In Which Audra Meets Her Friends at the Social
by Mars
Disclaimer: The characters and
situations of the TV program "Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic
Pictures and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are
copyrighted to the author.
The next day, Audra joined her two friends at the dance.
The whole family attended, and despite her misunderstanding of the fishing trip,
she still wanted to pair her brothers Nick and Heath to her friends.
The girls were giggling, watching (appraising) the Barkley
brothers when Audra sat at their table.
"So, tell us, Audra," Alberta Auckland
whispered, checking Heath from head to toe, "What would be the best bait
for him?"
Louisa Portland giggled even more, her attention divided
between Nick and Audra.
Audra frowned. *Why everyone's into fishing, lately? Does
everyone hate the fishes that bad?* she thought. Sighing, she answered.
"First of all," she started, "If you do not
intend on eating them, you shouldn't bait them. There's no point catching them,
if it's only for your own pleasure. My brothers agree on that."
The girls' eyes almost popped out of their sockets while
their jaws almost hit the table. Glad that she made her point so strongly,
*Jarrod would be proud of me!* she thought, Audra continued.
"As for equipment, I know for sure that Heath has the
longest, and Nick the biggest," she stated, matter-of-factly.
Alberta almost fainted, while Louisa dared to ask,
"And how.... I mean.. Audra.... how can you say that?" she gasped.
"Why, we checked just last night," she
explained. "Mother was right all along..."
"Your... mother... she... I mean.. she...."
babbled Alberta.
"Sure. Mother knew it all along. You can't live in a
house full of men without facing it one of these days. But my brothers wanted
to make sure. And you know how men can be when it comes to comparing
things!" Audra giggled.
But by now, Alberta and Louisa were panting and laughing
like hyenas.
*I never thought they liked fishing that bad!* Audra
thought. Nonetheless, she went along with the conversation.
But her friends kept silent, glancing hard at Nick and
Heath, unable to speak.
"Anyway," Audra concluded, "They even
compared their baiting habits. I tell you," she giggled even more,
"My brothers, when it comes to baiting, are quite nifty."
Louisa, before she fainted at the revelation, asked,
"How... come?"
Alberta could only nod, eager to hear more about that!
"Well, to begging with, Nick likes to use the fly
trick... while Heath thinks that fresh meat is a better way to catch his
prey."
There was silence for a moment. Long enough for Audra's friends
to catch their breath.
"Why don't we talk about something else? I'm tired of
talking about length, size and baiting habits," pleaded a bored Audra.
"It's boring when you see it every so often..."
"I AM NOT!!!!!!" both her friends yelled in
unison.
"Alright..." sighed Audra. "What else do you
want to know?"
Both her friends looked at each other, giggling. It was
Alberta who asked the next question.
"And then... what do Nick... er... they do with... their prey?" she
gasped.
Audra shrugged, "I'm not sure... I'd have to ask
them.. But I think Nick likes to bring it home, and shows everyone.. especially
to Heath, since they have some kind of competition between them..." She
let her voice trails off, very tired of that stupid conversation.
"And Heath?!!?" Alberta pressed on.
"I don't know... Heath is more sport. He'd like a
good fight. He always says that if his prey doesn't fight, it doesn't deserve
his mouth. Weird, hey?"
Gaining some composure after she almost passed out,
Alberta' eyes sparkled.
"I will say that only once," she started.
"But you have to keep it a secret, alright?" she whispered.
Then she shared her secret with Louisa and Audra.
********
"If she got any closer, I was asking Jarrod for
filling attempted man slaughter against her!" complained Nick, not very
happy that Louisa Portland basically clung to him all night long. "This
girl is nuts, I tell you!"
Heath joined Nick in the family room, where all the others
were enjoying themselves after the dance.
"Boy howdy! You sure are lucky you didn't have that
Alberta pushing you around all night long!" Heath groaned as he poured himself
a drink.
Meanwhile, Audra kept giggling. She had been giggling
since early this evening, before her friends headed for the Barkley brothers.
Jarrod, feeling lucky that none of Audra's friends had
bothered him, wondered. "What is so funny, dear sister?"
"Oh... nothing," she piped.
"Come on, Audra. Make us laugh," Jarrod
insisted. It seemed quite fun indeed.
She hesitated. Looking around with wary eyes, she conceded
to share her funny thought.
"It's just something Alberta told me. It's so.... hrm...
It's a secret," she finally uttered.
"Audra, dear. No one in this room will repeat what
your friend told you. Besides, Nick and Heath need a good laugh," Jarrod
assured.
And both Nick and Heath nodded, wondering if any of
Audra's friends could have something interesting to say... Huh.
"Alright," she sighed. "It's just... she
told me... that her brother..." A giggling fit overcame her.
"Well?" Nick cut in impatiently.
"She told me, that... that..." she giggled,
"Her brother has this habit of cramming a sock down his pants when he
goes... you know, to catch fishes! Sooooooooo stupid! I don't see how it could
help him catch anything! Do you?" She looked at everyone, waiting for some
reaction.
Nick choked on his whisky. Heath blushed bet red and
Jarrod sighed heavily. There was a long silence in the room, and then, all the
Barkley men rushed out.
"What's a matter with them?" Audra wondered,
looking at her Mother.
"Audra," Victoria sighed, "I think we DO
need to talk...."