Out Of My Comfort Zone

Good Thing I Have Hands

Lucas listened to the soft voice of his sister Helen as she sang a song to Catherine and Olivia. She sang of a little tale of a girl who fell in love, but it was a trap. And she ended up falling in love with an ogre. The ogre had used some spell to trick her into loving him. Lucas was grateful that he needn't a spell to get Hannah to love him, He had just needed a hand to hold. He listened as Helen's voice gently sailed through the strange words.

"And I walked through the door, to find in ogre" She kept singing. Lucas rolled over in his bed to see that Joseph had his eyes open as well. He seemed to be listening to Helen as well. Lucas smiled. Then he just listened to the words.

"And I married him, yea, though I wished to say, no to the man, the ogre, and I walked in dismay..." She sang the words softly, and Catherine clapped gently to the tune. After a few moments of silence, a few shuffles came from outside, and then utter silence. Lucas looked back at Joseph, who was looking at the doorway. When he lay back down, he noticed Lucas, and saw that he was awake. He blushed pink and lay the rest of the way down. Samuel rolled over in his bed, and Lucas and Joseph went to sleep.

The next morning, Lucas had the song of the girl and the ogre stuck in his head, he hummed to himself and Helen heard. She mockingly smiled at him, laughing. He turned red and stopped humming it. Later, when Joseph and Lucas were helping get wood for the stove, Joseph started singing the song with all his might, and Lucas joined in, singing the song mockingly. Helen heard them and scowled, for that was her favorite song to sing. They laughed their boyish laughs and then began to use their muscles for the good of the family, each hauling a massive load of wood to the stove.

When Helen and Elizabeth and their mother told them that they had enough, they decided what to do.

"I could show you around." Lucas suggested. Joseph laughed.

"Let's go to the shore, just skip stones or something." Joseph suggested. Lucas liked the idea and they started to walk back, dressed like sailors. Lucas hadn't worn his earring since he left America, and it only reminded him of what he was missing, and he didn't feel like it helped his eyesight anyway.

They reached the shore and he collected some stones that were smooth on both sides. Joseph did the same. They threw the pebbles and stones, which plunked into the water, or skipped along the surface.

Lucas threw one that skimmed the water eight times. Joseph threw his pebble the farthest, and they had contests until it began to grow dimmer.

"We should go." Lucas declared. Joseph nodded and they went back to Lucas's home.