Chapter Three
The Fruit Mouse
Baekhyun groaned softly as he rolled over, a little disoriented in the darkness. As he started to lift his head, the moonlight gave enough light through the window for him to see the pile of orange peels still sitting on the low platform, and the whole situation came back to him in a flash. He sat up the rest of the way and stretched, feeling better for having gotten more rest. The pain in his ankle had receded to a dull throb, and there were no sounds other than a cricket in the corner of the small room.
The orphan slung his bag over his shoulder as he got up and went over to the door, the hinges creaking a little as he slowly opened it. The moon was gracious with it’s light, shining brightly through the orange trees and there didn't seem to be anyone else around. As swiftly as his sore ankle would allow, Baekhyun walked in the direction of the clearing.
He soon saw the concrete trough with the pump-style faucet next to it. Remembering how he had seen the worker operate it earlier, the orphan went over and grabbed the handle. He struggled to move the thick metal piece and had to lean into it, but soon he managed to get the pump working enough to bring forth water into the trough. After the water had been coming out for a few seconds Baekhyun stopped moving the handle and quickly stuck his hands under the flowing water. He rubbed his slender fingers together briefly to rinse them off then cupped them and brought the refreshing liquid up to his mouth. It tasted so good he almost cried in his happiness. After working the pump and drinking a bit more as the water began to fill the concrete trough, he hung his bag on the handle of the pump and then carefully sat on the edge of the trough. Keeping his uninjured foot on the ground and sitting sideways on the ledge, the orphan bent his other knee, lifting his injured foot up to the ledge and quickly unwrapping the material from around his ankle and foot.
The moonlight shone down through the water to the bottom of the concrete structure, glistening as it reflected a little. Baekhyun sighed as he put his foot into the cool liquid. It wasn’t as cold as the river had been, but it was still soothing in it’s relief of the discomfort he had been feeling. He carefully turned himself and lifted his other foot up, still balancing on the ledge. He made quick work taking the other piece of material off and soon was sitting with both his feet in the mostly clear water.
Baekhyun sat there for a moment, looking up at the night sky and listening to the nocturnal sounds. Gentle wind blew through the grove, and an occasional flutter of wings from an unknown bird or two could be heard. Crickets chirped off and on. The orphan felt a sense of peace for the first time in a long while and he closed his eyes briefly with a smile on his face, his head still tilted up to the sky. A soft breeze wafted over him, fluttering his eyelashes and making his shaggy hair tickle his face a little. He opened his eyes and sighed.
Shaking his head at himself, he retrieved his bag and got two new pieces of material out. Once again balancing on the edge of the concrete trough, he pulled his feet out one by one, shook off the water and wrapped them back up again. After achieving this, he took his metal cup out of his bag and dipped water out of the trough, pouring it onto the other two pieces of cloth that he had used for his feet before. He held the pieces away from the trough but made sure to get them completely wet, then carefully wrung the water out of the material onto the ground. He rolled the damp cloth into a tight ball and placed it into his bag.
Pumping the handle on the faucet one last time, Baekhyun held his cup under the water and drank as much as he could, then let the last of the trickling water fall into the cup once more, leaving it just over half-way full. He put his bag back over his shoulder and carried his cup of water carefully, heading back in the direction of the shack.
Once he arrived at the shack, Baekhyun carefully placed his bag and the metal cup of water down on the ground next to the door. He then looked to his left and began walking that way away from the shack. This was the opposite direction from where the workers had been earlier and he could tell they hadn’t had a chance to get to that area to sort through the fallen fruit yet.
The moon gave sufficient light as Baekhyun stopped under a tree and began carefully inspecting the fruit that had fallen on the ground under it. The good fruit he placed carefully next to the trunk of the tree. When he found fruit that had a damaged area, he cradled it using the bottom of his shirt for a makeshift bag. It didn’t take long till he was moving on to the next tree in the line, inspecting the fruit under it. He was careful to place the good fruit next to the trunk of the tree as he did before. This time there wasn’t any damaged fruit. So he moved on to the next tree. And the next tree. Often there were only two or three oranges beneath a tree and not very many were damaged. Sometimes he had to lean away from the tree branches to get a better view in the moonlight of the fruit he picked up. But he stuck to
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