Leaving/Janet/Get in the car

From Create Your Own Story

You gratefully get in the car, toss your pack in the back, close the door and buckle up.

"Thanks," you say.

"Glad to help," she replies. "I'm Kay."

"Janet," you respond.

"So where were you headed?" Kay inquires.

You pause, thinking about that as the car continues onward. "Away from home. I didn't have a destination in mind."

Kay remains silent for a long moment. "You may stay with me," she finally says.

Relief floods through you like a wave. A place to stay. You burst into tears, and Kay is sensible enough to let you cry yourself out before speaking again.

"You're quite welcome," she murmurs.

A few minutes later, you fall asleep. When you wake, you're lying on top of a crude bed. You yawn and stretch, and Kay walks into the room.

"Hello, sleepyhead," she giggles. "The bathroom is over there." She points to a door.

The bathroom, you note while you're inside, has a flush toilet and a sink, but no shower or bathtub.

When you emerge, Kay shows you around the house. It has one main room, with two rough-hewn beds. The bathroom is to one side, and the kitchen to the other. There are no modern devices. There is a crudely made wooden bookshelf holding a large number of books. The kitchen has a tap and an old-fashioned cookstove, plus a Dutch oven that appears to have come straight out of the 19th century. Food is kept in an icebox, or preserved in ways that don't require refrigeration. You notice a large quantity of dried, smoked and jerked meat hanging from the low ceiling.

"I'll be wanting you to help out around here, in return for staying," Kay informs you. "For today, you can either chop some wood -- the ax is right outside -- or you can help me preserve the peaches in these canning jars I bought. That's why I was in the city to begin with, I needed more jars."

You pause, then tell Kay...

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