by Iilyda » Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:45 am
Mortimer pointed to the dog to answer Joke's question, but shook his head at the same time. He'd already seen the problem the heavy spool created. It could not just be placed atop the fire - it would perfectly smother it. He and Joke could hold it he supposed, but that might get a little hot for Joke; at the moment, Mortimer wasn't feeling any of the effects of the going fire. It made perfect sense, that, Mortimer supposed. But some sort of contraption was called in order to set their make-shift pot above the fire without crushing it, which had Mortimer pacing about the bottom floor of the mill again, searching for scraps. Eventually, Mortimer pulled free a wooden frame whose criss-crossing strings had fallen out. He brought it over to their fire and then set about finding two more pieces. Mortimer settled on a large cinder block and a rusted metal bin; both taller than the spool. Working quickly, Mortimer put the cinder block to one side of the fire and the metal bin on the other, resting the wooden frame atop them. When this was done, Mortimer moved to the spool, giving it a heave. But its base had barely left the floor before it came crashing down, much too heavy for Mortimer to carry on his own. Digressingly, Mortimer wondered if that had anything to do with his being dead - if his physical contact was limited because of it. But Mortimer looked over at Joke, pointing at the spool once more. "Help lift," he whispered quietly, gripping one side of the spool. "And place rim inside frame." Mortimer thought this would work. Or at least, he hoped.
"Ah," Ezra said, inwardly taken aback. So that was it. Ezra wasn't quite sure what to say for a while after that. "You know, Alex... well, there's plenty of other people out there. People who care a lot more," he added, not sure if it helped.