Ben Dubay (painlingers) wrote in destructionisle, @ 2019-05-30 16:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !thread, ben dubay |
Who: Hannah and Ben
What: Chatting about plants and life
When: Afternoon, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Where: At the community garden
Rating: Low
Status: Complete
It was a nice day, and Hannah was doing her best to take advantage of it. Since she had a rare day off, she planned to spend it all outside and avoid the dark glum room full on monitors that usually held her. Dressed casually in jeans and an oversized hoodie, ever present earbuds in her ears, she strolled slowly across the quieter areas of the island. Dark messy curls hanging in her face, light eyes glanced up and around as she moved near the community garden. It was one of the few places on the island that didn’t seem utterly terrible, so she moved to take a seat beneath and nearby tree and just hang out there.
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Ben had finished his Saturday morning yoga lesson at the Elysian Field grounds, who wouldn’t want to be outdoors enjoying nature and doing yoga on a day like this? The amount of people who showed up varied day to day, but he didn’t mind, he would rather teach those who were actually interested and not just doing it because it was something to do. After heading back to his place, a quick bite and change of clothes he put on his boots on before starting towards the community garden. Usually he’d stop in and check out some hand tools to work his little plot but today he was hoping to harvest some of the radishes, baby carrots and the spinach greens that he had growing and he could pull those out by hand. As he got closer he could see someone sitting under a tree on the edge of the area, smiling as he recognized the face of the lady who he had seen around the island now and then. “Why, hello.”
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Hannah wasn’t used to being greeted with a smile. Despite being just like the residents, a lot of them avoided her because of her work assignment. She understood why, why should they trust her when she worked for the government. Few took the chance to find out more about her, and her own opinions on the matter. So when this man greeted her now, she sat up a little straighter, tugging the plugs out of her ears quickly. “Oh, uh, hi. Sorry. Am I in the way?”
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Although he had seen and could see that this woman’s ID card was different from his own she wasn’t like some of the guards that Ben had met on his six months on the island, she didn’t have the attitude for one and while he wasn’t happy about getting stuck on this rock if people were nice to him he’d be nice in return, his grandma would be upset if he didn’t. “No, no. Do not mind me, I’m just here to tend to my garden, I just don’t see many people around here.” Which was true, even seeing other gardeners was a rare thing but Ben did often come here at odd hours.
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Scrambling to stand on heavy boots, Hannah shoved her phone in her pocket. “Oh, this is your garden? That’s cool. You must be new around here. They haven’t had stuff like this before.” Hannah glanced around the area and offered an awkward smile. “It’s nice that you did all this. Just… be careful about it, you know?”
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Was it that obvious that he was a relatively new resident? “It is mine.” Ben smiled, he was happy with his little garden. “They told me there were gardens here before, but no one was using them and they became overgrown, I have just cleaned up what was hiding.” All the hard work had been worth it, to now be able to harvest some vegetables from it. He looked over at the lady as she mentioned to be careful. “I know. Only grow what they tell you, don't grow too much and any extra goes to the government. I am trying to be careful.” He didn't want to lose this.
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Hannah scratched at the back of her neck, looking from the garden to the man and back, suddenly skeptical. It used to be a garden, then was not, now is again. That sounded like one of those little tricked her bosses liked to play on the mutants. Still, the man seemed so proud of it and happy with things, she didn’t want to burst his bubble. When he recited the rules, she nodded. “Yeah. I guess it’s good to have a little bit of growth and life around here for a change.”
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Ben had grown a lot more skeptical since arriving on the island, he knew nothing about the history of this place - what was now the garden could have once been a graveyard or just a dumping ground, he could only go by what he was told and took it with a grain of salt. He knew that a lot of the guards looked down on the residents, seeing them as second class because they were 'infected’ but he wanted to avoid conflict at all costs, unless it impacted directly on his safety, then he'd fight back.
“I enjoy coming out here and getting my hands dirty, I might not reap the benefits of my work for a while but coming out here relaxes me. And the bees should be happy with flowers to pollinate.” His speech was slower than most people's but that was only because his French accent was still really quite thick and he knew from experience that some people had troubles understanding him.
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Hannah watched him as he spoke. While the accent was thick and difficult to understand, she found that her own gifts helped her in many ways when it came to sound and technology. It was almost as if her brain was automatically translating any of the words she’d missed, changing the sounds to make it more understandable to her. “What kind of work did you do, before here?”
It had occurred to her that she didn’t introduce herself or offer her name. But now, it was purposeful. Once she identified herself, most people wanted nothing to do with her. It was nice to get to just chat casually with someone for a change.
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Taking the backpack off from where it had been slung over his shoulder Ben put it down on the ground next to his garden plot. He had a few smaller bags inside to put his vegetables in when he harvested them to stop his main bag from getting dirty.
He looked across at the lady when she asked what kind of work he used to do. “I was a volcanologist.” He answered with a slightly sad tone in his voice, he missed his life before but then again so did everyone else it seemed. “I loved it, the raw power of nature… but now I'm teaching French and giving yoga classes. It's just not the same.”
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Hannah blinked. “A volcan-what? That sounds like a pretty hardcore job. Not that teaching is easy but… yeah. Wow.” She shook her head a little, raking her fingers back through her thick hair. “I used to be a DJ. Electronic music, mostly.”
Hannah was not really sure why she’d offered up that information about herself, especially since he hadn’t asked. Maybe she was trying hard to keep a conversation going. Too hard. But she couldn’t remember the last time she actually talked to anyone, other than taking orders or relaying information.
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“When they are erupting it is… ‘hard core’, most of the time you sit around observatories or go out in the field checking equipment.” But Ben loved it, even the most mundane of tasks always interested him, any answers they could get were always good.
“I do not know a lot about electronic music. Other than at clubs, I'm a musical theater man myself.” His co-workers used to laugh at him for going to a production of whatever musical was on instead of going out to a bar or club with them. “But there's none of that here, I guess I will have to make do with recordings or Hollywood adaptations.” Which just wasn't the same as seeing it live.
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Hannah thought about it, it sounded like kind of a boring job. Unless volcanoes erupted a lot more often than she knew. It seemed like a lot of just sitting around, waiting for something to happen. Just like her current job.
“Theater stuff is cool too. I love all music, but EDM was my thing, you know?” There was a brief sparkle in her eyes as she thought about it, but that light went out as quickly as it appeared. “There’s really not a whole lot of anything here. But hey, maybe you and a few other residents could put on a show of your own sometime? I bet people would be into it, something different than the day to day grind.”
The minute the suggestion was out there, Hannah instantly regretted it. She shouldn’t be encouraging stuff like that, she’d get in trouble somehow.
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Boring or not by other people’s standards, it was Ben’s life before and he had enjoyed every minute of it. Now, he’d go out and collect specimens of rocks that looked interesting to try and figure out their composition but it just wasn’t the same.
An eyebrow raised at the suggestion of starting up a play or theater group and he chuckled softly. “No one would want to listen to my bad singing.” It was a good idea though, maybe he should look into it and see if people would be interested. “I’ll think about it, see if anyone else shows any interest.”
Ben looked down at his little garden, brushing dirt off the top of some of the radishes to see if they were big enough to harvest and those big enough he pulled up and put on the dirt. “Do you still DJ now, or is that forbidden on the island?” While there was a bar here there wasn’t any other kind of nightlife to speak of, a night now and then of music would be nice.
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Hannah watched him as he worked, but laughed dryly at his question. “I don’t think it’s forbidden on the island, but I am definitely forbidden from doing anything like that anymore. Stupid FCC and NSA rules.” Her tone was bitter and she knew it was a big risk even sharing her personal opinion like that. She’d probably pay for it later, if they were listening.
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“The government, ruining everything.” He said, tone just as bitter. He was slowly checking each radish before pulling it out before moving onto the next one, all up he harvested about two dozen and starting on the baby carrots. “Not like we can do anything, they control just about everything here but the weather.” At least that was something that they couldn’t control, nature wouldn’t let them. Hopefully the trees didn’t have ears, Ben knew that they were listening in at most places, including his own apartment which thankfully the AV bugs were ‘out of commission’, for now at least. Dusting off one of the small carrots he held it up towards the woman. “Carrot?”
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“Or so you think.” Hannah put nothing past the government pigs. If they could collar and leash someone with her abilities, they could definitely have a mutant controlling the weather for them. It was kind of sweet at this guy was still so innocent about things.
She smiled a little at the offer of the carrot but shook her head no. “Thanks but no. Those are for you guys, they feed me well enough, I guess.” It wasn’t that Hannah or even the human guards were getting gourmet meals. But she was all too aware of how tight things could be for the residents. She wasn’t going to take food out of their mouths.
“Um.., I’m Hannah, by the way.”
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Ben was far from innocent or ignorant about this new world around him, how the government was now controlling his life, he had learned quickly after arrival that if people thought he wasn’t too bright they wouldn’t be as concerned about him or what he could do.
When his offer of a carrot was declined Ben brought it up to his own mouth and took a bite of it - dirt and all - it was sweet and they would be even better roasted with some honey. Although it was only one small finger sized carrot, he wasn’t going to push her.
“My name’s Ben, it’s nice to meet you Hannah.” He said with a smile.
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“Nice to meet you, Ben. I don’t really get much chance to talk to a lot of people around here. It’s cool of you to be so nice, most of the residents avoid me like the plague.” It hurt, and bothered her, but after two years she’d gotten used to it. She was just happy for the opportunity now.
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“You’re just doing your job.” Ben said with a slight shrug, he held no bad will towards the guards who worked on the island, except for those who acted like assholes and harassed residents just for the fun of it. So far he had come across a few nice ones, including those that he saw every two weeks when they dropped off his food rations and now this lady - Hannah. “Kindness begets kindness and disrespect begets disrespect. If you had told me to get lost or tried to sabotage my garden then I might not be as willing to speak to you.” Though there were already a few guards who weren’t so nice and secretly he had sent some bugs after them to try to teach them a lesson, not to mention that his garden was protected from vandals by some very kind bugs including wasps who he let have as much pollen and whatever else they needed in exchange for stinging anyone who tried to sabotage the area.
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Hannah shook her head with a smirk. “I only deal with internet security. So unless your carrots know how to hack the system, I think you’re fine. But thanks, it really does mean a lot. I’ve been here a long time and I can’t really say I have any actual friends. It sucks sometimes.” A lot of the time, but she didn’t want to be a Debbie Downer.
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“I think I’ll be safe. It’s not like I can really get onto the internet here anyway.” As nice as it would be to be able to get onto the internet, keep in contact with those he knew and see what was happening in the Volcanology world but emails were banned and he wasn’t even sure if he would be able to get all of his notes that he had scattered around online and put them into one central location such as his laptop. “I don’t have any real friends either, my students are just that - students. We can only hope things change.” Well he had a potential friend but that had to be remain a secret, no one could know about the cute ‘cat’ that had caught his attention a few days beforehand.
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“Yeah, that’s kind of my fault. Sorry about that.” Hannah hesitates, doing a quick mental scan to check for any viable recording devices nearby before whispering. “If there’s ever something you need though, just… let me know.” Clearing her throat, she shifted uncomfortable, nervous even though more than likely their conversation was private. You never could be too sure.
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That comment raised an eyebrow, not only because Hannah said it was her fault but also because of the offer of being able to get him access. Ben also noticed her uneasiness, not that he could blame here, even out here in the forest who knew if there were hidden microphones or camera hiding in the trees the surrounded the clearing. “Access to Gmail for 24 hours would be plenty, I’d just like to download all of my notes.” Although being able to access the United States Geological Survey would be nice he didn’t want to push his luck, especially since it was a government site. “If you could do that I will cook you dinner… or something.”
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Hannah considered the comment, but then shook her head. “Might be easier to just let me know what you want downloaded and I can get it to you. File or folder names, that sort of thing.” She watched him curiously, not sure why she was offering to help when she barely knew him. But, he had been nice to her, so it was worth the risk. Nodding her head to his bag, she just smiled a little. “You’ll figure out how to get it to me.” While she was talking, she’d mentally hacked into his phone and input her cell number. “You could use more gigs on that thing, by the way.”
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Ben looked down at his bag and then back at Hannah, taking in her comments and trying to remember what file names he had saved all of his work under. He knew it as all to his Drive though, thinking that it would be easier to access that way instead of backing it up onto his physical hard drives which he was lucky enough to still have with him, they were mainly full of pictures and technical things, nothing that the government really thought as dangerous although most of it was still in French so maybe they just didn’t know what he was typing about.
When Hannah mentioned that he could use more gigs on ‘that thing’ he looked towards his bag where his cell phone sat, “I only use it to access the island’s network, not like it’s much use anymore.” He said, shoulders shrugging. It wasn’t like he could call or text his parents, sister or past co-workers from here, the outside world was greatly restricted. “I suppose I could delete a lot of the apps on there, I don’t need youtube or tinder any more.”
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She just smiled a little when he didn’t question how she know how many gigs he had on his phone. Or how she even knew his phone was in the bag, it wasn’t visible from where she was sitting. Nodding, she sighed and looked up to the sky. “True. Tinder can go. But hold on to youtube for a little bit. And don’t forget to turn off your location services, it’s killing your battery.”
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He didn’t really think twice about it, everyone needed more gigs on their phones and even here Ben was pretty sure that most people still carried their phones with them almost everywhere they went. It was the comment about turning off the location tracker that made him finally click. “You’re…” how could he say it - a mutant? “Gifted?” The fact that the government here had gifted folk working for them didn’t surprise him either, they’d do anything to get the upper hand. Even though his ability was shown on his ID Ben wasn’t one to talk about it or show it off, it was something personal and not a party trick.
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Hannah nodded and motioned to her ID badge. “Yeah. That’s why mine is different from yours… but different from the human guards too. I’m not really working with them voluntarily. It’s part of my sentence.” She wasn’t sure if that clarified things, or made things worse.
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Sentence. That word made Ben screw his nose up. He thought that it was bad enough to be sent to the island because of his ‘exposure’ was bad enough, but to be forced to work for the government that imprisoned them here, he couldn’t imagine it. “I guess you’re here indefinitely too?” He asked, feeling a bit more comfortable that he was with a fellow gifted person he called over a butterfly that was collecting nectar from a nearby flower, raising a finger for it to land on. It settled quite happily on his finger, wings slowly opening and closing as it rested.
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Hannah nodded with sigh and looked down briefly. “Yeah, but, I guess it’s my own fault. I should have kept my mouth shut.” She still didn’t feel like she’d committed any real crime, no one had been hurt, and she hadn’t tried to steal anything from anyone. But the legal people thought differently. And since her ‘crime’ was committed entirely with her ability, this was the place to be. “It’s a hell of a lot better here than the place they threw me in before.”
The butterfly caught her attention though and she looked up. “Did… you do that?” It seemed like it, but she knew you could never assume things around here.
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He was kind of glad that for years that the Canadian health system had come to the conclusion that the voices he was hearing were put down to schizophrenia rather than the true cause, or he would’ve gotten moved to the island years ago. It was still sad that everyone was uprooted from their lives and stuck on this rock in the ocean but it wasn’t like there was much they could really do. “I can’t even begin to imagine. A gilded cage is still a prison, no matter the way you look at it.”
The butterfly flapped and moved from one finger to another, Ben wasn’t controlling it, simply talking to it and kindly asking it if it wouldn’t mind coming to him. Most animals were compliant and the offer of more nectar had it insect literally eating out of his hand. He nodded, turning his hand as it walked up a finger to the back of his hand. “Oui. It’s my… blessing I suppose. Hearing every little creature talking in my head does get too much sometimes.” He admitted, thank goodness for meditation and learning to tune everything out and treat it just like background noise.
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Hannah didn’t elaborate on her stay in the Riken Experiment. It was hard enough to be normal here, talking about that stuff would definitely make her stand out amongst the fellow freaks. She just nodded in agreement with his statement.
Keeping her eyes on the butterfly, it was a very cool thing to watch. “What do animals talk about?”
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Ben told the butterfly to fly over to Hannah and it did, flapping around and hoping that the woman would offer a finger or something to land on. He didn’t really expect another butterfly to join in and went over towards Hannah. “It looks like you’ve got some new friends.” He smiled.
“Food and sex. Just like virtually every other creature on this earth.” Which was true. “Although these two are complimenting your shampoo, something fruity?”
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When the first butterfly approached, Hannah hesitantly held a hand out to it, then blinked when a friend joined. She watched them warily, then looked to Ben with a little smirk. “It would be bugs that like me better than people.”
She wasn’t all that surprised about the topics that interested animals. It sounded a lot simpler for them, though. She blinked, surprised about the shampoo. “Oh… yeah. Something new. They usually just give me the generic crap that all the guys use, but I picked up something at the marketplace to treat myself the other day.”
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“Animals are much less complicated than humans, fulfill their needs and they are happy. They don’t care who you are as long as you’re nice to them.” His family had a few pets in his childhood so he knew the basics, but he had learned so much more by opening his ears and taking in what they were saying.
“Oui, we all need to treat ourselves now and then. The butterflies just mentioned your head smells fruity so I thought it had to be shampoo. I will admit I know nothing about hair products, I just use that generic crap.” He smiled, repeating the words Hannah used, it seemed like those who ran the island purchased items in bulk because the shampoo and condition supplied was the all the same, unless someone bought something from the Marketplace.
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Hannah just nodded in agreement. She was glad he didn’t think it was stupid that she’d treated herself with shampoo. There was so little she was allowed to have, even in comparison to the other mutants, that something as basic as choosing her own toiletries was a big deal. “There’s this person who makes home made soap and shampoo and things from stuff on the island. It’s pretty cool. The kind of all natural hippie shit I would have ignored at home, but I was just taking a lot for granted then.”
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“There is?” Ben asked, the idea of homemade anything caught his interest, but some nice smelling soap sounded really good, the generic smelling stuff he was using at the moment had gotten quite boring over the months. “Do they sell at the Marketplace or from their home?” He’d go and investigate.
The little butterflies gave a flap of their wings, whispered a silent thanks and flew off, searching again for more flowers. “They said thank you but flowers await.” Ben explained to Hannah, watching as they fluttered away from them.
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“I’ve seen them at the Marketplace, but maybe home too? I don’t really know.” Hannah watched the butterflies curiously and then smiled faintly as they flew away. “I get it, better things, right?”
Looking back to Ben curiously, Hannah tilted her head to the side. “How’re you adjusting to things here? Or well… I guess I mean more like… do you miss your old life a lot? Or have you gotten used to this?”
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He’d have to have a look at the Marketplace for these soaps, maybe after he finished here and got cleaned up a bit at home. “I think it was more the desire for food.” Ben smiled, everything needed to eat.
“I think I am slowly getting used to it. I really do miss my old life but there’s not a lot I can do. I’m here now and they’re not going to let me go any time soon.” He sighed softly, maybe if there was a volcano on the island or in visual range it wouldn’t be as bad but even the Cascades were so far away from here. “I am trying to find new things to do, it’s not like I can go back to university to study a different field, I tried to look at free online courses but the websites are blocked.” Academics always helped him when he was feeling down but now he couldn’t even do that, the library wasn’t exactly stocked with books on Volcanology or even Geology.
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Hannah nodded in understanding. “I hear that you can study things at the Facility. Or… well study with other people who are able to do their jobs here. Like an apprentice, I guess? Is that even what that word means? I am just making shit up right now. But I know it’s a thing here.” She didn’t really know the specifics, but she’d heard about it in passing on more than one occasion.
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“It works with the basic things - trades, languages and basic schooling - but I don’t think there is anyone on this island other than me who is interested in geology.” Ben gave a little smile, he had always worked in a niche industry but he loved the earth and even now he couldn’t imagine studying anything else.
It was hard trying to find other things that caught his interest and that could help fill in his days, his French classes and yoga lessons only did so much and without the internet or TV streaming services there wasn’t a lot else to do of an evening or night but read. “But I will see what other subjects are on offer, there’s always new people coming.” And there might be more academics like him amongst them.
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Hannah just shrugged. She was restricted from any of that involvement so she had no idea how things even started up. It might be nice to learn something new. She was either working, drained from working, or bored. That had been her existence for the last 2 years. “Hopefully something comes up.”
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Summer wasn’t that far off, maybe something interesting would happen when it warmed up and the days got longer, until then Ben would just go day to day, at least he now knew at least one person he could spend time with, well he hoped that the sparks of a friendship had started with Fitz who he had ‘officially’ met a few days beforehand. Only time would tell. “Can only wait and see.” He looked at Hannah and then around the clearing they were in. “I have probably taken up enough of your time, I should finish up here and let you go back to relaxing.” He hoped that he wasn’t taking any of her time up with this conversation.
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Hannah moved to stand, quickly checking her watch. She shook her head. “No, it’s cool. I should get going anyway. It was nice talking to you though. Sorry to keep you from your gardening.” Hannah had enjoyed talking to him, and she fully intended to get those files for him. She just needed to be careful about it.
Offering a little wave, she turned and headed back in the direction she’d come. “Have a good day.”
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Ben was still smiling as Hannah stood up and apologized for keeping him from his gardening “I don’t think my radishes would mind more time in the soil if they knew what was in store for them.” He joked, talking to someone and having a decent conversation was a welcome break from his usual quiet days.
“Adieu Hannah.” A small wave offered in return as Hannah started to walk away, once she left he returned to his little garden, the smile never leaving his face. Maybe the island wasn’t too bad after all.