The Fire

It is winter and a family has been fighting from the moment they got up. Everyone is fed up with each other so the brother has gone off to see his friends, the daughter has gone off to see hers, the father is in the barn, the mother in the attic, the grandmother in her bedroom, the uncle is in the stables.

As night falls and temperatures plummet, one by one they grudgingly return home, driven by necessity and hunger - but there is no wood chopped, no fire in the hearth and nothing has been cooked to eat.

They stand looking at each other for a while, and finally, they sigh - they exchange a few embarrassed glances, and even fewer words, but everyone starts to work together, and not much later, they are all in front of a cosy fire, bellies full, and all's well with the world again.