither was Mr. Frodo. It had been such fun! Laughing and shouting curses at each other they had gone through fourteen coals and had nearly burnt his study down before they were caught. Oh, the look on the Mayor's face. Mr. Frodo laughed at it and laughed even harder when Del waved goodbye with a blistered hand as she was dragged away. He had saluted her with his own seared fingers and Del had never felt closer to anyone in her life.
Oh, of course, it hurt! It hurt terribly and holding forks and spoons was going to be awkward for both of them for a while but...and she doubted anyone but she and Mr. Frodo understood this...sometimes you had to feed the darkness to stop it.
~