Nearly five years later, Argus wakes up to the sounds of his Uncle and Aunt outside the window of his room. He looks outside, to see them at the front of the house, attaching Sweetie and Penelope to the cart. Argus, rubbing his eyes at the sight of the bright February clouds from outside, opens the window and shouts down to Uncle Stefanos. “Uncle Stefanos!” His Uncle looks around for a moment, then looks up toward Argus’ window.
“Good morning my boy. Glad to see you finally up.” Uncle Stefanos exclaimed. “What’s going on?” Argus asked, his eyes squinting, as to have less contact with the bright outdoors. “It’s the 19th of February.” Argus’ eyes widened with excitement, now fully awake after hearing those words. “The pig contest is today! Of course! I’ll go get ready, I won’t be too long, I promise!” Argus shouted to his Uncle, closing the window with a loud thud. The pig competition would happen every year in he village of Firandir, and three main events would occur in the contest. The first event was for presentation, meaning that the pig that looked the best would win the event. The second event was for weight, meaning that the largest pig would win the event. The third and final event was the race.
This event excited people the most; I mean, who wouldn’t want to watch a race? These events would win the pigs’ owner a ribbon, and a small sum of money. Argus darted for some clothes in his cupboard. He put on a white shirt, brown pants, and black chocolate-coloured boots before racing downstairs to the kitchen. While there, he grabbed an apple from the fruit basket, and took a large bite from the large, juicy fruit.
Argus, with no time to waste, ran out the door, and to the front yard, where Uncle Stefanos and Aunt Melody were on the front of the cart, waiting for him. Uncle Stefanos looked at Argus for a moment before asking him, “Are you sure you’ll be warm enough? I believe it to rain a little later. Best go get your cloak.”
“Oh, right.” Argus turned around, running back upstairs to grab his firebrick-coloured cloak. “That boy.” Uncle Stefanos chuckled to himself. When Argus returned, still apple in hand, he climbed into the back of the cart, which contained boxes of carrots, potatoes, lettuce, and other vegetables like corn and turnips. Not to mention a pig named Abigale huddled in the corner.
“How on earth would I fit?” Argus asked, expecting a reply from either his Aunty or Uncle. “You could always ride Celia.” Aunt Melody suggested. “But isn’t she a bit young to carry my weight?” Argus asked, unsure if the she would be fit to be ridden on. “She is old enough dear; she’d be able to carry you.” Celia was the family’s youngest horse, only two and a half years old, but was a sturdy and strong little thing. Argus quickly went to the stable where Celia was, took out a saddle and reigns, and hopped onto her back.
“There we are.” Argus said, before the family started the long journey to the village. At a slow pace, it would take them about an hour and fourty five minutes to reach the village of Firandir, both the closest village to the Nephus farm, but also the village the Nephus farm would supply with food. About fifteen minutes into the journey, Argus had an idea, and wanted to share it with his Aunty and Uncle. “Aunty, Uncle, would it be bother if I went ahead?” He asked.
“Whatever for?” Stefanos asked.
“Well, it’s just that Leander and his family would be ahead of us by now, and Roman and August live in the village, so I thought I could sort of get there earlier and be with them – at least until you arrive, which I assume wouldn’t be too long.” Uncle Stefanos was about to say it would be best to stay with him and his, but Aunt Melody said that he could, before Stefanos got a word in.
Argus rode ahead, cantering at first, but eventually gaining speed, galloping towards the Teresi farm, to see if Leander and his family were still there. If he had gone at his Uncle’s and Aunt’s pace, it would have taken another half an hour to get to the farm, but Argus had made it there within ten minutes or so. As he arrived, he saw Leander’s parents loading some things onto their cart, before catching sight of Argus riding in. “Argus Nephus, as I live and breathe.” Mr. Teresi walked over to Argus, just as he’d pulled over. “Mr and Mrs. Teresi, so nice to see you!” He said happily, shaking Mr. Teresi’s hand, and hugging Mrs. Teresi.
“Good to see you dear. You’ve gotten taller.” Said Mrs. Teresi.
“Yes, Aunt Melody won’t stop mentioning it. Where’s Leander?” Argus asked. “He’ll be along shortly; he’s just gone to fetch his cloak.” Mr. Teresi explained.
“Ah, that explains it.” Suddenly, he heard loud thumps from the house, and a loud oof. All of a sudden, a young man with curly hair the colour of beeline honey, a little bit chubby. He wore a fawn-coloured shirt, with bistre brown pants, black olive boots, and a blue-violet cloak. “You alright son?” Mr. Teresi asked. “Fine Dad, just went for a bit of a trip down the stairs.” Leander explained.
“How are you Leander?” Argus asked, both friends approaching each other before embracing happily. “Well, I’m excited for the pig competition, that’s for sure.” Leander replied. Argus and Leander, now on horses, went ahead of both Leander’s parents, and Argus’ Uncle and Aunt, hoping to meet their other friends, Roman and August. “So, what do you think Roman has instore for this year’s contest prank?” Leander asked Argus. Roman, was a prankster, and enjoyed making people laugh, and grind their teeth at the same time. Uncle Stefanos didn’t think of him too highly, but Roman was a good companion to Argus, so he couldn’t do much to stop them being friends.
Argus and Leander decided after around ten minutes of talking, to race each other to the village to see who could make it to the Plenty ‘o’ Pint Tavern, run by a Mr. Gelb, a bald and long bearded man. Both raced down the dirt path, each one of them trying to get ahead of the other. Argus started to get ahead, and Leander began to fall behind. As the two were about to enter the village, Leander went faster than he had gone before, zooming past villagers setting up a large grass area for the contest, along with stalls for the market.
As the raced on to the tavern, Leander, like a bolt of lightning had made it first, only seconds away from trampling Mr. Gelb over. Mr. Gelb gave a blood curdling yell, as Leander braked just in front of the poor man. Mr. Gelb, filled with relief, started to get annoyed with him. “What on earth are you doing?! You could have killed me!” Leander began to blush.
“Sorry Mr. Gelb, Argus and I were having a race you see – t-to your tavern sir.” Mr. Gelb looked up at Argus, now beside Leander. “That still doesn’t change the fact that you almost ran me over!”
Mr. Gelb walked back inside the tavern, muttering to himself. “He could’ve given me a permanent horseshoe mark on my head… or better yet, crush it in! Kids these days.” Leander, still blushing, red as a tomato, turned his head to Argus, to find Argus’ face beginning to smile widely. Leander did the same, and both started to laugh quite hard. After their laughing fit, they headed back to the grass area, to find most of the village helping to set up for the day. The two boys went over to Mrs. Sotiropoulos, or as everyone calls her, Mrs. Sot, who was hanging up coloured banners on some string. “Hello Mrs. Sot.”
Mrs. Sot turned around to see Argus and Leander coming over to her. “Argus Nephus. Haven’t you grown?”
“I’m sure I have.” Argus replied.
“And little Leander Teresi, still making those apple pies I trust.” She gave a wink.
“Actually, I’m bringing a few today for the market.” Leander explained. “Oh, I see. I might have to go over and by some pie.” she said with no hesitation. “Well, I’d best get back to these banners, they aren’t going to hang themselves.”
With that, Leander and Argus walked away from the grass area, and decided to go and find their friends. After about two minutes of walking, both heard a voice from behind them. “August, would you look who it is, Argus Nephus and Leander Teresi.” Argus and Leander turned to see Roman and August walking over to them. “You’re certainly right Roman. Though I don’t remember Argus looking so old.” Argus rolled his eyes.
“First of all, I’m only sixteen,” Argus began, “And secondly, it’s good to see you.” Argus said. The Four, now together began to wander around the village, talking of memories from when they were young.
For instance, Roman recalled that when he and Argus were eight, Roman had invited Argus to the village, and hid in Mr. Gelb’s house, only to jump out of his closet while he was in bed a sleep. They got into a lot of trouble, but it was worth it. A half an hour had gone by, and the boys returned to the grass area, to see Uncle Stefanos, Aunt Melody, and Leander’s parents unloading their stock. “Well, this has been fun, but we’d best get back to our families. My Dad and Mr. Nephus are entered in the pig contest.” Leander explained.
“Finally, gonna try and win a prize
this year aye?” August asked. “We’re certainly going to try.” Argus replied.
“Well, good luck to you both. August and I are gonna go get a beer.” Roman said
before the four split ways; Argus going back to his Uncle and Aunt, and Leander
going back to his parents. Once Argus returned to his Aunty and Uncle, he began
helping them with unloading the vegetables they’d grown, and brought the pig to
a registry booth, where he was presented with a saddle, with the number seven on
it for Abigale to use. Argus led Abigale to a small pen, where other farmers
kept their pigs for the contest, each pig having a numbered saddle. “I see your
pig is only substandard Nephus.”
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