Rush Hour
"I can sense a good weapon when I see one. How much is that sword?"
The tall man in front of me seemed to exude this type of overbearing confidence enough to make lions lose a staring contest. A little twinkle in his eye as his glare hadn't shifted away from my weapon. It was as if I didn't exist in his eyes. The only thing he saw was my sword and my sword only.
"Um, sir this is not for sale." Quickly licked away the last of the sweetness left on my lips from my delicious treat.
"There is always a price on anything. This offer won't last long kid."
What should I do now? This is something I have been holding onto my whole life. The man's tense aura felt brisk as it encapsulated me. A wide smirk pulled against the surface of his face. This is someone my Mom warned me about!
"How about this: 10 yuan for that sword and... for your safety."
The outstretched hand as if I was signing a contract with the devil himself. The air only got denser and denser as if I was the only person in the whole bustling city to be in a room of crude oil.
"S-sir I really do not want to sell this s-sword..." Gosh please just leave me alone I just got here. With my teeth clamped on my bottom lip I look around for some salvation if any.
The rice cake chef swiped his head to a customer when our gaze collided. The bustling street grew in volume as this man took a heavy step towards my sword.
"Kid at this point I believe my offer is already off the table, why don't you just hand that over?"
The horrid crooked yellows in his mouth revealed themselves as the ends of his smirk reached the far side of his face. Thump thump thump…
What do I do what do I do?!
"Sir please let's talk about this, I don't have much."
"Like I care. Either way, I'm taking that sword."
Too close too close. The wretched stank of smoke drifted from between the ridged banana cage in his jaw.
"Now we could do this the easy way and you just hand it over or you can run and we'll do it the hard way."
"Sounds good."
"What?!"
Incidentally, my legs decided to propel my body down the street toward whatever solace I could hopefully find between the nooks and crannies.
"Get back here!"
The thundering stomps shook me and jumpstarted my nerves. I didn't dare look back. The only way now is forward because a certain fate maybe even worse than death was behind me.
People ahead of me gave way as they stared in shock. Some even scrambled to protect their goods as they saw the bear behind me.
I passed by many colors and many smells, sadly with no time to enjoy either of those things. The weight of my clothes is a small insignificance now that I feel my life threatened.
Getting more and more acclimated with my clothes the breeze blew faster and faster in front of me as my legs churrned.
"That boy has angered Mr.Gu!"
"Don't bring Mr.Gu this way!"
"Clear the streets! It's Mr.Gu!"
I guess my short hair really does make me seem male in the eyes of the people. Before it was the rice cake chef and now it's everyone in town.
The shaking and booming of the ground softened a bunch as I turned the next corner of the street. Turning right I found an alley between a restaurant and a tavern-like structure. I hid behind a straw basket and peeked over the top grasping onto the rest of the strength in my lungs.
A few seconds of heavy breaths later the big man lumbers past the alley.
Whew, I believe I just escaped a deadly situation. Especially from how scared all the townsfolk seemed when they saw him moving up the street. "Mr.Gu?" I guess he is someone I should avoid in my time here.
Cough cough, damn it is pretty dusty here. After releasing myself from my hiding spot I patted off all the dust I had picked up from being in the alley.
Looking both ways before revealing myself out back into the street I made sure the coast was clear. I turn around look at the tavern and make my way to the door.
Time to check out if there's any place I might be able to stay at. Sliding open the bamboo a rush of chatter and cheering came shooting out. A bunch of rowdy soldiers were drinking and eating on a majority of the square wooden tables. The waiters quickly shuffled and dashed around with trays of food and drinks to satisfy the hunger of the customers.
The reception table was right to the left of the entrance so that was the first place I went. A short and slender-looking woman was working at the desk busy with whatever paper she was writing on.
"Excuse me, I have a question."
"Go ahead I'm listening."
The woman stopped what she was doing and immediately looked up with a warm and welcoming smile. It feels like the exact opposite of the man I just had to face in a race just now.
"Do you have any rooms that I could stay in for tonight?"
"We do have some open rooms upstairs, but they are reserved for the city's military only."
Military only?
"Do you know if there's a place that will let travelers stay in?"
"I'm sorry to say, but there isn't any kind of establishment in this city. Unless you are a soldier there isn't much we can do"
This is kind of frustrating. So she is saying that there is literally nowhere I can stay in this whole city.
"But I believe I can make a few exceptions."
"Really?!"
"With some conditions of course."
I hesitated a bit, but ultimately said this:
"What are your conditions?"
My mind started clenching thinking about what I might have to do.
"We are currently short-staffed if you could go in the back and wash the dishes and clean the floor I'll see if I can get you a room tonight."
That's it? It didn't seem like there was much I really had to do. As I followed her to the back of the establishment I would soon realize how much of a mistake that really was.
Workers were rushing even faster in the back and only a few chefs were working making everything hectic as the atmosphere felt tense. As I looked towards the sink I stared in disbelief as the tower of porcelain dishes was even taller than me.
She asked me to leave my stuff in a storage closet and I already feel the weight of this job as an unescapable shackle.
Ugh whatever, Let's do this and get it over with.
"Follow me to the water out back."
Receiving the bucket from her hands I walk beside her as we reach the back and there is a little grassy area with a well in the middle.
"Here is where you'll be getting the water from and dumping the dirty water at."
She brought me over to the well and showed me how to bring water by pulling on a rope attached to a bucket which scooped the water up from down the well.
I lifted my bucket to match hers as she poured the clear liquid into my bucket.
"Now get to work before the sun starts setting."
"Yes ma'am."
I hurried back inside to the sink and started scrubbing away at the dishes with my hands. Halfway submerging the plates into the water and scrubbing them with my fingers seemed to get rid of the bits of food on the plate.
My hands started to feel a bit raw from the constant scrubbing I would do as I cleaned more plates. The workers only ever stacked more and more work as they took and used the newly cleaned plates by me. This seems hopeless it might never end until it gets dark.
There was barely any human interaction in the back as I started to work. No one was paying any attention to me, as if I was supposed to be there working.
I scrubbed and cleaned even after my fingers started to hurt because the only thing on my mind was working to get into a nice and comfortable blanket and bed.
Scrubbing in a circular motion with the palm of my hands seemed to be more efficient and loosened the strain it put on my fingers. I ran out back a few times to clean the bucket of the dirty greasy water and get more clean water.
Only to go back in to see the dishes have piled up even further.
Haa get yourself together Wei it's too early to quit! The sun's daily journey through the sky is almost complete! I got this!
Before I knew it I was cleaning the last cycle of plates in the sink. The constant stacking of plates from the waiters had slowed and even stopped. Now it was the final tower that I had to work through before I was done.
Oh, wait! I forgot I had to clean the floor too! Oh darn, let me get this done and then I'll get the mop from the storage closet.
At the final dish, I scrubbed with a sigh of completion. It was one of the most arduous things I ever had to do in my life. I quickly wiped the excess dirty water off my hands and dumped the bucket outside before getting more water and going back to the storage closet.
I found the mop leaning up against the corner of the closet and wetted it with the mop. Using my hands to drain out the excess water from the mop I began streaking the whole kitchen floor. Leaving no place dry I picked up the pace feeling the end of a hard-working afternoon.
"Whew, Finally complete!"
After the final corner was swiped with the mop I cleaned up the equipment. Dumping the bucket outside and placing them both back into the storage closet.
Taking in a huge breath standing inside the closet I felt kind of accomplished even though it seemed like a small and simple task in the beginning. Looking down at myself I could see that my clothes were dirtied with dishwater and smelled like a mix of barf and oil.
Ugh, I gotta clean my clothes before going to sleep tonight. Good thing my mom had already taught me how to do that. Wait then who taught me how to wash dishes and mop the floor...
That's right as I was growing up with my dad he would always tell me to do these mindless chores over and over again even though the dishes were clean and the floor was shiny.
It's crazy how once I learn something I can use it in the real world. In this instance, I get to sleep in a room and not out in the streets!
I pulled out the now cold, but still good, rice cakes and started eating them as my dinner. Mmm still nice and sweet. A bit dry now though so I went over and drank from the well with a ladle that I found beside the well.
Waiting for the tavern to close its restaurant I finished eating and walked up to the woman I'd spoken to about our agreement.
"Excuse me, ma'am, everything has been completed!"
My chest puffed and I felt a bit happy about what I accomplished and waiting for my prize.
"Oh great."
I could see the huge shift in appearance from how she was in the afternoon to now. Her eyes looked down only a cold expression on her face and back humped as she finished stacking a pile of papers on her desk.
"About that room, I could stay in..."
It didn't feel right for me to say, but I needed to make sure all that work wasn't for naught.
"Oh right, I did say that didn't I..."
Could she have forgotten throughout the whole evening?
"Sorry kid, but we booked out all the remaining available rooms in the afternoon. You'll have to leave now that you're done."
"WHAT!"