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You grab the broom, lean on it for a moment to catch your breath, then get to work on the house itself. Great clouds of dust billow up with each strike of the broom, inevitably setting you into sneezing fits until you find and old rag to use as a dust guard. Soon enough an actual heap of fine dust collects out the front and back doors of the house and you turn your attention to the walls of the home, knocking years of filth from them as well. On the walls of the bedroom the caked on filth actually reveals a pair of portraits, apparently hand drawn.
You wipe the glass covers clean and peer at them. The first must be of Henderson and his wife. He stands tall and stern in something like a soldier’s uniform, a neatly trimmed mustache on his face. Next to him is a young woman, a paint blush decorating her cheeks. You flip the drawing over and find the simple message: ‘Wait for me’. The second portrait seems to be of Henderson when he was younger, standing next to another young man sporting a wild beard and mustache. The two stand under a massive willow tree, with a fish larger than your own body on the ground before them. You linger on it for a moment, there’s definitely something familiar to the features, before flipping it over as well. ‘Hid it here.’ is scribbled hastily on the back in a shaky script.
It? Some kind of treasure or keepsake? You carefully set the photo back on the wall for now and continue your cleaning, making a mental note to keep an eye out for a tree that matches the picture. You move on to the rest of the room, tossing out the shattered bits of the bed frame, fighting ever more dust, and gathering the sad heap of straw bundled in fabric as tightly as you could. You definitely needed some kind of improvement on the bed, but this would do for the moment.
Opposite the bed you remove a few old planks of wood and find a hearth, and even a battered and filthy pot is sitting on ancient ashes. Unfortunately a quick glance up the chimney shows the expected blockage, trying to use the fire would definitely fill the house with smoke in minutes if not moments. You get the area cleaned up regardless and make yet another mental note about the chimney. Still, looking around you can’t help but be pleased with yourself, even if the house has mostly changed from being a filthy mess to a rundown mess. You have a quick lunch from the food Mable had left you and consider what to do between now and sundown.
> Get down to business. Start clearing out a section to plant in. The areas that are just high weeds can’t be that hard, right?
> Do a tour of the woods around your new home. Edward mentioned forage? Hunting? Best get the lay of the land
> Swing into town and meet some of the townsfolk. Someone buys these things you theoretically produce, right?
> Write in
