no more, please

Things at home are OK. My dad's been busy fixing shoes near the market place and now he's entered the camp a few days a week to try and get some business there. Ezra's managed to still keep his job at the market, despite some troubles a few days ago with the man who runs it. It's almost been a month since my mom broke her ankle, and the cast hasn't shown any signs of trouble, so hopefully next month, she'll be back on both feet. She's already knit a sweater for my dad, brother, and uncle as well as slipper/socks for us all. I also checked her a book out from the library on gardening at her request. She keeps busy with these activities, yet she's become extremely quiet. I wish I could find someone her age to come and socialize with her while my dad's working because back home she would have her friends over at least once a week. Zeke's still busy learning how to tie knots and Zoe's slowly getting into the middle of the Life of Pi, which she is really enjoying now.

Well, I have to go back home and start cooking dinner. Maybe Ezra will have brought something exciting home from the market other than the cabbage he's only been able to get. I think we're all growing tired of that.

avitus nemesis

Uncle Zack and Azalea were over for lunch today.

While my mother and Uncle Zack chatted, Azalea helped me prepare the meal. We exchanged how our lives have been. She works in the camp five days a week and writes letters for people who can't read or write (or are perhaps too lazy to do so). Her mother was also amazing in language and literature, so she carries on in her footsteps, she told me. I didn't know anything about how my Aunt Hazel passed away, so I felt like this was the opportune moment to ask. My uncle does not like to speak of it, and Azalea was too young to witness the event first hand, but she told me what she could.

My aunt was working late one night, and my uncle and cousin were at home, my cousin already asleep. On her drive home, she got into a horrible car accident that killed her pretty much instantly. There were no witnesses to the crash, and so the police tried the best they could to solve the mystery of what exactly happened. The car's windshield had a large impact cracking on the driver's side and the vehicle was smashed in the front from hitting a tree. A few strange feathers were also found at the scene, but nothing more. Azalea told me that her father believes, as well as the police to a certain extent, that a Sim-Sim bird hit the windshield.

She had just finished telling me this sad tale when my uncle stepped into the kitchen to sample what had attracted his nose. My father came home for lunch and we all ate together.