Analise woke to the sounds of rosters calling and pigs shuffling around outside. The hay from her bed made her nose scratchy, but she didn’t mind. Looking around the room she could see that Orben had already awoken, the fire had been tended to and the door to his bedroom was open, showing his bed which was neatly made and his curtains letting in light. Analise could see the dust particles floating through the air in the rays of light, doing their little dance. It was a comforting sight, although she wasn’t sure why. Crawling out from under the covers Analise stood up and stretched. Forgetting about the low roof her hands hit the ceiling, which seemed to startle one of the poor rosters who must’ve been sitting above her, as she heard a shocked squabble as the poor thing jumped off the roof, evidently crashing into some of the pans hanging on the line outside.

  “Sorry!” Analise cried. But she couldn’t help but giggle.

  Analise set about making her bed as best she could, then explored the house more. She had been so preoccupied with the discovery of her missing memory last night that she didn’t pay much notice as to where she would be staying for the time being.

  It was a small house, with just one bedroom and one bathroom on one side, and a small living space on the other, with a single sofa in front of the fire and stove, and now, with her mattress in one corner. There were pictures up on the walls, paintings of rivers and mountains, that Annalise presumed had been made by Orben. She smiled at a lamb in one of the paintings, who seemed to be smiling back at her.

  When she went to leave Analise noticed a dress hanging on the front door handle. It was a pretty, white dress, but it also looked very practical. Hanging with it was a brown apron. Analise put both on before heading outside, they fit perfectly and were not in the least it scratchy, which suited her. It was still only early morning, the dew on the leaves were still shining in the early sunlight, as it streamed through the leaves. And the air was still brisk from the night before.

  Analise walked around the back of the house where she could hear Orben humming. Rounding the corner, she could see him collecting some firewood from the stack.

  “Good morning, Miss Analise, how are you feeling?” He grinned at her.

  “I’m fine, thank you for the dress.”

  “You’re welcome. I found it in my box of lost things and thought it must’ve been about your size. Now, would you mind helping me with the chores? We’ve got to start you somewhere, and no better way of getting a head start on seeing what your good at.”

  “What would you like me to do?” Analise was feeling positive. Despite the confusion she felt regarding her situation she wasn’t the slightest bit afraid; she knew she would find the answers she seeked in due time, and there wasn’t much point in putting all her energy into worrying about it. So, to be cheerful and keep her hands busy were the best things to do.

  “Why don’t you feed the chickens? There's feed in the box just by your leg, just throw a few handfuls around, and have a look for any eggs.”

  “Okay!” She responded with the upmost joy. That didn’t sound too hard. And the chickens looked friendly enough.

  Orben went to leave with his arms full of wood, but paused, “Oh, and make sure you don't look Herb in the eye, she doesn't seem to like that.”

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  Annalise went to ask which of the chickens was Herb, but Orben rounded the corner of the house and disappeared in an instant.

  To minimize her chances of becoming enemies with a chicken on her first day she decided that she would not look any of the chickens in the eye, just in case. She reached into the box beside her leg, and pulled out a handful of the feed, which seemed to comprise of tiny pieces of grains and seeds and all sorts of things. Annalise didn't think it looked particularly appetizing, but the chickens must like it, which was soon proven, as the second a single grain dropped on the ground by mishap, the chickens came running like a stampede. How could she avoid eye contact when they were all staring at her like she was the food!?

  The squeal that came from Annalise was timed perfectly with the sound of her stepping backwards into a metal bucket, and the wings of one of the chickens flapping as it bounded up to prematurely steal the feed right out of her hand.

  Orben had heard the commotion and rounded the corner to see Annalise, sitting on the ground with the bucket on one foot, holding her hands out with the feed, of which the chickens were pecking at mercilessly, with her eyes closed tightly.

  “Are you okay Annalise?” Orben asked, stifling a chuckle.

  “Am I doing it correctly?”

  “More or less.”

  “Is Herb happy?”

  “Herb actually isn’t here; she must be off laying an egg somewhere.”

  “So, I can open my eyes?”

  “Yes, you can.”

  Annalise opened her eyes and watched the chickens pecking out of her hands for a moment before giving a big grin to Orben.

  “Don’t forget to check for the eggs.”

  “What if I run into Herb?”

  “Well, you’re going to have to get acquainted with her eventually. If you survived this ordeal, you'll be alright.”

  Orben disappeared around the corner of the house again, leaving Annalise alone once more with the chickens.

  Annalise had to refill her hands three more times before the chickens were satisfied and left her alone. After sprinkling around some more for any chickens that might've missed the breakfast rush (including herb), Annalise began to hunt for the eggs.

  “If I was a chicken, where would I lay an egg?”

  Annalise pondered over this thought in her mind as she wondered around the chicken coops, searching the nests for eggs. But either there were no eggs, or the chickens had expertly hidden them.

  Annalise looked under rocks and inside bushes, up in branches and in holes in the ground, (which turned out to be someone's home). She checked the gutter of the house and even double checked inside the pig’s water trough.

  If you were a chicken, where would you lay your eggs?

  Annalise wouldn't have figured it out without Harold the roosters help. He shocked her suddenly when he appeared out from under a mess of a tomato plants, that had been let to overgrow until it was even big enough to engulf Annalise. Harold looked suspicious too, the second that he realized Annalise was looking he began to look incredibly guilty.

  Annalise got down on her knees and shuffled forward into the brambling tomato bush. There, hidden smack in the center, was a secret little hideaway, responsible for housing 6 eggs.

  Annalise almost couldn’t contain her joy at finding the eggs, plucking each one out of the nests and delicately placing them into the pockets of her dress. She had begun to feel fearful that she might not even be able to complete the first simple task given to her, and had been pondering what that would mean for her moving forward. Would Orben give up on her if he deemed her a lost cause?

  But these thoughts vanished upon the finding of the eggs.

  Annalise wiggled herself out of the bush and ran to go find Orben.

  “Orben!” She shouted, giggles of glee leaping after her as she ran up to him, “I found six eggs!”

  Orben stopped weeding a pot of bulbs and looked to see the eggs Annalise was holding out in her hands.

  “Good job Annalise, I had faith in you, now we can have some breakfast, not to worry, that roster hasn’t fathered a chick in some five years so we can help ourselves. Would you like to cook them?”

  One task successfully mastered, and straight into the fear of failure yet again. Annalise could tell this was going to be a very trying and informative journey, but she wasn’t going to let anything stop her.

  Do You Like Cooking?