Young Writers Society

Adeline was hanging on to every word Rosemary said. Something about her, whether it her looks or intelligence, made Adeline want to listen to her for hours on end. Adeline had been in the same position, with her head in the palm of her hand, ever since she had finished her meal. Rosemary didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she didn't say, but Dr. Sommers definitely did.

He cleared his throat and said, "Adeline?" Adeline shot up and looked at him. Rosemary turned to face her.

"Y-Yeah?" Adeline replied. She was visibly startled and she noticed Levi trying not to laugh in the corner of her eye.

"Would you like a tour of the property?" Dr. Sommers asked.

"Sure, yeah. That'd be nice," Adeline said. Phew. This didn't have to do with Rosemary.

"Well, why don't you put your plate in the sink and Rosemary can give you a tour?" Dr. Sommers said.

Adeline could feel the color drain from her face, "Uhm.. yeah, yeah, that sounds.. fine."

"Is something wrong? I bet Dewey would be happy to sh-" Rosemary said.

"No! No, no, no, it's fine." Adeline said. Levi shot Adeline a look that said Way to go. Adeline stood up, grabbed her plate, and walked over to the sink.

"You sure you don't want me to wash it?" Adeline asked.

"Could you pl-" Dewey began to say, but Dr. Sommers cut him off.

"It's fine, dear. Just put it in the sink." Dr. Sommers said. Dewey scowled and Irene began rubbing his shoulders again.

"No, it's fine, I'll just rinse it off," Adeline said. She wiped the plate off with some water and the nearest dishrag before setting it to the side of the sink. Adeline thought it was the least she could do, and if it bothered Dewey as much as it seemed to, she figured it was better if she just did it. Once Adeline was finished, Rosemary stood up, patted the wrinkles out of her dress, and set her plates next to Adeline's.

"Why don't you show her out back, near the chicken pens?" Irene suggested. She was still massaging Dewey's shoulders.

"That sounds good, Irene," Rosemary asked, "Would anyone else like to go?"

Levi spoke first, "No, Bo, Liam, and I are going to help do... stuff." The rest followed suit and declined. On one hand, Adeline was grateful for this, but on the other hand, she was not excited for the embarrassment ahead of her.

"Let's go then," Rosemary said as she led Adeline out the back door. The back door led to the back part of the wrap-around porch, which led into a small enclosed yard. They traveled out the back gate onto a dirt path like the ones the group had seen on the drive up. Rosemary and Adeline didn't say anything until they were out of view from the house.

"So, you're really from the future?" Rosemary asked.

"Yeah, I am," Adeline replied, "And your really from the past?"

Rosemary chuckled and Adeline's face turned red. Why had she said that? "Yes, I was born right after the Great War."

"The Great War?" Adeline asked, bemused, but then she suddenly remembered what the Great War was, "Oh, World War One."

"I guess so," Rosemary said, "Are there any other wars after this?"

"I'm not really sure if Juliu- I mean, Dr. Sommers wants me to share to much about the future, but yeah, there's plenty of wars. I wouldn't say any were as big though. At least I don't think so."

"Wow," Rosemary said. There was a couple minutes of silence as they walked past more and more fields, "Oh, this is the chicken coup. That's Henrietta, Penny, Gertrude, Linus, and.. I forget that one's name."

"You name the chickens?" Adeline asked.

"I named Penny. Dewey and Irene named the other ones."

"Ah, yeah, I forgot you don't live here," Adeline said, "Well, you do, in Oklahoma, but not here here. Like the farm."

Rosemary laughed again. Man, her laugh was pretty, "I get it. Anyways.. what's the future like?"

"Well, first of all, there's these things called pizza rolls," Adeline said, "And they're, like, half the size of your thumb and-"

"No, no, what's life like? What do you do for fun? What do you do?" Rosemary asked. She was walking with her hands held behind her back. The flowers in the fields behind her complimented her dress perfectly.

"I work at a grocery store called Whole Foods, but my fiancee studied Journalism and she now works for the Tribune," Adeline said. Out of the corner of her eye, she swore she could she Rosemary's smile grow wider at the word "she," but she couldn't be sure, "She works extra hours occasionally, well, a lot, to save money if I want to go to college."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but how much does she make?" Rosemary asked.

Adeline thought for a moment, but for the life of her, she couldn't recall Maddy ever telling her what she made, "I- I don't know. She does all the financing stuff."

"But she knows what you make?"

"Yeah.." Adeline said.

"Do you know why she works overtime?" Rosemary asked.

"N- why do you care?" Adeline snapped. She didn't feel like discussing her private affairs. For the first time since she appeared in 1943, Adeline began thinking about her and Madison's relationship. It had always been the sore spot of hers, and she never really liked to think or talk about it, but Rosemary's questions made her realize again how much Maddy kept from her. Adeline's friends had brought it up previously, but now that someone she had hardly known for a couple hours mentioned it, she began to consider the possibility that Maddy was keeping something from her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude," Rosemary said, breaking Adeline's train of thought, "I was just curious."

"It's fine," Adeline mumbled.

There was another moment of silence before the roaring of a car engine could be heard.

"They're probably taking the engine out of your dad's car," Adeline said, "They need it for the machine."

"Oh, wait, no," Rosemary said, "Let's get back before they take it out."

"How come?" Adeline asked. Rosemary was already running back to the farmhouse, so Adeline ran after her and exclaimed, "How come?!"

"There might be another way to conduct the electricity in the car and transfer it to the time machine without removing the engine," Rosemary explained as she ran.

"In English, please?" Adeline asked.

"They might not have to take the engine out of the car to make the time machine work," Rosemary said, "Or if they do, they could use my car instead."

Magnolia

Sommers and his kids had turned in for the night, and everyone had been shown to their rooms. It was late, and it had been a long day, but being around people for so long was exhausting, and Magnolia needed a minute alone. the back porch seemed like a nice place to start. She made her way through the house. Opening the door to the porch, she swept her cane across the ground... Only to discover that someone was sitting on the steps before her.
"Crap," Magnolia said, more tired than apologetic. "My bad."

"Oh, it's just me," Bo said quietly. "You're good."

"Gucci," Mags deadpanned, smacking him again. "Mind if I sit? I get if you need a minute to youself, though."

There was a pause of silence. "No, it's okay. I don't mind."

Magnolia gave a small nod, and sat down. She rested her free hand on the porch. It was cool to the touch, wood smoothed and well-worn with use.

"So," Magnolia said, after a moment. "How was jail?"

"Very boring, actually," Bo said. "Apart from the like, ten minutes of actually trying to escape, it was just a lot of sitting in a cell with nothing to do."

"Riveting."

"The other two though," Bo added, his voice getting more quiet. "They were really nervous. I'm glad I was able to get them out and nothing terrible happened."

"Me too," Magnolia said. She lowered her voice before continuing. "Don't tell Adeline I said this, but she was kind of freaking out."

"Miss calm and collected? Freaking out?"

"Can't say that I blame her," Magnolia said, smiling slightly. "I think it's safe to say that jailbreaks aren't her thing."

The joking tone left Bo's voice. "Yeah. It... I think it was stressful for everyone."

"Yeah," Magnolia said. She wasn't smiling anymore. "It couldn't have been fun for you. Jail, and all."

"Yeaaaaaahhhhh..."

"You never did say how you got out," A pause. "Liam mentioned a lockpick, and a shoe? Glad to hear they didn't confiscate your bougie shoes."

Bo laughed a little through his nose. "Me too." He paused, and his weight shifted on the porch step, like he was leaning on the hand-rail. "As for how we got out, well, I used the Bittenbinder method. I just took my wallet and I said, you want it? Go get it!"

Magnolia laughed for a solid few seconds. The Bittenbinder Method never failed to make her laugh. "Ok," she said, after the laughter had subsided. "But really, how'd you do it? I know it's not maximum security, or anything, but still --"

"Well, what Liam said about the lock pick. I have one in my shoe. He wasn't making that up," Bo said. "I picked the lock on our cell and we snuck out back."

"Wouldn't that be uncomfortable to walk wi--" Magnolia started to say.

"I do have big feet."

Magnolia contemplated the logistics of walking with a lockpick in a shoe for a moment, before deciding not to go down that road. "Well," her voice took on a more serious note. "I don't suppose you'd tell me why it was in your shoe?"

"If you asked nicely." She could hear his mouth upturn into a smile at the end of the phrase.

Behind her sunglasses, Magnolia rolled her eyes. Blushing? Her? She was ignoring that, for the time being.

"Okay, okay, so, my dad's a bit of the paranoid type, you know?" Bo relented before she'd even said another word. "Be prepared for any situation, kind of deal. I kind of absorbed that trait from him. It's just good to have little tools on you, just in case. Did I think in my wildest dreams that I would be escaping a small-town jail in 1943 with my lockpick? No. But am I glad now, that I had it on me? Yes."

Magnolia wasn't entirely convinced. "Why a lockpick, though?"

There was a moment of hesitation.

Magnolia narrowed her eyes.

661 words

Bo was trying to figure out how to put this in the most graceful way possible. There really wasn't a way to put a positive spin on it. His family was in the mafia. Technically he was, by association. That wasn't something you just told people, though, regardless of time travel uncertainties.

He could feel Magnolia's burning suspicion, though, the longer he took to answer.

He had a moment, in the back of his mind, where he realized it had only been two days. Three days? He'd woken up on the farm. They'd stolen the truck. Driven into town. Evaded the cops. Gone to bed.

Day one.

Then they'd woken up. Sommers had gotten supplies. They got caught by the cops. They escaped. Fled to Dewey's farm.

Day two.

The last time he looked at the clock, it was almost 11 pm. By now it was probably midnight.

Day three, if that even counted.

Magnolia hardly knew him, and he hardly knew her. But he understood. The moment his appearance and his actions lined up into what most people already categorized him as in their minds, it was the only thing he was ever seen as.

Well, it had been nice to not be known for a day, and just be Bo.

"I don't exactly want everybody knowing this," he said quietly, just loud enough for Magnolia to hear. "And it's - well I don't -" He had come up with so many little lies and half-truths in his life to dance around it. It shouldn't be so hard right now.

"I have a criminal past," he finally said. "You probably guessed already. I know that's not the only reason someone might have a lockpick on them, of all things - some people really are just like that, but that's. Uh. Mine."

Before Magnolia said anything in response, he added, quickly: "I've never done time though. Not before today, anyway."

It was a moment before Magnolia said anything.

324 words

Magnolia

Magnolia wasn't sure what to say. She'd known people who'd had run-ins with the law, but it had always been small stuff. Minor drug offenses, vandalism, the occasional car theft. But Bo spoke as if he'd done something serious, something inexcusable.

A thought occurred to her.

"Were you lying, before?" she said, voice deceptively calm. "About how you got the scar? Because I don't appreciate being lied to."

"No," Bo said quietly, but earnest. "That was true."

Magnolia took off her sunglasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Good," she said. "I don't know if I could've gotten past that."

"I wouldn't expect you to."

She folded up her sunglasses and put them to the side. "Whatever you did," she said. "Is it in the past?"

"In the future," Bo said, but quickly continued. "But yes. I never want to go back. Or forwar-- you know what I mean. Back to how I was."

"I'm glad," Magnolia said. "I don't know how you were, but I like how you are now."

Bo was quiet again for a moment. "Thanks," he said softly.

Magnolia leaned against the porch railing, considering her next words. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, even after several seconds had passed.

"Anytime."

"I like how you are now too," Bo finally said.

Magnolia's face felt hot. "Well," she said, smiling. "To be fair, I am pretty incredible."

"Considering it's only been two days, I'm sure I've yet to discover actually just how incredible you are. But I look forward to finding out more. For however long we're here."

"Likewise, Bo."

There was another lull of silence before Bo let out a long yawn. Magnolia heard something pop as he stretched.

"Ugh," Bo mumbled. "I think that was my back."

"Bro. Is your back alright?"

"I think I need to lie down," Bo said, sounding like he was talking through another yawn. "Prison beds are worse than the floor."

"Nap time, then."

Bo stood up. "You gonna stay out here a little longer?"

"Nah, I think I'm gonna turn in for the night," Magnolia said. She grabbed her sunglasses and got to her feet. "I mean, I should at least try to get a full eight hours."

Bo chuckled quietly, deep in his chest. "That's the dream." He started towards the door. "Well, I'll catch ya in the morning, Mags. Sleep well."

"You too. Smell you later."

"Wait 'til after I shower," Bo said, and then the door closed.

411 words

Rosemary had gone off to talk to her dad, leaving Adeline alone with her thoughts. What was going to happen when Adeline went back? That is, if she went back to the future. Thousands of thoughts were zooming through Adeline's head, but thankfully, her train of thought was broke by Dewey.

"You! What's your name, again?" he exclaimed from the porch.

"It's Adeline," she said. Adeline walked up to the porch and stood next to him, "And you're Dewey, right?"

"Yes," Dewey said. He flipped a cigar over and over again in his hand, then looked up at Adeline, "You and your friends really are from the future, aren't you?"

"Your sister said practically the same thing," Adeline chuckled. Dewey gave her a stern look and Adeline stopped laughing, "Uh, yeah, we are."

"Really?" Dewey raised his eyebrows and put the cigar back in his mouth, "Good."

"Good?" Adeline said, "What do you mean 'good'?"

Dewey took the cigar back out of him mouth and looked Adeline in the eyes, making her extremely uncomfortable, "I mean 'good' as in 'good, you're not taking advantage of my father.'"

"Of course not," Adeline shrugged and sat in the wooden rocking chair next to him, "Besides, Julius would probably be smart enough to see that we were using him."

"Maybe," Dewey mumbled, "Maybe."

"Oh, definitely. Your father's super smart!" Adeline exclaimed, then gestured to herself, "I'm living proof of that!"

Dewey grunted. He, again, put the cigar in his mouth and lit it. Unlike Rosemary, Adeline didn't wrinkle her nose at the smoke's stench. Mr. Hagen was a heavy smoker and Adeline had grown up around its smell.

"Look, Ms. Adeline," Dewey said quietly after a moment of silence. Adeline turned her attention to him, but he paused and looked as if he was choosing his next words carefully, "Did my father ever tell you.. what he planned to do with the time machine?"

"No, nobody asked," Adeline said. She hadn't thought about Dr. Sommer's possible motives for making a time machine. Surely, the couldn't be anything too bad. Right?

"Well," Dewey kept his mouth open for a bit before continuing, "I- I don't know what his original plans were either. Rosie might, I don't know, but he hasn't told me, which I think is extremely.. rude, inconsiderate, et cetera."

"Yeah, I guess so," Adeline said, "He's a nice guy, though, so the reason can't be bad."

Dewey grunted again and took a puff out of his cigar. Adeline sat there for a few minutes before standing up.

"I'm going to go to bed," Adeline said, "Goodnight Dewey."

"Goodnight, Ms. Adeline." Dewey mumbled. Adeline smiled, opened the front door, and entered the house. She had a feeling she wasn't going to sleep tonight.

The next morning they all seemed to have slept in. Bo had woken up first, then Magnolia, then Levi, and finally Adeline and Liam himself. Adeline didn't look very happy, so Liam quickly withheld any comments about the fact that she didn't look well rested. At breakfast he forced himself not to devour as much food as usual, though he could've sworn he saw Dewey trying not to laugh. Rosemary stood up and told everyone the plan for the day:
"I want Levi and Bo to help with the car. Liam and Adeline will be collecting eggs, and Magnolia and Irene will be in the kitchen preparing some food."

Bo made a noise of confusion, "but we just ate? Aren't there, like rations?"

Rosemary nodded, "Yes, but I think Dewey and Irene were expecting some company today." She looked at Irene to confirm her statement.

Irene nodded, "Yes. Unfortunately, some friends need to speak to Dewey about something. I wouldn't want to seem rude so I'll bake a small pie."

Liam gasped at that and Bo shook his head at him, causing Liam to slump in his seat. 'Rations' Bo mouthed, and Liam nodded sadly.

Dewey shook his head at Irene "You say unfortunately as if they were a plague."

Irene nodded, "They are."

Dewey rolled his eyes at his wife, causing her to raise her eyebrow at him in disdain. He sighed, "Perhaps they are a bit like a plague."

She nodded, then spoke to everyone, "Please wash your dishes once your done eating. I'm assuming in the future there isn't rationing, so I will politely ask you all to not consume a lot of food. We may live on a farm, but that doesn't mean that we have that much more than other families." Dewey looked at Liam with a pointed gaze. Liam sighed, then stood up and headed to the kitchen to wash his dish.

318 words

Magnolia

Magnolia didn’t say much at breakfast. It was tense enough without any of her awkward attempts at small talk, and she didn’t want to accidentally say something rude.

That wasn’t to say that she was impolite, or trying to be. Magnolia’s parents hadn’t raised a jerk. She thanked her hosts for the breakfast, sat down and listened to the conversation, nodding along politely between bites of eggs and toast. Even if she wasn’t going to say much, she could still make her presence known.

It wasn’t a surprise to learn that she’d be helping Irene out in the kitchen. But she did worry a little about what they’d be making. Magnolia never made a pie before. Not one that had turned out edible, anyways.

“What kind of pie are we gonna be making?” Magnolia asked, turning to face Irene during a lull in conversation.

“Apple,” Irene said. “Have you made that before?

“Nope.” Magnolia said, shaking her head. “I can cook alright, but I’ve never done that much baking. Nothing as complicated as a pie, anyway.”

“Oh.” Irene said. She didn’t sound particularly happy with this information. “Okay. We can have you peel the apples, then.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Magnolia said, giving a small smile. So what if she couldn’t do any of the actual baking, she got to peel apples! That probably meant that she’d be using a knife. Sweet, she was good with those. (She had, of course, completely forgotten about the existence of hand-held peelers.)

Swallowing the last bits of her breakfast, Magnolia got up and made to follow Liam into the kitchen. This felt like as good a time as any to excuse herself.
278 words

When Bo woke up, he put on the new clothes Dr. Sommers had bought him, and he was pleased that they fit. Sommers really meant it when he took measurements and everything, and Bo appreciated it. He knew it couldn't have been cheap.

It was a really small thing, wearing overalls, a white long-sleeve shirt, and boots, but it made Bo feel less out of place. He felt like he belonged on a farm, even if Dewey didn't necessarily want them on his farm (Bo wasn't going to pretend that Dewey liked them there any more than Dewey was, but he was still going to be respectful, obviously).

Breakfast finished up pretty quickly, and everyone washed their dishes. Bo could tell Irene and Dewey were a little on edge about their guests coming, and wanted to make sure there wasn't any suspicion raised.

Dr. Sommers had been transparent with Dewey and Irene about the last three days. Bo, Levi, and Liam getting arrested. Escaping. Dr. Sommer's involvement, and his own developing criminal record at harboring draft dodgers. The whole thing was a mess, and even though Bo had overheard a fair amount of yelling through the walls, Dewey seemed committed to helping. Not for their sakes, but for his father. Which was understandable.

It wasn't just the five of them who would have to stay out of the way. Dewey and Irene wanted as little issue as possible, so that means Dr. Sommers and Rosemary had to hide out too, and their cars were driven out back behind the barn where they would be hidden from sight.

Bo didn't like thinking about how all of the reasonable paranoia reminded him of... well, it wasn't important.

Bo held the door on the back porch open as the others flooded out. Adeline came out first with Rosemary, then the men, and Magnolia holding up the back.

314 words

"I know it's not ideal," Irene said from the doorway, once everyone was packed onto the porch. "But we'd prefer you to stay in the barn, out of sight. Our friends won't be here all day, but they will be staying through 'til lunch, so it will be a few hours. But please don't come out until I come to you personally. Just to be safe."

"Who exactly is coming, by the way?" Rosemary asked. "You never did say."

There was a brief hesitation from Irene, and Dewey cleared his throat from behind her.

"Officer Paul Bryant," Dewey said.

The tension that rolled over the porch was tangible.

"Ah," Dr. Sommers nodded. "We'll stay out of your hair."

"Don't worry, Dewey," Bo said. "We'll stay out of trouble."

Irene gave him a sweet, but strained smile and Dewey just sighed.

"You better," Dewey answered, before turning in his chair and wheeling away into the house. Irene gave an apologetic smile before closing the door.

"Well. Guess we better get going," Adeline said, hopping down the steps and looking back to Rosemary, who was right behind her.

Levi and Liam shared a nervous look before hurrying away, and Dr. Sommers followed after, eyes on his daughter.

Bo slid up next to Magnolia. He cleared his throat and put on a posh sounding voice.

"Wouldst thou walketh with me to the barn this fine morning?"

"That better not be your farmer impression," Magnolia snorted.

"Would ya rather I talk like this?" Bo said in a comically exaggerated southern accent.

Magnolia smacked his leg with her cane and laughed, starting ahead of him.

"Show me where this barn is," she said, and Bo followed her, joining her at her side.

"Will do."

288 words

"The barn is pretty big," Rosemary said. She was walking alongside Adeline, "I don't think I showed it to you yesterday."

"You show-" Adeline paused to yawn. The stress of Maddy, the time machine, and Officer Bryant coming over to the farm was weighing down on her shoulders, and she was visibly grouchy, "showed me the chickens."

"Oh, right," Rosemary said, "Did you sleep last night?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"There's a lot on my mind," Adeline shrugged, "I thought that would have been obvious."

"Well, yes, it is, but you were able to sleep at my father's house." Rosemary said.

"Let me just say you brought some things up last night that I hadn't thought about enough, OK?" Adeline said, "Just leave it be."

"Alright," Rosemary mumbled. Adeline sighed and jogged ahead to Dr. Sommers, who was leading the group to the barn, and Liam.

"We will have to split every one up to work on different tasks," Dr. Sommers was explaining. Liam was nodding his head along just enough to make Dr. Sommers think he was listening.

"Hey, Julius," Adeline said. Dr. Sommers looked at her and smiled.

"Hello, dear!" Dr. Sommers exclaimed, "Liam and I were just talking about what we need to do." Liam nodded approvingly, as if saying Yes, I definitely knew that.

"Nice," Adeline replied, "What do you need me to do?"

Dr. Sommers looked Adeline up and down before making his decision, "You can stand watch until someone else needs to rest. You look like you need to relax."

"Rosemary said practically the same thing." Adeline said, rubbing her forehead.

Finally, the group came to the barn. It looked like every barn Adeline had ever seen. Big, red with white accents, with two giant doors. Dr. Sommers and Bo threw them open, revealing the cars parked in two horse stalls inside.

"Let's get to work!" Rosemary exclaimed.

An all-too familiar black car pulled in front of Dewey and Irene's farm house containing none other than Officer Paul Bryant. He was a good friend of Dewey's, as they served in the war together, and Dewey cherished his company.

"Dewey!" Officer Bryant exclaimed as he exited his car. He was wearing a blue button-up shirt and beige pants. Despite his happy mood, Officer Bryant's voice sounded gruff and manly, leaving anyone who hadn't heard him before slightly intimidated, "It's so nice to see you."

"You too, Paul," Dewey said from his wheelchair on the porch. Officer Bryant couldn't help but feel sorry for Dewey every time he laid eyes on him. The wheelchair, the wrinkles and scars, the foggy eyes that looked as if they could stop working any moment: they always put Officer Bryant in a brief somber mood, "Please, come up here!"

Officer Bryant shut the car's door and walked up the steps to Dewey and Irene, who was sitting by his side.

"Good morning, Irene," Officer Bryant said with a smile.

"Hello, Paul," she stood up and gave him a quick hug, "I'm sorry I can't stay and talk for long, but I have to go start lunch."

"It's fine, dear," Bryant said. He sat down in Irene's chair with a long, drawn-out sigh.

"So, how are you?" Dewey asked. Bryant took out a cigarette, so Dewey lit it and then his own cigar.

"The usual," Bryant replied, "You?"

"Oh, nothing's changed," Dewey said, "I do practically the same things everyday. Take walks with Irene, feed the chickens, read the paper, you name it."

"At least you have this property."

"At least I do."

There was a moment of silence before Bryant cleared his throat and leaned forward, looking at Dewey.

"Dewey, have you heard anything from your father recently?" Bryant asked, "Or maybe dear Rosemary?"

Dewey didn't miss a beat, "Paul, old man, you know I don't speak to my father frequently and my sister calls on Tuesdays and Sundays."

"So nothing new?" Bryant said.

"Same old, same old," Dewey sighed. He took a puff out his cigar before continuing, "Why do you ask?"

And with that question, Officer Bryant began recounting what he knew about the events that had occurred in the past days.

Dr. Sommers and Rosemary, apparently, had a list.

Barn chores. At least Bo had dressed the part, and they wouldn't get bored. Might as well be productive when hiding from the cops! He had to look on the bright side, you know?

Apparently, the barn had been the victim of a little neglect.

Dewey and Irene had one horse - an old white mare named Dolly with speckled gray spots and, and Rosemary put it, a pickpocketing habit. Bo never thought he'd have to watch his pockets around a horse, but he supposed he could add that to his list of things he never thought he'd do before he died but ended up doing. Time travel was at the top of that list, at the moment, but the list was quickly growing the longer he stayed in 1943.

But I digress.

Liam got handed a rake-looking shovel and a bucket on wheels. Poop scooping. Not a super difficult job, but an important one. After that, he was supposed to help reorganize some of the stuff stored in the barn.

Adeline got handed another rake, but this one was pretty normal. She and Rosemary were tasked with cleaning up the barn floor, the stalls, clearing out old hay and whatever else had collected in the crevices, and putting down new hay. Seemed pretty straightforward.

Dr. Sommers tasked Magnolia and Levi to help him with feeding Dolly, brushing Dolly, and grooming her. There was a lot to do for Dolly, actually. She needed water, and a whole list of things Bo didn't retain. He didn't really envy that job. He was not familiar with horses at all.

"Last, but not least, there's the loft," Sommers said, looking to Bo.

His eyes drifted upward. There was a ladder that led up to a loft up in the rafters. It looked... well...

"They'd like to put it to use again, but at the moment, it's very dirty," Sommers explained.

"Spiders," Rosemary said, with a little shiver.

"It had become a home for spiders, yes," Dr. Sommers said casually. "And bats. Sometimes. I don't know if there are any active nests."

"So basically, I'm doing pest control?" Bo asked.

Dr. Sommers laughed. Bo looked down at Magnolia, and he could tell just by looking at her face that they both figured he got the short end of the stick.

Bo took a second to steel his nerves. He'd seen a lot of different kinds of filth. Rats. Roaches. Spiders. Not bats, so much, but he could do it. Just... kill them and catch them, right?

Rosemary handed him a bag, and a towel. And an old crusty shoe that had probably sat in the barn way too long.

"I will use these," he said. "Yes."

"If you find anything horrific just give us a holler," Dr. Sommers said.

"Oh, I'm sure that will happen involuntarily," Bo said with a little laugh, before throwing everything into the bag and making his way to the ladder.

498 words

It had been a long time since Magnolia had been around horses. She’d spent some time around the ones at a neighbors farm before, brushing and braiding their manes. She’d more or less forgotten how to care for them. But this was preferable. Especially given the job Bo had gotten stuck with. She knew that the loft needed to be cleaned. But wow, he’d really drawn the short end of the stick, hadn’t he?

Honestly, Magnolia was just glad that she wasn’t the one going up there. The premise of walking into a nest of spiders wasn’t all that appealing, especially given the total lack of weaponry. (Unless you counted the shoe. Which, okay. She was counting the shoe.)

“Jeez,” Levi said. He was standing a foot or so from Magnolia, and was mid-way through brushing out Dolly’s mane. “Bats and spiders? Count me out.”

Magnolia suppressed a shudder. She’d been so preoccupied thinking about the spiders that she’d completely forgotten about the bats. “Yeah,” she said. “Me too.”

The ladder creaked above them, groaning as Bo began his ascent.

Could footsteps sound hesitant?
Magnolia was about to find out. Tilting her head, she stopped what she was doing and listened as Bo made his way up the ladder, waiting for the inevitable sound of a spider-induced shriek. Fun times.

Levi’s brush snagged on a knot on Dolly’s mane, and the horse let out a noise of protest. Magnolia startled at the sound, but began to pat Dolly's side as Levi began to unsnare the brush -- all the while trying not to think about whether or not any spiders could and would jump out of the loft.
Word Count: 279

Bo had barely taken two slouched steps into the loft before he ran into a spiderweb that came out of nowhere on his left side - his less sighted side - and he waved his arms and spat, patting himself down and brushing his arms excessively to make sure nothing was on him.

Turned out that one was just a cobweb, not an active web. He wished he didn't know the difference.

After one more spit he waved the towel around for good measure. No spiders that he could see yet. There weren't tarantulas out in Milthes, were there? Bo didn't know the pests native to Oklahoma, but he just really hoped he didn't find a nest of black widows or brown recluses or something. Last thing he needed was to get bit by something deadly.

He scanned the loft and found a little broom tucked away in a corner, and his eye lit up. That was a much better tool for dealing with spiderwebs from afar!

He grabbed it and dusted it off before using it then to clear out as many webs as possible. There were a lot of cobwebs, and some normal webs, but he only found a handful of spiders that he was able to smack up against the wall with the shoe. Did he do a few too many smacks? Maybe. To those down below it might've sounded like he was hammering something into the wall, but he figured it was better safe than sorry. At least he hadn't screamed yet!

He made it about halfway through the loft before he brushed the broom up against a web in the corner where the two angles of the roof met.

Something squeaked.

Bo jumped as something flew out at his face and he ducked, saying a few choice curse words maybe a little too loud.

It was a bat.

He twirled back around with the broom and thwacked at the blur of black in the air and was surprised at his lucky aim when he heard the little thwap against the ground. It didn't move, and he was pretty sure he broke it.

Well, killed it.

Then he turned around to where the bat had come from, and he saw four more, hanging from the beam, staring at him.
382 words

Raking, raking, raking. It seemed like all Adeline had been doing was raking, but in reality, she had only been raking for about forty-five minutes. Her arms were automatically swinging forward and back to drag the hay and other left over things to the center.

"Hello," Rosemary said, appearing in the corner of Adeline's eye. Adeline let out a small groan. It's not that she didn't like Rosemary, it's just that she was annoyed with Rosemary at the moment.

"Hey." Adeline grumbled. Her eyes were focused on the ever ending pile of hay.

"I'm sorry if I bothered you," Rosemary apologized, "Really, I am."

"You're good," Adeline said, "I just hadn't thou-"

"Ew! Ew! gross!" Liam yelled squealed from a horse's stall, "I have crap on my hands!"

"You weren't supposed to touch it!" Adeline exclaimed, dropping her rake and walking over to the stall. Magnolia began howling with laughter in the other stall.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Liam said back. Adeline peaked into the stall to see Liam shaking his hand and wrinkling his nose. Adeline began to laugh.

"You want a rag?" Adeline asked. Liam nodded desperately and Adeline grabbed the rag off the pile of hay. She tossed it to him and he began wiping his hand vigorously.

"Thanks," Liam said. Adeline sighed and walked back to her rake, where Rosemary was waiting.

"So you were saying.." she said. Adeline picked up her rake and began collecting the hay again. Back and forth, back and forth.