In My Life – Voted an ideal bedtime story for screaming tots
Recap recap. Last time, Duke had a heart attack, Makoto helped get him to the clinic, and Duke offered him a favor and vowed to change his ways.
Enjoy!
XxXxXxXxXx
The next few days quietly lurked in and out in as the villagers settled into a sense of relief after Duke's heart attack. He decided to take things easy, and spent the time at home with Manna and Aja. The presence of Aja managed to settle the tension between Duke and Manna significantly, but neither of them had the nerve to start any sort of argument. Aja did a good job of keeping the restless Manna calm, as the woman would try to jump at Duke's side for even the slightest cough or sneeze.
Instead, Aja felt the adverse effects of her presence in her house more and more each day, as Manna gradually vented her usual overbearing personality on her daughter. Every morning, Aja faced a day full of Manna's criticisms, about her layered clothing, her lack of interest in finding a boyfriend at eighteen, and the way she locked herself in her room and listened to Simon and Garfunkel, Santana, the Yardbirds, and Kinks records twenty-some-odd hours a day.
But initially Aja approached it calmly and coolly, taking as much time as possible to lock herself in her room with the new circuit application papers she received in the mail. And if she dared venture out of her room while her mother was pattering about the house, she did so only as necessary to survive. Otherwise, she restricted her romps to nighttime, sneaking out to take long walks on her gimpy knee when she knew no one would be able to find her. Inevitably, everyone found out about Aja being home, but she felt triumphant not having to deal with them.
But her nightly walks left her languished in the lack of sleep, and on the morning of the fourteenth, she lost to the sun by about four hours. She felt more and more lethargic every morning, plastered to her bed until her mother burst into the room.
"Aja!" she exclaimed, and Aja dreaded the mile-a-minute chatter to ensue. "I let you sleep in long enough! It's time for the harvest, and with your father out of commission, you have to help too!" She barely paused as she noticed Aja had hidden her head underneath her blanket, and marched over to the bed. "C'mon! Up and at 'em!" She yanked the blanket out from around her daughter and threw it on the floor.
Aja had no choice but to drag herself out of bed, and groggily shuffled across the room and down the hallway. From behind, she heard the incessant barrage of motherly commands Manna spewed as a nonsensical, garbled mess.
"Take a bath! Get dressed! I left breakfast on the table! The milk's in the fridge!" Aja shut herself into the bathroom, but Manna continued rattling off every box of cereal in the house. She obliviously persisted through the thunk of Aja's head on the door.
"Mom!" Aja interrupted, muffled through the door. "Enough already!"
Manna shrugged.
"Fine dear! Just get ready quickly!" Aja waited as the pattering of Manna's feet grew quieter, and let out a heaving sigh over the sink.
XxXxXxXxXx
"Manna told me she needed help at the winery." Makoto said to Cliff. Cliff looked at him warily as they walked, sighing.
"Is there any pay?" he asked. "Because I need to pay for the room again. I hate taking advantage of Doug."
Makoto shrugged.
"All I know is there's a lack of help," he replied. "Even if Aja's home, Duke's ill, so they can use all the help they get."
Before either of them realized it, they were standing at the front gate of the Weinstein house, staring idly at the front door. With a few more shrugs exchanged, Makoto flipped the latch open from the inside and pushed his way through, making his way up the stone path. Cliff turned his gaze back and forth between every bunch of ripe grapes that caught his eye, knowing his mouth was watering.
"Man!" he sighed, slumping. "Shouldn't've skipped breakfast."
"You shouldn't be harvesting on an empty stomach," Makoto immediately told him, not even looking over his shoulder. Cliff sighed in reply, hovering behind Makoto as he stepped onto the stoop and rang the doorbell in one motion. They waited for someone to answer the door, but almost instantly, a frantic Manna burst out of the house with her mouth's motor running at full speed.
"Good morning, boys, glad you could make it," she chirped, grabbing both the startled boys by the arms and dragging them inside. She darted into the kitchen, but not before calling her daughter for the umpteenth time that morning. Just as Makoto and Cliff started another round of exchanging bewildering looks, she darted back out of the kitchen, carrying a stack of wicker baskets by the handles.
"Here you go!" she announced, and before Makoto readied himself, she shoved the stack of baskets in his arms. "Makoto, you probably know what to do. Harvesting's not too hard. And Duke will be thankful, really. I'll be out with Aja when she…" She turned her head to the stairway again. "…GETS READY!" She turned back to the boys with a beaming smile. "Okay… out you go!"
And with that, she shoved the boys out the door. As it slammed behind them, Cliff sighed. He took a look at the myriad of vines to strip, counting the trees lining the front yard.
"Better get started," he said. Makoto dropped the stack of baskets on the walkway, grabbed one for himself, and threw another to Cliff. With that, he took to the trees to his left, leaving Cliff to take the trees on the opposite side.
Makoto paid no attention to anything but harvesting grapes, leaving Cliff surveying the vicinity over tensely hunched shoulders. When he saw no one around, he turned back to the tree and reached up with clawed fingers, gently snagging a luscious grape and nonchalantly popping it in his mouth.
He barely began chewing the succulent fruit when a pain struck him in the back of the head, spitting it into the hand that appeared in time to catch it. With a wince, he rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head where Manna's other hand whacked him with a thunderous slap.
"Don't you even THINK about sampling!" she reprimanded, shoving her face in his. Cliff nodded submissively, his face contorting under the shock of being caught. With a huff, Manna threw the grape into the basket at Cliff's feet and turned on her heels to leave.
Even Makoto looked up from his work at the scene, watching Cliff grow tenser and tenser until Manna finished making her way up the walk and left an earshot. Cliff let out a heaving sigh.
"Jesus!" he said. "I thought no one was around."
"She was standing right on the stoop," Makoto informed him flatly. "And I told you. You can't harvest on an empty stomach."
With a slump, Cliff looked at Makoto pathetically and sighed.
"But I can't eat breakfast," he said. He kept his gaze on Makoto, hoping he'd understand. But Makoto merely shrugged without looking up from his work, and asked:
"Why? Going on a diet?"
Cliff, lean enough, groaned and slapped his forehead, dropping himself into another slump.
"No," he told Makoto. "The thing is… I haven't paid for the room this time or two weeks ago. Even if Doug is throwing in food, I can't keep accepting it." When he felt a gaze rub on him, he looked up to see Makoto watching intently. The farmer boy had stopped his work, and nodded for Cliff to continue.
"So I've been waking up and getting out early for a week now, and not coming back for dinner," Cliff finished. He looked up at Makoto again, and as the farmer boy looked ready to speak, he waited for him.
"So Doug throws out what he makes for you?" Makoto asked curtly. Cliff shook his head.
"I don't know," he replied. "All I know is I've gotta make money fast, or…" He looked around briefly, almost surveying for eavesdroppers. With that, he crept across the walk and to Makoto's side, dropping his shoulders in another slump.
"Makoto…" He looked around again, nervously biting his bottom lip. Makoto leaned in, silently waiting for Cliff to finally speak. And he did.
"I think I'm gonna have to leave town."
For a moment, Makoto stared at him with disappointment creeping into his eyes and his mouth molding into a frown. But he hastily broke his gaze, and turned to scraping the dirt with the toe of his boot.
"No way," he muttered. Cliff shook his head, replying in confirmation. This drew Makoto's gaze back at his friend, and the farmer boy continued. "There's gotta be something that can be done."
A clicking of the front door lured the both of them to whip their focus on the emerging figure. The sight of Manna and Aja bouncing off the stoop got the boys to turn back to their work, but they couldn't keep their eyes off the two for long.
"Where are you going?" Manna snapped, only to be ignored by Aja. Looking up, Makoto noticed Aja back in full attire, up to her hunting cap. She brushed past the boys, hiding her face behind the flaps of her cap and shouting over her shoulder to her mother:
"Out of this house! I'm sick your nagging!"
With that, Manna darted from the stoop and down the walk, but Aja made it far past the fence and down the road too soon. Her mother stood at the mailbox with her lips parted in a stupefied grimace, and the boys watched from the vines.
"Anyway…" Makoto began. "Maybe the Weinsteins can give you a job or something around here. I get the feeling they'll be needing extra help in time."
In a delayed reaction, Cliff stammered:
"A-Are you sure?"
Makoto nodded.
"Worth a shot," he told him.
XxXxXxXxXx
The boys worked all through the day, filling basket after basket with juicy grapes. The Weinsteins mostly grew red ones, designating only a small section along the side of the house for green grapes. But the boys managed to harvest all of them, with Makoto using his height to pluck the highest branches clean, and Cliff working lower. Manna occasionally came out to watch their progress, standing around or occasionally dragging baskets into the cellar, all with her frown still stuck to her face as the boys barely noticed her presence.
They trudged up to her, heaving as they carried the last of the baskets to the front stoop. Looking around incredulously, they let out sighs of relief once they noticed all vines were plucked bare.
"Good job, boys," Manna announced, doing her best to pick up her smile. She suddenly reached out and yanked both boys by the wrists, dragging them inside as she clucked excitedly. "Now, now. Since you worked through a lunch break, I'm gonna let you boys have a treat." She turned to them in the foyer, and before darting off she said: "Wait right here."
The boys waited, exchanging casual glances. Makoto shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth a bit, and Cliff looked a little sick. Then Manna came darting back into the foyer with a silver platter in her hands. When the boys caught sight of the platter, they noticed two glasses of red wine and a few slices of cheese.
"Here's your pay!" she announced, and the boys exchanged baffled glances. Makoto didn't mind an edible payment, but Cliff silently cursed his luck as he helped himself to a glass of wine and a few slices of cheese he couldn't even name.
"That's our special Aja wine," Manna informed them as they sipped and snacked. "It's a cabernet, so I picked a mild cheese to go with it. That cabernet's got a strong flavor, doesn't it?"
The boys nodded. They didn't initially notice Duke slowly dragging himself down the stairs, but tension ran through them when they caught sight of his disapproving face.
He looked to his wife.
"You're giving out samples?" he asked in a voice that was neither harsh nor complacent. He tried his best to keep his temper in check, inhaling and exhaling softly as he waited for Manna to answer.
"Well," Manna began. "It couldn't hurt, right?"
"Well you know we haven't been as productive this past year," Duke said with a bit of a grimace. "Nor have we sold very well."
Makoto's eyes darted over at Cliff, and back at Duke and Manna. The two continued in their pseudo squabble as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.
"I'll buy two," he announced, and everyone turned their gazes to him as he slipped his hand into his wallet. With a quick glance back at everyone else, he said: "Umm… the one Manna opened and another."
Duke and Manna maintained their incredulous stares for another few seconds before they both shrugged.
"Okay, boy," Duke replied. "2,000 Gold."
Makoto took his turn to look a little sick, but ended up handing Duke the money. Duke counted out the coins as he motioned over his shoulder to Manna, and she left for the cellar. Looking back at Makoto, Duke noticed the boy was watching him.
"Need something else?" he asked. Makoto nodded.
"Do you need anyone to work here?" he asked. Duke furrowed his brow slightly, ducking to clearing his throat. He still had the incredulous expression on his face when he straightened his posture.
"You don't need a job, Makoto," Duke said. But his eyes turned upon Cliff, who sulked near Makoto's flank. Cliff met his gaze, his eyes turning up expectantly. Duke didn't seem to get the message, and turned back to Makoto.
"Cliff needs the job," Makoto informed him, furrowing his own brow.
Duke turned his gaze to Cliff again, a very neutral gaze leaving the boy with nothing to perceive from it. The man remained silent as every moment stretched longer and longer for Cliff.
"I can't," Duke finally said. "Wine making's not easy. You've got to know what you're doing, and I can't afford any mistakes." He turned around, letting out an "I'm sorry" as he began to make his way into the living room.
"But you need extra help around this place," Makoto said. Duke didn't turn, but he continued. "And you said you'd give me a favor."
Duke turned and met Makoto's persistent gaze. Knowing Makoto caught him in his own words, he let out a sigh of defeat and turned his eyes away. When he turned them back, he said:
"You've got me there, boy. Fine."
Leaning sideways, he pushed his eyes low into Cliff's with the words on his lips that opened the opportunity to turn Cliff's luck around.
"He's just got to prove he can work," Duke announced, summing Cliff up as he looked him up and down. "So I'm gonna do to him what was done to me to test me.". "I'm going to keep him in the cellar all night. Of course, he can leave any time if he thinks he can't do it." He paused, his eyes flashing in confidence. "He has to crush all the grapes for me in a night and store them properly."
By that point, Cliff starting sinking under Duke's presence and wore a nervous grimace in tacit response to the proposition. But he somehow managed to nod weakly, to which Duke told him:
"See you tonight at nine."
XxXxXxXxXx
"Drink it," Makoto said to Cliff. With the sunken grimace still tacked on his face from earlier, Cliff took the cup of untainted coffee in trembling hands and brought it to his lips. No one else occupied the other tables at the Inn, and that made the situation better for the boys. No one was around to watch Makoto forcing cup after cup of coffee down Cliff's throat.
"I've only had one cup, and I'm already getting jittery," Cliff half-whined. "Can't I at least put a little milk in it?"
Makoto rubbed his chin for a moment as he feigned considering Cliff's proposition, but came to his answer quickly.
"No," he replied. "It's no use like that."
Cliff turned to Makoto with a frown, and said: "Just because you drink coffee like water doesn't mean it'll do me any good tonight."
"I've only had three cups tonight," Makoto retorted. "Besides. You've got an all-nighter ahead of you." Cliff nodded, shifting his focus to the items splayed all over the table.
"Disposable coffee cups?" he asked.
"Check."
"Radio?"
"Check." With a jerk of his hand, Makoto grabbed the fork and said: "And this is to poke you with if you start falling asleep."
"Don't do that!" Cliff replied. But a moment later, another thought struck him, and he asked: "You're going to stay with me?"
Makoto gave him two slow nods, and said: "Someone's got to keep you awake." Staring down at his empty cup, he flipped his mouth into a slight frown and muttered something about needing more coffee.
Neither of them noticed the small figure lurk up behind them, but when the floorboard let out a slight creak, Makoto turned to see Ann. The girl jumped at the sight of his eyes, yanking back the steaming pot of coffee she gripped and splashing a few stray drops on the floor. As he slowly turned around, a partial frown spread on his face, and he politely asked for another cup of coffee in a low voice.
Taking a deep breath, Ann moved over and poured Makoto's fourth cup. It occurred to her that Makoto never knew about her joining the storming of Strawberry Fields. It was the first time the boy went to the Inn since the night of the tenth, and he still seemed tense around other villagers.
"You're pulling an all-nighter, Cliff?" she suddenly found herself asking, accompanied by wide eyes. Cliff looked up at her with a groan and a weak nod, and jerked his head in Makoto's direction.
"Yeah," he said. "And that's why this one's force…" His face twisted in a brief thought. "…force… drinking this coffee to me."
Makoto didn't say a word aside from quietly thanking Ann
once she finished topping off his coffee. He proceeded to down it, and before
long finished his fourth cup.
Ann still felt the pits of her stomach twisting in knots, and felt bogged down
by the thoughts of Makoto possibly knowing, even if it seemed otherwise.
"You can really down that stuff, can you?" she asked lamely. Without taking his eyes off the swirling patterns of the wood tabletop, he gave her a few quick jerks of his head, something resembling a nod.
But with that, she gave up on trying to talk to him, doing her best to feign her usual perkiness as she set her pot aside and strode up to Cliff, throwing a teasing arm around where his neck met his shoulder.
"You're gonna have to count me in, then!" she declared. "You're gonna need someone to yell at you and keep you awake! And I might throw things at you too!" With that, she gave Cliff a rough, playful punch on the shoulder. She didn't notice the color had drained from Cliff's face.
"I-I'll be sure not to fall asleep then," he replied weakly. He looked up at Ann with a sheepish smile, and she playfully slapped him on the cheek with her whole palm. He grinned from underneath devilish eyes, and before long the two entangled each other in a scuffle. Makoto sat leaned back in his chair, watching as a fierce-looking Ann nearly plowed Cliff over in his seat.
But as soon as Doug set foot into the room from the kitchen, Ann jumped back into the nearest seat and flashed him an innocent grin. Doug sighed and shook his head, muttering something about his wacky, tomboy daughter under a smile he could barely hold back as he made his way to his spot behind the counter. Makoto turned to Cliff with an arched eyebrow, to which Cliff replied with a shrug:
"Yeah, we do that all the time."
Ann seemed cheered up after their rough housing, and didn't seem as shaken by Makoto's presence. But Makoto still stood up, and muttered:
"I guess you guys could make it on your own tonight. I'll go to bed or something."
But before he could start on his way, Cliff stuck his arm out and caught him in the stomach. He swung around to look up and said:
"No, you're not. You're the only one who could probably make it a whole night without sleep."
He was oblivious to Ann's silence as he waited for Makoto's reply. Finally, Makoto sighed and nodded, holding his arms up in surrender.
XxXxXxXxXx
The three of them decided Duke and Manna probably wouldn't take to the idea of having Ann and Makoto accompanying Cliff on his all-nighter, so the two of them took extra care to slip around the opposite side of the house as Duke led Cliff into the wine cellar. They carried all the coffee beans in tow they could pack into a Ziploc bag after they decided making fresh coffee wouldn't be feasible. Makoto kept his radio tucked under his arm as kept enough distance from Ann without getting himself in danger of straggling into the sight of anyone looking out the window. As they came around the side of the house, they managed to find a suitable spot in the umbrae of light on the side of the house with a good view through the small, dusty cellar window, and quickly sat down on the ground.
They watched as Duke finished speaking to Cliff. Cliff gave the eighth or ninth assuring nod as the man pulled himself up the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight, Ann and Makoto sighed and settled in their spots. Ann kept her distance from Makoto, and slipped into another state of awkwardness and tension.
She noticed Makoto looking over at her, and noticed it a few seconds too late. He stared out of the side of his eye for another few seconds, as if to ask something, but turned away when she looked back at him. With that, she crept forward on her haunches towards the tiny window and gave it three quick whaps with her fist.
"Don't break it," Makoto deadpanned from behind, but she ignored him. Instead, she waited for Cliff to notice her, and when he did, she smiled back at his thumbs up and weak smile.
"Hey," she said over her shoulder, and for a moment, Makoto didn't realize she addressed him. "You think that window's big enough to fit through?
Makoto rolled his eyes, and muttered in reply:
"Yeah, if you're a contortionist."
Ann took her cue and stood up, rolling her neck from side to side. From inside, Cliff began work on pushing the stubborn window open from a shelf he hoped could hold his weight. Once he shoved it open, Ann got down on her back and pulled her shoulders back with a series in a way that looked entirely painful to Makoto.
The farmer boy turned around and kept his eyes to the ground, cringing the entire time as the girl dislocated her joints in her arms. He waited for Cliff to yell "Okay, you can look now," before turning back with a sickened look on his face.
"Your turn," Cliff said.
"I-I can't do that," Makoto replied. "I'm taking the door." He muttered something about gratuitous contortion under his breath before heading for the door with the radio and coffee beans in tow. Cliff rolled his eyes and watched as Makoto's large feet moved through the grass, and turned to the door to wait for him to emerge.
No more than a few seconds later, the door burst open and Makoto took his first step down the stairs. But with one odd placement with his foot, he tripped and stumbled down the next seven or so steps.
Cliff and Ann watched him with pained faces as he rolled over on his side and groaned. It took him a few moments to drag himself to his feet, but when he did, he finally noticed basket after basket of grapes. He tried to silently count them, but lost track.
"It didn't look like that much when we were filling the baskets," Cliff stated, and Makoto nodded in agreement. "Well," Cliff continued. "Since Manna was taking them away as we were filling them, I guess."
"At least you have us to help," Ann said, but Cliff immediately disagreed.
"I've gotta do this on my own," he said. "That's what Duke said. It wouldn't be honest if I had help."
Ann shook her head with the start of a reply, but Makoto agreed as he stepped back and leaned against the wall.
"If he insists," he muttered, reaching over to the shelf and turning on the radio. Cliff flashed him and Ann a slight grin as John Lennon's voice from 'A Hard Day's Night' filled the room, and with that, turned to the first basket and the strainers Duke laid out for him.
Cliff looked over the strainers, noticing something wrong. Running his hands over the holes, he said half-aloud:
"The holes are too big and are bent outta shape." He then noticed the bits of red running over the intersections, and muttered: "Rust!"
"Hang on," Ann began, running back to get a heads-up to jump back out the window. She jumped, and as she hung from the ledge, she looked at him and said: "The inn's got some strainers."
Cliff shook his head, and motioned for her to drop from the ledge. She shook her head and almost readied herself to dislocate her joints again, until Cliff said.
"Those are pasta strainers, Ann. We need something with smaller holes than that."
His statement convinced Ann to drop from the ledge, and she muttered something to herself, wondering where they could find a suitable strainer. From the wall, Makoto asked.
"What about pantyhose?"
The two turned to him, contemplating the thought for a moment. Then they turned back to each other, the same look of realization crossing their faces.
"Yeah!" Cliff exclaimed, a brightness flashing in his eyes. "They're permeable! They'll work!"
The three nodded to each other in agreement, but then came along the next question on their minds.
"Where are we gonna get a pair of pantyhose?" Cliff asked. He looked to Ann, who replied with a look that read "Don't look at me" and to Makoto, who shrugged. Cliff then turned to Makoto and suggested with a slightly devilish grin: "Maybe you can ask Elli?"
"No," Makoto immediately objected, struggling with himself to keep his face neutral and wanting to say 'I can't ask her something like that!'.
"Why not?" Cliff asked, his grin creeping up the sides of his face.
"Because!" Makoto hissed. He folded his arms over his chest and frowned. "I'd sooner break into someone else's house and steal a pair."
XxXxXxXxXx
Those words doomed Makoto. As the three slipped back out of the cellar and slipped out of sight of the Weinstein house, they debated the best possibility for stocking-thieving, running down the list of most of the females in Mineral Town.
"Lillia?" Makoto asked, hanging away from the two. They all slowed down once they turned the corner from the Weinstein house, heading for the town square.
"I have a bit of a moral objection stealing from her," Ann replied. "How about Sasha?"
"Naw," Cliff said, kicking the dirt. "She's too nice."
"But she has a one story house," Ann informed him. "Otherwise, we'd have to climb into Anna's bedroom window."
The three looked to each other with pensive looks, and in a tacit agreement, they headed for the Faulty house.
XxXxXxXxXx
Yeah, I'm sorry it cuts off like that. I wrote about eight and a half chapters before realizing I would need another eight pages before finishing it. Whoops. The next part will be coming as soon as I can get the time to write it.
Shout-outs!
Lemurian 04- I'm glad you're enjoying this. It makes me happy. I hope you can keep enjoying this. Thanks a lot!
anime26angel- Yup. I think you're review #100. And hey, if you've got another idea coming, by all means, go for it. Just what I've been saying before, the worst thing you can do is not write at all. Thanks a lot for reading!
…- Yeah, I figured Makoto's interaction with Stu would need to be taken into consideration. It's just as important as his interaction with Ellen and Elli. Thank you!
azn anime addict- I'm always glad to answer questions and give advice to the best of my ability, so don't you worry. Thanks thanks!
ken the great- Oh, another masochist (grin). Well, thanks for your feedback and your time reading this. I hope you continue to enjoy it.
Rage Aomori- Heh heh. I feel my updating pace is still kinda slow. Hopefully I get more time… or a laptop. Or something. Maybe Stu should get a haircut too. Who knows? Thanks a lot!
Again, I apologize for the half-chapter. I'll finish the next part as soon as I can. (Which hopefully means in less than a month. Otherwise, you can all bludgeon me with the blunt object of your choice.) G'night, folks!