When I said we should, we went outside. Everything was wet, which would make finding the right wood to make a broom hard, but it wasn`t impossible. Mother and I had made them out of wet wood before...and sometimes that meant that when they dried, the binding was all that much tighter.
"We need big sticks first," I told Koh and Shi. I held my hands apart as far as they could. "About this big for me...but maybe you want one a little bigger. Mother always had a taller broom than I did." Because Mother had been taller than me...though not as tall as Koh and Shi, I didn`t think.
Shi nodded, understanding, but Koh just looked at me. Maybe he needed to see an example first? I walked around the cottage a little, Koh and Shi following close behind. Because of the tree growing in front of the door, there were sticks on the ground, some even tall enough to be a broom. But most were too wide. I kept looking.
When I finally found one, I reached for it without thought and got scratched by something on it for my troubles. I pulled back my hand hurriedly, in case it was a bug or an animal and looked again to see what was there. Or rather, I would have if Koh hadn`t spun me around and taken my hand, studying the scratch a moment before bending his head to lick it, even though it wasn`t bleeding. "Koh!" I protested. If it wasn`t bleeding, there was no need to worry about it.
"Let him take care of your scratch, little one." Shi said, going past us to retrieve the stick I wanted. "And next time, double check that there are no vines growing around the stick before you reach for it." He sounded scolding, a little. Mother had scolded me sometimes too, when I did something without thinking. And she had always explained to me that she scolded me for my own sake, because she didn`t--hadn`t wanted me to be hurt. And since Shi was family now, he was doing the same.
"...sorry..." I apologized. I knew that I was supposed to apologize after being scolded. Carefully sliding the tiny vines I hadn`t seen off of the stick, Shi replied "As long as you realize your mistake, little one, and are careful next time, there is no need to apologize this time." I would only have to apologize next time if I did the same thing again? I guessed that made sense, since the first time I might not always know that I had made a mistake.
Since the scratch had been little, Koh had only needed to lick at it once for it to heal. But now he wouldn`t let go of my hand, worried that I would get hurt again. “I`m fine,” I told him. Koh half shook his head but didn`t reply. Did he not believe me?
I took the stick when Shi offered it to me, now that there were no vines on it. “Now for you and Koh too,” I said, and we walked around the cottage to find another couple of tall sticks. “What`s next, little one?” Shi asked once we had the three main sticks. I looked back at the cottage and considered. Maybe we should make two different kinds of brooms, one that would get rid of the light dust, and one that could scratch a little more at the dust that was more stuck.
? Koh asked when I was quiet for a minute, considering. I looked up at him. "I don`t know if there`s straw around here," I replied. "Mother was always the one who got it, and brought it back." I shrugged. "If we can`t find straw, let`s find some long grass, or really thin sticks."
"I think I saw some long grass back this way," Shi offered, pointing to the direction he`d come from yesterday. Koh and I followed him, and I kept an eye out for anything that looked like straw, but didn`t see any. Shi had been right that there was long grass though.
"This works!" I said, offering Shi a smile. He smiled back, and asked, "How do you mean to tie it together, little one? Will you use more pieces of grass to do so, or do you need string?" String was better, but that I couldn`t make. I`d forgotten.
I frowned, and considered. "...maybe...let`s try with only grass first?" We collected enough grass for one broom, and I sat down with all the pieces and tried to use another piece of grass to tie it all together. But even when I was very gentle, the grass broke. I sighed a little in frustration.
Koh sat beside me when I did, and he tried, but he couldn`t do it either. When he couldn`t, he looked up. Shi. was all he said, but Shi responded as if Koh had said more. Or maybe he just guessed that Koh meant more? "I can go get string, while you collect more grass or sticks for the other brooms," Shi said.
"Please," I asked. Shi nodded. "Would you like some more bread as well, little one?" That was a choice too?! I looked at him surprised. Wasn`t bread a little expensive? "...is it really ok?" I asked. Koh sighed, but Shi nodded. "Oh, then...maybe a little bit?" I had missed bread, a little.
When Shi left, Koh and I continued collecting grass, until I thought we had enough for now. We went back towards the cottage a little, and found some of the thin twigs I wanted for the last broom as well. I looked at the cottage and sighed.
Sad? Koh asked, putting his arms around me in a hug, though he was standing behind me. I shook my head. I was a little, but this time it was more that, “Cleaning is going to be a lot of work,” I replied. “Even with three of us doing it.” Because the cottage was so old, and there were even pieces of the roof and floor that needed fixing… “Do you even know how to fix a roof?” I asked. “I don`t!” Koh considered this, then shook his head and offered, Shi can do it.
I giggled at the tone that suggested that Shi do all of it, not just fix the roof. “We`re all helping!” I replied. “Since we`re going to live here together.” But it would be good if Shi knew how to do it. Koh`s eyes softened, and he pat my head gently. Since the sun was starting to peek out, we lay the grass out to dry on a wood board we found. We could still use it before it was dry, but if it dried that might be better.
That done, we went back inside, and I looked around. It didn`t feel as sad if I didn`t think of it as `my` cottage, but rather `our` cottage now, mine, Koh`s and Shi`s. It didn`t change that I knew it had been mine and mother`s, but it was easier to think about. I walked around, studying what needed to be done, and doing so reminded me of something mother had done. When there had been a lot of stuff to clean, she had made us a list of what needed to be done so that we wouldn`t lose track or get distracted.
I went to the bag that Shi had left here, that I had put my new sketchbook in. I pulled it and a charcoal out. Charcoal wasn`t the best to write with, but there hadn`t been any pencils. Drawing? Koh asked curiously when I flipped to a clean page. I shook my head. “Making a list.” I put the first item—sweep—on the list and then showed him. Koh looked at it, but by the lack of reaction, I wasn`t sure that he could read it.
When Shi came back, I had almost filled up the page with my list. “Oh? What are you writing, little one?” When I explained about the list, Shi nodded slowly. “That`s a good idea.” He put his bag down and pulled out the string so we could finish the brooms.
Once all the pieces were tied together tight enough, I took the one with twigs on the end to try it. The other two had to wait until they dried a little more. It worked, though not as much as I`d hoped. Had I made the broom wrong? But it looked like the ones I remembered mother making…
Shi. Koh called. Shi came over, holding out a hand. “Let me try, little one?” When Shi managed to get a little more dirt than I did, but still not very much, he paused, and bent down, though he didn`t kneel because it was too dirty. “It might be better if we replace all the boards, or build on top of them rather than try to clean them…” Shi said finally as he stood. “I think some of what we think is dirt is actually rot.”
That wasn`t good. I glanced outside, but it was still light. “Let`s get water from the ravine?” I asked. “And try to wash and see how much is just dirt? It might work better than the broom.” Shi had bought a small bucket, made of the same shiny smooth stuff that the shoes were. So we went to the ravine and back a few times. And when the dirt on top was washed away a little, we saw just how bad the boards were. They would all have to be replaced.
I went to get a hug from Koh, and Shi took something else out of the bag he`d brought back today. It was a little black thing, and as I watched, Shi pulled a yellow part from it. Curious, Koh and I went over to see. There were numbers on the yellow part, and Shi was measuring! He measured along the walls, asking me to hold the yellow part while he walked across the room with the black part.
“Tomorrow,” Shi said. “I will go get some wood, and we can start building, if we can`t clean it.”
Comments (0)
See all