Day 3 - Scene 9 - Part 2

Enar stumbled the last few steps up to the door. He leaned with his head on it, feeling the wood against his brow. The world swayed back and forth around him. He pushed away from the door and aimed for the handle to pull it open. He rattled it a few times and then remembered it opened inwards.

Light from the outside crept in through the door and pooled on the floor inside, but beyond that the burrow lay dark. Nothing moved. He should wait a bit, let his eyes adjust. He grabbed hold of the door frame and waited. One, two, three seconds and that would be enough. Adjusted or not, he stepped into the darkness. He knew where the bedroom was. He didn't need his eyes to find the way, just trace a hand along the wall and there it was. Perfect.

He took off his shirt and dropped it on the floor, threw it down even, with emphasis. Here's a man who's going to do some serious sleeping. Enar scratched his chest; stretched and yawned. He should get something to drink. Tea maybe. A cup of tea would hit the spot. Great idea.

With a flourish he spun around and headed for the kitchen. He'd just put the kettle on and it would be ready in a minute. His hand fumbled along the wall by the door, feeling for the light switch. The light switch, which wasn't there, because there was no electricity because this was the anetacht. How could people live without electricity. How did they make their tea?

When he moved out here he'd have electricity and he'd start a tea saloon and serve everyone hot tea in the evening when it was dark and he could have a lamp lit and bake cookies. That was a great plan too. That's how he could contribute to the village. He pictured it in his mind; Enar's Tea Saloon. He and Amanda would run it and everyone would come over and be their friends.

Amanda? Jolene of course. Silly. Jolene was much prettier and she probably even fancied him a little. She'd offered him her pipe, right? That's got to mean something. And the way she wore the hair on her legs. Jolene was the one for him. He'd go see her tomorrow and he'd ask her to marry him and she'd say yes and together they'd look for a little burrow to move in to. Such a great plan. Tomorrow would be awesome. First though, he'd have some tea. Can't respectably go to bed without a cup of tea.

He needed water. Yes. Water was the thing. Rolf had reminded him about that. He should go get some. Bring a little water for the sylph and get a lot of water for the tea. Jug? There.

Enar grabbed the jug from the table and stared down into it to determine if it had enough water for the well. Impossible to tell. Too dark. The sloshing sound must mean there was some, or was that his stomach? He'd drunk a lot of that cider. He poked at his belly and it didn't slosh so it must be the jug. Very clever. He took a deep breath, steadied himself and headed for the door.

The night and the stars welcomed him back out into the orchard. The chill of the nigth raised goosebumps on his chest. Just outside the door Enar stopped and shivered. Maybe he should go get his shirt again? He didn't need a shirt. The pump lay just down the path and he wasn't no wimp.

“Hah!” he said for himself.

“Hah, hah!” he repeated, a little louder.

“Hah!” he yelled at the top of his lungs and started down the path, smiling and hollering.

The hollering turned into a song without words. Enar skipped a few steps and jumped from one side of the path to the other. He spun around and fell over in the grass, still singing. He rolled around, again and again, lost the jug and ended up flat on his back, howling with laughter and fighting for breath just to laugh some more.

She'd been right. It wasn't about being good. It was about enjoying the music. If he saw her again he'd sing to her. He had a great voice and he owed her. Enar stopped laughing. He did owe her.

His voice picked up another song – a serious, quiet one. He didn't quite remember all the words but he sang them anyway, for the stars and for himself and then he felt a little bit better. As the song ended he found himself standing up, arms wide, hugging the moon and his voice echoing back at him from hillsides far away in the darkness.

Maybe he should be a bit more quiet. He didn't want to disturb anyone, or make them worry.

It took him a minute to find the jug where he'd lost it a little bit further up the slope. The grass around it was wet, but it still held some water. It hadn't broken. He checked very carefully to make sure it had no cracks or holes in it. It really wouldn't do for him to go breaking his host's possessions. Who knew, they might be neighbors one day and one had to be nice to one's neighbors.

Now, where was the pump – or the path?

Enar looked around. Grass and apple trees and stars above and the moon was what he saw. That, and a whole lot of black that was everything else.

“Sy-y-ylphie,” he called out. “Where are you?”

He listened for a moment and the reply came; a gurgling from a pipe somewhere to his left.

“I'm coming, I'm coming, just a moment.” He hurried towards the sound. “I've got water for you little sylph. I'll be right there.”

A faint glow emanated from the pump where it stoof next to the path. Enough for him to see it, enough to pour the last of the water into the hole and start pumping.

“There you go little sylph. Thank you ever so much for helping a silly old city fylk out.” A bit silly, talking to a pump like this. Then again, the seers back at the office spoke to stranger things than that and they even got paid for it. Neta so wouldn't believe him. It wasn't like he'd ever shown any tendency whatsoever for shamanistic powers. “One, two, one, two, pum-pump, pum-pump.”

No water came. Maybe the sylph just wanted him to shut up and go away?

“I'm so sorry,” he whispered. “I promise to be quiet now and I'll go straight back to bed. Just give me some water. Please.”

At first nothing happend, but when he touched the handle again the pump gurgled and a thick spurt of water shot out of the pipe and down into the jug, almost without spilling anything at all.

“Oh,” whispered Enar and his shoulder's slumped. “I guess you didn't like my singing.”

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Continued in Day 4 - Scene 1.

Back to Enar's Vacation.