Starlet

7. Fishing

The next morning is Saturday. Thora and I go to the village.

We go to the house, and it's pretty empty. There are a couple of chairs. Upstairs has 2 bedroom sets. But the bedding and mattresses are gone. It is a nice place. I need to figure out how to make money.

We walk through the market and find a table. "How much is that?"

"100g."

"I'll have to save some more. Thank you anyway."

"I'm going to go fishing. They were selling for 10 to 15g each."

"Can I come with you?"

"Sure. This way."

She sits a basket down. "I'll show you how we do it." Then she walks in the river. I follow her in and there are fish everywhere. All I have to do is grab them. They are slimy but I figure it out quickly.

We do that until we get 12 big nice fish. Carrying them back is a headache. They are heavy and stink. And I stink. I take a bath at the house. Thora brought over towels and nurse dresses.

She comes back with a wagon. We put the fish on it and sell them in the market. Then we split the money. They sell fast, and I get 15g each for them.

"You can keep going if you want. I need a break."

"Thank you for showing me. I am going to keep fishing."

This time I make 180. I have enough for the table. I look at the table from where I'm standing. That's a lot of money.

The guy sees me. "100g and I'll throw in a couple of chairs. You need dining chairs too?"

I nod.

"These 2 chairs right here go with it and the pieces are really solid."

I shake my head. "I still need to save some more. Thank you though. How long is the market open for?"

"It closes an hour after dinner. So you still have about 5 hours."

"Thank you." I run back home. I put the money in the closet. There's a fake wall in here. It's probably the safest room in the house.

I fish and collect 10 more. I get out with the 10th and a man is standing there. He brought me a bigger wagon.

"Why are you doing this now?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I want to get the rent money and there is a table I want. I don't have a table."

"Ok."

I collect 25 more. Then I pull the wagon home and take another bath. I sell my fish for 16g this time. I increased the price since they sell so fast. Not bad for 1 day.

The table is gone. "Sorry, but you have to be fast around here."

I pull my wagon home. I'm sure I'll find a table somewhere. I put the wagon by the back door. Then I go in and wash my hands.

The man smiles at me. "I'm Tre. Did you get your table?"

"No. He sold it."

"How much did you make today?"

"560g."

"Are you serious?"

"Yea, I sold 37 fish. 15 or 16g each. I'll probably do more fish tomorrow. I want to get the rent done."

"That's only 200g."

"A month. I need 1.2k total. 560g is a good start. I can finish it tomorrow."

"Well, that's 1 way to do it."

"I'm going to go fishing again. I still have 3 hours."

He shakes his head. "Dinner is in an hour and the market goes empty after that. Not many will be buying fish after dinner."

"I'm going to sit on the porch for a while."

"You coming back for dinner? Did they give you a meal card?"

"I don't know what that is."

"I'll bring you a meal card and explain it."

I go sit on the porch. It's not a quiet part of town. A lot of people are walking around. It's not far from the market. I go up to the balcony and sit on the rail. I can see the market from here. It's over a few paths. I relax and watch the people walking around. It looks like there is a restaurant across the path and down a bit. Maybe I should check it out.

I grab 40g. If it's any more than that, I'll find food somewhere else.

"Hi welcome. How many are in your group?"

"Just me."

"Right this way."

I get seated at a little table for 2 in the back. They have a barbeque chicken I'm going to try. With a roll and some noodles. Dinner is 15g and drink is 2g. I guess that's not bad.

"What can I get for you tonight, miss?"

"The barbeque chicken with the noodles, please, and some water."

"Ok. I'll get that out to you as soon as it's done."

"Thank you."

I watch out the window. Tears fill my eyes. I swallow hard to keep them in.

After I eat, I go roaming. I find a bakery and get a few little cakes. I walk through the market and Tre wasn't joking. Most of it is gone. I walk by the park and there are some little kids playing. The pool is empty. I see the castle builders working on a couple of houses. They are up on the roof of 1.

I go back home and lock the door behind me. I still have no bed. I go back to my apartment in the castle. Now I need to save for a bed. Well a mattress. They left the bedroom set.

I go downstairs and Tre is back.

"2 cards. 1 is for the cafeteria in the castle. The other is for the grocery store here. You should still check the market, but sometimes it's cheaper in the grocery."

"I can do that. Thank you."

Marcus walks through the back door. "Did you eat dinner?"

"Yea, I ate at the restaurant."

"Thora was complaining about furniture. I need to walk around. Go back to the castle for tonight."

"Ok."

I study my lines then go to sleep.

I get up early the next morning. I try out my cafeteria card and get some eggs.

Then I go to the house and throw on an old human dress.

Thora runs in and does it too. "Wait. We don't both have to get fish. You can fish and I can sell them. We'll get more."

"Ok."

We get the basket and wagon and I go catch 30 fish fast. Then she takes them to the market. I keep fishing and lay them on the grass. She comes back when I have 25 more laid out.

"How much did you sell them for?"

"25g each."

"We can do this all day and I bet we get enough for the rent."

"I'll be back. Going to sell these fish. I'm going to grab another wagon first." She runs off.

She's back after a couple of minutes with another wagon. "Sorry I had to find a safe spot for the money."

"Where is it?"

"In Dipak's pocket. But I wrote it down. I know what he has."

"Ok."

"I'll sell these and be back."

She back before I get the next 1 full. "Fish went up to 30g. This is crazy."

"It really is. Why are they selling so fast? There's only so many people that live here. Are they all eating fish?"

"I guess they are tonight."

I shake my head and get a few more in the wagon, then she takes it. I work faster to get the next 1 full. She gets back about the same time I get done. She switches them and keeps going.

We do that until lunch.

Then she takes it to the market and I get cleaned up. I'm starving.

She comes in as I comb my hair. "We made 5k."

"Wow."

"We are doing so good."

"We really are."

"Let's take 1.2k out of it for the rent. We can split the rest and I want to try the fishing part after lunch."

"We'll switch."

She makes a door and we step into Dipak's office.

Everyone is at the table.

She gets our money from Dipak. Then she gives him 1.2k and splits the rest in half. "That's your half."

"Thank you."

"How much did you 2 make this morning?"

"5k."

Tre smiles. "On fish?"

"She fished, I sold them. It worked well. When the wagon was empty I would take the 1 she was filling."

"We're going to do some more, but we're hungry."

We go to the cafeteria to eat.

"So, what's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're quiet and seem to want to be alone."

I shrug my shoulders. "I want to be in the village. I want to see what it's like."

"Let's do some more fishing."

"That is the best plan ever." I run to the house and put my money in the hidden closet. I don't know where she puts hers. I've got over 2.5k now.

She gets a human dress on and fills a wagon while I watch the clouds. I think I'll be alone forever. I don't have anybody.

"HELLO."

"Sorry. I'm going." I grab the wagon and take it to the market. Fish are selling for 35 now. Why are they going up so much? "FISH 35G."

People run to buy them. I scratch my head and collect everything. People are so kind too.

I run back to Thora and get the other wagon. I stay as focused as I can on fish all damn afternoon. I sell so many fish. I don't even see anything else. And I run when I switch wagons. We do it for a good 5 hours. Then she meets me half way back with a full wagon, and she's soaking wet.

"Trade you. I need to clean up before dinner."

"Good idea. You do kind of stink." We both laugh and I take the fish to the market. I get them sold and go back to the house.

I count the money on the coffee table as she fixes her hair. "We made 7.4k So 3.7k each. So we made over 5k each today after the rent. That's good, I think."

"I have no idea what to spend it on though."

"Same."

"We should get some onions out of the grocery, and sell them in the market. They were like 20g in the market this morning."

"That's crazy."

"We have a half hour until dinner. Maybe we can buy some stuff and sell it later."

We walk to the grocery store. I end up buying 5 onions for 2g each.

She gets her stuff bagged. "Alright, let's try to sell this."

"ONIONS."

A lady nearly falls over to get to me.

She sells her last pepper, and we run out of there laughing.

I plop in a chair. "I spent 10g on onions and sold them for 125g."

"I did the same thing. I spent 10g in the grocery and turned it into 125g."

"We did good."

"We made over 10k today, selling fish. We'll shop later. I need food."

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night." She goes through a door.