I continued to mindlessly weed my side of the patch. A few times, I glanced over and saw Father working with my sister, instructing her to pull at the root of the stem just as I did. He helped her with his shovel, loosening the ground for her. His voice was patient, and he let Hotaru do most of the pulling herself. I didn’t understand why he didn’t just do it himself.
Father eventually checked on me. He offered his mug of water. It wasn’t cold, but I drank it anyway. The summer heat was kicking in, and I was sweating a lot. I wanted to go sit in the shade, but I knew I couldn’t. It would give my sister the opportunity to say she worked harder than me, which would not be true at all. All I could do was to quickly finish the work.
Eventually, Father stepped back into the house to prepare dinner, leaving just my sister and I outside. Hotaru returned to where I was crouched and looked over my plot.
“Wow, Sis! You cleaned up a lot!”
I looked up and realized the fruits of my work. There were still patches of clovers, but most of the big stalks were gone. I was surprised myself, considering how I didn’t get any tools. I was reminded of my irritation and I looked down at my hands.
Little Sis followed my gaze. “Eh?! What happened to your hands?”
They were red, maybe slightly swollen. I wasn’t sure if the dark lines that criss-crossed my palms were scratches or creases.
“It’s because I didn’t have gloves,” I said with a little too much irritation in my voice.
“Here.” My sister grabbed her gloved fingers with her other hand and pulled it off. She innocently held it out towards me. “Take one of mine.”
I looked at it silently. “No need, I’m going to stop now.” I stood up and got the shovel. “Let’s go inside.” My sister nodded.
We each took a pail and dumped the weeds in the forest behind the house. On our way back, I stopped by the well and rinsed my hands in a bucket of water. I helped Hotaru wash her hands, making sure they were properly cleaned. As we cleaned, the sky was darkening. I looked up and saw the clouds gathering ominously on the horizon. The wind was picking up, blowing my long hair into my face. We put away the gloves and shovel in the shack and went inside.
Father was finishing up dinner when we entered. “Good timing. I was about to call for you two.”
Hotaru went up to the stove and tried to look into the pot. She was a little too short to see. “What is that?”
He smiled. “Something special for our hard work today.”
“What is it?!” she cried excitedly.
“You’ll see in a minute,” Father teased. I glanced at the stove and saw for myself.
“Ehhh?! But I want to see now!”
“Just a moment,” Father promised. “Help your sister out. Aimi, can you prepare the table?”
I was a little excited now. I saw two pots on the stove. One was the usual rice, but the other had what looked like soup. It appeared more savory than the usual rice porridge. Still, I decided I must contain my excitement to set an example.
I pulled out the table and set down the cushions. Hotaru saw me and got to work as well. She dug through the drawer for the chopsticks, standing on her toes and stretching her arm up and over the ledge to reach. She ran over to the table like a dancer, brushing past behind Father at the stove. I scolded her for being so reckless, even though Father was careful.
Father took the soup pot off the burner and set it down on a cutting board. He slowly carried it over to the table this way. I went to the stove with our bowls and scooped out the rice. Hotaru sat down and excitedly stared into the pot as Father set it down on the table. She was impatient to start eating, but she respected the ritual.