A soft sunbeam kissed Patience’s forehead, coaxing her eyes to peel open. Refusing to leave her warm bed immediately, she stretched under her quilt. Her head fell to the side and met the gaze of the empty sockets of the skull on her chair. A small sliver of her mind expected it to rattle to life, but of course it did no such thing. The girl sat up to begin her usual morning routine.

After tending to the chickens, the garden, and breakfast, Patience slumped her shoulders when she checked the calendar hanging in the kitchen. Today was marked for cleaning out the outhouse. Slowly shuffling outside, the girl steeled herself for the nauseating task.

Patience retrieved the post hole digger and wheelbarrow from the shed. Arriving at the outhouse, she sighed and heaved her final lament before throwing the door open. She removed the bucket of lime and the catalog missing half its pages, placing them several feet away on the stone path. With a forceful pull, the girl slid the bench from the slot holding it in place over the pit. Leaning the bench against the outer wall of the outhouse, she took the last breath of clean air she would have for a while and started to excavate with the post hole digger.

Digging. Excrement. Digging. Humans really were just sophisticated animals. With the tortuous present being of no interest to her, Patience fraternized with her thoughts. Last night felt so surreal. The skin on her arms pimpled, remembering the contact. Flashes of Anax atop her flickered in her mind. An unsophisticated beast, foreign to the ways of proper human society. They were intelligent, they could learn. Humans were once feral in their infancy. Possibly, the only thing separating their species was a matter of decorum. A large clod of lime and shit dropped, bursting on the ground. It snapped Patience away from her thinking.

It took three whole trips of the wheelbarrow to the very edge of the Firmin property line before the pit was acceptably empty. Patience could not wash her arms and legs enough at the water pump despite being prepared with soap. She laid on the front lawn exhausted and reeking, still shuddering at the recollected sight of the quantities of redworm in the manure. Staring up at the clear blue sky, she briefly wondered what Anax would have thought of the ordeal.

“I could have used his strength …” sighed the girl. She absolutely could use his assistance now as she stood and dragged herself indoors to prepare a bath.

The sun slowly descended from its zenith when Patience realized she had missed lunch. The water was tepid the moment she stepped into the full tub as she had decided to bathe outside. The thought of water dirtied by manure going on the kitchen floor made her skin crawl. Luckily, the day was a comfortable temperature. Patience silently thanked the privacy screen made of four trellises covered with ivy that was set in front of the pump. There was little chance anyone on the road could glimpse her nudity.

She continued to scrub at her skin, ensuring any trace of dirt or manure was abolished with soap. When her skin became red, she slid into the water, hair drifting in a mass around her face. Listening to the light birdsong above her drew her away from unpleasant manure-filled thoughts. 

The white pine cast dappled shadows over her body with its feathery branches. A cool breeze swept over the water’s surface, making little ripples. This was her life, getting by day to day, hard work ever piling under her belt. Its meager rewards being a bath or a seat next to a roaring fire, book in hand. Patience freed an exasperated sigh from deep inside her lungs. At least she could easily tip the water out onto the lawn.