Why not? - English

12-05 Great Billboard of Fire

"So, Malcolm. Here I have a shovel and broom for you," I heard Sam say to Malcolm as he stepped out of the Wholefish cafe with both in his hands and held out the broom. Malcolm laughed as he took the broom from Sam and thanked him curtly. The two seemed to get along well and I was happy for Sam because if that.

Sure, it wasn't as if he didn't have any friends here, but sometimes you met people with whom you had instant chemistry and you couldn't help but like them. That's what happened to me back then with Helen and also with Bronwyn and later with Ellie. They had become my best friends and I didn't want to miss them at all. Friends were so important - to have nice conversations, to laugh and, if necessary, to be comforted. Sam had only ever had Tom and Elvis, and even though you could steal horses with them, neither of them were cut out for serious conversations.

I had only noticed Malcolm in passing during the open day and had not had the opportunity to speak to him myself. The last 9 days had been more than turbulent and the weekend was particularly eventful. We had to drive more missions than the whole week before. Among other things, Sam's father Padrig not only frightened Woolly so much during a hike with his wife that the sheep fell down a cliff and got stuck on a ledge, but also had to be rescued shortly afterwards himself because he thought he needed to take a shortcut take over a swampy meadow. Years ago it had been dry, as he had repeatedly insisted, but in recent years the water from the mountains had found a different route and turned the meadow into a swamp area, from which we had only been able to save him with the Crane of Pheonix.

"I would never have thought that we would have to pull a person out of the mud. Otherwise we would only ever rescue horses with Phoenix!" Arnold remarked with amusement, while I asked Padrig and Jenni to stay on the paths in the future and he walked past us with the harness to stow it in the appropriate compartment.

"I really hope that this stays between us, dear? Samuel really doesn't have to find out about it," Padrig had mumbled embarrassedly after he had gotten over the initial shock of Arnold's words and Jenni's subsequent fit of laughter.

"Oh, I think it would pretty much break the ice between the two of you if he heard that you had to be dragged out of the mud like an old horse," Jenni teased her husband with a grin and I saw him flashing his eyes at her. Padrig and Sam were so incredibly similar that I always had to wonder why they hadn't had a good relationship with each other for so long.

"Earth to Penny," I heard someone next to me say before I registered the hand waving in front of my face. Startled, I looked up at Bronwyn and Charlie, who were smiling at me with amusement. "Are you dreaming with your eyes open?"

"At least of the two you're looking at, I hope it's my brother you're dreaming of?," Charlie stated and I instantly blushed and looked around. I was relieved to see that everyone was too distracted by Norman and Mike, who were successfully sweeping more and more of their equipment off the stage. "Sorry, Penny. But Bronnie and I are talking to each other. I couldn't control myself " Charlie then objected, embarrassed, after Bronwyn had nudged him in the side with her elbow. Well fine. Soon the whole town would know that I had a crush on Sam.

"He definitely has your parents' blessing. Even Padrig is thrilled about her," Bronwyn then turned to her husband with a grin, but gave me a conspiratorial sideways glance. She knew exactly what was going on. How not? We had arranged to meet at the Wholefish cafe for dinner on Saturday evening.

"Really? With the way he doesn't talk, you'd think he wouldn't want to be friends with me at all," I replied quietly, remembering how little Padrig had contributed to the conversation other than a few laughs. when I talked about our craziest missions. He had spent most of the evening just looking at me seriously.