Sense of Duty

 The open fire crackled and spat in the living room, the smell of the burning logs filled the air as Jakes mother laid the crockery out on the kitchen table as she always did, it was always the very best china for tea, there was never any question of that, it was finely painted white china with a blue swirled pattern that was so light to the touch it seemed that it would break in your very fingertips. Jake sat at the table and held his hands together as his mother said grace, as usual a huge lump of cheese was the order of the day with home-made farmhouse loaf and fresh butter which had been churned that day by his mum Janet, she was a hard worker, always wiping her chapped dried and sore hands on her apron and constantly wiping her brow of the sweat from the heat of the old stove and the sheer amount of hard work she was always asked to do, but she would not have it any other way, in those days everyone had a sense of duty.

 Just then, at the back of the kitchen the pantry door swung open and Charlie walked in with some milk freshly taken from the cows that morning and placed in an old chipped white enamel jug. Charlie sat at the table, he was always first to eat as head of the household, it was never in question, his big thick strong fingers reached out for the butter dish, a white porcelain dish with a small lid on it, it seemed a very strange place for such a pretty ornate dish in such labour worn hands but Charlie would soon take two or three huge cuts of the butter to spread on his thickly cut farmhouse loaf and then hand it to Jake who would spread it really thickly on his fresh bread also, he loved the taste and throughout his life that simple pleasure of "bread'n'cheese would never leave him. On the odd occasion when they could manage it Jake and his father would go out and shoot some rabbits for tea, they would be loath to eat them as it was additional income and really was a treat indeed, for the shot rabbits were mostly sold for market so that some money for clothes and rent could be found. On this night though it was bread and cheese washed down with tea courtesy of the old black kettle hung on a frame over the log fire that Jake thought was always ready to explode, and he was never comfortable getting too close to it, especially when it came to the boil and started to hiss loudly. It was always on the boil, there was always a cup of tea available at the farm, always.

Jake played with his little brother Sam awhile after tea, teasing him incessantly with a ball that he would pretend to throw and hold on to at the last minute, to which end Sam would scream out in protest thus earning poor Jake a scolding from his mother.
 Jake soon grew tired of playing with his whining little brother and knowing there would be stock to feed early next morning he climbed the stairs to his bed, it was just after eight ‘o’clock and as he was passing his bedroom window he peeped through the curtains and his eyes lit up as he did...for there, caught in the reflection of the glass against his small candle he could see it was just starting to snow !.  Indeed, by the time Jake had washed his face in the cold water bowl on his dressing table and towel dried his face a quick peep through the curtains once more revealed the extent to which it really was snowing, Jake stood there for what seemed ages just watching the ground disappear under a white blanket, he then slowly turned and tip-toed to his bed and blew his candle out and curled up under the blankets for the night, as his head hit the pillow he could smell the mixture of sulphur and wax reaching his nose from the extinguished candle and it made him feel good, Jake pulled the blankets around him tightly and muzzled his pillow, he felt safe here, this was home.

The next morning at around 6 am Jake opened his eyes and yawned and stretched, he slid his bare foot out of one side of the bed and shivered as it felt very cold outside. Jake suddenly remembered the snow he had seen the night before and raced to the bedroom window to look outside. Indeed it had snowed and oh my it had snowed, very heavily, there was at least 3 feet of snow on the ground and though it looked beautiful Jake also knew that it would make today’s chores that much harder...