Chapter 197: Day 196

Day 196,

Maiko was back when I got up this morning.  It feels like on any given day I’m the last person on the island to wake up.  

She apologized for not being here when I got back last night.  

I said there was nothing to apologize for.  

There’s been a light drizzle going on and off all day.  I was able to meet James and family on the road so I didn’t have to walk through it at least.  It wasn’t really any drier but the company was nothing to object to.  Cass was there too.  Funny, doesn’t feel like it’s been a week.  Not sure if it feels longer or shorter though.  

It’s strange, settling back into a routine after a months long break from it.  The familiarity highlights the changes.  Or maybe I’m just dwelling on not being able to help unload as well as before.  Were the others really more reserved and taciturn on the ride over, or was that just my own internal state projecting and coloring my perceptions?

Melaina stopped by the library today with a prototype of the umbrella.  Just the wood part; the central shaft and spokes.  No canvas yet.  That said, I was impressed by how fine and thin she was able to cut the components.  Light as she could make it without it snapping in a light breeze, she claimed.

I still needed two hands to properly support and hold the thing upright.

I don’t think that will be the case though once I’ve finally fully recovered.  At least, I hope so.  I tried telling Melaina as much so as to allay any disappointment in her work, insisting that I was happy with this model and that all it needed now was the webbing between the spokes.

I fear however that my argument may have been undercut by my dropping the prototype and cracking one of the spokes.  In my defense, it wasn’t because of the weight.  I had another episode with flashing to the Catacombs.

Apologizing profusely, I explained what had just happened and my… condition - for lack of a better word - to Melaina as best I could, emphasizing that it should be a temporary situation and therefore unlikely to make me drop and break things after the next mist night or so.

It was an… uncomfortable conversation, but I was able to muddle through it.  Thankfully, the people of the Village seem ready and willing to accept and write off a great number of things as “outsider weirdness.”

After Melaina left, there wasn’t much else of note for the day.  Think I’ll end this there and call it an early night.  Feeling surprisingly tired for not having done much.

 

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