Stonefather

“What kind of household is this?” said Demwor. “Two cooks, one smart-mouthed girl, a mountain bumpkin, and a cheerful dolt.”

“You’re forgetting Ebb,” said Nikwiz.

It took a moment for Runnel to get the gibe; he laughed aloud.

Demwor glared at him. “Don’t get the idea that I’ll let you speak disrespectfully to me, boy, just because I let the cooks do it.”

“No, sir,” said Runnel.

“And you’ll wash those clothes and bathe yourself tonight. With soap! I won’t have you bringing fleas into the house.”

Which explained why Lark’s clothing was so clean. Demwor insisted on it.

“Where do I wash them?” asked Runnel. “Since there’s no stream close by.”

“The washbasin is at the west corner of the garden,” said Nikwiz.

“Carry your own water there,” said Sourwell.

“There’s a stove out there for heating the water,” said Demwor, “but if you break a jar from overheating it or setting it cold on a hot stove, I’ll dock you.”

Runnel had no idea what “docking” him might mean, but he was sure it was something he wanted to avoid having done either to him or his wages. But that was all right. He had never heard of heating water for washing clothes. And only Father washed in hot water back home, and only in winter.

After supper he found the laundry tub, estimated how much water he’d need to wash and rinse the clothes and himself, and then carried a large jar of water from the main cistern. He stripped off his clothes and put them in the water, then soaped them on the washboard.

“You nasty boy!” said Lark behind him. Her voice was full of revulsion.

“I haven’t washed myself yet,” he answered.

“I don’t care that you’re dirty, stupid. You’re naked.”

“Excuse me, I didn’t think of washing my clothes with me still in them,” said Runnel.

“Do you always do your laundry naked back in Farzibeck?” she said snidely.

“Yes,” he said. “It’s that or sit naked in the house like a baby while somebody else washes them. Only in Farzibeck, the girls have sense enough to stay away while the boys are laundering, and we boys’d be killed if we walked up on the girls like you just walked up on me.” This was not strictly true. When boys got their man growth, they would keep a loincloth on. But Runnel had not started wearing one yet.

“I have laundry to do,” said Lark. “For the master.”

“Then you can either wait till later, or you can do it with your eyes closed, because I’m not leaving here till my clothes and my body are clean.”

“Dry! It’ll take forever for your clothes to dry!”

“Dry?” asked Runnel. “Where will they dry, except on me?”

“I’m not going to go to bed late because you picked this moment to discover cleanliness.”

“Demwor told me to wash clothes and boy,” said Runnel. “And the reason I was so dirty was because I had just taken a journey along roads and through woods, and slept in leaves on the forest floor. Next time I’ll remember to have someone carry me in a litter or pull me in a carriage.”

She set down a full basket of white linens.

“The master must wear a lot of white,” said Runnel.

“This is his underwear, mountain boy,” she said contemptuously. “Obviously you’ve never heard of it.”

It was a strange world, indeed, for a man to have underwear like a baby — and a whole basketful at that.

Lark poured the rest of the water from his jar into the tub and dropped a cake of soap in with it. Then she took the washboard from Runnel’s side of the tub and began scrubbing the linens.

“I guess my clothes are clean enough now,” said Runnel, getting up.

“Don’t stand up!” she said. “Don’t you have any modesty?”

“You just poured out the rinse water,” said Runnel. “I have to get more.”

“You should have brought more water in the first place,” she said.

“I brought enough water for my body and my clothes to be washed and rinsed,” he said. “You brought none.” He picked up the empty jar and headed back across the garden to the courtyard where the cistern waited.

The jar was almost half-full when Demwor came up to him. “In this house we wear clothing,” he said sharply.

Runnel bit back all his two possible answers: “I’m not in the house” would get him slapped or kicked out for insolence. “You told me to wash my clothes when you knew I didn’t have any others” was likely to get the same result. So instead he said, “I had to replenish the water so Lark could do the laundry.”

“So you were naked with Lark?” Demwor’s expression turned furious.

He could not leave that one unanswered. “I was naked alone with a laundry tub! She decided she had to do her laundry right then and use up all the water I brought. I had to get more so I could rinse my clothes because not even for you am I putting them back on with soap still in them!”

Demwor at first got angrier, but then calmed himself. “You could have left your underwear on until your outerwear was clean.”

Runnel just sighed.

“Don’t have underwear?” Now Demwor was amused.

“I’m not a baby,” said Runnel.