Outside one, some men were loading sacks of grain into a wagon. Two other wagons, already loaded, stood nearby. I stood a bit, watching them, and then offered to help as the wagon’s load grew higher and the sacks harder to load. They accepted my help readily, and we talked as we worked. I waved them a cheery goodbye when the work was done, and walked slowly back to the keep, wondering why a full warehouse of grain was being loaded into a barge and sent upriver to Turlake.
