Pretty Little Girl [Open!]

Pretty Little Girl [Open!] May 22, 2013 0:16:48 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on May 22, 2013 0:16:48 GMT -5

Cachimorro Olentzero

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I had a dream
When I was young
I dreamt our lives were
Going to be found
When we were always
Waiting to live
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The morning brings about routine for us. Stability is key: we keep the farm running, the cows coming home, bacon on the table (all the cliché ol’ phrases for getting shit done that you might imagine). It’s hard work making sure these kids (Zorion included, on account of his mind

[/color]) get waked and fed. I think sometimes about how far we’ve come, even without ma or pa around, but I don’t waste more than a minute. Energy is better spent thinking about how to eke out a little more for the girls so they grow up without the rickets some of the other kids get. Food is scarce here, even with all the meat we got, and if anything I ain’t going to be the one to fail my sisters and have them go hungry.

Some might call me a task master. I think it’s in my blood, this need to make sure everything runs exactly as planned. There are days I spend fifteen hours working the farm and making sure the wheels keep spinning. Collapsing down into bed after a long day is a pleasure of mine; haven’t had the chance to be with my friends for a long year now, maybe a half summer more. They all still go down on to the swimming hole, stopped inviting me when the rains came last summer. Knew that I wasn’t going to budge from the part of the fence that needed mended on our property. I don’t mind they think I’m a curmudgeon for a body just seventeen. But my soul might as well have been around a hundred years, or so they like to tease. Just never rightly understood the need to fuss about girls or play games all day long.

The heat is going to come soon. I can feel it in the morning. It’s still dark when I get up to go to the stables, where the cows are waiting for their morning milk, but the heat is already creeping in. I only hope it’s not unusually warm this year, like the last. That’s what done killed our daddy. His heart couldn’t take the sweat and heat forced upon it. Died right in the fields, tumbled down and clutched his chest. Perfectly reasonably aged, just… sad was all. But we had a right proper funeral, in a little wooden box and with words from the capitol. I think about it then, milking the cow’s udder, that though so much has changed it’s all the same. Still wake up at the crack of dawn and still have half a mind to wonder what I’m going to do with the rest of the family.

They hide from me sometimes, I think, so they don’t have to hear me yell. I don’t think I’m too bad, though I get real loud when I need to. But my pa was the same way, so it’s not too different than what he used to do to keep us in line. And I like to run a tight ship. Better to have someone strong leading the ship than someone that’s going to let everyone do exactly as they please. So I tell them to toughen up and to pitch in. We all got a job to do around this place, whether we like it or not. And we ain’t old enough to drop dead from the heat, so they can’t go acting as though they have a special reason not to do work.

When I finish the sun has crept up along the horizon. There’s some movement in the house, and I can see smoke climb up from the chimney. Zorion and Leita making some porridge no doubt. But today I have chores to do—just like the day before, and the one before that. I move out along the edge of the property. Have to be certain there ain’t any holes in the fence, which might let some of the calves get away from us. And we can’t afford to lose none of them. I chomp along the ground in my boots, sweat starting to trickle down from my temples. I hear a little squeak. Hello?[/color]

“Tolosa…” I drawl out, shaking my head. She’s a little wild one, and looks as though she’s shuffled off early in the morning to be outside. Good.[/color] I could use an extra set of hands. I place my hands on my hips and squint good and hard at her. “What you doin’ out here by your lonesome? Ain’t you got better to do than staring up at the sun?”[/size][/blockquote][/justify]