Straw decoy

Tom's belt had new tools, four shiny blades hung on it, they were as short as a hand, their handle doubled their overall size.

After a few seconds of awkward silence during which Tom intensely starred at Oswald's eyes, Tina spoke. "We've got plenty of rabbit today, want some?"

"Not today madam. I'm here for him actually." Tom said with a head sign.

"Then come in, Oswald needs tips to cut his game meat."

Actually, Oswald knew by heart how to skin a rabbit, the main issue was the joints, either he broke the bones with the back of his knife, leaving plenty of splinters in the meat, else he pulled hard to separate both sides, squeezing and tearing it apart. Tina wanted to make sure he could keep up good meat quality if she had to sell it.

On purpose, he shown how wrong he held the knife, to have her patiently correct him.

'We held hands! First contact confirmed!' He thought, every little victory counted. He peeked at her feminine curves from time to time, fantasizing about the texture it'd probably have to the touch.

Under Tom's gaze, he did his best to flirt with Tina, complimenting her, improving not too fast and so on. This until he lost patience, and sneezed as hard as he could.

He managed to shake the whole house in one go. Ugo came down first, when Oswald had no more excuses to stay at the butcher shop, he walked to his herd with Tom. He needed only one witness. Tina would probably avoid talking about Oswald since she knew her husband was angry at him.

On the way back he had a little discussion. "Thankfully you were here as well. You need to know what to do with what you hunt, else it's all good to throw away." He patted the salt bag on his wheelbarrow before adding. "If you don't add enough salt, moisture will make the meat rot and your stomach turn upside down."

It had been long since he last saw the crows, he hoped the nest near his house wasn't vacant.

Now showing his shiny knives, Tom was proud to gift them all to Oswald. "Careful, they're sharp!" He added before winking.

The metal was top-quality. The imperfections were hard to spot and there were so few impurities their shine caught many villager's eye.

"You sure? I mean, I can't afford even one of those, you'll be at your loss." Said Oswald.

"I'm fine really, I'll come here to use them, plus I've got mine right here if I'm in need." He said, patting his torso. The shape of a longer blade could be discerned with each undulation of his vest.

On the first throw, the new knife's handle struck the wood. The entirety of the blade sunk into the wood, making it split in two. It was a perfect shot from twenty meters away. Both boys were concerned about the handle's durability.

"Insane! I can't believe how deadly it'll be on a living target!" Enthusiastically said Tom.

"A lot." Oswald snarled.

Tom was seething with impatience. He wanted to know more about Oswald, but it was too hard to extract personal informations. "Meryl gave birth, right? Is it a boy or a girl?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen it. It certainly died weeks ago, her belly is flat and so is her mind, she believes she's fooling me so far, she probably wants me to go from the house."

This was the darkest thing Tom ever heard coming from Oswald, he was utterly shocked. The teenager saw Meryl once to three times a week, she looked so well. She had a pretentious smile along with a doll in her arms for about a month. She fooled everyone but her son, at least until a week ago.

"Are you sure?" Tom asked.

"I'd say a hundred percent sure. There's no trace of diaper nor faeces in this darn house. We're not approaching her because she wants to be alone and do her things. Still, if you ever get the chance to, do as if I said nothing. You'll see how good of a comedian she is. Her efforts will backfire on her someday."

Oswald's eyes weren't red nor watery, his tone was flat and his face neutral, as if everything was a distant dream to him.

In reality, he considered himself guilty of his mother's reluctance. He did something to her obviously, but when she told him how monstrous he looked that night, four weeks ago, he refused to believe her.

'That's when she started lying.' He thought. 'She's planning my departure, she wants us to be in bad terms before never seeing each other again.'

Taking into account he had blood on his hands and she had to clean the house several times after his nocturnal excursions, he knew part of the truth remained in her room.

Next to the two boys, crows did not hesitate to approach. The many contacts they had with human presence while cleaning Meryl's carcass made them less afraid quickly. Plus, Oswald's smell, their ex-feeder, was even less bothering that hers.

Oswald doubted his opinion was taken lightly by Tom who had yet to blink, so he requested. "She's not dangerous. There's no use telling the village about it, please leave your tongue in its box for this time."

"Sure, no worries." Replied Tom with a wink. Now, not only he was closer to Oswald, but he possessed a family secret. Words were worth no money in a small village.

A few hundred meters away, Reggy went to talk with Oswald, the latter knocked at his door but only met Meryl, who gladly let the man in.

Only two days since Stan's last visit, she missed his charm, the heat emanating from his body and the perfect voice that praised her beautiful shapes.

The man in front of her in contrast had a bald spot covering the top of his head, an overflowing belly that covered his genitals and nothing to do here.

It did not matter. "Hush." She said with a wide smile. "If you make too much noise, you'll wake the baby up." Her hands caressed the man's head, and ticklish places.

Puffing up her torso, the button at the top of her shirt unstitched.