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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2014 11:49:48 GMT -6
The pickup truck pulled to a stop at the edge of the property. The driver, a local farmer, didn't even put it in park, just kept his foot on the brake, as he looked at the young man he had given a ride to from town.
"Here we are, kid. Good luck to ya," the man smiled, he once had a son and the boy brought back memories both pleasant and sad.
"Hey, thanks! Appreciate it, good luck to you too," Bobby smiled as he opened the passenger door while grabbing for his knapsack down between his feet.
Mutual nods of acknowledgement ended the conversation and once the teen was standing, the truck pulled away again down the rural road. Bobby now spent a moment observing the place. Looked nice enough, normal even...well, for a commune. He'd heard about communes in school and they were always associated with - let's face it - whackos like hippies and cults. Plus he'd heard this place was run by some pagan woman? Still, he also had heard it offered work and room and board. It was worth a shot because at the moment Bobby had less than $10 in his pocket.
He trudged down the path until the first building he came to with a sign on it - Community Hall plus another bit of signage on the wall, Administration Office, hanging next to the door. OK, well, might as well try there first, seemed logical.
Opening the door, Bobby stepped in. He was dressed simply, the day was already warm enough he had shoved his hooded sweatshirt back into his knapsack so he had on a black Queen tee shirt (yeah, he loved some of the classic rock bands), a pair of worn jeans, and black and white sneakers which had definitely seen better days.
"Hello?"
The office looked nice, pretty normal, least no pentagrams on the floor or mounted goat heads on the wall.
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Post by Lela Porter on Jul 25, 2014 12:17:55 GMT -6
Lela felt a surge of adrenaline shoot through her veins when the bell over the main door dinged. This was it! It was her first time being in charge of the office, and she was terrified she would screw something up. She had been bonding with Lauren since she got here, and today she was proud to have been left in charge while the head honcho tended to other things.
"All you have to do is answer the phone, and come get me if you need anything. You'll be fine," Lauren's voice rang in her ears.
She didn't feel fine. She felt like her heart was about to burst from her chest, but she got to her feet all the same and strode over to the door as composed as she could muster. All of her limbs seemed to be functioning properly. That was a good sign.
"Hi. Welcome to Silver Valley," she held out her hand to greet the boy, and her eyes met his for the first time. Woah! He was cute! Her stomach churned. That was not going to make this easy for her. It took what felt like a full minute for her to realize that she must be staring, or was it just her nerves making time drag out? Either way, she blinked and laughed nervously, "I'm Lela. How can I help you?"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2014 12:31:53 GMT -6
Good, somebody was there. Geez! Not just a plain old somebody....a really adorable girl. Instantly he tried to gauge her age. Had to be in the range of 15-17 or was that just wishful thinking on his part? This girl could not be the owner though, no way! She welcomed him and stuck her hand out.
"Hey! Thanks for the welcome," he shook hands with her, he hoped his wasn't sweaty. Their eyes met, she really had nice eyes he instantly decided. Her next words, her name and then a question, snapped him out of it.
"Oh...umm, nice to meet you, Lela. I'm Robert...Bobby, everyone calls me Bobby," he returned the intro then answered her question next once the handshake was over.
"Ahh, I'm not from around here but I was in town and I heard that this place is hiring people to work the farm. So anyhow....thought I would come and check it out...me being jobless and all," he smiled, not to mention basically flat broke.
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Post by Lela Porter on Jul 25, 2014 12:59:22 GMT -6
"Oh! Well then, you've come to the right place!" She asserted, with a much stronger air of confidence than she felt. It was true though. There was plenty to be done around here, and almost no one to do it. As they spoke, she had a mountain of ingredients in the next room she was supposed to have mixed into laundry detergent and bug spray before the end of the day. "Lauren will be thrilled to meet you, Bobby! I think she's in the garden today," She giggled, feeling like a babbling idiot.
She picked up a brochure off the corner of the desk, and fiddled with it. It was a cheap quality tri-fold with filled with pictures of cows and chickens and information on the negative effects of industrial farming on human health and the environment. To be honest, she didn't really understand it all, but she was here to sell it. "How much do you know about what we do here?" she inquired and gestured to the door, "I would be glad to give you the grand tour, if you want to look around."
She wasn't really sure what all she could tell him, as she had only been here a short time herself, but she was getting the hang of things, and it really was a lovely place. "We have breakfast and dinner in the main hall every day, and the kitchen is open anytime you're hungry, and there are bunks upstairs or you could stay in one of the yurts." she paused to pick at her nails. It just occurred to her that he had only mentioned that he was looking for work, not a place to stay, "Were you thinking about living here too? Lauren offers room and board in exchange for help around here if that's something you'd be interested in."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2014 13:30:53 GMT -6
"I did, huh? That's lucky of me," Bobby smiled back at the girl, she seemed friendly enough, even a bit perky. He liked that in girls, those stuck up moody cheerleaders back in high school held no interest for him. Not that any of them had the slightest interest in him either.
"Lauren? That's the owner, right?" he jumped to a fairly easy conclusion there.
The girl asked how much did he know about the place, well that would be simple enough to answer.
"Not much to be honest. This one farmer told me this place is an organic farm and that's it's owned by a pagan. Told me to watch out for witchcraft. I told him if I get an offer to be the guest of honor at the human sacrifice, I would leave real quick," Bobby smirked, he had a smart ass sense of humor once he started conversing with people. Some folks enjoyed it, some...not so much.
"But yeah, I'll take the tour, thanks, Lela," he nodded, if nothing else he could spend a bit more time with this cute girl even if the whole job thing didn't work out.
OK, two meals, snacks, a dorm thus beds. Yurts? What the hell were yurts? However he didn't ask because he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the girl, maybe he'd figure it out as the tour went on. The girl then mentioned staying on the property and room and board.
"Actually, yeah, I would like to stay...least for a while. I'm kind of a guy who doesn't stay in the same place for too long but....if the work doesn't kill me...or I don't get human sacrificed," he grinned then continued, "I might hang around for awhile."
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Post by Lela Porter on Jul 25, 2014 14:06:10 GMT -6
They continued to talk as she led him out into the common area of the community hall. He mentioned human sacrifice twice, and Lela laughed, though she hoped he wasn't too serious about that. She wouldn't want him getting scared off. "No, it's nothing like that. Lauren is a witch, but she's more the dance around naked under the full moon type," she smirked, and her mind wandered to places it really shouldn't. She had only met this guy fifteen minutes ago, and she was thinking about getting him naked. Her teenage mind was running away with her again, but there was business to attend to, so she shook herself from that ridiculous fantasy and tried to focus. ”That over there is the Rec Room,” she explained pointing to a living room type area with three large tvs hanging on the walls. ”We have all kinds of games and books and puzzles for our down time, not there’s too much of that to go around,” She laughed nervously, ”I hope you’re not afraid of a heavy workload. It’ll thin out some when we have more people, but right now, it’s all on us.”Through the window she pointed across to the dining hall, ”That’s the kitchen over there. The garden’s just on the other side where we grow all our own herbs and spices. Sometimes we have stuff shipped in if it doesn’t grow very well here, but we’ve got just about anything you could want. And then over there,” she pointed to a long row of round buildings covered in what looked like white tarps, ”Those are the yurts. They’re a lot nicer on the inside than they look from here.”
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2014 20:01:49 GMT -6
"Dancing naked under the moon? Well, I must admit, can't wait to meet her," he grinned, "I bet you don't do that sort of thing." Not that it would be a bad thing, no way! But of course he didn't add that part.
She showed him the rec room. He blinked as he glanced into it. Whoa!
"Holy crap! That is fancy. Apparently organic farming makes a lot more money than I would have guessed, that room alone must cost ....well a lot," he commented, quite impressed but also a bit puzzled.
The girl was being honest though, warning him about a heavy workload.
"Well, I'm a willing enough worker though I have to admit, I've never done farming. More of a city boy myself," he told her then added, "Just us? As in you, me, and Night Dancer?"
The girl pointed out a window toward what she said was a dining room, so he nodded. She then filled him in on some of what they grew and also had brought in too. Fair enough, he had no comments to make. Finally she pointed to some white tent like things. Ahhh, those were yurts!
"Oh, OK, tents. Yeah, I get it," Bobby continued to nod, "It'd be kind of like camping out I suppose...in the summer. In winter I'll take a dorm room, thanks."
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Post by Lela Porter on Jul 26, 2014 3:44:45 GMT -6
Her face flushed, "No, I haven't gotten to that part, but she has been teaching me some things," Lela was mortified when she heard how that had sounded the way it came out. She was trying so hard to be professional. She didn't mean to be alluding to dirty things. She stammered trying to correct herself, "Things about paganism, I mean!"
She tried to ignore the feeling that she was making an idiot of herself. "Anyway, most of this stuff is from donations. People went crazy when Lauren made the paper with her plan for this place. Some of them didn't like it so much, but there were more supporters than you might think." She left out the part about how some people had made threats, just because they didn't like Lauren's beliefs. Of course, she wasn't supposed to know about that stuff herself. "We got stuff and money from people all over, who couldn't wait to help get an organic farm on its feet! Everyone goes nuts over that kind of stuff these days, ya know, with the green movement and all."
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Post by Lauren Caldwell on Jul 26, 2014 5:00:17 GMT -6
Lauren came in, right in the middle of their conversation, smeared in soil from the garden. She hadn't expected to stumble upon a new visitor today. "A city boy, huh?" she interjected without a moment's pause, "Well city boy, what brings you to our sleepy little farming village?"
She skipped over the part about camping, unsure what he was referring to there. Her mind didn't even connect the possibility that he could have been talking about the yurts, especially since the building they were standing in was composed of two larger ones, "So, you're interested in staying in the dorms?"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 8:43:22 GMT -6
"Oh she is, huh?" Bobby smiled, bemused. He could have made a few more off color smart ass remarks but the girl seemed a bit flustered and nervous then like she was saying something wrong. In reality, it was all very endearing, Bobby liked her already. Anyhow she went on to explain all the help they'd gotten thus far to start the place up and the amount of support they'd garnered. He nodded, impressed.
Just then the two became three as a begrimed young woman made her sudden appearance, looking him over as she spoke.
"Yep, city boy...not a big city though," Bobby immediately turned his attention to her, now this had to be the owner. The witch who danced naked in the moonlight. OK, yeah, that would be one hot sight he had to admit and not for religious reasons obviously.
"Umm, well, I'm here because I was in town and looking for some work and this one farmer dude....he told me about this place. How you guys were looking for labor and that you offered room and board," he quickly answered, "Thought it was worth checking out."
"Well, I might wanna stay in the dorms yeah if I get the job. Or a yurt...long as it doesn't get too cold out. Not much of a camper you see," he admitted.
He glanced at the younger blonde girl then back to Lauren, "When I showed up Lela here greeted me, made me feel welcome, and was just showing me the grand tour. She knows her stuff."
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Post by Lauren Caldwell on Jul 26, 2014 9:54:02 GMT -6
Lauren smiled at the girl, pleased to hear the pleasant report. Lela had only shown up about a month earlier, but she had grown on the owner fairly quickly. "I wouldn't expect anything less," she praised her honestly, "Lela here is training to be my second in command."
"As for work, I'm sure we could find something for you to do. There's plenty to go around. I can't pay you much, because it takes just about everything we bring in right now just to keep the place running, but I can give you a little in addition to housing and meals. What kind of work experience do you have?" she inquired, searching for all the usual information so she could figure out where to place him. He seemed tough enough and he was willing to work, which counted for a lot in his favor.
Once he mentioned the camping thing again, the two strands finally connected for her. "Oh the yurts are actually a lot better insulated that you might think. We don't use gas heat around here or conventional air conditioning for that matter, but every building here is equipped with a wood stove and air circulation systems that keep us pretty cool when we need it. You can take a good look at one if you want, before you make any decisions. "
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Post by Lela Porter on Jul 26, 2014 10:06:54 GMT -6
Lela blushed. "I'm just doing what I can to earn my keep," she explained sheepishly. She wasn't used to being praised so openly. She still hadn't quite adjusted to life here at Silver Valley. Lauren was so nice to her, and if she was really honest with herself, that was the part that made her most nervous. She was still waiting for the moment she said the wrong thing, or her father showed up and screwed the whole thing up for her. She really liked it here, and she didn't want to have to leave for any reason. She also knew that if they didn't bring in more residents soon, they might not survive for very much longer, so she had studied hard to do her part.
It also didn't help her in projecting an air of confidence that Bobby was making her stomach do that weird flipping thing, and he seemed to be staring at her. Man, he was cute! It was a good thing that Lauren came in when she did, because it was getting harder and harder to focus on what she was supposed to be saying, and she really wanted him to stay!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 10:47:54 GMT -6
"Second in command? Cool, so you're impressed with her too," Bobby smiled, glad to do what little he could to help Lela's rep with her boss. On the other hand, she was so cute, he probably would have lied and said she was doing a fine job even if she hadn't been. Well, unless she'd been a total ass to him, looks only went so far.
Now they got down to business.
"I'll be honest, I'm ...how do they call it...a drifter. If you're looking for a resume, either online or in paper, sorry, I don't have anything like that. But I'm in good shape, stronger than I look actually, and a quick learner. I'll do pretty much anything you got, that is if I know how it's done. Field work, barn work, whatever you give me, I'll do my best to get it done," he told her...them actually.
"Actual experience...ummm, I've delivered pizzas, worked a few vendor stands at fairs and carnivals, mowed lawns, tore down a house - not by myself that one," he grinned then continued, "Cleared fields of rocks last summer on a farm. Stuff like that."
He had dabbled a bit in a few illegal things too but he wasn't about to include those.
"I believe you about the yurts, so if you hire me, just put me wherever it's best for you guys or easiest. To be honest, I slept on a park bench last week ...oh, and in the back of an empty semi truck, and on a back porch...and in a barn. I was also lucky and got to stay in a lady's apartment for a few nights...well, til she started doing meth. I got the hell out of there."
Dorm, yurt, both had to be upgrades compared to where he had been sleeping. Suddenly he remembered something, he hadn't introduced himself yet.
"Oh excuse me, I'm Robert...Robert Redmond but everyone calls me Bobby," he extended his hand.
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Post by Lauren Caldwell on Jul 27, 2014 7:08:14 GMT -6
Too? "I am," the woman smirked and shot a sidelong glance at her young apprentice, explaining, "She has ben nothing but helpful since I met her." It seemed that she had missed quite an important chunk of the conversation before she arrived. Not that she was too concerned. She didn't really care what kind of entanglements formed so long as the work got done.
She listened to his answer to her questions and let him finish before jumping in. "Don't worry, you can relax. Drifter's fit right in here, and as for a resume, I'm not worried about any of that. All I really need to know is what kind of work you'd like to do around here and that you're willing to put in the effort. I can teach you whatever you don't know how to do and put you on pretty much whatever you're interested in doing, but from what you've told me so far, it sounds like you'd be a great fit in the fields and helping out at the farmer's market." She hardly stopped to breathe in her speech, running down the list. Mostly, it was all compiled neatly in her head. The paperwork was more of a formality. "As for housing, I would be happy to give you your own space in the village. If we put you in the bunks, you will have to share a room once we start filling up, but either way, I want you to be wherever you'll be the most comfortable."
She greeted his introduction with a warm smile as she took his extended hand, "It's great to meet you Bobby. I may have forgotten to mention, I'm Lauren. If you'd like, we can step into the office over here and get you all set up."
She looked down at her arm as it was exposed and realized that she was still a mess from her chores earlier. She turned her attention to the young girl again for a moment and asked, "Lela, sweetie, would you mind grabbing me a towel?" After acknowledging the girl's response, she went right back to their guest and proceeded to lead him back into the administration office, "Would you like some water?"
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Post by Lela Porter on Jul 27, 2014 7:32:11 GMT -6
The young girl let Lauren do most of the talking, mostly smiling and nodding over her shoulder, which left her mind completely free to focus entirely on the cute boy. She could barely contain her excitement that he seemed to have decided that he was in fact going to stay here, at least for a little while. She was so immersed in her thoughts, that she almost didn't notice when she was being spoken to. She jolted and gave a little nod as her cheeks started to warm again, and then she scurried off to fetch that towel, cursing herself under her breath, Damn it, Pay attention! You're making an idiot of yourself!
She stood in the laundry room for a minute to compose herself before returning with the towel Lauren had requested and excusing herself to go work on the concoctions she was meant to be mixing, "I guess I'll see you around Bobby. It was really great to meet you." she smiled sweetly on her way out of the room.
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