Henry walked the animal barn. The dreary weather was doing wonders for his mood. Anything that was not conducive to a fire was fine by him. Plus all the cows were doing great, especially the new calf, Bruce. He wished they could let the cows out to graze, but the fog made it nigh impossible to keep track of them all, and he didn't want anything attacking the cows. They hadn't had wolves in ages, but you could never be too careful. He stopped by the horse stalls to check in.
Brownie was asleep, and he didn't want to bother the old boy. He was the older of the two horses, and soon he'd get too old to ride much. Blackie was vigorous young stallion, and he was tromping about his stall. Henry patted him on the nose.
"I know boy, we can't take you out today. Too much fog, and the men playing baseball will only spook you," he said quietly to the horse. He did want to take the horse out. He hadn't ridden in weeks, and he missed it. Maybe tomorrow the weather would be better. He turned and walked to the door of the barn.
Henry leaned against the doorframe and watched the men play baseball. One of them called to him to join, but he shook his head. To give reason, he turned and walked towards the smaller pig barn. He went inside, nearly immune to the smell of rotting feces and unwashed pig. He checked all the food troughs, and then checked on Ol' Red, the pig they planned to eat for Christmas. He wanted to make sure the massive meat block was healthy and fat. The pig seemed fine, looking up at him as he squatted to pat it on the head. Finished, he turned and walked back out of the barn.
A flock of crows sprung up in the distance, and Henry frowned. Probably just a fox or something, maybe a deer. He walked towards the trees behind the baseball game, trying to go around instead of through. He figured he'd visit the farmhouse, check up on Ms. Yammard. Given he had the most medical training, he was often put in charge of those who fell ill, and Ms. Yammard had a nasty fever. He hoped it wasn't Spanish Flu, the epidemic had made a mess a while back. He figured he could probably call into town for medicine if it came to it.
Suddenly, there was a crack and a ball flew off into the woods. Henry watched as Bill ran the bases, Scarecrow looking steamed that Bill had hit it. Bill said something about finding the ball. Henry called out
"I'll find it, though I'd appreciate some company if anybody wants to come along." He turned and started to walk, figuring somebody would catch up to him if they wanted to help. Ms. Yammard wasn't urgent, and he felt like walking through the woods.
