OCtober Day 20 - Soroka

They hadn't noticed her yet.

Soroka stood a short distance away from the two men. At least, they were men only in relation to herself. One looked a little closer to her age, maybe, but he was still much bigger, and the other one was bigger still. Those that would be actual men, the adults, would probably consider these two to be teenagers, just like her.

She watched them, waiting to be noticed. They seemed to be fixing things. The smaller man was most of the way up a ladder leaning against the front wall, doing something to the roof. The bigger one had gone around to the side, out of view.

The smaller man uttered an oath and came down from the ladder. After reaching the ground, he turned to call the bigger one and caught sight of her. Soroka watched as his eyebrows went up. He opened his mouth, then closed it. "Er, hi?" he said.

"Who you talking to?" the bigger man demanded as he came back around the corner of the house. He also saw her and stopped walking. "What's a girl doing here?"

"I'm Soroka," she answered, in response to the bigger man's first question.

"Good for you, but why are you here?" Soroka decided the bigger man probably didn't like her. His eyes were narrowed, his arms were folded over his chest, and he wasn't smiling. The smaller man stayed quiet, watching.

"No one in the village would let me live with them, so they told me to come here to live with you." She looked between the two men, expectantly.

"You gotta be shitting me, they're sending us a girl to babysit?" The bigger man sounded annoyed. "Whatever man, as long as they don't give us shit about it later." He turned toward the house, silent for a moment. "You can sleep on the couch or something, and don't expect us to keep you here for free. You're gonna help keep it clean, kay?"

"Alright." That was no problem at all. "Since we'll be living together, what should I call you? I'm Soroka."

"We heard you first time around, kid. I'm Dwight. That's Bannerboy. Now get out of the way until we're done plugging these holes in the roof." He walked back out of sight, this time on the other side of the house. Soroka looked at the smaller man.

"Banner boy?"

"I'm Ralph," he sighed. "He's been calling me that since... never mind. Just, go sit in the shade under that tree or something."

"Okay." She did as she was told, settling against the thin trunk and watching her new housemates resume their activities. Despite the tree not providing much shade at all, Soroka smiled a little. She finally had a place to stay again, and these Dwight and Ralph men didn't seem that bad if they agreed to keeping her so quickly. She would work hard, not give them any reason to throw her out. Maybe then, she would finally belong somewhere.

Maybe it was too much to wish for. But she wished anyway.