Chapter 3: Wild Horse│Read translated stories and daily updates at: Awebstories.com
“Ethan, we’re going to dig out this row of potatoes today.”
“I know!”
Three years have passed since Ethan and his family arrived here. Ethan is six years old and I am eight. We work, albeit ineffectively, on our own family farm.
Pulling the potatoes is difficult but enjoyable work. It’s fascinating to watch the moment when the various-sized potatoes emerge from the ground and reveal their beautiful skins.
As the older sister, after Ethan digs, I probe again with my hands to see if there is anything else to dig.
“There is nothing left! I am certain of it!”
“No, you didn’t. There are still some medium-sized potatoes left.”
Ethan appears dissatisfied. I’m two years older than he is, and he can’t keep up with me in terms of running and field work. I’m also taller than he is. It’s not that I can’t help it.
We eventually got tired of harvesting potatoes and decided to eat and rest.
We peeled ponka fruits, which are sweet and sour citrus fruits, and ate the fruits with the juice dripping from our hands and chins. The sweet and sour ponka is like drinking water. I can eat as many as I want.
“It’s odd… Alesia’s been here longer than I have, and she’s never seen rain?”
This is not my favorite subject.
“Yes, I did. The other day, it rained briefly during the day.”
“No, I’m referring to the nightly rain. It’s a beautiful, gentle rain.”
“Hmm.”
My parents’ faces creased slightly as they listened to our conversation.
My powers were revealed to me two years ago, on my sixth birthday. I can’t tell anyone about the rain’s secret for fear of accidentally revealing it to others.
“Because I sleep well at night. I can’t help it because I can’t stay awake.”
“If you can stay awake at night, we can go out in the rain. It feels fantastic!”
I did not reply.
This exchange has been repeated numerous times.
I had asked my mother several times to wake me up at night, but the rain always stopped just as I got out of bed and left the house. As a result, I gave up.
After my break, I washed the mud off the potatoes and placed them in the shade of a tree.
That was the end of my day’s work.
Back at home, we use rainwater to wash our hands and feet and drink water filtered by the house filter.
Rainwater is poured into a barrel with layers of sand and charcoal from above, and we drink the water that comes out from below. The water tastes so good that it is hard to believe it is rainwater.
“You’ll make a lot of money if you sell the water. Ethan has repeatedly complained to his parents, but the adults refuse to listen.
Ethan’s parents, Nathan-ojisan and Benita-obaasan, had noticed my abilities by the time they had been living here.
It’s strange not to notice.
When I was tired and took a nap, it started raining even though the sky was clear, and it would rain at night even though the moon and stars were visible. And it comes to an end when I wake up.
As a result, Nathan-ojisan and Benita-obaasan do not invite relatives who would like to visit and do not sell water. They are afraid that someone will discover my power and I will disappear. My absence would spell the end of this farm.
“What would happen if it was discovered that Alesia-chan was a girl who could make it rain in a desert land? I can’t see a happy ending.”
Benita-obaasan takes care of me as if I were her own daughter.
Our farm is a green circle with two houses in the center, followed by a vegetable patch, orchard, wheat field, and pasture. Foxes and desert cats cannot attack the camels in the pasture, but chickens are attacked. That is why, when they are young, only chickens are raised next to the house, and camels are raised next to chickens.
Animals of all kinds come into the farms in search of precious greenery in the desert. Even if you want to build a fence, it is prohibitively expensive to purchase enough lumber to enclose the entire farm, and even if you could, you would have to purchase a large quantity of lumber, which would fuel rumors. That’s why the pasture land is connected to the desert (no fence). Though my father has installed traps around the perimeter, they aren’t perfect.
Ethan, my father, Nathan-ojisan, and I went to the orchard that day to pick nekta berries. The berries of nekta are red with thin skin and yellow flesh. They’re delicious and packed with sweet juice.
Ethan and I walk through the orchard, picking nekta from the tree’s base.
We were not far from our fathers, who were picking the upper berries from the tree’s center.
Ahead of us, we noticed a stray horse that had wandered into the orchard and was munching on some nekta.
“Ethan, we’ll let the Oto-sans and the others know right away.”
“Why?! Let’s go get him and take him home. We can get the horse for free!”
Wild horses dislike humans and are aggressive toward them. But Ethan was not scared of the first wild horse he encountered.
“It’s simply not possible for us. It’s not trained.”
Ethan, six years old, has not been listening to me lately. He just walked right up to the horse, shaking off my restraints.
“Come here! Come here! Come home with me!”
Ethan approaches the large horse, which is looking up and munching berries.
I knew that yelling would rouse the horse, so I ran up to Ethan, grabbed his arm, and tried to pull him back.
“What the hell! Stop it!”
“Neighhhhh!”
Ethan yelled so loudly that the horse neighed and turned around.
He intends to kick Ethan!
He’ll die if he gets kicked by a horse that big!
I quickly pulled Ethan down and covered him.
A violent shock hit my body immediately after, and I was blown away.
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