Twisted Tales

Taking A Dip

I was the first to wake up in the morning, shivering myself out of a shallow sleep.

It had gotten cold for August in the night, and with the window still open, we sleeping on the floor of the main room bore the full brunt of the drop in temperature.

I yawned and sat up, rubbing my arms in an attempt to warm them up. The curtains were still closed, but I didn't see much light coming in between them. I guessed it must still be in the wee hours of the morning, probably just before sunrise. I got up, grabbing my blanket and wrapping it around my shoulders, and went over the window to peer through the curtains. I ached a little from sleeping on the hard wood floor, and I couldn't believe I'd managed to sleep at all. Erik and Jack were both still passed out, snoring loudly enough to bring down the house. I don't know how I'd slept through that either.

I looked outside, and saw that I was right. It must have been about four or five in the morning. The sky was steadily lightening, but the sun hadn't yet popped its head over the dark, eastern mountains that loomed only a day's ride or so from us.

As I looked over the rolling pastures, thinking that it really was very pretty at this time of day, and wondering where exactly I was supposed to go pee; Hans appeared, coming into view from around the corner of the cottage. He wore a heavy coat and sturdy boots, and and carried a pitchfork in his hands. He spotted me leaning out the window and paused.

"You're up early," he remarked.

"So are you," I said. "Busy?"

Hans laughed. "I've been up for hours now. You got to collect the eggs first thing in the morning, and I had to deal with the sheep since that damn dog seems to be as useless as my wife. And the barn need to be mucked, and it's best to get that done before it gets hot, otherwise the smell can become unbearable."

Boy, was I glad I didn't live on a farm. "Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked. "I won't be able to get back to sleep at this rate."

Hans glanced over his shoulder, considering my offer. "Hm... I haven't done the chickens yet. I suppose you could do that. And then perhaps you could fetch some water from the well, that would be a help."

I perked up. "Definitely! Glad to help!"

Glad to have an excuse to check out that well, if I was being honest. Erik would be annoyed to find that I took a look alone, but I wasn't planning on jumping in or anything. I'd just take a peek, see if there was anything unusual about it.

I folded my blanket up and left it on the floor beside the boys and headed outside to join Hans. He gave me a basket and showed me to the chicken coop, where I was left alone to collect the eggs.

That ended up being a much more challenging task than I had expected. The chickens were huge—I'd never really realized how big they are before—and they squawked and pecked at me whenever I reached out to them. At first I tried to shoo them away from their perches, but it turns out chickens are made of sterner stuff than I am, and I ended up having to just shove my hand under their feathery butts and feel around blindly for any eggs before they had a chance to bite me.

Finally, covered in chicken poo and feathers with sticky hands from the two eggs I'd accidentally broken in my meaty fists, I stumbled out the coop a little breathlessly and found Hans, passing him the basket.

"Are... you okay?" he asked, eyeing me in alarm.

"I won," I panted. "I mean... I finished. Eggs are collected. Done."

"All right then. Well, the well is around the back of the cottage. There's a barrel by the barn, if you could fill that, that'd be a great help. And maybe, erm, give yourself a bit of a wash while you're at it. You've got a little... right there, on your cheek..."