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- 02/13/2021
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Rome - 31. Chapter 31
We were on our way a few hours before sunrise. I was hoping we would get there right after the evening meal. It was a pleasant journey. Junius had his rabbit to keep him company. I asked Duccius what happened to the other rabbit. He said it escaped. I wonder about that. It probably escaped to someone’s cooking pot. I think we just passed the gates when I looked, and Junius was asleep cuddling his rabbit. I wondered if he squeezed the other rabbit to death. The boy was going to be like his father.
As I hoped, we arrived just as the sun was going down. Aumen had assigned rooms, and I was glad the men had gone on and alerted the Villa. Everyone came out dressed in their tunics. This was an important day. As I escorted our guests to the courtyard, Felix and a few of the boys had food and wine ready. As we did when my father was last here, the boys fixed plates and served our guest. Deacon knew this, but the other guests from Grandfather’s house and Duccius’s house didn’t. They were surprised and looked confused. Grandfather just smiled. When everyone had eaten, Junius wanted to see the animals, so Nour took him. Aumen showed Grandfather his room on the second floor. Duccius knew what room he had, and he was already planning on a hunting trip in the morning. I asked Deacon to show Grandfather’s cook and attendants the rooms across from his. I think everyone was tired. It wasn’t until the morning that Grandfather noticed the rooms behind the courtyard.
The next morning at breakfast, I paid all of my men and boys from the oat delivery to the baker. I noticed some of the boys had new sandals. This was a result of the men shopping. There were a few new tunics as well. There were a lot of smiles at breakfast this morning. Duccius made plans for his hunting party, the man who drove his cart was going along as well. I knew the man, and he was one of Father’s slave. Did Duccius grant him his freedom? I watched, he waited on Duccius, but Duccius smiled at him when he did. I would bet he gave him his freedom.
Duccius was off with his hunting crew. Felix had food and a flask of wine ready for them. Looking closely, he had two flasks of wine.
“Aleta, let me show you something.”
I showed her the meat well. “When Duccius comes home with a deer, ask him to butcher it here and store the meat in the meat pit. Then when you go home, he can take it with you.”
I needn’t say anymore. Knowing Aleta was a daughter of a Senator, she understood.
After breakfast, the men and boys changed into their work clothes, that is what they called them, and headed to the gardens, animal sheds, grove, and vineyard. They had work to do. After all, this is their home. I showed Grandfather the new construction, particularly the single rooms on the second floor. He liked the view from there.
“I think this is probably the best room in your Villa. You’re able to see everything from here. There’s a cooling breeze, with the window in the back and leaving the door open. I would like to have this room.”
“Then I’ll see that you have a room here.”
I walked him on the balcony toward vineyards, “From here, you can see everything. There isn’t the second floor on the Villa to block your view.”
I pointed to the room next to this room, and it had a name on the door. “This is Nathan’s room.”
One of the advantages of having boys from different cultures you learn new and different ways. Our beds were wood with several robes covering them. A few years ago, one of the boys wanted to buy the wool with the money he had from the wheat and oats’ sale. I asked him why he said he would show me. About a week later, he showed me a stuffed piece of linen. I felt it, and it was soft. He told me to lay my head on it, I did. It felt a lot better than the robes on my bed. From that moment on, I stopped selling wool. We washed the wool in very dilute wine, let it dry. Then I bought linen from the vendors, then from the traders as they approached the city. Now all of the beds had linen stuffed with wool, not only for the head but to lay on as well.
If that boy were a slave, this would never have happened. I remember the first-night Grandfather slept in his new room. He was happy, “I had a great sleep last night. I left the window and the door open. The breeze kept the room cool.”
I thought leaving the door open might be a problem. I knew there were wild animals in the forests north of us, and some could come this far south. With an open door, we could be inviting a problem.
“Dante, I have a job for you. I need you to cut a window in the doors on the second floor of the new addition. It doesn’t have to be large, just enough to let air through.”
“Why a window, all you need is a few holes.”
“You’re right. Can you do that.”
About two weeks later, I noticed all of the doors had three holes about ten centimeters. I went to an empty room, closed the door, open the window, and felt a nice breeze. Then I thought, maybe we could place holes in the window shutters so they needn’t be open the whole way, another job for Dante. I told Dante what I wanted done but only one room as a test. When he had done that, I checked, and it left in plenty of air.
At the evening meal, I mentioned what Dante had done. The men went and checked it out. They came back and asked Dante to do the same to their rooms. Some of the men on the lower floor wonder if it would work for them as well. So Dante did one, and over the next few days, they all were done. The rooms at the front became storage areas. All of the men and boys had moved into the rooms that overlooked the courtyard.
The next morning at breakfast, we heard a lot of yelling coming from the woods. The hunters were back. I saw a deer and something on a branch being carried by two men. As it got closer, one of the boys said it was a bear. Now I would hear a different story. They had two deer, one wild boar, and several geese. For the rest of the afternoon, the hunters and a few men and boys attended to skinning and preparing the meat. Duccius wanted to take some home, notably the bear, but Aleta talked him into cutting the meat and storing it in the meat pit, which he did. Nathan again asks for the pelts. Since you couldn’t eat it, they gave it to him.
I wondered what he did with them.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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