I Will Work Hard Ch. 03

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Very early, on a cool and dim morning, Yann said he was going to sell all the chickens and the cow.

This was madness, absolute madness. Sasha screamed at him, pointing up at his face with her worn finger. The other women soon joined in scolding him, even Hulda. Why? WHY?! Why the fuck would one sell the animals? They provide good products that benefit everyone! Any why the shit would a man think he could do so without consulting his wife?!

Placidus, Dobromil, and Johnan were all confused, even horrified, but they dared not to argue with the master of the house, and they certainly dared not to interfere when the mistress was giving the master a piece of her rage. Poor little Dagny was alone on a bed, and she was so upset to witness all the yelling that she started crying. Johnan picked her up and tried his hardest to soothe her.

But Ehlov ... he was looking around for something, and when he found it, he picked it up. Hulda stopped her nagging of her father-in-law, who was taking all the complaints from the women with a proud posture and a tolerant expression on his face. She watched her husband, and she saw that he was taking a shovel with a long handle out of the house.

As Ehlov closed the door, Hulda wondered what in the world he was meant to dig up. Hulda went to one of the windows, her fingers folding over the edges. She saw Ehlov enter into her vision, and he started digging at the backyard. She called out to him, "Husband!! What are you doing?!"

He paused to wave at her. "Ask my Pa!!"

Leaving Ehlov to his work, Hulda's bare feet padded against the dirt floor, and she shrieked so all the angry women could hear her. "STOP!! STOP!! SOMETHING'S HAPPENING!!"

Everyone stared at her. Some members of the family jumped a bit. It was quiet for a few seconds, and Hulda used the opportunity to look at Yann and ask, "Why is Ehlov digging in the yard?"

One of Yann's front legs stomped in the ground. He folded his arms and snorted out a blast of air. Then he said, "A very important man is coming soon, and you all need to be nice to him." Then, his gaze moved past the women and towards his two remaining sons. "Go out and help your brother. He's digging his boxes up."

The older brothers nodded and obeyed, grabbing shovels and exiting the building. Hulda locked the door.

Sasha scratched at her jaw and said, "Ehlov's like a dog. He's always burying something. Why's he digging now?"

"Do you know what's in the boxes?" Yann asked with a mild voice, patting the top of Sasha's head.

"No, I don't," Sasha admitted.

Johnan chimed in with an uneasy statement, "I don't know either." He frowned as Dagny reached up to pull on his hat with her pink, chubby little fingers.

Despite their age, Yann's eyes had an energetic light in them. He took Sasha's hands in his, and he stroked them very lovingly with his thumbs. "Come with me to sell the animals. Please. Something wonderful and magical is about to happen, and we need to be prepared. I'm so sorry that I never told you, as I should have, but Ehlov and I wanted to surprise you, all of you."

Sasha's head tilted to her right, and her lips pursed, as she stared up at her husband with a look of iron. "This important man, who is he?"

"He's the owner of the good portion of land to the west. He's an old man, and he's coming to talk to Ehlov about something very important, so please support me. Please support him. Please let me sell the animals."

Shaking her head, closing her eyes, Sasha said, "Fiiiiiine. It's fine. I trust you, you great, hopeful beast."

So, Sasha put on her harness, attached it to her husband's second back, and then she helped him guide the cow out of the building. Hulda locked the door again, knowing that they'd return soon to gather up the chickens.

As Johnan kept Dagny in line, and the other two young women whispered to each other, Hulda returned to the window and watched the young men dig at the earth with their shovels. Eventually they had a few boxes stacked up. Still, they were looking for more. Ehlov had to pause every now and then to tell a brother where to dig.

The master and mistress returned soon, and they collected all the chickens in little cages shaped like cubes. With these cages belted to his body, Yann carried his wife away again.

When the older couple returned to the house again, Ehlov's voice rang out from outside, announcing that there were only two more boxes to find.

Then, after the young men were done, they carried stacks and stacks of boxes into the house. They nearly filled up the floor space. Hulda was amazed that they were able to unearth them all so quickly.

And a few minutes after that, a carriage arrived. Everyone heard it rolling up to the house. There was a rapping on the door. Hulda peeked through a front window, and she saw that there were actually two carriages. She wasn't sure why that was so.

Ehlov unlocked and opened the door.

The man behind the door looked damn important, terribly important. His tunic was a lovely, shiny blue color with lines of white embroidery around the neckline and cuffs. His cloak seemed fresh and more expensive than anything Hulda had ever touched. She had seen richer looking people on occasion in the marketplace, but something about this particular centaur screamed out "important" to her.

He nodded towards Ehlov, his aged face holding something both cordial and gloomy. Then he said with a voice that reminded Hulda of creaking wood, "It's good to see you again. Is this your whole family?"

A nod, and Ehlov said, "Yes. The money should be in all these boxes." The back of his hand moved over the many containers.

"Then count it all before me," the important man said, as if he was challenging Ehlov.

Ehlov looked to Hulda, and he said, "I have a wife for that."

Hulda's heart lurched into her throat, and then it fell into her stomach. She pointed at her face, asking in a flabbergasted, diluted voice, "Me? You want me to count all that?" Then, she remembered what Ehlov said a bit ago. "There's money in those boxes? All of them?"

The important man rested his horse-like body on the bare ground, folding his legs. He smiled at Hulda and said, "Madam, would you please count these coins before me? I'd like to watch your work, so that I may count with you."

Johnan's voice shot out, "What? Wait! What?! How much money is in there?!"

Hulda ignored the child and the astonished whispering of the rest of the family that hadn't known about this. Even though the day wasn't frigid, her feet and hands were cold as she knelt beside the very important looking old centaur, opened up one of the boxes, and counted the values of the glittering coins inside.

It took so long ... so very long. Ehlov had to get her a cup of ale to keep her throat from giving out. She got hungry. It should have been time to eat soon. Johnan was told to just boil the last basket of eggs for everyone.

When she thought she was finally finished, when she thought she didn't have to tolerate the judgmental, harsh eyes of the important centaur, the number she came up with was a bit over six hundred thousand Tekans. By this time in her life in Breden, Hulda had a good idea of how much a Tekan was worth. For example, a dozen eggs could be sold for maybe two Tekans when the demand was low and perhaps six or seven Tekans when the demand was high.

When Hulda had said the number aloud, everyone in the family, except for Ehlov and Yann, looked like their eyes were about to fall out and their jaws would soon be unhinged.

"Ah, you counted it all correctly. I watched you do it," the important man said. He didn't just watch. He touched every coin Hulda counted and bit at them.

As the important man got up, he opened the door and he called out, "Alright, come and take all these boxes."

Two more centaurs, wearing padded armor, entered the building. The house was starting to feel very cramped. The armored centaurs began a process of putting the boxes of cash inside one of the carriages. It took a good, long while, but when they were finally done, the important centaur reached out to the shake Ehlov's hand, and he said, "It's all ready for you. I'll wait so you can follow me." Then, the important man left the building, but Hulda didn't hear the carriages take off. They were remaining outside.

That was when Yann rubbed his palms together and said to everyone, "Pack up your things! We're moving!"

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