The Departure

Darwin has packed all the vegetables from their farm and the herbs that Shandra had given him to sell to the town. The wagon going to be heavy with the crops that they harvested. There were so many sweet potato, potatoes, turnips, potato starch and a couple bags of millet, the customers in the village always said that taste the little bit better than the other Murch in the market. We will be leaving by midday today, but he also have a little present for my special friend. After checking the wagon he walked over to his house and up to his loft bedroom opening the chest in the corner pulling out what he's been working on in between harvesting and tending to their bulls. The special bag he had made with his hands. For countless hours of tanning the leather piecing it together then finally carving intricately for sign a crescent moon on the flap. Although it was quite firm tough and unyielding he knows the years of use it would break into a beautifully soft bag that you carry whatever she needed along her travels. He smiles to himself as he thinks of the smile it would bring his dear friend.

He set out to place the bag in their message tree. Looking across the bare fields he could not stop thinking about how much Sandra has helped his father and him. The wind held the smells of the farm. He could smell the fresh turned earth and the ceder trees. Home, this place smelled like home. Thinking this made him calm and happy.

Home, a word he had once thought he would never use again after his mother died. Once his family consisted of both his parents and him. He was truly happy back then. His mother would help his father tend the fields when needed and made all their meals and tanned all the hides to make different bags and straps. This was one of the reasons he befriended Sandra and worked so hard.

Walking into the forest he loved this place it always felt special almost magical. That thought made him think of Shandra again. He would miss her while he was on his trip, but this happens every year.

Walking to our tree is not that long of a walk. I look around the tree for a place to put the bag so when she picks it up it will still be nice. 'I do not want to just hang it from a branch this time,' he muddered to himself. Walking around the tree he came upon a vertical hole in the tree. It looks like an old chipmunk burrow. 'This should be a good plane for the bag. It is big enough and should keep it dry if it rains.' Making sure it was in the hole fully and not too crushed.

It was almost time to set off on their journey to the market. It would take a week at least to get to the town, if the weather was good. Maybe I will get Shandra something from the market. He has been thinking a lot about her. She was his only friend. Turning back to the forest she always retreats to, "Bye Shandra, keep an eye on our little farm."

With a sigh Darwin turned and make his way back to his house. A breeze met him at the edge of the forest. Like the forest was telling him to stop don't go. But he shook off the feeling and continued walking. 'Time to go'