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When Winter Fell  by Lindelea

Chapter 12. From the Journal of Fortinbras Took, S.R. 1158

Even the blackest cloud is crowned with silver.

Or so the gaffers say. But I shouldn't think the saying true at night, unless the moon shines bright above the clouds. But how would we know if the moon is there, or if he has gone off to sunnier clime? We certainly have not seen his face, nor his sister sun's, this past fortnight.

Rain! Fully two months early, and had it not been for Grandfa's "madness" we'd have been caught short in the middle of the hay harvest. As it was, the last of the hay was got in by the skin of our teeth. Well, not my teeth, for I was pulling carrots and digging potatoes with the rest of my cousins, while great clouds loomed ever greater. And we got nearly all the crops safely in before the rains came.

I have heard whispering that the ground is too wet for the planting of winter wheat and barley. But the planting is not for another month or two, and so why should the farmers be worried?

I suppose Grandfa's "madness" was a good thing, in that we got the crops in. The heavy rains would have made for spoiling and a great deal more of labour. But it is also perhaps a mercy that the Uncles have taken the reins from Grandfa's hands, for I was so hungered--and us in the midst of harvest!--as were my cousins, that not a few carrots were eaten secretly, bent over the row, brushing the sandy loam off as best we could before crunching, as if we were rabbits gathering from some crofter's garden patch. I ate a few potatoes along the way as well, but they were not so sweet as the carrots. Potatoes are much better when they are cooked.

But now instead of the half-rations that Grandfa ordered a month ago, when we were in the midst of harvest, we are back to eating full portions, which is only right.





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