"What's Kevin doing?" Charlie squinted down at the small figure as she sat down. They all shrugged, twelve of them lined up, sitting hunched over in the midday sun as they watched him, the binoculars passing back and forth along the line.
"I dunno." Kyle shrugged, passing them to Charlie so she could take a look. "He was muttering something about a litmus test when he left."
Charlie raised the binoculars to her eyes, focusing on Kevin as he walked back and forth, travelling along the same line, pausing every now and then to look up at the sky, writing something down in a small notebook. He'd placed a series of large rocks at intervals, seemingly random until he walked between them in a grid like fashion, stopping at each one and flipping through the pages of a thick book kept in his bag.
"Its looks like he's marking something out." She peered through the lenses,
"Perhaps we could simply ask him what he's doing?" Eliah asked, pale eyes shaded beneath his hand as he spoke.
"Kind of takes the fun out of it." Kyle replied, taking back the binoculars.
"I'm betting he planning on building something." Kate opined.
"Nah. Its crops." Audrey piped in.
"And I reckon he's just lost it." Kyle said, ever the optimist.
They bantered amongst themselves, theorising his every move.
"Maybe this will help." Jeep held out the book he'd found open on the table, the corner of a page folded over to keep its place.
Kate took it from jeeps hands, turning it to read the title. "Farm and Smallholding." She turned back to the page it was opened on as Audrey poked Kyle in triumph. She smiled and read the chapter title. "Crops for wine and alcohol manufacturing." She read it again for good measure as they all stared at Kevin with a renewed interest, stomping across the grid of stones.
Kyle shrugged. "It's always the quiet ones."