A Voice and Static

SIX

I was soaked. My shoes and socks where covered in mud and dirt and I had at-least three stones in my shoes too. I knocked on the door and wept the end of my shirt against my forehead just as he opened.
''Hi?'' he says, mildly confused over seeing me there dripping wet.
''Hi. Can I come in?''
''Sure,'' he says and moves so I can step in. It's quite exactly as you suspect it is like at Blake's. Mildly messy, that kind of place where it's clean, but you have stuff everywhere. Though I'm sure Blake knows where every single thing is placed. It's warm and the smell of him has naturally filled the whole place. I can feel my shoulders and nerves relax as I breath it in, almost like a drug of some sort.
''It's nice,'' I say as I look around a bit more in the entrance. He closes the door behind me and only now I realise he only has a pair of sweatpants on, and a t-shirt. I've never seen him out of uniform. I like this more. Though he's very handsome in the shirt, tie and pants- but so are most.
''Thank you.'' It was quite an odd situation, there was so much I had to tell, and he must have quite a bunch of questions on his mind about my appear.
''The farmer,'' I said blankly, a bit louder than I had planned. He jumped slightly.
''What?''
''There's a farmer. In the book.''
''Okay?'' I kind of needed to ask for some clothes, but I wasn't planning on staying late so I figured to tell him what I had found and then leave. I opened the book that had survived the rain quite well in my arms- there's the page.
''Look, this farmer. He lives in our town, I recognise him. Gillian introduced me to him,'' I say and point at a picture in the book. It was a young and grumpy man in front of some fields. This man was old now, but his face stood the same, except the wrinkles.
''What about him?''
''Well if he's in this book-''
''-He knows something,'' Blake fills in.
''Well yes. He also seems to have lived during the time where there was at-least one more village.''
''Are you sure? This picture has to be over sixty years by now,'' Blake says in doubt. I could tell he was already getting deep in thought about what things to ask this potential farmer.
''No, but it's worth a shot. Not many things to aim at,'' I say and smile half-heartedly. He looked at me and his cheeks pulled the edges of his mouth up into a smile.
''Sure, but I want us to prepare questions so we don't have to visit more than needed. If he's a farmer he lives close to the edge right?''
''That would be correct, yeah,'' I say. What was he getting at?
''Show me the picture again,'' he says and reaches out for the book. I hand it over and he looks at the picture once again.
''The text says that he was a typical farmer in the village that made the best tofu,'' I say in a lower tone.
''See that must be another village, in the back. If I'm not wrong based on the timelines and placement that should be our town, but years back,'' he says and points at a small piece of small buildings in the background.
''It's blurry, how can you see that?''
''It's not blurry, it's very crisp for its time,'' he says with furrowed and confused brows. I let it be but I couldn't see it. I decided to take his word for it.
We sat down with a notepad each on questions we wanted to ask. I was still soaked and I could feel a thin puddle form under me from the dripping water. It was so quiet. I stood up and walked over to the kitchen. He was busy writing so I assumed he wasn't going to follow or ask. I took off my shirt and pants to squeeze out the water I could into the sink. I saw him appear in the doorway on my left, his eyes wide and cheeks red. He looked away.
''Isak, what are you doing?'' he stuttered.
''Squeezing out some water,'' I said and the fabric turned on itself tightly, a surprising amount of fluid fell on the metal underneath.
''But you're in your underwear,'' he said and tripped over his words.
''Well yes.''
''In my kitchen.''
''Yes.''
''People will think we did something!'' he says in extreme embarrassment and somewhat panic. I suppose he meant sex.
''Sex?'' I asked in a monotone voice. He slapped the wall and the house rumbled slightly around us. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
''Y-YES,'' he said in a louder voice. What to say? I realised I had read a similar thing in a book once.
''You don't want to do that with me?'' His eyes went even wider and I think his system gave out for a moment before he answered.
''I'm going to get you some clothes to borrow.''
''Okay.'' I hung up the clothes on the edge of the sink and waited for him to come with the clothes. His kitchen was somewhat alike mine, but bigger. Though he had less space in his living room than mine. I don't know which I like more. I hope he gets me clothes that are somewhat nice. Quite embarrassing to wear his though. He appeared and threw them at me.
''Come to the table when you have them on,'' Blake says and I hear him walk back to the table we sat at. I put the joggers and the t-shirt on. A bit too big for me; after all I was shorter than him. But they were comfortable. I guess they were ok. I imagined what it would be like to be him and wear these. I walked to the table and sat down a bit closer to him to avoid the wet spot. He looked up at me and I could tell his whole face smiled.
''What?'' I asked.
''Nothing,'' he said and kept smiling. It didn't feel like he was making fun of me but I had to make sure.
''Are you making fun of me? Is something funny?''
''No,'' he said seriously before smiling again.
''What is it then?''
''You look cute,'' he says and hides his face by putting up an arm between us.
''And you have a situation.''
''What?'' he asks and I proceeded to point at his crotch.
''There.'' He realised where I pointed and never have I ever seen someones face turn that red so quickly.
''Don't look!'' he said angrily as he put his hands over. I couldn't help but giggle a bit as I got back to writing down questions. Now my pants felt warm as-well. I hope he didn't look over at me for a while.

I knocked on the door and Gillian opened, a warm smile spread and lifted up his cheeks.
''Hi Isak!'' he said happily and hugged me.
''And hi Blake,'' he said warmly. I think Gillian too had made the mistake to get too comfortable with Blake.
''Hi,'' we both said together.
''We are looking for the farmer you know, the one who is really old and grumpy.''
''Oh! Lawrence?'' I suppose we both gave him the most waiting eyes ever because he lost control and-
''Well pFT yEs that BASTARD!'' Gillian got out before losing control of his words and brain. He does that sometimes.
''Want me to talk about him?'' he asked and a mix of happiness and surprise hit him.
''Well yes,'' I said and took up my notepad.
''So so so, in a nutshell he's a grumpy gay bastard who doesn't want people trampling his crops or disturbing the peace at the farm. I used to work and play on his farm some years ago when I was in your age.''
''Okay, and where does he live?''
''I'm not quite sure but check in on the farm, the one at the edge that plants soybeans and makes tofu and such,'' Gillian says with his fingers on his beard, scratching.
''That's where I know him from,'' I say as the bulb lights up in my head. Blake glanced over at me for a short moment, I suppose he heard me.
''Thank you,'' Blake says and walks down their porch and out onto the street.
''Coming?'' he asks me as he stops.
''Yes, one moment, you can get going I'll catch up,'' I say and turn back to Gillian who smiles at me.
''He's a nice boy,'' Gillian says and looks out at Blake walking down the fence.
''I suppose.''
''Do you like him?''
''Do you think he likes me?'' I ask. Gillian looks back at me and nods with happiness. I hugged him and caught up with Blake down the street.