Small World

It’s the middle of summer and things were coming to a head. There was only so much that she could take. Lewis already walked out of the house once. She wasn’t too crazy about going back inside. The farmer grabbed the sides of her head and groaned.

“What the hell am I doing?!” she shouted. Something had to give before Lewis lost her mind.

“You OK?” Clyde asked from the doorway. The farmer turned in time to see Lily pulling the dirty old biddy back into the house while giving her an earful. Lewis rolled her eyes. Her friends were no help to her at all. Lily and Clyde made it worse. Muriel had her own problems to deal with. The farmer pinched the bridge of her nose and rubbed it up and down. When would this end?

In reality, Lewis just wanted to be alone. Well good luck with that.

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Crusher still needed a little more work. Annie knew that the moment that he showed up on her doorstep. It’s been quite an adventure over this four to five years. There was still so much that she had to teach him. For one thing, he still wouldn’t wear his vest. He thought it made him look dorky.

“But you look smart in your vest,” she would tell him. Annie could never convince him to love it. Still, there were other things that needed work. Too many to list here.

Today, however, Annie will have the man the café on her own. Crusher was going to go home to the city for three weeks. His aunt wasn’t used to the café being so empty. It wasn’t going to be long, but still…

Annie brushed a bit of hair out her nephew’s eyes. “Remember, be good for your mother.”

“Yes, auntie,” he said.

“Give your sisters plenty of kisses for me,” she said.

“Okay,” the boy said. Annie pinched him on the cheek.

“Ready to go?” she asked. The big boy nodded.

“Yes, auntie,” Crusher said. His face lit up as he grinned. Annie rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but smile herself.

“Let’s go,” she said. Crusher followed his aunt out the doors of the Sunny Plum. They would both be back soon.

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Lewis rolled back her shoulders and sighed. No point in trying to avoid reality at this rate. Maybe the farmer could think of some way to hang on and fix her problem until the baby was born.

Lewis had just turned back to her house when she heard screaming. That made her head snap forward. Huh? What was that about? Muriel poked her head out of the doorway.

“It’s Kat!” she shouted. “Her water just broke!” Lewis’ eyes widened as her jaw dropped to the ground.

“What?!” she shouted. Lewis ran to her front door, leaving a trail of fire behind her.