The mixture of mud, dirt, leaves, and pebbles was wearing on Lara's feet. They felt sore after nearly 12 miles of walking back and forth along the dirt road. Julia's feet were getting sore also, mostly from her feet rubbing along the insides of her shoes.
"I've never been so exhausted in whole my life." Julia said.
"I think we're almost there" Lara replied.
Rain was finally starting to fall, as the breeze cooled down ever more.
"I just felt a drop!" Julia said.
"It's just around that corner." Nan replied.
The drops of water landing on Lara's body felt colder than before. Even though the walking had warmed her up, the air was cooling and the skies turning gray again. But with drops of water collecting on her body, it became difficult to keep warm and she soon started shivering.
"I can't believe that girl walks around naked like that." The old lady said to Nan. "She's likely to get sick."
As they approached the house, the rain had picked up. Lara, Julia, Nan, and the old lady had increased their pace to get inside.
"The barn's behind the house!" Nan said to Lara. "You can follow me.
Julia followed Lara and Nan to the barn as the old lady went back inside the house. At one point the barn had kept horses and a variety of farming implements. But there were no longer any animals, and much of the tools and machinery were covered with cobwebs. There were still several bales of hay stacked up from years ago, and the barn had an old smell to it, as if no one ever went in there anymore.
Nan flipped a switch by the door, but nothing happened.
"Oh shoot, it looks like the light bulb is out." She said. "I'll have to get you another one."
There was still enough daylight coming through the open door to illuminate the inside. Lara and Julia walked through the barn, as if it were a museum, amazed at the old farming tools, rusted implements that looked like antiques.
"Wow, everything here looks old." Lara said.
"Most of this stuff belonged to my grandparents." Nan replied.
"Did this place belong to your grandparents?"
"My great-great-grandparents, actually. It's been in the family since the 1800s."
"Wow!" Lara exclaimed. "That's amazing!"
The barn was only a couple of degrees warmer than outside, but felt significantly warmer for Lara whose nude body was still dripping wet from the rain. Nan walked to the bales of hay, and broke a couple of them apart, spreading the hay into a bed.
"I'll bring you some blankets, and you can sleep here. It'll keep you pretty comfortable."
"Oh, thank you." Lara replied.
"No problem. Are you sure you don't want to least put something on? You can join us inside for something hot to eat, you must be hungry." Nan asked.
"I still have my cookies. I'd rather not put anything on."
"Well, I better get you a towel right away."
Nan started walking towards the door, but stopped and turned around to look at Julia.
"Julia, come on and I'll show you your room."
"Oh," Julia replied. "I was going to stay with Lara."
"No, Julia, that's OK." Lara reassured. "You don't want to stay in here."
In the back of her mind, Julia didn't at all want to stay in the barn. It was dark, musty, and full of spider webs. She felt bad about leaving Lara alone, however didn't want to put up much of an argument either.
"Come on Julia we can't leave you in here also." Nan added. "It'll be a lot more warm inside."
Julia paused and looked at Lara.
"Go." Lara said, smiling.
