Abe shut the creaky wooden door behind him as softly as he could, yet Athol still managed to detect him via his footsteps. Slamming down the wooden spoon that she had been cooking with onto the stone countertop, she shuffled her way quite angrily towards her adoptive grandchild. Wispy silver hair swaying in the wind of her own speed.
"Where in the hell were ya?"
Abrem's answer was interrupted by the squeals of his little siblings echoing through the worn hut.
"Abe abe abe!" the loudest of the squeaky voices rang through the room; the owners tiny stature and matted tangled black hair (which fell over her face and down to her elbows) conveyed a very much unnecessary sense of excitement as she threw herself onto her brother's leg and clung to it like a racoon. Abrem chuckled as the rest of the children greeted him, the younger ones attempting to climb him like a jungle gym whilst Clyde stood in the corner of the room with a sour look on his face.
"Chia, I need to move." Abrem did his best to keep his voice level and patient despite his eagerness to share his new story with Athol.
Chiaki's thick black hair fell away from her sleek almond eyes just enough for Abe to be pierced with the rich ebony irises of her mischievous expression.
"Chiaughh!" he groaned violently, attempting to shake the determined eleven year old off his leg.
Athol snickered, her sturdy partially soft frame shaking along with her laughter.
"Grama help me." he complained
"I'm cookin you deal with her." With this, Athol swiveled on her heel, returning her attention to the large bubbling pot of stew which filled the room with the scent of poppy seeds and squirrel meat.
Abe finally managed to pry the girl off of his fraying brown trousers before he weaseled his way between children and to the stove next to Athol.
He stood there bouncing with excitement waiting for Athol to notice. Sighing she set the spoon into the pot and turned towards him, hand on her hip and sass in her eyes.
"This best be important, ya hear me?"
"Oh it is, trust me Grama." With these words, he finally released the wild ecstatic grin which he had been containing for nearly an hour.
"Remember when ya told me to talk to that boy across the wall for you and I told you i'd fall over and die if I tried to get that close to the wall again?"
Athols face fell; she raised her eyebrows as she leaned towards Abe slightly, her interest obviously spiked.
"Indeed I do, don't tell me you scared him."
"No, no, grama, in fact I think we friends now!"
Athol seemed incredulous.
"I didn't get to tell 'em the thing- I reckon it be smarter to wait, not overwhelm him too much." Abrem laughed nervously, his forehead sweating a bit out of anxiousness.
Athol leaned to the side, resting her palm on the counter while she gave Abrem the stink eye.
"Well I'm mighty proud of ya for talkin' to him but i'll be even prouder when ya give up the lolly gaggin'." she patted him on the shoulder apathetically as she said this.
Abrem sighed.
"You reckon I should take the kids out to the creek so you can cook?"
Athol groaned, her dark hazel eyes glimmering with fatigue.
"I know I told ya the chores would be done by the time you got back but Clyde got sick again and Chia was in another one a her moods, she don't like it when you leave ya know."
Suddenly, Clyde popped up beside Abe. Even though he was merely twelve, being the second oldest had taken a toll on his maturity levels. He was incredibly grouchy and irritable, with the demeanor of an elder suffering from arthritis. Abrem found this quite amusing at times; however, unlike an arthritic old man, Clyde had no trouble sneaking up silently behind someone to scare the living daylights out of their unsuspecting soul.
Abrem flinched aggressively before he realized it was Clyde, he then rubbed his temples with his calloused fingers whilst muttering something in Swahili.
"Yesu kristo." he grumbled.
Clyde crossed his arms, his full cracked lips pursed together in irritation.
"Put some oil on your lips and help me with the chores."
"Why don't you put oil on your lips Jugoo." Clyde snapped, his shrill complaint echoing into Athol's ears.
"Atcha kutenda ujinga."
Despite her never looking up from the pot, the faint phrase that slipped from her lips carried enough threat to get the two boys moving in a pop of a whip.
Swinging Chia onto his hip, Abe turned back to Athol, awaiting her next order.
"Get the little ones into the sleepin' room, Angel and Chia could use from fresh air so take em with ya."
He nodded reluctantly. With the childlike pre-teen biting the shoulder of his jacket, he shuffled towards Angel's ivory figure, which sat cross legged on the musty dirt-packed floor fiddling with the wild milky white coils that sprung from his small head.
Pulling the pasty teenager up by the hand, he nearly dragged him towards the door; the slender adolescent was basically tripping over his own knobby legs. Just before reaching the door, Abe leaned back, meeting eyes with Clyde.
"C'mon we got stuff to do." with this, Abe allowed the back door of the hut to shut behind him the wind slamming it loudly.
The sun had nearly set completely behind the rolling hills of pine, stretching for miles and miles into the foggy oblivion. Setting Chia down onto the soft mountain silt, he set his hand atop Angel's head letting him know he was behind him. Angel was deaf, yet somehow it seemed to help him in spirit work.
Despite being merely fifteen years of age he had somehow managed to correctly summon a crystal ghost on multiple occasions: something even Abrem couldn't do until the age of eighteen a year ago, so the family decided it was merely some sort of gift, which like any other gift happened to have some minor drawbacks.
Angel twisted around to gawk at his older brother, his large dewy black eyes alert and oddly focused for someone of such little experiences.
Ever since Jane had brought Angel to the border as a baby, the family had collectively agreed to study sign language using a small faded text book which Jane was able to steal from a shop at the base of the mountain nearly ten miles away, there was really no reason for anyone to treat him any differently, especially when it came to chores; the only exception being sunlight because of his albinism. However, Abrem suspected he would be mighty useful as a night worker as soon as he was old enough to be outside by himself at night; the kid seemed to have a natural affinity for the dark, and Abrem respected that.
Abrem grabbed Chia by the arm as she attempted to run away to play in the woods, ignored her whining keeping his eyes on Angel, and with his free hand made the sign to gather as best he could before gesturing vaguely towards the coop. Angel nodded before shuffling towards the coop about ten feet away.
"Chia go get the feed." He nudged her with his arm before letting go of hers with his other one.
Chiaki frowned and crossed her wiry arms against her faded white dress before leaning over and sticking her tongue out at her brother.
"Chia please don't do this again." His exasperated plea seemingly disappeared into the breeze as Chia's reckless stomps kicked dust into his face, Abrem choked for a moment before spitting a wad of dusty mucus into the dirt beneath them. He sighed, standing upright once again he looked down at his sister, his arms crossed and his face deceivingly assertive.
"I betcha you'd never see the light of day again if Grama heard you mouthin like that." he smirked.
Chiaki huffed.
"Now get!"
He turned to check on Angel as Chiaki raced to the storage shed to get the chicken feed.
He rested his elbows on one of the cracked wooden posts of the coop, his bare flesh mere inches from the spiked wire.
Angel carried the frayed wicker basket -which they kept in the small shed near the coop- in the crook of his tiny arm as he stood on his tippy-toes to peer into each roost, making sure he got every single smooth, pearly spawn in the coop.
Just as Angel had handed the basket off to Abrem, the sound of laughter and footsteps began to echo behind them.
Abrem whipped around to see Chiaki skipping towards him, a giant bag of feed in her arms and a very fatigued-looking Clyde saundering apathetically behind her.
"Abrem! Abrem! guess what! guess what! Guess! Guess! Go on guess! Please Abrem guess!"
"I-"
"Ok fine I'll tell ya." she gruffed.
Clyde grabbed her by the ear, twisting his wrist ever so slightly, causing her to squeal.
"Clyde what did we say about physical punishment!"
Clyde rolled his chestnut brown eyes into the back of his thick skull.
Abrem knelt down, his knee planted in the dirt, he grabbed Chiaki by the shoulder to calm her. He turned his head back to Clyde.
"Go help Angel with the eggs, there's more in the top roosts than usual."
Clyde nodded before releasing an aggressive sigh.
"Chia you gotta let me answer before you tell me, or there's no point in askin me to guess."
Chia was all but vibrating with restless energy, her knobby knees bending and straightening as she bobbed up and down; her pursed lips were barely managing to stay closed.
"Now, what is it Chi?"