Earl

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The door swung open and Earl was staring at an upside down Eli. Normally, Earl would have been reading in his armchair but he had recently fallen ill. Eli had not expected him to go as far as hanging himself off the ceiling fan but it wasn't the weirdest of his "remedies". The little hair that was left on Earl's head hung down and almost touched the floor.

"I'll only be a bit longer," Earl said to answer the puzzled look on Eli's face, "I think twenty more minutes and my fever will be cured!" As soon as he said that, his slippery pyjama pants turned against him and he slipped and fell to the floor.

"Ow," Earl yelled as he placed a hand on his head and started rubbing, "Better luck next time I guess," Earl sighed. Earl stood up and proceeded to help Eli unpack the groceries. He let Eli get to work on dinner and went into the living room to think up his next remedy because his fever was still burning him to a crisp. My fever is hot and the opposite of hot is cold. So I need to find something cold to work around my fever. I don't think I have anything cold at my immediate disposal so what's the next best thing? Slightly cold? Sure. What is something that's slightly cold? Slugs... don't have those.Water... can't waste that. Meat? Yes!

"Eli!"

"Yes Earl?"

"Did you buy meat at the market?"

"Yeah...," Eli replied with a puzzled tone, "Why?" The response to Eli's question didn't take long as Earl rushed to the kitchen to take action. Today at the market there was a special on poultry and so when Earl entered the kitchen and spotted the bare chicken he immediately got to work. "What are you doing? Is this another remedy?" Earl ignored Eli's rapid fire questions and instead began taking the legs and wings off the chicken. Before Eli could even think of another question to ask Earl had already shoved the dismembered chicken down his pyjama pants.

"Ahhhhhhhhh," Earl sighed in relief.

"We were going to have chicken fritters..." Eli mumbled disappointedly. With his brand new chicken pot belly, Earl left the kitchen to allow Eli to continue his cooking process and think of a new meal. Earl could feel the slightly cold and slimy chicken sliding down his pants as he walked. He didn't mind much as he much preferred the feeling to burning up with a fever. When he finally reached his comfy armchair he readjusted the chicken and got to reading the daily newspaper. Yesterday was all full of boring stuff but Earl managed to find an article about exotic fruits that he delved into somewhat. Before he knew it, Eli was already calling him for dinner. Instead of using the chicken (that had now completely ruined Earl's pants) to make fritters Eli had found a way to use the   fresh peaches he bought at the market. And so, their dinner turned into more of a dessert but neither minded the small change. Earl told Eli about the cooking articles he had been examine whilst upside down and Eli told Earl all the better ways he could've been trying to cure his fever. The two exchanged ideas about what could be done for dinner tomorrow while they finished up their rather delicious "dinner". Earl also took this time to tell Eli about all the chores he would need to him to complete throughout the duration of his illness. Eli was discouraged at the thought of work but was happy to do anything for his loving, ill master. After both had licked their plates clean, Eli cleaned the dishes while Earl thought some rather grim thoughts to himself; I'm ill once again for the third time in six weeks. I wonder if it's possible that I'm nearing the end of my life. Oh joy, I'll have to write a will. Ugghhh. Before I do though I think I would want to learn more about what it's like to be something other than a master to an amazing charge. At that moment Earl had a brilliant idea.

" Eli, would you mind it incredibly if I joined you at the marketplace tomorrow?" Eli knew full well he would mind extremely if Earl were to join him. After all, he had to return the fake card and, how was he supposed to do that under Earl's nose. His runny, snotty feverish nose.

"What do you mean? Aren't you too ill to do things such as walk around a marketplace?" Eli said slyly trying to convince Earl not to come.

"I think not," Earl said, "I would rather enjoy spending time with you and it would take my mind off the raging fever on my head."

"But-,"

"It's decided! I will in fact join you in a day of fun at the marketplace!"

And with those words, Earl shot Eli a sly smile and Eli wore a look of defeat upon his face. Eli would have to conjure up a new plan to return his fake card and get his money back without Earl finding out about the extra change. The pair started winding down for bed and Earl prepared himself to visit the marketplace for the first time since he had taken Eli in.

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I hope you guys enjoyed the first 'Earl' chapter! I didn't quite get to what happens with the card in this chapter but it will for sure come up in the next chapter! Stay tuned! 👋🏻

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