Chapter 5: Scarlet (H) – Chapter 4 (2/2): Nah, I ain’t no school.

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The three of us sat in the carriage with the pig in the back as Duke held the reins. Looking out at the horizon, I took in that same grasslands that gave way to the mountains in the back as I did on my walk. The only difference was I could sit back and enjoy them for all their worth this time. Even with the looming anxiety I'd have when we'd actually make it to the city.

"What you planning on doing once you're down there?" Emily asked as she sat next to me.

"Go from place to place looking for work. I can bum it on the streets for a bit until I make enough money to rent a room and get some food. Then save up as much as possible."

"A good plan," Duke said between the bumps on the road, "Just be careful now. I been hearing some happenings in the city that's worrying."

"What sort of happenings?" I asked anxiously, but no matter what, I wasn't going to let whatever this was get my hopes down.

"Money troubles for a lot of folk. That means less chances they'll be willing to take on new hires."

Stretching out my legs, "I don't mind if I don't get paid a lot. Even just enough for food would be fine with me until things pick up."

"That's a good way of thinking. We're going to be there soon, so get ready."

I settled in for the last part of the ride. It took several more minutes, but soon, clouds of black smoke rose up in front of us. "Is that a fire?" I asked, leaning forward and squinting.

"Have you never seen a city before?" Emily asked. "That stuff's normal. All sorts of factories up there."

Glancing to Emily for a moment before looking back at the lines of smoke. When the carriage made it over the next hill, it came into view. More buildings than I ever laid eyes on all packed together. Some of them even reached as high as three stories tall. The roads were unlike anything I ever seen, either. All black and smooth. That wasn't even counting the intimidating number of people lined the streets. I swore there were enough people walking every which way to fill up that town of Sunrise twice over.

Going further in, we eventually stopped near the entrance of a food shop. "This here's our stop," Duke said as he and Emily got off.

"And when we come here next week," Emily cut in, "I wanna hear how you're doing."

"Maybe I can pay you guys back for the food and clothes."

"Don't you be thinking anything like that," Duke said peeking behind him at me, "You've paid off your share already with helping Emily. Daylight's burning though so you best be off now and start looking."

"Yeah. You guys going to be at this same store next week?"

"Same day, same time," Duke confirmed.

With that, I waved them off and turned around, where I spent some time walking up and down the streets. Not long, but I wanted to get a good idea of what this place was like before trying to find work.

Paved roads and sidewalks with a dock down in the distance. A huge body of water beyond that, and the only other things I could see were more buildings and homes and stores.

Deciding that was enough of my short bit of sightseeing, I walked into the first shop I saw. A general store.

When I walked in, it was nice and clean. A lot more than the one back in Sunrise. Walking up to the counter, I saw a tall man with a rounded mustache. "What can I get for you?"

"I'm new in town and looking for work. You think you got anything for me?"

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"That depends. How good are you at math?"

"I never got the chance to learn it, but I'm more than happy to learn."

"Nah, I ain't no school. What about reading? Can ya read?"

If I said no, then he'd probably just kick me out. "Yes sir," I said, gritting my teeth.

He studied me for a moment before clicking his lips, "Maybe I can get you to handle paperwork. Come round back." I followed him to the backroom where there was a desk and a small pile of papers. "Now at the end of every day I want you to write a list of every item sold." He handed me a paper with a long list of words on it. "I want you to go through all that and tally how many we sold that day. Then write down how many we need next to it. I also want you to handle the written requests we get to fill in orders."

This entire time I was looking at the list of words and trying to sound them out in my head. And what the hell is a tally?

"You following?" I snapped out of it and looked back up at him.

"Yes sir."

"You're sweating just from looking at the list. You sure you know how to read?"

"I'm just rusty is all."

He grabbed a piece of paper and handed it to me. "Read the first words out loud."

Looking down on it, a flash of red spread across my face. "Ned…t…tree— Need tree…suegar cah-ubes." He snatched it away from me.

"Need three sugar cubes. You can't read. Get out of here and stop wasting my time." 

"Okay, I lied, but I really need the work and I'm willing to do what I need to…"

"Sorry. I ain't got nothing for you to do, and everything else round here I can do myself. Go back out to the front." He practically pushed me back out front, and made it clear there was no work for me here. So instead of sulking around and begging, I headed for the door. "Thanks for your time." and walked out to go across the street to the next place I saw. A food store. 

Once again, I walked up to the counter. "Excuse me sir, I'm new in town and was wondering if you had any work that needed to be done."

"Sorry kid, but I don't have the money to pick up more hands."

"Well what's the lowest you can afford?"

"Nothing. I gotta hold onto every dollar I get these days. Good luck though."

While disappointed, that at least ended less terribly than last time. "It's alright. Thank you for your time." I was about to head out, when he called out. "I hear there's some work at the docks. Sounded promising so I suggest checking it out."

"Sounds good, thanks."

With that piece of advice, I made my way down the street and over to the docks.

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