“Who should we wash first? To avoid confusion, how about starting with Pa?”
“That’s Pi. Since Pu has the least surface area, it’ll be quickest to finish with him first, so let’s start with Pu.”
As expected, he wasn’t very reliable. After explaining how to differentiate between the three pigs again, she lured Pu out using a tomato as bait.
“Come on, Pu. Good boy. If you stay calm during the bath, I’ll give you another tomato.”
“Oink oink.”
Apparently, Pu didn’t mind the cool water on a hot day. He calmly stood in place, with his curly tail drooping as he followed her out of the pen.
“It seems like he understands when I tell him to stay calm. Our Pu is getting smarter, isn’t he?”
Anje showered Pu with praise as she gently scrubbed his damp pink skin with a soapy brush. Pu blinked his button-like black eyes, not understanding what was happening to him.
However, the peace didn’t last long.
“Oink!”
“Shh, stay still, Pu.”
“Are you still saying he understands you?”
“Don’t laugh! Ahh, Pu, you little rascal!”
Pu, covered in soap suds, shook his body vigorously, sending white foam flying everywhere. Anje was glad she wore old clothes and quickly spat out the foam that had gotten into her mouth.
“I’ll hold him still, so why don’t you grab another tomato?”
“Alright.”
Anje retrieved another tomato from the hidden basket to reduce the risk of the excited pigs charging at them.
“Here you go, focus now.”
While Anje distracted Pu with the tomato, Aiden skillfully scrubbed the pig from head to toe. After thoroughly rinsing off the scrubbed body with clean water, they had finally finished washing one pig.
The now clean and healthy-looking pig, with its rosy pink skin like when it was born, seemed quite pleased after being given several tomatoes.
“All done. I’ll go get some more clean water. In the meantime, you can put Pu back and bring out Pi.”
“Got it.”
Even though they had only washed one pig, Anje was already feeling a bit tired. She found a clean spot on her apron and wiped the soap suds off her cheeks and forehead, then got the next pig ready while Aiden fetched more water.
She thought they had prepared enough water, but Pu’s constant wriggling used up more than expected.
“Thank God, Aiden is here to help.”
She murmured as she brought out Pi. If she had to wash all three lively and hefty pigs by herself, it would have taken all day.
“Pi, over here. No, don’t eat that. It’s soap, so you can’t.”
Anje struggled to calm Pi, who mistook the soap for a new treat. Aiden returned with a fresh bucket of water and couldn’t help but smile at the sight.
“Hey, assistant, stop laughing and give me a hand.”
“Yes, trainer. On my way.”
As Pi and Pa, now covered in soap suds, tried to nuzzle Anje playfully, her clothes became increasingly soaked with foam. Aiden, teasing her about whether she was also taking a bubble bath, suddenly got smacked on the nose by Pa’s wet, swishing tail.
“Good job, Pa.”
“Returning the favor of a bath with betrayal, huh?”
He grumbled but still carefully scrubbed every inch of the pig’s hind legs. Meanwhile, Anje, who was rinsing the pig’s front, noticed soap bubbles floating in the air and her eyes widened in delight.
“Aiden, look at this.”
The soap bubbles, which had formed in one of the buckets, caught the breeze and transformed into bubbles, floating up into the blue sky. Aiden couldn’t resist the urge to pop the colorful bubbles with his fingers. Anje, with an exasperated expression, lightly splashed him with water.
“Why are you popping them when they look so nice? I should train you to behave with rewards, just like I do with tomatoes for Pu.”
“If you want to get me to behave, you’ll need something better than tomatoes as a reward, don’t you think?”
With an expression as if he were doing her a great favor, he formed a large circle with his thumb and index finger, blew into the transparent bubble that formed between them.
A large soap bubble swayed and swelled into a hemisphere, then burst in an instant, spraying small bubbles on his face.
Anje giggled, only to shriek when Aiden splashed her with a handful of cold water.
“Eek! Aiden!”
Not one to take such injustice lying down, Anje immediately retaliated by drenching him with water as well.
They continued their water fight until the clean water ran out and they had to go fetch more.
Washing three pigs and then cleaning the pigpen was no easy task, but thanks to the various amusing mishaps, both of them managed to keep smiling throughout.
“The pigpen smells nice now.”
Anje remarked, sniffing the air. It smelled as fresh and fragrant as a room that Meg had just cleaned.
“No one at the summer fair will have seen pigs this clean before. If we tie little capes around their necks and put crowns on them, they might mistake them for royalty.”
It seemed that Anje’s affection for Pa-Pi-Pu had rubbed off on Aiden a little. She lightly tapped his arm, playfully scolding him.
“If someone else heard that, you’d be arrested for insulting the imperial family, but you’re right. You’re starting to make the right judgments about Pa-Pi-Pu.”
He briefly considered teasing her about Pa-Pi-Pu but then noticed how her hair and clothes were soaked like a child who had just finished playing in the water. Despite it all, her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were filled with joy. Seeing her like that made the tips of his ears, which had cooled down, warm up slightly.
He poured the remaining water from the bucket over his head.
“It’s so hot today. I’ll just give myself a quick rinse and come in, so you should probably use the bathroom first.”
“Okay. I need to wash up and change my clothes quickly.”
Anje also realized how soaked her dress was and immediately turned towards the house. She felt a bit embarrassed, wondering if the silhouette was visible through her light-colored clothes.
But even in this moment, she didn’t forget what she needed to do.
“Thanks to your help, we finished early, so I’ll prepare dinner. What would you like to eat?”
“Hmm, you must be tired too, so something simple… How about macaroni and cheese with sausages? If that’s not enough, we can add some of the baguette we baked yesterday.”
“Sounds good.”
Anje hurried into the house, leaving tiny wet footprints along the path.
And she quickly gathered clothes to change into and even managed a quick bath. She wanted to hurry and vacate the bathroom for him who would be coming in soon.
“The macaroni is… here it is.”
Finding a thin, tube-shaped macaroni in the pantry, she brought it to the kitchen and cut it into bite-sized pieces, placing them in a bowl.
As the pot filled with water and milk began to bubble, she added the macaroni and a pinch of salt, cooking it until it was half-done.
“Butter the dish… put in the macaroni… butter, pepper… grate the cheese, and then more
macaroni…”
She continued cooking, mumbling the recipe she had now completely memorized.
Finally, after sprinkling it with a mixture of breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese and melted butter, she placed it in the preheated oven.
While the macaroni was baking, Anje took out a frying pan and sizzled a large sausage until the surface was evenly browned.
She cut a thick baguette into chunks and placed them on a plate, then stared at the table with a spatula in hand.
Something was missing, what was it?
“Ah.”
She clapped her hands together. She got it—greens! She was missing vegetables
“Lettuce, tomato, cucumber… Oh, are you here? Can you make a dressing with olive oil?”
He arrived at the kitchen door and stared at her silently before replying.
“Yes, of course.”
Dressed in a new dress decorated with a green ribbon and embroidery, she busily moved around the kitchen, looking like a fairy brownie who had come to help with farm work.
Except she was more beautiful and dignified than any brownie he knew, and she sparkled under the shimmering summer sunlight.
He had thought the dress suited her well when he first saw her try it on at the fabric store, but seeing her now in the bright natural light doubled his impression.
Moreover, she seemed especially happy wearing the new dress for the first time, so he regretted not having the dress made for her earlier.
‘I’m looking forward to the new dresses too.’
He recalled the sketches of autumn clothes that Jean-Pierre had casually shown him, and smiled contentedly.
Of all of them, he liked the dress with a red ribbon on a brown background the most. She would probably look like a squirrel busy gathering acorns in that.
“The dressing―”
“Here, I’m on it.”
He quickly took out lemon juice, pepper, and other ingredients to prepare the dressing, trying not to be caught staring at her absentmindedly.
“I’ll prepare the tea as well. Strong?”
“Strong, and put sugar in mine, please.”
Anje, who had taken off her apron, sat opposite him. Her hair, which she had only dried with a towel and left to dry naturally, curled and flowed down below her shoulders.
He raised his teacup into the air without saying a word. Anje, not knowing why, raised her teacup as well.
“What’s this? A toast all of a sudden?”
“It’s a celebration for a job well done.”
“To Pa-Pi-Pu”
“To Pa-Pi-Pu”
The soft clink of their teacups meeting filled the air as they gently touched and then parted. Silently, he also toasted to her beauty in his heart.
“Toasting with tea? Isn’t that a bit too wholesome? We should be breaking out the alcohol in moments like this.”
“Do we even have any alcohol—oh, there’s that raspberry wine we made in the spring.”
“Right! We made it, but I haven’t even tasted a drop yet—”
As Anje recalled making the wine with Meg, her lips tightened.
‘What if I get tipsy and spill everything about my father?’
She might end up crying, apologizing for leaving him alone here.
* * * *
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