February Excerpt of Violets Are Blue

And *cough* I do *cough* know that it's not technically February anymore. 

Here's this month's excerpt! I hope y'all enjoy it — it's one of my father's favorite scenes. :)

“Well, I’d best go take the children out,” I said quickly. “Come Grace.” I took her hand, and nodded for Henry to follow me.

“Watch out for automobiles as you cross the street!” Mum said.

“We will,” I promised. 

The street was crowded with the noisy automobiles, and it was quite dangerous, for they could easily run over a young child. Henry was fascinated with them, thinking it a wonder that people could travel from place to place without a horse and buggy, but I thought the whole business of them was silly. I much preferred riding a horse. Automobiles were one of the few things that always would bother me about the city; among others being the noise and the smells and the crowds.

“Watch out!” I cried, yanking Henry back by the collar of his shirt, to keep him from being hit by an automobile. The angry driver honked his horn at us as he screeched past us and on down the street.

“Take better care, Henry,” I scolded him, when we were safely on the sidewalk once more. 

“I wanted to see it…” he whined. “You never let me see automobiles up close.”

“That’s because they’re dangerous!” I snapped back. “Mum instructed me to take care of you, and I have no wish to repeat the incident that occurred with Helen and the harbor.”

“Do you have to bring that up again?” Henry asked, rolling his eyes. “It’s getting a little old. Helen fell into the harbor almost three months ago.”

“I don’t care—that doesn’t mean I’m going to be careless again!” I turned around and started walking backwards, facing Henry so that I could see his face.

“Violet…” Henry started to say.

“Listen to me,” I said. “You need to learn that it’s not good to run into—” 

“People?” 

I turned around instantly, realizing that I had just run into Ethan. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Ethan,” I stuttered, blushing. “I was just talking to Henry here about the seriousness of running into the street.”

“Ah,” Ethan said, leaning back on his heels with his hands in his pockets. “But it seems that, while you are giving excellent instruction to your brother about why you shouldn’t run into the street, you saw no harm in running into me.”

“It was an accident,” I protested quickly. “And I feel very remorseful of it.” 

“I know, Violet—I really am not that bothered.” He grinned. “Though… it was quite funny.”

I rolled my eyes. “For you, perhaps!” I retorted. 

“Fair enough,” he said quickly. “Now, where were you going?”