Post by p0vertybay on Sept 24, 2011 22:59:53 GMT -5
The sack thudded on the table in the kitchen advertizing the abundance that would be the day’s meal. “Four more in the shed today.” Jolende grinned at the old woman seated by the window to catch the light, “Big ones!”
“It seems we’ll have a bit of harvest too..” Rusa set down the basket she was finishing and stood up to shake her skirts. Cut-off reed ends tumbled from her lap into a wide, flat basket beside her. “Mark my words, we’ll have more smoked ‘snake than I care for though . . .”
“Well, anything to keep the does safe, I think.” The younger woman pulled the smoked and salted meat out of the sack and stretched the pieces out for further cutting. “Your fish baskets are filling the shed, too.”
The older woman settled back into her chair again and sighed, seeming to glow with contentment. Rusa remembered the dull seasons when there was far too little variety for the long, isolated months. She remembered the long seasons of work to collect shamefully scanty tithes with the cotholder away for most of the Turn. It took more work to run a cot than she and her husband could handle. The frequently absent cotholder, Dother, seemed to have made something positive happen for the cot with his recent marriage to the gangly, likeable girl, Jolende. Rusa rocked her chair a bit, a warm smile softened her lined face.
Cotholder Dother’s new young wife came with him in the spring as the two oldsters were still disheartened from the long, dubiously successful growing season that they had managed between the two oldsters. Jolende was the tallest girl or woman, Rusa had ever seen, and perhaps the tallest that her failing eyes ever will. The girl topped her new husband by more than a handspan and carried her height with a strong grace that did nothing to compensate for the too short skirts and men’s boots she wore. Long, light brown hair with a reddish cast was worn braided, sometimes crowning her oval face and accentuating a long neck. They soon found out after the cotholder left again, barely staying a sevenday with his new prize, what a prize the new addition would be.
The tall girl proved to be strong, capable and a fast learner who brought a few talents with her to the cot.
“It seems we’ll have a bit of harvest too..” Rusa set down the basket she was finishing and stood up to shake her skirts. Cut-off reed ends tumbled from her lap into a wide, flat basket beside her. “Mark my words, we’ll have more smoked ‘snake than I care for though . . .”
“Well, anything to keep the does safe, I think.” The younger woman pulled the smoked and salted meat out of the sack and stretched the pieces out for further cutting. “Your fish baskets are filling the shed, too.”
The older woman settled back into her chair again and sighed, seeming to glow with contentment. Rusa remembered the dull seasons when there was far too little variety for the long, isolated months. She remembered the long seasons of work to collect shamefully scanty tithes with the cotholder away for most of the Turn. It took more work to run a cot than she and her husband could handle. The frequently absent cotholder, Dother, seemed to have made something positive happen for the cot with his recent marriage to the gangly, likeable girl, Jolende. Rusa rocked her chair a bit, a warm smile softened her lined face.
Cotholder Dother’s new young wife came with him in the spring as the two oldsters were still disheartened from the long, dubiously successful growing season that they had managed between the two oldsters. Jolende was the tallest girl or woman, Rusa had ever seen, and perhaps the tallest that her failing eyes ever will. The girl topped her new husband by more than a handspan and carried her height with a strong grace that did nothing to compensate for the too short skirts and men’s boots she wore. Long, light brown hair with a reddish cast was worn braided, sometimes crowning her oval face and accentuating a long neck. They soon found out after the cotholder left again, barely staying a sevenday with his new prize, what a prize the new addition would be.
The tall girl proved to be strong, capable and a fast learner who brought a few talents with her to the cot.