“You had me a little worried,” she says, as I walk towards her. “I went into the barn to check on you and you weren’t there.”
“Sorry,” I reply, “old habits die hard.”
“Terrance is looking for you. He’s back in the kitchen. He made you breakfast.”
I go through the back door and walk over the planks, the smell of cooking food wafting down the hall. The kitchen consists of a small wooden table, four identical chairs, each with a missing piece, and two large crates stacked on top of each other creating a makeshift counter. Terrance is currently bent over a hot plate.
He smiles when he sees me and gestures for me to sit down. I walk around to the other side of the table so I have a clear view of the entrance. He fills three plates with scrambled eggs, bacon, and almost burnt toast. He places a plate in front of me, reaches into one of the crates and removes silverware. He sets the other two plates down on the table, and as if on cue, Rena walks in and sits across from me.
“Terrance,” she says, as she picks up her fork, “you have out-done yourself again.”
He smiles, turning slightly pink, then takes a seat and we eat.
The eggs have to be fresh. I’ve never tasted anything so wonderful before. The bread is pretty fresh too, and the bacon is crisp. As we eat, I debate whether or not to mention the incident I had witnessed, but they haven’t said anything. So I decide against it. I insist on cleaning up, and once Rena and Terrance are done I take their plates and utensils, walk down the hall, and wash them in the sink in the bathroom. It takes a while since the water coming out of the faucet is only a dribble. I go back to the kitchen and place the items in the open crate.
“Why don’t you get changed and you can help me sort out the orders for the day,” Rena says, as she wipes down the hot plate.
Back at the barn I take a quick shower, throw on a pair of denim shorts, and a black top with flames on the front. I put on my boots and slide the knife down inside, then return to the house just as Rena is coming out from the back. She asks me to pick up one of the boxes from the bar’s counter and take it to the back for Terrance, who is in the storage room. I lift the box, expecting it to be light, when in fact it’s quite heavy, forcing me to juggle it between my arms.
Terrance, clipboard in hand, is marking things down as he goes between the rows in the small room. Setting the clipboard down, he takes the box from my arms and points to the board, indicating for me to pick up where he left off. I look down at the laundry list of items, noticing that some of them are electronics such as bulbs, clocks, and small radios. Walking up and down the aisles, I check the quantities of each item, noticing no food items.
I hand the clipboard back to Terrance when I finish, only to be handed a pack of notecards, each containing a single name with a list. He points to a stack of empty boxes that have the bizarre red and black emblem, then motions for me to put the items listed into the boxes. It takes me about an hour to fill all orders I have in hand. Showing Terrance I’m done, he points down below his feet, indicating to take the cards and boxes down to the cellar.
I have no idea how to get down there, so Terrance guides me through the hall down to the kitchen, where he slides a stack of crates away from the far wall, revealing a door. I open it and see a staircase leading down. Instead of hauling every single box down with me, I stack them in the kitchen, take an empty crate that is hiding under the kitchen table, and head downstairs with my note cards. There isn’t much light and I almost fall a couple of times since several of the steps are loose.
Rena has two strings of lights burning when I get down to the cellar, but they aren’t very bright. We work as a team putting the rest of the orders together. A majority of the items have the red and black symbol, but a few have a blue and gold emblem. I can’t make it out either as it blurs the way the other does, so I ask Rena if the symbols are supposed to be blurry.
“Yes, of course,” she responds, seemingly puzzled by my question.
I continue to stare at her waiting for a further explanation.
She realizes I know nothing about these symbols, so she explains. “The red and black emblem is from the city Tyre. It’s a black bull standing on a red cape that is still attached to his enslaver, who is being crushed under the bull’s hooves. The blue and gold items are from Acheron. It’s the symbol of a bird with gold feathers against a dark blue background.”
Rena reaches into her pocket and extracts a small, round lens. She holds it over one of the crates and the image comes into focus.
“The cities do this to prevent counterfeiting, especially if it’s a rival city trying to flood the Boroughs with rotten or worthless goods.” Rena holds the glass over another symbol and it, too, jumps into focus.
“If all the cities use the same technique, couldn’t they still counterfeit each other’s items?”
“They’ve tried, but each city embeds their own code into the ink. Only a Regulator’s
