Chapter 6: The market
It was already spring. You could notice how the landscape had changed. From snowy and gray to green and full of new energy. Also, the birds were sitting in the trees and twittering happily. Stan and Kyle had meanwhile become best friends, and Stan had almost forgotten about the other boy's diary entries. Now neither Kyle's 'secret' nor Wendy seemed to bother him anymore. This year had at least started well. Kyle had got a job at the Mayers' farm, too some time ago, and now earned some extra money for his family. Mr Broflovski had also found work at the Bergers' farm, which was about an hour away on foot. So he only returned home on the weekends, and stayed there during the week. Stan's father and sister still hadn't found a job, though, and they didn't even bother looking for one. Mrs Marsh often told them to go to the market which was in front of the church every Saturday, and sell the food they got from their animals, and didn't need themselves. Shelley was going out with her friends most of the time, though, and her father was too lazy to do it. In his opinion, he was actually working, because he went to a shop every week to buy some beer. That was enough work for him. So Mrs Marsh insisted on Stan going there. Kyle often accompanied him there, although Stan's mother was against it, because every time he would come along, the boys wouldn't concentrate on selling things, and just talking all the time. Kyle's parents thought that it was good for him to go there with Stan, but they always wanted him to take Ike along. Kyle wasn't too impressed with that idea, because he thought that his brother would get bored soon, and then annoy him and Stan. All he wanted was to spend time with his best friend. Only with his best friend.
Though the following week, Mrs Broflovski managed to convince her son to take Ike with him. That Saturday, Ike came running downstairs with two of his stuffed animals. He only had four of them; three were still left from the time when Kyle had been about his age. Ike only liked to play with two of them: the bunny his mother had bought him for his second birthday, and the teddy bear which he had got from his brother. It had also been Kyle's favorite toy when he was younger. To Kyle's surprise, Ike was carrying those which he rarely played with. "What are you doing?" he asked his little brother. "Are you gonna play with those toys now?" Ike answered, "No. I'm gonna sell them at the market." "But Ike, that's not a flea market. You can only sell food there." Kyle explained. "I'm sure someone needs a toy, too." Ike shouted. Kyle shook his head. "People buy toys either in shops or from the flea market." Still Ike insisted on taking them along, and so he did.
The brothers went to Stan's house to pick him up. Stan was a little surprised to see Ike, too. "He wanted to come along" Kyle immediately explained. "Oh, no problem." his friend answered. He was carrying a basket with bread and cheese in it, and a bucket filled with milk was standing beside him. "Can you please take the milk, Kyle?" he asked. Before his friend could answer, Ike ran over to the bucket and shouted, "I wanna take it! Let me take it! I'm strong enough for it!" Stan said no, and let Kyle carry it. On their way to the market, the young boy was complaining all the time, "Can I take the milk now? I'm as strong as Kyle. Let me take it, please. Don't be so mean to me! I wanna help!" He was mad at Stan and Kyle for not letting him take the bucket, and started to pull at its handle. "Stop it, Ike!" Kyle shouted at him. "No." Ike replied. "I can help you!" "It's too heavy for you" Stan tried to explain, but he didn't listen to him. He kept pulling until Kyle dropped the bucket. Ike fell to the ground. "Ike, now you spilled the milk! You aren't helping us at all!" Kyle scolded his little brother. Ike started to cry and held his left knee. "Did you hurt yourself?" Kyle asked. Ike nodded. "My knee hurts." "Let me see" Kyle said, and looked at his brother's bleeding knee. Stan asked him, "Are you okay? Can you walk?" Ike answered, "I think so." Kyle turned to Stan, "Do you have something we could use as a bandage?" Stan shook his head. Kyle then had an idea. He pulled out one of his socks and wrapped it around Ike's wound. "Do you wanna sit down for a moment?" he asked. Ike shook his head. So they went on, Ike trying to keep up with Stan and Kyle, who hurried to get to the market. Kyle turned around. "Are you sure you're alright, Ike?" he said to his brother, who was now crying again. "I'm not." Kyle went over to him and gave him a piggyback ride to the market. This time there were more people than usual. "Finally I can earn enough money to make my dad happy. Maybe he won't hit me this time." Stan said.
Some time later they heard someone shouting, "Hey Stan!" Stan turned around, and saw a boy from his class running towards their market stand. "Eric?" he asked. "What are you doing here?" Stan was slightly surprised to see Eric Cartman at the market. "Buying food. What else should I do here?" Cartman replied. He turned to Kyle. "And you're here, too?" He didn't like the red-haired boy very much, because he was jealous about his and Stan's friendship. In fact, he had always wanted to be Stan's best friend, but now that Kyle was here, the other boy was only spending time with him, and not even talking much to Cartman. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he was a little sad about not having many friends. People didn't like him very much, because he was mean to everyone all the time. Or maybe also because his father was an SA stormtrooper. He kept telling himself that life without any friends was better anyway. The only one he wanted to be his friend was Stan, and he kept trying to get him away from Kyle. "Do you want to come to my place for dinner tonight, Stan?" Cartman asked. Stan denied, and made up an excuse. "I have to…study for the geography test." Cartman didn't believe him, because he knew that Stan hardly studied for a test. Probably he was hanging out with Kyle again in the evening. So if Cartman wanted Stan to be his friend, something would have to ruin the friendship with Kyle, he knew that for sure…
A/N: So, finally here's the next chapter. Sorry for not updating for a while, but I've been kind of busy during the week. Keep reading and reviewing :)
PS: The next chapters are gonna get a little more thrilling…