Seanfram Manor

VI

Lutetia trudged down the hill where the Lord's House was located. Clay stairs had been carved into the steep soil, going up or down was no less than a hike, looking forward during the descent quickly brought a sensation of unease and those vulnerable to vertigo were discouraged from going up. She wore an apron and a skirt cut to her shins, but even then she had tripped and fallen on her way down on four occasions, nothing too severe, fortunately. She had heard that her grandmother's grandmother's grandmother walked the hill when the First Lord did not have stairs that lead to his House, one had to climb gripping weeds and rocks that may or may not come off the ground. When she reached the end of the stairs, she walked up to four elderly farmers that sat outside a cottage.

"Morning, dames. What is it you have reaped?"

One of them pointed at ten boxes filled with wheat, rye, potatoes, beets, gourds, radishes, carrots, maslin, spelt, and oats, one box per crop.

Lutetia opened a small bag and took out ten copper coins. The farmer that had pointed, whose name was Molybdena, extended her hand to receive them.

"There it is. Until later, I'm off," the woman said and left.

The sky was white. It was midday. The farmers stared at the boxes of crops in silence.

"What is it going to be today?" said one.

"Potatoes, beets, gourds and carrots." replied another one.

"Or potatoes, radishes, gourds and beets." said a third one.

"I do not like radishes." muttered the fourth one.

"Dames...I was thinking about getting us a domestic servant."

"But Molly...where would we get one?"

"Minnie is right, there is not one soul in the demesne that is out of work."

"We could ask Lutetia when she comes back."

"Good idea. I thought of the same."

"But Molly, we do not have to wait until Lutetia comes back. We can go to the Main Market and check."

Molly placed a hand on hers.

"It would be too dangerous."

"What good are we so far away from the Main Market? We could find a servant and sell all of our wheat and rye. We would get rid of those boxes and make the money to pay a servant, instead of letting piles of crops go to waste."

"Please, Flora, we sell our wheat and rye."

"And not enough come to us because the Main Market is much nearer."

"Would you like it if we moved near the Main Market?"

"It's not any more expensive there than here."

"Away from the crops?"

"I know, Chloe. I thought of the same. But Flora also has a good point that is closer to my idea of a servant. We are going to need someone who helps us around. This rhythm of work is becoming too tiring. In a way, work has kept us healthy, but I fear it is too demanding. I had my start in manual labor during childhood, because there were no men in my family besides my father, my older sisters worked the sickle and the hoe and I put the crops in boxes, I was sure that when I picked up the harvesting tools I would master the skills I would use in life, and here I am using them today. My father was sure that if we moved to Walcot we would find someone to work for us, between the migrants and the recently freed slaves, after he was denied a request to grow livestock in our plot of land. The Lord of the Walcot Manor granted us a permit to work there two seasons per year but did not allow us to hire anyone. We earned better than in Songan, but we were still the lowest-earning people in the manor, and we could not try to work other jobs, there were no vacants, and someone had to harvest, who if not us. In my time at Walcot, I went on to meet Chloe, who came from Peiuoa and was working for the vassal. Her experiences in the South of Peiuoa were very familiar to me for a simple reason, Songan was a banana town, a banana village founded by the banana group, the United Fruit Company, and the camps they built near the plantain plantations reminded me of Songan and my childhood. The last summer I worked there, coincidentally the year Prince Osorio became king, I met Minnie at the Market Town and also Chloe finished her service. Together we went away and arrived here, and here we have stayed."