Off Center (The Lament) by Power P.S

Author:Power, P.S. [Power, P.S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orange Cat Publishing
Published: 2013-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter nine

It occurred to Pran, as Paul showed her where all the different tools were stored, each having their own box or rack, that she wasn't doing very well. Not when it came to relaxing. Then, while she still felt a bit sick, she really was doing better. If nothing else the tiny woodworking shop was warmer than the world outside. Things had cleared a lot, but not gotten warmer. The freezing rain hadn't come in, and it was only a little breezy out, which meant the ship swayed, and if you listened hard you could hear the ropes creak a bit, but it wasn't scary at all.

"Now, I won't belabor the point, being as it's you and not one of the other fools on the crew, but keep things clean all the time. Dust travels, so keep everything well wiped down, if you don't want Mina riding your behind for the next three weeks. I was told that I should ask you about working up some footlockers for gear? A meter long, half that high and wide. They should be sturdy, and we have some solid hinges for them. Other than that, Captain said you can do what you want. That good? You can do that in the time you have left here?"

"Oh, sure. I'll do those first. Where are the hinges?" She was shown and the man didn't hover over her for too long, as she pulled out some of the ship's store of wood and started to measure things off for cutting. That part took a while, but the saws were good, and sharp already, and the wood dry enough. By the time she was ready for bed, still not having eaten, she had all three of the basic boxes laid out, and drilled holes for the pegs to hold them together. She was sleepy, but kept her eyes open until the tenth bell, deciding to call it a day early.

It felt like she was forgetting something, so she went over the whole shop first, sweeping and wiping it down, and then triple checked all of the tools, to make certain they'd gotten back into the right places. They all had, but still, something niggled at the back of her mind.

Not able to place the idea at all she started to leave, only to notice that she really didn't want to. It was like something wanted her to stay and keep working, until she had the glue out, heated and painted on the pegs, which she gently hammered in with a wooden mallet. Then she used some rope to tie the boxes together, leaving the tops off.

That was it, she understood. The tops. She needed to put some carvings on them. Mina had mentioned that, hadn't she? Oh, not on the boxes specifically, but wood carving. She just drew the pattern out and then went to bed, because exhausting herself wasn't going to really help. Working until she became a burden wouldn't make anyone love her after all.

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