The Secret Within

Chapter 6: Beanpole

A knock sounded on the door, "come in." Beanpole entered thru the door looking quite awkward as he balanced a large tray of food on one long arm and shoved against the door with his other shoulder. "Sorry, today is Tuesday so the food isn't that great." he placed the tray on the bed beside me and once again sat in the chair. I sat unsure whether or not to trust the suspicious looking grey gew in the bowl. "Don't worry. It isn't as bad as it looks" he said while flicking his head to the side telling me to try it. I reluctantly reached for the tin spoon with my right arm, with the scratch, since it hurt to move my left shoulder. Beanpole instantly rushed to my side. "Are you ok? I had no idea you were injured." Kneeling beside me he gently held my arm examining the wound. "I guess it doesn't look that bad, but I wish it was Friday. Wait, I'll get a bandage." Beanpole walked out the door letting it close behind him. He returned a few minutes later he returned with a small first aid kit. He was gentle yet somewhat unfamiliar as he began to wrap the bandage around my arm. I spoke up noticing Beanpole's mistake "Umm... aren't you supposed to put the first aid cream on first." Beanpole's face turned red as he picked up the tube of cream. "Oh... yeah. I knew that." he slipped me a smile as he began to unwrap the bandage to put on the cream. "Sorry, I rarely use these things" I watched him questioningly as he continued to wrap my arm. "You have never used first aid? And what did you mean when you said you wished it was Friday?" Beanpole laughed "Slow down..." he paused. I realized he didn't know my name "oh... my name is-" he held up his hand "NO. Don't tell me." Beanpole finished with the bandage then noticed the bruise that barely showed from underneath my short sleeves. "Whoa.. He told me about the fight but did they really hit you that hard" I smiled "The tree thought so when I hit it." This made Beanpole's shoulders quake as his laugh filled the room. "Alright. Do you need some ice on that or do you want to finish eating?" I was disappointed that he didn't answer all my questions. "Well I guess I will eat. But about my questions-" Beanpole once again raised up his hand "I will explain all that later. Right now you need to eat." I had to admit that I was rather hungry. I slowly picked up the tin spoon and dipped it into the glob only taking a small amount onto it. It tasted like cinnamon oatmeal with a tad flavor of something I couldn't recognize. Not that bad. I helped myself to a larger spoonful. "So do they serve this everyday?" I asked after swallowing. "Nope, its just when our main cook is gone on tuesday. When the cook is gone Thirdwheel gets something together for us. He finally started getting good at it" Beanpole let out another crisp laugh that gently shook his shoulders. I smiled noticing that his shirt was green unlike my blue one. He spoke up "Oh yeah, I forgot. I am going to be your provider." I tried to looked surprised so he wouldn't know that I had been eavesdropping on his conversation. "So what does a provider do?" He shrugged "pretty much just provides for you. I get you accustomed to everything and if you ever need anything you come to me." I smiled swallowing the last spoonful of warm oatmeal.