Wild West - Chapter 7 - Part 2 - 5 minute freewrite challenge

“Tom and James,” Chuck had interrupted them before they could answer. “They have just come here and will be staying with us a couple of days. Go on now, go play.” The little girl shrugged and ran off to the other children. “She’s my youngest, Mary.” Chuck smiled. “Always in need of attention, that one. Now come on, you heard her. Food’s ready.”

Instead of going in through the front door, they made their way to the back of the house – there was a huge porch over the entire side of the building, with square 6 tables arranged in pairs of two down its length and benches on all sides. There were plenty more people in the back, too, especially women, hurrying to get everything done before the men sit down to eat.

They’ve just then realized they haven’t seen any pet animals aside from horses that were also used for work. No dogs, no cats, no bunnies, not even stray ones – the usual flea bags of every town.

When everyone except Chuck’s wife and another woman – who were serving – sat down, the two counted 22 people sitting behind the table, excluding themselves, and with 4 people per table the two women even couldn’t sit down. James and Tom both offered to free their seats for them and instead either eat leaning on the wooden fence or just eat sitting down on one of the stairs, but Chuck refused. They were both used to eating on the floor and wouldn’t mind it – they’ve never seen that as an insult.