Ted watched as his Aunty Nora cleaned up his little brother. His late mother's sister had taken control of the household in the aftermath of the birth. The new widow, Tom Bramble, took to spending his evenings drinking the “piss-water” of the Mad Badger Inn, coming home drunk and shouting at Ted when told by Nora he had not been entirely useful during the evening. His aunt, to Ted's dismay, ran a strict household.
“Here, hold him while I go fetch some more water. No, not like that, like this”
Ted stood silent and alone in the kitchen, cradling the baby that had killed his mother to enter the world. It started crying as soon as Nora left. He paced the cramped room, rocking the baby as his aunt had shown him, but still it would cry. Surely all of Archet could hear this. Dogs were soon barking thoughout the town as Ted paced, his face flustered and as red as the baby's.
Nora slammed the bucket of fresh water on the table as she returned. “Oh bother, this won't do. Your father will be home any minute! Give him here, you useless boy.”
Ted was only too happy to comply. He watched red-faced as Nora paced the room in much the same manner as he had to the same result, a wailing baby. It finally stopped as the door opened and shut again, briefly letting in a chilled breeze. His father was home.
“Wha's all this noise? I could hear it all the way 'ome!” His stern gaze stayed on Ted, blame instantly directed. This night, thankfully, he had not drank as much. Nora hurried away to the house next door to find the baby's wet nurse, leaving Ted and his father alone. To his delight, Tom seemed more interested in uncorking the bottle of wine he had brought with him than in his son. Ted peered curiously at the bottle, Sutcliff Oxtail Wine. Such strange names they had, he thought to himself.
“I have named the baby.” Tom suddenly announced gruffly. “He'll be called Jon. Jon Bramble, after his grandfather.”
He nodded with only slight interest in reply. “Will he have a middle name?”
Tom spat out the wine in a spray of red as he laughed, spilling some more from the bottle as he slammed it down on the table “A middle name?! Who d'you think we are? Lowborn like us do not need more than one name. But try tellin' that to that fool Silvergrass, givin' his children a second name. They ain't any better than us, I tell ya!”
Ted started drifting away, knowing that his father could rant about Edward Silvergrass all day long. Indeed it was his favourite pastime. Ted had no such dislike for him, even becoming good friends with Holly Silvergrass, Edward's daughter. You'd think there would be no competition between them, being cobblers of different towns, but it must have ran deeper than that.
His gaze strayed to the bottle on the table, the wine having stained the label. f Ox Win was all that could be seen now. Jon Foxwin Bramble. His father would laugh when he suggested the name, and dismissed it outright before making his way to his bedchamber.
When Nora returned with his little brother, Ted vowed that Foxwin would be Jon's middle name, even if not recognised by his father. If the Silvergrass's could have middle names, then why couldn't the Brambles?
