4 Back At the Farm

Once we made it back home my heart had finally stopped racing and my hands quite shaking. Things were really shaking me up today, I don't know if it's because of the men who had killed my parents or because Mr.Layton was a mysterious man and slightly scared me. Brushing my thoughts to the side I quickly got a bowl and filled it with water dipping the rag into the water I quickly squeezed out the water and walked over to the chair where he sat. Reaching up to his head, lighting dabbing the rag on his head, that slowly washed away the blood that had come from the deep scratch where the bottle left a big knot on his head. He winced in pain as I cleaned the wound and put witch hazel on. "You'll need to keep this clean so you don't get infection Mr.Layton" he looked up at the girl who had screamed in the town in fear but was now calm as she cleaned the blood from his head. "Since when did you become a doctor" he said sarcastically as he looked out side. She gave a half glare before saying

"When you foolishly fought with a drunk man" she knew a lot about small wounds and scratches from the old town they lived in, after all being a nanny to three children they got hurt playing a lot.

"I'll have you know he hit me with the bottle first" he couldn't believe he was even defending himself, he was the one who had a bottle smashed on his head. "Yes well maybe if you weren't so brusque with your words he wouldn't have wanted to hit you on the head" she pressed a little harder with the cotton ball than she had meant to

"Ouch! Are you trying to hurt me more!? Give me that I will finish it thank you" feeling bad she had not meant to push down so hard "I'm sorry Mr.Layton I didn't mean to be rough" looking to see if he was okay.

"Stop calling me Mr.Layton, you can call me Ben or Benjamin" was she trying to annoy me he thought to himself.

"Sorry Benjamin"

Hearing his name come off her lips made him pause for a moment, not knowing why but he liked hearing her say his name.

"Start making the lunch and once we are done I will go show you where the wheel barrow is for chopping wood" she quickly started preparing lunch just some simple sandwiches but she couldn't get the thought of having to chop firewood off her mind. She had watched her father do it many times before winter came and he was always exhausted from the hard work. She didn't know if she would be able to even get through one load but she was always determined and hard working. Just as they finished lunch she ran to go try on her new outfit. Beautiful black pants that came up above her waist with flower stitching down the sides in white thread. Tucking in my blue top I tied a knot in the front. Looking in the small mirror she pull her hair up into a bun with a few hairs with a mind of their own. She sighed and headed out to meant Ben. Going out to the tree line where there was a big stump, and logs that hadn't been split yet. She watched as he put the first log onto the stump, and swung the axe splitting through the log in one swing. Nora was impressed by his strength....and he was good looking. The thoughts she was having were new she hadn't hardly seen men. Where they moved from the only boys in town were already courting other girls. Not that there were more than 4 boys her age. She walked over to the axe and Benjamin put a log on the stump for her to cut. She threw the axe over her shoulder as hard as she could only going half way through the log. Not realizing what to do she looked at him with questioning eyes. " if you don't swing through in one swing then you will have a harder time picking up the log with the axe, here I will show you"

He took the axe from her and picked it up with the log still wedged on the axe and he slammed the log down into the stump making the axe finish going through. Letting the axe lean against the stump he brought the wheel barrel over to load the split wood into. " I'm going to go check the crops and feed the animals, finish filling up this wheel barrel and bring it down to the house to be stacked" with his final words he turned around and started to walk back towards the barn. She was going to have to get some strength if she wanted to finish this before night fall.

Getting the hang of it the more and more I kept splitting but I had also started to become tired and feeling the stiffness and ache in my arms made me want to quite. Also the thoughts of Ben kept coming to her mind after she hadn't seen him for a few hours, and hoped his head was okay. After 5 more logs I finally had a full load and began to wheel it to the house just as the sun was going down leaving a small amount of light past the tree line. Getting the wheel barrel back to the house wasn't an easy task as the metal wheels kept getting stuck in small rocks and the uneven dirt beneath me. Once I got to the house I started stacking the wood before smelling something coming from the house. I felt so hungry I could eat a horse, as my father used to say. Once I finished stacking the last few I ran into the house to see what smelt so good. "Mm you sure know how to cook Mr.Layton ... I mean Benjamin" I smiled slightly feeling embarrassed I kept forgetting to call him by his first name, even though the name was perfect for how the man appeared. Ben smirked a little at seeing me flustered trying to catch myself from my own mistake. Dishing up the two plates Ben put potatoes slices some corn and a piece of ham onto my plate and I couldn't wait to eat, it all smelt so good. Not realizing how quickly I was eating before hearing "Do you always eat like this or is just because my foods that good" a mischievous look was on his face that made me feel gutsy inside and I replied "Do you always stare at people so closely while they eat?" Now he was the one who was blushing slightly at her comment which made her beam with a smile at the thought of getting even with it. After finishing dinner and putting everything away I wanted to know more about the mysterious man but he was already taking his boots off so I just told Benjamin goodnight and walked to my little cabin to fall asleep quickly once I was under the blanket.