“Ay! Little storm! Don’t touch that until you’re done sweeping!” Auntie Zelle’s voice rings loud and clear through her bedroom, to the dining room that doubled as a cramped kitchen. Guiltily a young girl draws her hand away from the plate of biscuits, still steaming. They were freshly made and if she didn’t get them now her twin would eat them all first. Though Amity was too kind for this world she had a weakness for pastries. “Right, right.” Tempest murmured, resuming the sweeping. “I heard that little storm! Come help your Ma with the harvesting!” She groans and throws her head back, stomping muddy bare feet across the room. It’s a miracle that Tempest knew her name was anything other than little storm. She’d been avoiding going outside all day, the cold and sogginess of the fall did her no good, she preferred the blistering hot feel of the sun on skin rather than mist. Amity argued it was the most beautiful time of year but it wasn’t even good enough for a full rain to give the fields a drink. Her Ma said fall was the most important of them all, it was when they harvested all the crops. It was a fair point and Tempest loved nature, the outdoors and the feel of adventure it gave her, but her name also told a truth of her. She loved the ocean, the crashing of waves and the flow of water around you and the mystery and danger of it all. She couldn’t exactly describe it but the feel of being able to manipulate, understand, and exist inside of something so great and powerful was incredible. Amity giggled at something their Ma had said and threw a little fistful of soil up into the air, Ma brushing it off as it spattered down onto her nose. The fields would have to wait a few days to harvest since Auntie Zelle was going to be busy, but right now Amity and Ma harvested small potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots that were planted along the side of the house. Ma looked up at Tempest as she shuffled slowly through the door and gave her a toothy grin. Sometimes their Mother would act as if she was a kid herself, playing games, eating dessert before dinner and running through the house with shoes on. Amity never liked that, she was a rule follower and sweet as sugar cane. “Now look there, sweet tooth,” Ma points to the cornstalks to their left, two shapes parting them slightly as they moved. “See the baby bunnies?” She gestures in their general direction wildly with her trowel, dirt flinging off of it. Amity frowned slightly as she brushed it off the yellowing white clay of the house. “I see them!” shrieked Tempest, a grin that didn’t have two front teeth stretching crookedly off her face. She’d promptly plopped down next to Ma and her sister, her feet still bare and now mud streaked across her chin. Amity jumping into the conversation as well as Ma’s lap said, “I see them too Ma!” Tempest stuck her tongue out at her, Amity always wanted to be included, and Tempest felt that it made her quite a nuisance. She was two minutes older than Amity and she made it a point that she was smarter, stronger, and faster. Amity was clear headed though, and they both knew that out of the two of them she was the sharpest tool in the shed.
“Look at them hop hop hopping, do you know where they go when they are done playing?” She popped a carrot in her mouth, crunching on it while the girls hung onto her words. “There’s a dragon just over the hill,” she whispers secretively, glancing around, keeping her head and voice down. The girls grip each other’s hands excitedly, giggling softly. “And the nice bunnies they get to stay with the dragon but the bad bunnies they-” Farther into the fields, to the part too close to the hills, far enough Auntie Zelle and Ma don’t let them go, there is a shout. Amity and Tempest look past their mother, who’s frozen in her spot, and strain their eyes to see in their curiosity. A woman cries out, there is a baby wailing in the distance. The neighbors, nearly an acre away, with fields full of flowers and bees, are nice, they come over for dinner a few times a month. They have two older boys and a newborn baby. One of them walks all the way into town to go to school. The other one is tricky and clever and runs through the fields. The baby’s wailing subsides but there is more shouting, an argument. A horse whinnies somewhere near their house. The neighbors do not own any horses. Ma rockets to her feet, hooking a finger into the back of their shirts. Her braids with golden cuffs threaded into them blew in the easy breeze, her trousers and her sailors shirt shedding clumps of dirt.
“Get inside, tell Auntie Zelle that the neighbors are having…issues, we need to go help them.”
Amity and Tempest share a look with each other, before scrambling to their feet and running back to the house.
They stumble through the door, all chubby tangled limbs and hair caught in their eyes. Auntie Zelle looks up from kneading the dough for the biscuits, a charming smile on her face slowly dripping away, as the girls stand in the open doorway silently. Amity speaks first, straightforward, “Ma says the neighbors need help-”
“Remember their pie Auntie! They have the best pie, ask them for it when you finish!” Tempest interrupts, her tranquility broken by the fearful glances that were being thrown about. Aunt Zelle nods with a too nice smile nailed to her face, her dimple remaining hidden. She rests reassuring hands on their tangled curls, and walks out the door. Her ankle-length dress catches the wind and it flaps wildly as she walks into the tall grass with their mother. They walk into the cornfield together. The gold cuff in Ma’s hair and Auntie’s milky skirt, reach out to them, the wind howling through the open door as the girls watch them go.
It was a goodbye and they didn’t even know it.
