Chapter 11

When we got to the farm, we spent the first day getting settling into our new living area. We had been given bunks inside a large shed that was made into a bunk house. It was a tight space but it was big enough for four bunks and an end table next to each. When we sat down to eat with everyone else inside the house, we were approached by an older lady.

“Oh, you must be the new workers Jim said he recruited today?” she asked.

“Jim,” returned Bro who was speaking for all of us who didn’t know who Jim was.

“Well, my husband of course!” she exclaimed, “You mean to tell me Jim didn’t even introduce himself when he hired you?! I’m sorry for his rude behavior then. My name is Iona, I will feed you and do your laundry while you are here, and my husband runs the farm.”

“Thank you mam,” I said to show our appreciation.

“So are all of you looking for other work right now?” Iona asked randomly.

“No, why do you ask?” I responded.

“Oh, most folks don’t last here long. We either get the people who have nowhere else to go, or we get those who are trying to transition to a different job.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“It’s hard work, son,” she said as she began to chuckle. Then she filled our plates and moved on to serve the others.

There were three other men who had been working there as well. One was a short man who had been working there for a few weeks. He had short curly black hair and scruff covering his face. He seemed like he was a very serious man. And everyone there was calling him Tom. The second man was pretty chubby. He had long blonde hair that didn’t look like it was his. He seemed jolly from the way he was lit up at the dinner table. He also talked as if he had been there the longest of the three. And the boys were calling him Sam. The third man was tall and skinny. He was the type of guy who stood out in a crowd. It was mainly because his height, but his smile was one that caught on if you looked at it for just a few seconds. His name was Ian. He came in just a couple days before we did.

Bro, Peyti, and I introduced ourselves after dinner to them. They were all what I would consider fairly chill guys. They all decided to lie down and talk in their beds until they fell asleep. I can’t say that our group did anything different though, we were really tired from all the day’s events anyway.

We woke up at 10:00am and we began to freak out because we were supposed to wake up at 8:00am. I looked over and all three of the guys were just waking up as well.

“We’re late.” I said expecting them to get up really fast. Instead, Sam began to laugh.

“We aren’t in any hurry. We will get our jobs done. It looks like you all need to be trained.” He said as he was still laughing a little. Then he began to show us around. There was a small farm with a few vegetables and a large pinned area with many pigs. “Now, the pigs just need feeding and cleaning the dun out of their main area. Once a week, we get to wash the pigs. We decided to play rock, paper, and scissors to see who has to do it for the week. But most of our time is spent pulling weeds on the farm or just general upkeep. Old Jim pays us 25 Coin a day no matter how long we work, so we usually just do a couple things here and there.”

“How come he said this is hard work?” Peyti asked.

“Well most people here just work a few hours a day and get paid a lot more.”

“Then how come you still have worked here so long?” she continued.

“Well, for me, I only have to work hard when no one is around. My job gets easier the more people who are here and I have learned to eat my fill during all the meals as you can see.” He said as he chuckled.

“I’m not sure how long we are here,” I explained, “but we will work hard to earn our wages.”

“If that is the case, I hope you guys stay longer,” Sam said, “Tom and Ian have been working hard too.”

Then we began working on the various tasks we were shown. Sam was right in that it only took us an hour to do everything we were asked to do. We then relaxed for the rest of the day.

During the next day, I was working along with Tom scooping up the pig dun, when Tom asked me about my time on the Island.

“So how long have you been here on the Island?” He asked. After I told him about myself and our group, I asked a little about him.

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Too long,” He began, “I was told I was born here although I was raised in an orphanage in Acedia. When I was old enough to leave, I left to Avaritia and found a new home there. I enjoyed it for quite a while, but I knew deep down it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t a very happy person, so I came here to spend my earnings on entertainment. I didn’t even notice the amount of money I was spending, but I ended up going completely dry while playing poker one night downtown. I needed a job right away and Old Jim was hiring so I immediately accepted. That’s me up to this point.”

“Thanks for sharing that with me, Tom,” I said, “Are you planning on anything next?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “I thought about going back to Acedia. I feel like there is nothing out there for me.”

“That is really encouraging.” I said sarcastically. “My group of friends and I have been traveling the cities because we keep feeling like there is something more out there. I’m a bit discouraged now.”

“Ah, don’t listen to me the entire time. Besides, I haven’t been to most of the cities myself; only the ones I mentioned before. If you find something worth it, let me know.” He said as he smiled.

“Will do.” I said. By that time I hadn’t realized that our conversation took the whole work time for that day. After we finished up, we relaxed again and talked until we went to bed.