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The skies were still cloudy, sunrise doing its best to break through, but at least it wasn’t raining now. Percy trudged through the mud to the stables to check on the horses first thing.
The stables were dry, the horses content. He fixed them some hay and carried buckets of water up from the well, sliding a few times in the icy mud underfoot.
When that was done, he collected the eggs from the coop and knocked on Albie’s back door.
Albie opened the door, confused and alarmed. He was dressed, thankfully. The sun was almost up now, so he’d assumed Albie would be awake.
He held his upturned hat full of eggs. “I collected the eggs already, but my boots are all muddy. I don’t want to come inside.”
Albie blinked a few times, then shook his head and finally looked down at Percy’s feet. “Give me this,” he said, taking the hat. “Take your boots off. Are you trying to die up here? You’ll catch your death if your feet get wet in winter.”
Percy pulled his boots off, showing holes in his socks at the big toes. He walked to the edge of the veranda and clapped his boots together to get rid of most of the mud.
Albie looked annoyed. “Come inside and bring them by the fire.”
The house was exactly as he’d left it last night. Modest, meagre old furniture. But boy, it sure felt like a home.
Albie put the eggs on the table and stirred a pot on the stove. “You’re up early,” he said, not looking at him.
Percy grimaced anyway. “You weren’t wrong about the snoring.”
Albie shot him a look. He kind of smiled, kind of didn’t. “Loud, huh?”
“I’ll get used to it,” he replied, smiling. “Can I help with anything in here?”
Albie looked around the kitchen. “Uh. You could set the table.”
“Sure!” Percy made himself busy doing that, then tidied up the firewood beside the fire where a few logs had tumbled.
“I hope you like porridge.”
“Love it,” Percy said. “Especially in winter. Nothing better than a bowl of hot porridge on a cold morning.”
“Well, you might want to wait until you taste it,” Albie said. Then he took another damper out of the oven and slid it onto the stovetop.
Percy couldn’t help himself. “Oh, you cooked it medium today.”
Albie shot him another look, but it was followed by a grin. “Don’t forget who’s cooking it at dinner time.”
Percy smiled right back at him, his belly full of butterflies. “Already looking forward to it. Everybody needs some charcoal in their diet.”
The front door burst open, and Des stopped when he saw Percy. “Oh, there you are,” he said. “Thought you’d done a runner when your bed weren’t slept in.” He stepped back outside and hollered to Robert. “Found him!”
When he came back inside, he acknowledged Albie with a nod. “Morning. Sorry for the intrusion. Thought we mighta had a quitter.”
“A quitter?” Percy cried. “I ain’t ever quit on a job yet.”
“He’s already been and collected the eggs,” Albie said, nodding to the hat on the counter.
“And the horses,” Percy added. “And I checked on the pigs and the dogs.”
Robert came inside, a little out of breath. He gave Percy a nod before he spoke to Des and Albie. “Went to see if his horse was still there, and they’ve already been fed and got fresh water.”
“I took it from the well, just like you said,” Percy said to Des.
Des eyed him. “You allergic to sleeping or something?”
“He’s allergic to snoring,” Albie said, taking the pot of porridge to the table.
