Lost

Chap 7: A Long Day

Katie, true to her words was ready before 8. Mr. Brown and she went to the market as early as possible. New Year's rush is no joke.

They first went to get gifts for three 10-12 year olds. The youngest was a a boy who loved automobiles. He was fascinated by speed so it was easiest to get him a fast car. The second and third were girls with no particular interest and dolls were - come on- NO. So after looking through a ton of random things, they settled for some fashionable summer dresses. Hopefully they are good enough.

Next was food. While Katie was basically just being an extra pair of hands, Mr. Brown got all the things from the list. By the time they were leaving, it was almost noon and they were starving. So after informing at home, they decided to have their lunch in the nearest place.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Anything. I am staving."

Without giving much thought, they ordered and had their food quietly. When it was with Mr. Brown, things were always quite. And Katie loved that about him. It's not that there was nothing to talk about or that they were uncomfortable. On the contrary, they could have gone on and on talking but they liked this silence. This was very comfortable to both. And they knew it.

However near the end, Mr. Brown spoke up. "I don't think I will have the strength to go and fix the yard with you today. I am exhausted."

"That's alright Dad. I'll be fine doing it. It's not like I am actually doing something more... I will only have to cover it. You need to rest."

"You can call Mark to help you out."

"He is not our gardener... And he has a life, you know."

"You want me to call him?"

"No." she said in a rather whining voice. "Let him be. I will be fine."

With that they got out of the restaurant and walked home with 6 big bags in total. By the time they reached home both their hands were basically tearing apart. They set the bag down and collapsed on the couch at around 1.

Katie took some reat till about 3 reading her book and then went out to fix the yard. She knew that even if she is tired, she has to fix some of it today. Tomorrow will be a busy day as well. So she pulled her aching body to start her work.

There was a heap of glass blades and small twigs and a pile of branches. The wild plants were still popping out of the ground and there was mud everywhere. She started by uprooting the wild plants. The only problem was she was too tired still and she had forgotten her gloves. So as she held the broken branches firmly and pulled hard rocking it from side to side, it suddenly uprooted and she fell back on her back. And now mud from the roots were all over her. But she didn't care about that. She had another 3 such plants to uproot. So she got up, dusted herself and the plant to shed the mud, kept it on the pile of branches and went to the next. She did the same to all three but a little gently so that she doesn't fall back. After that she got the broom to put the mud back in its place. That was all she had strength for. So she decided to go in.

She went to clean herself first. When she was going to wash her hands, she realized that she had scraped them badly. While working she had brushes it off thinking they were minor but looking at them, one can see blood came from many  a points. For Katie however this was nothing. She was rather surprised as to how she hadn't seen it earlier. She washed hands thoroughly and disinfected them without flinching. She then applied some ointments and left them open. Putting bandages will freak her parents and bandaid won't stay on. However this also meant she could not use her hands properly. But then again all she wanted was to lie down. And that's what she did. Till someone came to call her.

"It's almost 8 suger, wake up." said Mrs. Brown softly, sitting on Katie's bed. "Have some food and then you can sleep again."

"Can you feed me Mom. My hands hurt." she whined showing her bruised hands.

"Oh my God. How did this happened? Why didn't you come to me?" she said in a concerned and rising voice.

"Mom not so loud..." Katie whined. "I pulled the plants too hard and my grip was too tight. So when the plant suddenly uprooted, I think it scrapped my hands as well. It's alright though. I applied ointments after disinfecting them. So they will be fine by tomorrow." By now she had sat up and was looking at her mother with the most innocent eyes," But they do hurt... Will you feed me?"

Like Mrs. Brown didn't know her own daughter. She knew those cuts were nothing serious. She knew those didn't hurt Katie. She knew she was only whining because she was tired and her muscles were paining. But it was a long day for her too. Cleaning all the required dishes and plates single handedly had worked it's magic on the old lady as well. "Suger, I am sorry. My hands are killing me as well. I don't even know how many dishes and plates I washes. Please baby. Can you eat yourself?"

After hearing this, Katie suddenly got all her lost strength as she shot out of bed. "You washed them all today?! I told you I will help you do that tomorrow! Who told you to it all by yourself?!" She was furious. This meant she washed about 25 extra dishes and did all the house work. Given that Mrs. Brown has a constant back problem, this meant that the lady exerted herself too much. "After dinner, I will do the dishes! You will go to bed! I slept for what near three hours. I won't be sleepy any time soon."

Smiling gently to herself as she watched Katie go out of the room, Mrs. Brown thought of how blessed she was to have a daughter like her.

After dinner though all three took care of everything together. Even though everyone was shouting at the others to go to bed. And  that's how a long and exhausting day was spent.