Part 2 - In the Dead of Boredom

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Luke woke up to a gentle wind caressing his face. Wind? There was hardly ever wind on Tatooine. He stood up and streched, thinking of the fun and games he would have latter. He picked up his skyhopper model and a snowspeeder model and began crafting an imaginary space battle.

"Come have your breakfast," Owen called from the dining area. He shuffled out of the room and yawned, his blond hair a mess, as always. As Beru fussed with his hair, he plonked down on his seat at the head of the table.

After breakfast, Luke turned to go to his room to play when Uncle stopped him.

"Today's a windy morning. There will be lots of water collected. Go do your chores."

Luke sighed loudly, but decided to do it while it wasn't hot yet. He clambered out of the house wearily. He pushed the knob and it crunched down.

WHOOSH! Water churned out from the vaporator. "Oh no, oh no," mumbled Luke as the tub began to fill to its brim. He raced to get another tub.

He struggled under the weight of the tub as he hefted it on the landspeeder. "We're going to earn lots from this," he thought as he sneaked a sip. "Mmmm, refreshing." He smacked his lips.

He spent a good long time with that first tub, and he sat on the cart and pushed himself to the vaporators. He cranked down another knob, and the sound of the roaring water filled his ears again. He loaded it on the landspeeder.

He looked up to see Uncle adjusting some buttons on another vaporator. "What are you doing Uncle" he asked curiously.

"Decreasing the condenser temperature. Will cost more but the profit will be larger." came his reply. Luke nodded, pretending he understood even though he had no idea what "profit" meant. Probably something good, he decided.

As Uncle fiddled with the switches, Luke turned back to his work. The water vaporators were scattered all over the property, which meant he had a lot of walking to do. He tugged at a knob. Gotta hate those knobs, but it was a way of living for a moisture farmer like him.

As he did his weight-lifting with those tubs, he wondered about what his parents had done. Not Aunt and Uncle, his parents. Where had they gone?

"With the angels on Iego" Uncle had said when he was nine and asked that question. He had a distant and faraway look in his eyes that looked so sad Luke decided to not mention it.

He decided to take a break and take a look at the hydroponics garden the family owned. Purple blossoms and herbs sprouted from the racks, little tubes of nutrients- and the water he harvested - flowing through and nourishing their roots.

As he took a sniff of the sweet-smelling ornamental flowers they sold for money, he caught sight of a skyhopper driving swiftly across the sands of Tatooine. He watched enviously as it headed somewhere else.

Then he heard Aunt's voice calling for him, and went back out into the sun. He wiped his sweat absent-mindedly and waddled over to a vaporator.

Bang! He kicked at the knob.

"Luke, be careful with those things. One costs 500 credits." said Uncle wearily.

He pouted and continued working. It was then when Aunt told him she and Uncle were going off to the Mos Eisley Catina to settle a business deal or something.

He watched them squabble as they got into the family V-35 Courier and drove off. He was waiting for the day when he could drive too.

He sulked as he lifted yet another tub full of water onto the cart. Suddenly, he heard something move. Probably some womp rat, he thought.

Something made him turn around, he didn't know what, but he caught a glimpse of a Tusken Raider. He wore goggles and carried a menacing-looking spear, and was clothed in robes.Uncle had told him about how Tusken Raiders believed that all wter was sacred and belonged to them.

"They would leap out at us, spears waving, and would atttack us!" He remembered Uncle scaring him during bedtime stories a long time ago.

Oh no, whispered Luke as he thought of that sharp spear that Tusken had carried. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest as he nervously rolled the cart into the house.

He heard him move again, and quickened his pace. The Tusken let out a snort of some sort, and he quickly entered the house and slammed the door, pespiring.

He rolled the cart into the storage room and stacked the tub along with the rest. He didn't dare go out again, for fear he was still there. He went into his room and hid beneath the blanket, shaking.

Knock, knock. His ears picked up knocking sounds from the door, and his frenzied mind conjured images of a Tusken Raider using his spear to knock down the door. He shuddered involuntarily and even though the heat was getting to him, he refused to get out of the blanket.

He soon decided he couldn't lie here all day, so he got up and looked for a way to contact Uncle and Aunt. He searched around the house for a comlink, for he did not have one of his own yet.

He found one on the desk in his parents' room. It was Uncle's. He probably didn't bring it out. He entered Aunt's comlink frequency, from what he could remember. He hoped he had got it right. He listened closely and waited for Aunt to pick up.

"Beru Whitesun, speaking." He heard a familiar voice-his Aunt's.

"Auntie, there's a Tusken Raider outside knocking on my dooor" he cried into the comlink.

"Silly boy. Now open the door."

"But...there's a..."

"We're outside the house."

"Knocking," he heard his Uncle's muffled voice.

Luke slapped his forehead. How had he been so dumb? He went to the door and opened it. He ran into Uncle and Aunt's embrace.

"I was so scared" he sobbed.

"Enough, enough." said Uncle. "Now go continue your chores."

Luke, who had been expecting a word of comfort, pursed his lips. What the??? Then he remembered there was a landspeeder waiting for him on his birthday, and turned away.

He thought of the skyhopper he had seen again, and decided that the day he got his landspeeder, he would follow the skyhopper.

YAYEE ANOTHER CHAPTER OMG THESE UPDATES ARE GOING FAST...for now.

If I don't update soon, be sure to check out my other books: My Carnivourous Terrapin, Star Wars Quizzes for the Real Fan and The Moon, The Snowflake and the Beauty.

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