“Can you do two-hundred strips, that length?” he asked.
“I’m sure, I can,” I said.
“If you get tired, you can rest, we have water and food.”
“Will you have potatoes?” I asked and all he did was smile.
So, I got to work, working slow, making sure the ground was upturned well. I made about thirty strips before I stopped and noticed more people were looking at me, they were all resting and here I was, a marbled-skinned man, wearing a donkey plow. I felt something drop by my foot and I looked down, there was a wooden plate, with two potatoes and wooden cup of water. Wretch was there looking at me, so I scratched between his eyes as I picked up the potatoes and ate them like an apple, skin and all. I took the water and looked at it, the night before I didn’t drink anything, but I remember they brought the cup up to their lips and swallowed, so I done the same. The water was oddly refreshing even though I wasn’t hot. I could feel the sun, it was hot that day, but I wasn’t affected by it.
It took me a couple of hours, but I got the two-hundred vertical strips done and oddly I wasn’t satisfied. I took that plow and went horizontal with it and done two-hundred strips that way. People were already planting by time I was done. I dropped the straps from my hands, undone the harness around my waste and was met with applause. I looked, and it was coming from Abakanazar.
“Well done my friend, well done!” he said as he walked to me, “You kept your word, that makes you a friend in my book. Would like to stay another night?”
“I think I will head back to Sodom tonight, but can I come back tomorrow?”
He looked offended at first, but then his facial expression changed, “Yes that would be good, how long are you planning on staying around?”
“Until I get my brothers, who knows where they are now, I hear screams here and there, but I think they are trying to lure me away, even if one was to attack Sodom and one was to attack here I could race back and forth and fight but if one leads me off while one attacks, that’s a different story, it’s a cluster of thought let me tell you,” I said.
“Good, may you never catch them,” he smiled and patted my back, and have me an odd look, “Your skin feels like stone, I’ll have to pat you softer next time.” I felt accepted, appreciated, something I didn’t feel with my brothers.
I whistled for Wretch and he came running, he was loaded down with two large sacks on each side of him. I looked, but when he walked by, I smelled the earthy, glorious smells of potatoes. Abakanazar simply nodded and smiled and I headed back towards Sodom. With it being so late in the afternoon, I knew it would be dark before I would get there. I didn’t care, I enjoyed the scenery and the sounds of the lake along the way. I felt like Wretch was a good luck charm, Derium and Mylicious had stayed away ever since he came into my life.
I could see the fires of Sodom, when I heard a blood curdling scream fill the air. It was coming from the direction of Al Hubarb’s hut. I looked back at Wretch, “Hurry the fastest you can,” I told him like he would understand. I used my speed and raced towards the hut. I burst through the door to see Arlenius, in a bed in the corner of the hut. One lady had a hold of one leg, while another had the other leg. She was naked and I could see their baby crowning.
“ROLDIAN, COME, COME!” Al Hubarb waved me in. he was at the side of a bed. I walked, briskly, over to him, “Its time, my baby boy is on his way. If it is a boy, I’m going to name Alrol Hubarb, what do you think?”
“It’s a boy,” I said and found myself leaning back and looking as Arlenius screamed out and pushed. The baby’s head inched forward, then one of the ladies holding Arlenius leg fell over.
“Quick, take her leg,” the lady holding the other leg said. She had a look of love and hate in her eyes, she was petite and wore an all-black dress. She had her hair in a pony-tail and I was lost in her beauty when she looked back at me, “Are you deaf or dumb, grab her damn leg,” she pointed.
I done as I was told and watched both with intrigue and with horror as with each push the baby came forward. To my horror, its head popped out and being I had never seen a baby delivered before, I didn’t see a face, because it was facing down, which I didn’t know.
“It doesn’t have a face,” I said out loud.
“What?” Arlenius and Al Hubarb said at the same time.
“I guess you are stupid,” the lady next to me said and moved her chair over to where she was in front of the baby. She positioned her hands on top and under the baby’s head, “Push!” she said, anger in her voice.
I grabbed the lady that had passed out and crudely shoved her off to the side. I stepped back and let the lady do her work. Soon the baby was out, and she turned him around, he had a face after all.
“It’s a boy!” she said.
“YOU WERE RIGHT ROLDIAN!”
“What? He was right? I was right,” the lady said and gave me a hateful look.
“Oh Mer-Alz-Azkiban! Don’t take offense to it, it was the same day you predicted it,” Arlenius said.
They wrapped up the baby boy, the
