62 What must be done before winter part 2 (1/2)

The day after Franklin's dream, he tries to build the dummy himself. However, even gathering the proper materials was by himself was hard. The branch that he thought was the right size crumbled. When he tried to cut wood with a sword, they'd collected he splintered the wood. Not only did he not have the proper skills, but he also didn't even have the equipment. After half a day of work, he'd managed nothing.

Exhausted Franklin drops on to the ground and looks up at the clouds in the sky. He raises his hand up towards the clouds that soar above the heavens. 'Will I ever reach those heights?' Franklin thinks wistfully.

As Franklin lets his mind wander suddenly, a dark shadow covers him. ”Ugh,” Franklin gurgles as something substantial falls on his stomach. As he lifts his head to see what hit him, he bangs his form head on some sort of rock.

”OwWww,” Laurel cries as she holds her head. She was just about to wake Franklin when Donna decided to help her.

”You woke up!” Donna yells with wide eyes.

The two older children look at Donna exasperated. Of course, when you tackle someone in the gut, they'd wake up.

”Did you think he was dead?” Laurel asks angrily.

Donna looks at Franklin with doe eyes and asks, ”You dead?”

Franklin pats Donna's head with shaky hands as he recovers. ”No, I'm not dead, don't try to kill me,” he responds.

”See he's not dead!” Donna says smugly to Laurel.

”But I was the one,” Laurel protests. ”Whatever it's lunchtime stop playing and come eat,” She harrumphs and turns away.

Franklin scoops Donna in his arms and stands up. Carrying her in a bridal carry.”You made her mad,” Franklin chastises.

”No, Laurel don't be mad!” Donna yells while reaching out with both hands.

”I'm not mad,” Laurel says without looking back.

”She not mad,” Donna tells Franklin.

”You're obviously mad,” John counters as his longer strides catch up.

Laurel turns as they catch up and pinches Donna's cheeks gently, making her make strange faces. ”No wu ah lau el,” Donna sounds as her face is played with.

”You never play with me anymore you're always doing something dumb,” Laurel complains at Franklin.

”This is important man work,” Franklin replies and sticks out his chest.

”Playing with sticks isn't men's work it's stupid,” Laurel reasserts as she swipes her black hair out of her face. They didn't have proper tools, so cutting hair wasn't a priority. She was so done with this stupid village.

”This is all for training John's technique you wouldn't understand,” Franklin retorts.

”I understand that you don't know how to build anything, let alone something useful. If you really cared you'd ask Wilbur and Gregory. They've basically built everything here. Even Arron would be better than you!” Laurel criticizes.

This hit home, and Franklin's head dropped. 'Maybe I wasn't taking this seriously enough,' he laments. He forms a fist and looks at Laurel and says, ”Thanks, I'll ask them during lunch.”

Laurel bights her lip. ”Idiot, I didn't want you to thank me,” she snaps. Laurel then grabs Donna away from Franklin and says, ”Let's hurry and eat all Franklin's favorite foods before he can!” With that, she runs ahead with a mischievous smile.

Donna pokes her head over Laurel's shoulder and yells back to Franklin, ”I leave you some!”

”No, she won't!” Laurel commands.