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Back The Orchardist's Daughter Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. PRAISE
  3. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  4. DEDICATION
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. PART I SEEDS
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. PART II GERMINATION
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. PART III GROWTH
  29. 21
  30. 22
  31. 23
  32. 24
  33. 25
  34. 26
  35. 27
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. PART IV UNDERSTOREY
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. 44
  54. 45
  55. 46
  56. EPILOGUE
  57. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Why hadn’t her family had visits from friends? Where were their relatives? Didn’t they have grandparents? Didn’t Mother and Father have brothers or sisters? What was in Father’s black leather folder? Why wouldn’t Kurt let her see it? Why wouldn’t he allow her into the storeroom under the shop? Why didn’t he trust her to go out alone? How long until they would have enough money to buy their own farm?

The questions made her skin itchy, and she realised that mulling over them had stolen the pleasure from her day. Seeking distraction, she opened the glovebox, hoping to find something to read. Sometimes Kurt kept newspaper clippings in there: ads for new four-wheel drives or gym machines. But there were only car manuals. Miki was disappointed—even a street directory would have been interesting.

Poking around, she opened the ashtray expecting it to be empty, but in it she found several silver keys. She’d never looked in the ashtray before because Kurt never used it—when he smoked he tipped ash out the window and tossed his butts on the road. Now she wondered if these keys had always been there. Picking one up, she measured its weight in her hand then lined another alongside it, matching the teeth. They were exactly the same. She pulled out the other keys. All identical, but different from the car keys. Why did Kurt have so many duplicates? Had he had them cut for a reason? Was he worried about losing them? She considered the locks in the house and counted them up: front door, back door, Kurt’s filing cabinet, the room under the shop, the gun box in the car, the ammunition box, the metal cashbox. She jingled the keys. Since they were all the same, would Kurt notice if she took one?

Her heart flipped as she contemplated deceiving her brother. Should she do it? Or would it be wrong? For a long moment, she sat looking at the keys. Then she asked herself what Jane Eyre would do. Jane was bold but she was also clever, and she had courage and lived by her principles. Would it be unprincipled to take a key? Miki thought of Jane at Thornfield Hall, investigating strange sounds at night. Mrs Fairfax had told her to always remain in her room, but if Jane hadn’t ventured out Mr Rochester would have died when his bedroom was on fire. Kurt locked Miki in when he left her at home, but there might be times when she needed to venture out too.

There were so many keys here. Surely Kurt didn’t need all of them.

Before she could change her mind, she slipped a key into her overalls pocket and zipped it up. Then she replaced the other keys in the ashtray and closed it.

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