Talen

“I live near the edge of town,” she tells me. “I’m Layshell.”

“I know.” I wink at her. “I’ve seen you around.”

Layshell glances over her shoulder before taking a step closer and speaking softly.

“You’re the thief, right?”

“Who, me?” I place my hand over my chest. “I’m just the head of lost and found. I find things and return them to their owners. Sometimes the owners are grateful and provide me with things I’ve lost in return.”

She narrows her eyes and presses her lips together.

“All right,” she says. “I’ll have a mat together for you the day after tomorrow.”

“Great!” I shake her hand and watch her head off with the bags of grain in one of her baskets before heading back down the street.

Near some concrete steps that no longer lead to a building’s entrance, a man stands on top of a wooden box, calling out to the inattentive crowd.

“I’ve told you all before!” he yells. “It was a plot! A plot to eliminate the Naughts entirely! They huddled on the other side of the mountains in their bunkers and waited for the Great Eruption to wipe us out! When that didn’t work, their doctors spread the disease to our families! Did the children of Thaves die in the streets? No! It was your children!”

“Shut your face, Keller!” yells a woman in a dusty dress. “What difference does it make now?”

“They have water!” he screams down from his box. “They have medicine! Do they share it with those of us stuck in the valley? No! They transport it in the night to the plateaus above while we are left to freeze and starve in filth!”

I scurry past with my chin against my chest and my face turned away from Keller’s wide, fiery eyes. I don’t need him seeing me and making a scene again. Thankfully, he is too engaged with the woman in the dress to notice me.

“When the ash cloud came, they locked their doors and left us to perish in…”

Once out of sight and earshot, I relax and continue down the street. I look left and right, trying to spot the newcomer I had seen the day before.

The man crouches in front of two large wooden crates, trying to line them up evenly. Lying in the shade behind him are two large, plastic containers. Though the containers are closed, I can still smell the rich, dark scent of meat inside of them, and it makes my mouth water.

He wears no bandana over his face, and he begins to cough loudly into the crook of his arm as I approach, unnoticed. I scrape the back of my foot on the bricks to announce myself, smiling. He startles; his eyes widen, and his shoulders tense. I smile and take a couple steps closer, pulling the sharp carving knife from my belt. I check the blade with my thumb as I look down at him.

“Have you come to rob me, too?” He hunches his shoulders, looking defeated and lost. “I’ll warn ya—I’ve not much left to steal.”

“No,” I say as I shake my head, wishing I had made my intentions clearer so as not to frighten him. “I saw you setting up your booth yesterday. I heard you tell your son that you’d make more money with a sharper knife—one that could cut the meat in more precise pieces. I think this one will do the trick.”

I twirl the blade back and forth with my fingers, then offer it to the man, handle first.

“It’s well balanced,” I tell him. “Sharp, too.”

Slowly and cautiously, he reaches out and takes the knife from my hand. He furrows his brow as he studies it, flicking the edge of the blade with his thumb, just as I had.

“I can’t afford this,” he tells me as he tries to hand the knife back.

“No backsies!” I laugh and take a step backward, holding my hands up in front of me. “It’s a gift, friend. Welcome to Platterston!”

He continues to stare at me incredulously as he holds the knife limply in his hand. He’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, so I decide to just move away from him until he realizes I’m really not here to steal his wares. I give him a little wave as I step backwards and start to turn.

“Why would you do this?” he asks. “Why would you give me such a thing?”

“I’m hoping you’ll sell me some good bacon,” I say with a smile, “once you have your shop set up.”

“At a discount,” he says with a nod.

I shrug and then start to head on my way.

“What’s your name, boy?”