R.E.birth Page 9

  “Since I have someone else to do it now, take this tub and dump it out,” Evalyn points off in a random direction away from the house. “Don’t want to dump it here because it’s too close to the garden. When you’re done, meet me back here.”

  I nod, noting that while she is harsh, she has a way of quickly and effectively explaining things to me. I proceed to start hauling the tub and as I pass within whispering range of Ami it crosses my mind, however the likeliness of Evalyn hearing me is probably great and I decide against it for now. But Ami stops me anyway, motioning for me to set it down with her hands. I do so and she grabs one handle while I grab the other and we carry it safely away from the garden together. We slowly dump the water out so that it does not splash us and I am able to carry the tub back on my own while we walk silently.

  Evalyn is standing near the garden looking down at it. I can tell where the rows of different produce are, as the leaves and foliage change from one type to another, noting that each plant has a row or two dedicated to just that type. I find that I can visually recognize the leaves for potatoes, carrots, beets, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, strawberries and ground cherries, but there are others that I cannot identify. There comes a sigh from Evalyn’s direction. I note that her demeanor has taken a lighter mood. She leaves and returns with a few medium sized baskets.

  “What can we do to help, Evalyn?” I ask.

  “Evalyn has left. She’s quite agitated right now but I’m unsure why.” Agatha has returned to normal.

  “So Agatha, what can we do to help?” I let out a sigh of relief, no longer having Evalyn’s negative presence looming.

  “We are going to gather up extra produce to trade. Our stockpile of meat is running a little low. And I’d like some oranges,” she says with a smile. “Rain, I’d like you to gather up at least three-dozen potatoes. Make sure to leave at least one potato on each plant so we can grow a new crop of plants. Ami, please gather a basket of strawberries and ground cherries.”

  Agatha hands me a basket and demonstrates how to harvest the potatoes. I follow her lead and do as instructed to dig them up, harvesting a couple off of each plant and leaving at least one. It takes me awhile, but I finally fill three baskets, each with a dozen fair-sized potatoes. I have worked up quite a sweat doing all of this manual labor in the sun. When heading to Agatha with one of the baskets, she informs me that my work is not yet done.

  “Please wash them off and place them back in the baskets. We want to make sure they look good for the young lady I spoke with yesterday,” Agatha points to the left of the house.

  Rolling up my sleeves, I pick up two baskets and walk toward the side of the house to find a faucet sticking out with only a single twist knob on it unlike the bathrooms and kitchen. As I turn the knob the spout only sprays cold water and being a little warm from the work and sun I let it wash over my arms. I gently dump the baskets over and begin washing the potatoes, placing them back in after they are clean. When I am finished I return in time to see Ami has gathered her portion of the food and Agatha has gathered up some heads of lettuce and a basket of carrots.

  “During the daytime the city is mostly shut down,” Agatha tells us. “It seems that they’ve developed a night life that turned into their main time of day to operate. But the girl I met works by herself and should be up right now.”

  “How far is it from here?” I ask.

  “A few blocks into the city from here. It’s a general food market area.”

  “Oh we…” I begin to divulge information about the trip last night but Ami swoops in and jabs me in the ribs. The impact is not hard, but it is enough to interrupt me.

  “Hmm?” Agatha looks up from her baskets at me while Ami gives off an innocent smile.

  “I mean, we should be careful right? How can we be sure we are getting a fair deal?” I correct myself, keeping in mind our secret adventure.

  “We’ll find out how much she’s charging and negotiate from there,” she says making it sound simple. “Let’s get going.”

  Agatha smiles while picking up a basket of potatoes along with carrying the one she filled. Ami and I take our baskets and follow her away from the house, toward the tree line that separates the field from the city. Upon reaching the road I observe what Agatha was referring to, as we find the roads nearly empty with only a few people moving about. Half way down a street very near where Ami and I entered the city she stops and turns left. A few more blocks in she stops at a storefront that has a wooden sign painted pink hanging over the street with the words ‘Emma’s Produce Market’ printed on it.

  Agatha knocks lightly on the glass but peering in we can see figures inside and hear the sounds of a ruckus. A voice rings out from inside and they seem to be getting very loud and belligerent. Slowly, Ami cracks the door a little, despite her mother’s silent protest with a tug on her sleeve, and we all listen in.

  “Yous don’t wanna refuse boss’s offer. He has been kind to yous cause he likes ya, but that don’t make yous exempt from having ta pay for the protectin’ of your shop. Yous gots ‘til tomorrow.”

  There is some shuffling about by the two visible figures and heavy footsteps toward the door. Ami attempts to back up quickly but the door is thrown open inward and she falls forward at the feet of a couple men in clean cut clothing and hats that are dome shaped with brims that circle all the way around. The first is tall and very broad, his arms appearing to be as round as a small melon where the other man is only an inch or two taller than me, but he is much skinnier. They stare Ami down as she gets back up out of their way, but pay no further attention to us as they push roughly past me, nearly knocking the baskets from my hands. Down the road a ways, the bigger one of them stops to look back and then continues on his way.

  We enter the shop only to hear a young voice ring out from behind a counter, “I’m sorry, I’m not open right now. Please come back at dusk and I’ll have produce available.”

  “Miss Emma? It’s Agatha,” she says sweetly. “We spoke yesterday about produce.”

  “Agatha?” A blonde head pokes quickly up from behind the counter. “It’s good to see you again!”

  A young girl, maybe about ten-years-old or so, with short blonde hair cut just above her neckline and hazel eyes has appeared, standing on something behind a counter. Wiping tears away with the sleeve of her white shirt she adjusts some straps hooked to her shoulder that appear to hold up her long blue pants. She smiles trying to hide the fact that she was just crying due to whatever just happened.

  “Who were those guys?” I ask.

  “Oh. They’re just a couple of Denis’s henchmen. They do his dirty work in this side of the city. I haven’t paid my protection fee the past month and if I don’t, something really, really bad could happen to my shop!” she says with fervor.

  “I bet that something bad would happen because of Denis. Denis is extorting you,” Ami blurts out.

  “Oh I know. But it’s just better if I pay the fee when I can and avoid the trouble,” she says with forced cheer.

  It strikes me as a little odd that a little girl is running a shop and that she is being bullied by a man’s thugs for money, but I keep my thoughts to myself as this is all new to me.

  “Well Miss Emma,” Agatha says cheerfully. “Hopefully we have some produce you can sell for a good profit and not have to worry about that anymore.”

  “Ooh! Lemme see!” Her excitement reflects her youth as she comes around from behind the counter to inspect the baskets we’re all carrying. After a few moments of poking around she speaks up. “These will do nicely! I can finally beat Laywin, my competitor!”

  “Beat them?” I inquire.

  “Yeah, they always get first pick from the produce suppliers because they have the money to bribe the delivery service. But this produce is a hundred times better than the stuff they get!” Emma disappears into a door toward the back and reappears with something in her hand. It’s small, shriveled, and generally unappealing.

  “What is th
at?” I ask.

  “It’s a potato silly! But this is the lot I get,” Emma’s face abruptly turns sour as if she is going to cry again. “I have a few patrons who knew my parents that help support me by buying the produce I get, but when they think I’m not looking I see them go over to my competitor and buy his stuff too.”

  “Well, maybe they are just making a well-rounded meal by buying from different vendors,” I console her.

  “Really?! You think so?!” Her eyes light up and the smile returns to her face.

  “Of course!” Ami plays into it as well while looking at me out of the corner of her eyes and smiles approvingly.

  “Yay! Well now they’ll really have a good meal with this food! You guys are the best!”

  “Shall we get down to business?” Agatha holds out one of the baskets.

  Emma runs back behind the counter and we move up to it. Hopping back up on her stool I notice that she too has one of the strange boxes that handles the currency. She presses her finger on, causing it to illuminate and waves for us to set the baskets down. Watching her diligently after setting my baskets down, her hand flies across the contraption while she taps on numbers like Anselmo had and the illuminated numbers continue to increase.

  “What is that you are doing?” I ask, genuinely interested in learning.

  “I’m adding up all the totals for the vegetables you’re selling me,” she looks up with joy.

  “How are you adding so quickly?”

  “Where are you from?” She stops dead and looks at me questioningly with her innocent hazel colored eyes.

  “Not around here. I am from a place where such things do not exist.”

  “That explains why your accent is funny. You don’t talk like anyone I know,” she giggles. “That’s so strange that you don’t know about the PayPad.”

  “How does it work?”

  “I have no idea. You have to keep it plugged in and as long as you know how to work the keypad, that’s all anyone needs to know. Everything else is handled digitally at the nearest bank hub.” She is eager to share. “This one’s a little out of date, but it works. It has multiple functions like exchanging goods for credits, keeping inventory, keeping record of how many credits you have in the bank, mathematics.”

  “Wow, my head is spinning. It all sounds so confusing,” I tell her.

  “It is. That’s why I don’t think about it and just keep my mind focused on making ends meet.” She continues to smile innocently at me.

  She returns to her work of taking inventory of the baskets by moving all of the food to other baskets behind her counter while continuing to punch numbers on the PayPad. My mind tries to soak in the information and I know that through just watching I am learning. But there are so many unseen things that are foreign to me that I find myself lost in her fury against the numbers. Emma finally comes to a stop.

  “Ok. So from my calculations, if I offer you fifteen hundred credits for it all I can make a profit of an additional fifteen hundred credits if I sell all of it. That will give me the leverage I need to purchase some of the good produce from the supplier and I will be able to survive!”

  “Fifteen hundred sounds fair,” Agatha replies.

  “Then it’s a deal! Do you have your PayPad card?”

  “No, we don’t have one,” Agatha tells her.

  I look at Ami pondering if she is going to say anything about hers, but when she is silent about it. Emma grabs one of the cards from under her counter she slides it across the PayPad, pushing several buttons as Anselmo had. When she’s finished she hands it to Agatha.

  “And we can use this anywhere?” Agatha asks looking at the card.

  “Absolutely! All shops, stands and markets take these cards!” Emma responds excitedly. “The markets will open about six o’clock.”

  “Thank you Emma,” Agatha says while grabbing her two empty baskets.

  Ami and I do the same and Agatha begins to lead us out but when Agatha pulls the door open Emma stops us abruptly.

  “Wait! What is your name?” She blurts out.

  “Mine? It’s…” Ami and I turn around and she begins to answer Emma but is cut off.

  “No! Yours!” She points at me.

  “My name? It is Rain,” I tell her somewhat bewildered.

  “Rain? I like that name. It was nice to meet you Rain!” She grins while leaning against the counter.

  “It was nice to meet you too Emma,” I smile.

  When we are outside Ami looks at me with a puzzled look on her face and I shrug. Agatha looks around and because she is quiet I assume that she is thinking to herself, but instead of heading back toward the house she starts to venture off into the large city. Ami and I follow her and I assume that we are just out for some fresh air. The three of us walk silently as Agatha directs us randomly and I enjoy their company while we all take in the sights of the clean and sleek buildings.

  “So how close to six is it?” I break the silence after a good deal of time.

  Agatha points up to a large circular object on the side of one of the buildings that reminds me of a sundial, but it is neither on the ground nor in a position that the sun would hit it continuously.

  “It’s about three in the afternoon now, so we have a few hours to kill,” she replies.

  “Are we going home or going to walk until then?” Ami asks.

  “Being that most people are sleeping, it’s not a bad idea to explore,” Agatha says, walking with her hands in front of her body.

  We wander aimlessly through the city, observing the different buildings. I take notice as we move through the city the building shapes and materials used start to vary. Along the inner edges of the city closest to the field that holds the house the buildings are all tall, and have four faces and multiple windows. While immaculate, they are plain in color and other than their height there is nothing remarkable about them. But as we move farther into the city, away from the business and market areas, the buildings take on a more exotic look and I cannot fathom having imagined them on my own. Pyramids, ovals, droplets of water; the architecture puzzles me as if someone had taken random shapes and made buildings out of them and I think about the complexity needed to make such structures stable. These buildings too have many windows, some which seem to take up a whole section between supports, but most of them hold large, white drapes that block what could be held within.

  Having stopped to admire, I find that I had lost track of how long I stood there and when I look down expecting to see Agatha and Ami they are gone, having put a significant distance between us. Not quite specks in my vision, but very close, I panic. Not wanting to be separated in this monstrous city I break into a sprint to catch up with them, pushing my legs as hard as I can. I contemplate calling out, but I find that I am breathing too hard. Finally getting close they hear me coming and turn around. I see a smile on Ami’s face and the moment I reach them I slow and begin huffing heavily. My stomach and lungs ache and I am hit with a witty remark.

  “What happened? Did you forget how to walk and look at the same time?” Ami playfully jests.

  “I…was…sorry, I…” I am finding it hard to catch my breath, slouching over and putting my hands on my knees.

  My chest is heaving, my lungs burning and I am unable to speak while they wait patiently for me. Finally after a minute I am able stand back up but I begin a coughing fit. Breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth I get it under control.

  “Sorry, I was distracted by the buildings. I did not know that you had kept walking,” I labor to speak.

  “It’s okay dear, just don’t get lost out here,” Agatha warns.

  “Should we restock on medical supplies while we’re out?” Ami asks Agatha while pointing at a sign that has a big red cross on the side of a lone building.

  “Perhaps, after we have replenished our food,” Agatha answers but still takes a moment to think about it.

  We circle back the way we came and it appears that more people are finding the
ir way to the streets. As we pass between buildings I catch a glimpse of the sun and it appears to be starting to set. Having found our way back to the market district I notice that windows begin to open and doors begin to unlock. I watch as Agatha’s random pattern of walking becomes more directed. She leads us to a building that has a large glass front and inside are numerous shelves with what appears to be food items lining them. Pulling the doors open, Agatha leads us in but I follow behind Ami as she moves down an aisle separate from her mother.

  Each item has an image on a piece of paper that appears to clearly identify the contents within. Though I have questions about the perfect duplication of images and perfect writing that labels the items, I save them and stick with assumptions. Ami however understands the system and begins loading her basket with numerous different items. I pay little attention to what she is taking into her basket, but rather just focus on not losing her in this store that seems rather large. Meeting back up with Agatha I find that she too has placed a significant amount in her basket, mostly meat items.

  “We should check out now. We’ve probably reached our limit,” Agatha tells us.

  I follow behind her and Ami up to the unremarkable, yet well-dressed shopkeeper who stands behind the counter. When Agatha and Ami set their baskets up on the counter I watch closely as the man pulls each item out and presses some buttons on his PayPad, and then sets them the items to the side.

  “That’ll be seventeen hundred credits,” he tells us in a monotone voice.

  “Would you take fifteen?” Agatha attempts to haggle.

  “I’m sorry but prices are non-negotiable. I barely make a living as it is.”

  “Take out the mixed nuts and the pears. That will equal two hundred credits that you can take off the total.”

  Ami offers up some of her selections.

  “Ami, what about…” I start in but am promptly jabbed again.