It was a very rare day to catch Grey still in bed when anyone in the house rose, and today was no exception. He had risen before the sun, and per normal the livestock were already fed and watered before the first straggler left the front porch. That wasn’t to say that anyone slacked, or took advantage. Grey had just come to value the quiet time in the morning, where he could just be content working by himself. Sometimes he wondered if the others of his household felt his need for a couple of hours of solitude, because it seemed like they were always on cue when he left the stables with a couple of the drafts in hand.
The morning had gone by quickly, but then again it should have considering that the days were hot and long. It always seemed that on the nicest of days that the farm had the most work needing to be done. That wasn’t always true, but it certainly felt that way.
When the sun rose into the middle of the sky, all of the people started to scatter. An hour of rest while the sun beat down, was all anyone needed to find some extra energy to finish the afternoon. A couple of times a week he had started pre-packing a lunch for two and stowing it away in the barn. He had done it before in the past, but lately it was more frequently. Mostly because there was a notion in his mind, and he didn’t know exactly how to approach it in reality without fucking things up. That was the last thing he wanted to do.
After he had caught up with Mouse, he had let her choose where they would eat, and he wasn’t surprised to find the old sycamore to be their place of rest. It had been many times in the past, not only the recent past, but all the way back to when they were all children.
“Oh just out for a swim,” he lied as he sat down. He somewhat wished it was a true statement, but in the end the farm just couldn’t run itself. At least not during a peak planting time. “And what were you doing all morning?”