Chapter 27: The Proper Way to Cut Carrots

Chapter 27: The Proper Way to Cut Carrots

I lay there staring at the ceiling while everyone else got ready for bed. Some of the kids tried to get me to tell them a bedtime story but I replied that I wasn’t feeling well.

Even after the lights were turned out and everyone drifted off to sleep, I lay there staring at the ceiling. So much had happened that day that I found it impossible to sleep.

I was still awake when I felt my shadow squirming again.

“I can’t tonight,” I whispered. “It’s too hard to get back.”

The shadow shuffled again under the blanket. When I looked, I could differentiate it from the regular darkness. It was a deeper black than normal, and it wouldn’t stop moving.

“Cut. It. Out,” I grumbled a little louder.

“Be quiet,” Sam groaned from the next bed over. “I’m trying to sleep.”

My shadow was relentless. When I could take no more, I shuffled under the blanket until I was sitting up. The shadow continued shifting until it was directly above me. I somehow knew it wanted me to climb through.

I mouthed the word. “No!”

It nodded. How I knew it nodded was beyond me but I felt it in my neck. Heaving a sigh, I decided to meet it halfway. I stuck my head through the opening and was greeted with a surprised squeak by my sister.

Fortunately, she was in bed too, so my sudden appearance didn’t alert anyone else. She kicked off her blanket and curled into a ball. There was just enough moonlight in her bedroom so that she could see me clearly.

“Oliver?” She whispered, inching closer to me. “Is that you? And why are you just a head?”

“It’s magic,” I whispered back, hoping desperately that nobody on my end heard me. “If I only go this far, I can visit you more often.”

That had to have been what my shadow was trying to tell me. Just put part of me through the shadow. That way I wouldn’t get stuck over there. It solved the problem of never being able to see her.

“Can I keep your head?” She asked, looking like she wanted to hide me under her pillow when she went out.

“No!” I replied, trying to hold back a laugh. “I need my head. But I can visit you. Every night before bed if you like.”

She smiled, stroking my hair softly. “I’d like that very much.”

I lost track of time as we chatted about everything. There were a lot of things Grace hadn’t told me during my accidental visit to her house the first time. She’d been so happy to see me that she hadn’t thought about filling me in on her life. It turned out, things were tough for her and her mother after I left. While they had been able to keep the house, they had to sell a lot of the family’s possessions to make it happen. They kept just enough to keep up appearances, and even that at the expense of other more important things.

“Did your stomach just growl?” I asked after hearing just that.

Grace blushed. “It’s fine. I can eat in the morning. Mom eats even less than I do.”

“Do you have enough food?” I pressed, wanting to go down to the kitchen to get her some.

“I have more than you!” She shot back defiantly.

Grace didn’t know about my current arrangement with Miss Aires.

“I’ll make you a deal,” I whispered. “Starting tomorrow, I’ll send food through your shadow. I’ll wake up extra early to get it to you, so don’t be surprised when you wake up to a delicious breakfast.”

She smiled. I’d forgotten how much I loved that smile. It felt like a ray of sunshine that warmed my whole body. Then she hugged me which felt very awkward considering all she had access to was my head.

“I love you so much, big brother,” she whispered. “I wish we could live together like we used to.”

“Me too,” I sighed, struggling to breathe as she pressed me to her.

After that, we said our goodnights and I popped my head out of the shadow. It had worked. I was ready to sleep. Since my shadow had no further reason to keep me awake, it settled down too.

I woke early and snuck downstairs to see what food was leftover that I could send to Grace. To my surprise, a pair of women from Mishun’s Southern Grill were already there setting up breakfast. The only person from the orphanage in the dining hall was Miss Havasu. She sat at the head of the table working on a plate of sausage and eggs.

“Good morning, Oliver,” she greeted me in between bites. “I see you’re joining us for breakfast. Come and have a seat. There are some things I’d like to go over with you.”

She waited while I made a plate for myself. The delivery ladies continued to bring tray after tray into the room. Miss Havasu helped herself to another plate at the same time. It made me wonder if she’d secretly been starving herself before I made my deal.

“About this delivery arrangement,” she began. “I can accept losing you but I’m not sure about the other kids delivering packages for fake money. Beth told me about how expensive the items are at the auction.”

“I know,” I replied. “But there’s a special shopping district and I’m sure I can find some…”

“Be that as it may,” she cut me off. “I’d like you to find out if there is a currency exchange. That’s how we do things in the adult world. Whenever there is foreign currency, as this seems to be, there is always a way to convert it to the American dollar. That’s more valuable. I can spend it on things the orphanage needs to survive.”

“I’ll look into it,” I promised while heaping more food than I could possibly hope to eat on my plate. Not that it mattered. Miss Havasu took a lot more than me, and there was still enough for everyone else to fill their bellies.

While we ate, I slipped one of the plates into my bag while Miss Havasu wasn’t looking. It was only when the other kids started to trickle in that I excused myself to take a shower. Miss Havasu waved me off while greeting the smaller children.

Once I got to the stairwell, I took out the plate and offered it to my shadow. It stretched itself until it was big enough to devour the plate and food whole. I wondered if it made it to Grace until I heard a quiet. “Thank you.”

After a quick shower, I rounded up Sam and Beth and headed off to the guild. We’d already eaten this time, so we went straight to the quest board and scooped up all of the D ranked delivery quests.

“Just the smaller ones?” The girl asked from behind the counter as she went off to collect the parcels.

“That’s right,” I replied, watching her go.

She returned with ten small parcels and another medium-sized one. Sam and Beth fought over it before I opened my bag and said, “I’ll deliver this one.”

I recognized where it was going, to the annoying guy at Max Corp. Before we left, I asked the girl one final question. “Is there a currency exchange somewhere in the guild?”

She gave me a strange look before realizing what I was asking. “Oh, you need peasant money. Yeah, you can exchange money at the bank. We have one on the first just beyond the reception area.”

The only thing I’d noticed beyond reception had been the room they dragged my friends off to when I brought them to the guild. I considered it a bad place where they placed binding contracts on people they didn’t like.

Armed with the knowledge of a bank, I headed off for the restaurant. When we were halfway there, Beth pulled me aside. “Um, do you mind if we go?”

“What, why?” I asked, thinking it was out of character for them to run off so soon.

“She doesn’t want to do chores,” Sam laughed. “It’s not like Miss Aires paid us. It’s you she wants.”

“Oh,” I replied. “Well, I’ll see you later then.”

“Pick up some more deliveries on the way home if you remember,” Beth called over her shoulder.

Then I was alone. I looked for Leslie but she wasn’t around either. Wasn’t she supposed to meet up with Leila? I hoped she had. She was so excited.

Giving up on finding my new friend, I reported to Miss Aires. I still owed my part of the bargain for her feeding my family.

“Come over here,” she announced when I walked in the door. “You’re going to help me with the breakfast rush today. Let’s test your cooking chops.”

I nodded and donned my apron, heading into the back. Miss Aires bumped one of her chefs off of an assembly line and said, “Oliver, I want you to start by chopping vegetables. Watch me first.”

She started with a carrot. Miss Aires placed it on the counter and held it with one hand while wielding a knife with the other. Then the chopping started. Her hand flashed and sounds of the knife impacting the board filled the room. I watched as she systematically moved the carrot under the knife, making perfectly even cuts every time.

“That is a skill,” she explained, handing me the knife. “To learn cooking without any skills is going to take a lot of time and effort. However, your special skill allows you to do things I can’t do, so maybe you can use it to compensate. Did you get anything when you watched me just now?”

I shook my head. Was I supposed to be Analyzing her technique?

Miss Aires sighed. “Fine. I’ll do it again. Watch closely this time.”

This time, I paid close attention to the fine detail of what she was doing.

Info: Chopping

1. Select a sharp all-purpose knife.

2. Make sure you have a nice stable surface such as a cutting board.

3. Keep your fingers tucked under your knuckles.

4. Place the tip of the knife on the cutting board and chop with the heel of the blade.

5. Chop in a consistent motion.

6. Do not over chop.

Your Research skill has increased: +1 (9)

I was so focused on reading the directions that I didn’t notice Miss Aires stop chopping. She tapped her foot as she waited for me to respond.

“I think I’d like to try it,” I said.

She smiled, pushing a bowl of carrots at me. “That’s what I like to hear. Practice on these.”

Miss Aires watched as I did the first few carrots. Step one was easy since she provided me with the sharpest knife I’d ever used. I wasn’t sure if it was all-purpose or not but it must have been the right tool for the job or she wouldn’t have given it to me. The entire table, it turned out, was a cutting board. It was also perfectly stable, so I had no problems there. I tucked my fingers under my knuckles and tried to position myself like I’d seen Miss Aires do. All that was left was to chop.

I set the tip of the blade on the counter and began rocking the blade back to make deliberate cuts into the carrot. It was slow going at first but I quickly built up confidence and my speed improved as a result. It was nothing like what Miss Aires could do but good enough not to get chastised.

“Not bad,” she said with an evil smile. “Do the whole bowl and come find me.”