Word: Laden

 

laden

\ LEYD-n \  , adjective;

1. burdened; loaded down.

verb:

1. to lade.

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Steve huffed up the hill with his feet dragging every step.  His lungs burned for more oxygen.  His legs and back begged him to stop moving.  Sweat poured down every bit of his body, some of it even getting into his mouth and eyes. 

                “Come on Steve!  Don’t lag behind so much!”  Said one of the two girls who were walking in front of him.  Steve raised his head, noticing that the ache in his back was moving up through his neck to the back of his head.

                “Yeah, pick up the pace.  We’ll leave you behind if you don’t.”  The other girl said with a large grin on her face.

                “You two could help me out with this stuff you know.  I’d probably move faster then.”  Steve huffed out.  The two girls looked at each other.

                “Seriously?  A big, strong man like you asking help from two delicate flowers like us?”  Said one of them while batting her eyelashes and pouting her lips in an over the top manner.

                Steve paused.  On the one hand, his masculine pride demanded he give in to the girl’s taunting.  On the other, every muscle in his body begged him to simply drop the heavy, overstuffed backpack and collapse on the soft grass.  He looked at the two girls who were obviously expecting him to say something.  He wanted to come up with some witty retort to the obvious provocation.  Unfortunately, his brain was not working at full capacity.

                “Oh yeah, like you two are delicate.”  He said through his gasping breaths.  That was not the right answer.  Both girls flashed him unpleasant looks.

                “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” 

                “Just what it sounds like.  Nothing delicate about you two.”  A part of Steve’s mind was telling him not to pursue this topic any further, apologize, and just keep moving.  The rest of him didn’t much care.  “I mean really.  Both of you are the least feminine girls I know.  Leslie regularly benches her own bodyweight and Kelly beats someone up whenever she thinks someone’s making fun of her.  Yeah, not exactly dainty little ladies.  So you’ll forgive me if I’m not exactly thrilled that you’re letting me carry a backpack that feels like it’s filled with large rocks while you two have nothing.”

                Both girls just looked at him, stunned at how blunt he was being with them.  He was usually much more jovial about the way they joked with him.  Neither really knew how to respond to him acting like that.  It was as if he was mad at them.  A silent exchange between the two went on while Steven made his way up the hill, steadily catching up with the two girls, at which point he simply collapsed against a tree. 

                “Ok, fine.”  Said Leslie eventually.  “You’ve been a good boy lately, so I guess we can help you out a bit.”

                “Yeah, but you’re still getting most of it.”  Kelly chimed in.

                “Yeah, yeah.  Whatever.  As long as I don’t carry all of this thing, I’m fine.”

                Kelly and Leslie grinned at each other before going into the backpack.  They shifted through the items and picked out some of the lightest items that they could easily carry on their backs. 

                “There you go.  Now you don’t have everything in there anymore.”  Kelly said cheerfully.

                “T-that’s it?  Really?”  Steve asked, seeing what the girls had chosen.

                “Yup.”

                “You two are evil, you know that?”

                “Flattery will get you nowhere.”  Leslie said wickedly, “Now get up and let’s get moving.  We’ve got a long way to go after all.”

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Should I have added more at the end there?  Or maybe said the girl's names earlier?  Well, maybe in the future if I ever revise these stories I'll do somethings to it.  Other than that, I'm not sure what else to say.