by ipam
Lamis says. “We cover the cakes with an e-field cloth for any type of barrier wall transport. We have to cover everything with e-field cloth for transportation into Colfax or the outer townships. I thought you came here, before...”
I giggle. “We did. But, my mama transported the merchandise for me. Ya know, mamas take care of their babies, until death…”
Lamis nods. “Okay, the price is 3,100 chips.”
Jara nods, rattling the chips, counting out the aluminum.
Lamis smiles, re-counting the chips. She frowns with confusion. Then, she recounts the chips, a second time. She says. “The number of chips totals 5,000 even. The price is 3,100 chips. I am sorry, that I confused you…”
Jara smiles and winks. “Naw! The extra chips are for you, Lamis, working, so late, at night and helping Ketona with her perfect wedding. Can you get a bonus, here, at the shop?”
Lamis drops her mouth, nodding then grins. “Well, yes, I’m paid on the number of items that I sell for the day.”
Jara smiles and winks. “Well, tonight, babe, ya made a hog killing, honey. I’d take the day off, tomorrow, also, for your good selling job, tonight.”
Lamis nods, sliding the chips into the drawer for the purchased the merchandise. Then, she slides the remaining chips into her jumpsuit pocket. She nods, saying. “Right, yeah! I’m going to ask for a day off, tomorrow, so I can go shopping for myself. Thank ya’ll, so much! Are ya’ll finished inside the dress shop? Do you want anything else, here?”
I smile. “Naw. We need to go back home, too. It’s getting late. Where’s the e-field cart? We can wrap the cakes and dresses, while Buffo and Hatch load the cakes and dresses onto the e-field cart for you.”
Lamis leads out the dress shop with Jara and Ketona following behind.
Bakery floor
I walk through the bakery floor behind Lamis.
She wraps the e-field cloths around each cake. Jara and I carefully wrap the dresses, without any merchandise item getting sizzled between the electromagnetic field ions.
Buffo and Hatch load the cakes and dresses onto the e-field cart.
I nod and smile to Lamis. “Thanks for waiting on us, Lamis. I’ll come back real soon for…my wedding dress and my wedding cake design. Do you design cakes, too?”
She nods and smiles. “Yeah, I stay late to practice with my pretty flower designs. If you come back, come later in the evening, like now. I don’t work in the morning time. I usually sleep. And, don’t come back, tomorrow. I’m taking the evening off. I’m allowed some work time off, since I really have some chips to spend. Thanks, again for the bonus money!”
I nod and smile. “Okay, see ya’ll, again, on another day.” I walk out the door into the night.
Lamis exhales, spinning from the front entrance door. She sees the mess that Buffo and Hatch left on three different tables with the cookies crumbs, cupcakes frosting, empty glasses, and the scattered chairs. She giggles at their silly boy like behavior then exhales. She’s too tired to clean up the mess for the evening. She’ll leave it for the other intern-in-training to straighten the chairs and clean the table surface, before the daily customers arrive for their bakery treats.
Lamis cuts the lights off then slams the rear door, walking to her apartment building.
Garbage hill
Buffo exhales, pushing the e-field cart. “Why ya buy the fancy dresses and tall cakes, too?”
“For the birthday party,” I giggle, shoving the e-field cart up the hillside, making me sweat inside the scarf. I smell my stinky breathe, too.
Buffo frowns. “How are we going to explain everything, Ketona?”
Jara giggles, shoving the e-field cart up the hillside. “Don’t worry! Girls love dresses. And, boys love cake. And everyone loves a party, including me. No one will ask any questions, since they’ll be too busy eating and partying for some fun in boring Burrville.”
I skip ahead, stabbing the three magnets, really quickly into the wall, getting good at my new stabbing technique. I expand the field, watching the ions scatter, creating a great big hole.
We shove the e-field car through the opening then Buffo dives over. He catches then halts the cart from drifting over the field.
We load on the fliers then Buffo lift the rope of the e-field cart, flying towards the house.
Chapter 10
Wednesday
8:09 am. Colfax
travel car. rainy. gray sky. dark clouds. cold morning. 65°F
Duchie scoots next to Rincon, giggling.
Marsilla sits beside Duchie.
The mayor and Nephella sit, together, on the opposite side. The mayor studies her cell, saying. “Last night, a new set of recorded black circles has mysterious appeared, inside Montag.” She views Marsilla, smashing her nose bridge with ugliness. “We are very fortunate to visit Montag, today, to witness this event. Marsilla, you expressed, yesterday, that you would like to explore and explain the black circles.”
Marsilla nods and smirks. “Yes ma’am! I will volunteer to visit each circle and then propose an explanation.”
The mayor nods and smirks. “Excellent answer. Have you ever visited Montag, before, intern Marsilla?”
Marsilla drops her mouth. “No ma’am! I don’t have any blood-relatives, living here.” She smiles. “But, ya know, I might have a long lost fourth cousin, or something like that. Ya know, I might wanna stay the entire day and visit with my long lost fourth cousin. Ya know…”
The mayor exhales, nodding. “I do not know. But, if you wish to stay the day, you may stay. The travel car will collect you, before sunrise. How does that arrangement entice you, intern Marsilla?”
Marsilla nods and giggles, rattling her aluminum chips inside her dress pocket.
The travel car halts at the golden barrier wall then slowly penetrates its sharp point of the engine design into the e-field. The car punches through the opposite side, slowly rolling over the smooth roads, inside the city of Montag.
Marsilla gasps, viewing her cell. The cell immediately shows the surrounding viewing field of energy and objects. “It’s…it is so ugly. Gray paved hilly roads, gray colored big trucks with blue smoke, and a stack of grayish white tall buildings, and a stack of low grayish white buildings. Where’re the tall pine trees, and low green shrubs, and pretty flower beds, like we saw in Dandine?”
The mayor chuckles, fingering the glittering hillside of her cell. “Not here, inside Montag, this is the warehouse district. The business shops make our clothing, our food stuffs, our shoes, our golden leather dresses. Do you see the hillside, inside your new cell, intern Marsilla?”
Marsilla gasps, touching her cell, nodding. “The hillside is composed of tall and ugly mounts of garbage.”
The mayor chuckles, nodding and studying her cell, too. “Yes, the shop keepers discharge the trash along side the hill, where the me-chees collect the piles, both day and night. It takes months to collect the garbage, since the shop owners work, almost all day and night, too, creating the goodies, coming into Colfax for our wonderful citizens.”
Rincon narrows his eyelids at the mayor. “Why do the shop owners work all day and night?”
The mayor smiles. “Well, not all the shop owners, only the untalented ones.”
The travel car halts.
The mayor smiles. “Before, we all exit into the city of Montag.” She hands the objects to Marsilla. “You will need a pair of glasses and a nose mask.”
Marsilla accepts the items, studying each one. “What, for?” She views the cell, seeing sky and the landscape. “I see pretty skies of yellow sunshine. No rain, here. I see the paved roads and sideways.”
The mayor chuckles. “You will need the face mask, before, exiting into the city.” She hands the objects to the other interns. “We all will need the face mask for both protection and recognition.”
Rincon frowns at the face mask components: eyeglasses and nose mask. He slips them over his face.
Duchie slips them over her face, too. S
he nods and giggles.
The mayor and Nephella place the face mask over their eyes and nose holes.
Rincon chuckles at the odd sight of five people, looking like a group of aliens.
Marsilla cannot frown but says with fury, sounding funny with her nose clipped. “This is a joke. I don’t like jokes. I am a serious intern, here. This is a sorry joke from Rincon. He’s jealous, that I get to explore Montag, all day long. No. I refuse.” She tosses the items onto the bench.
The hatch opens.
Marsilla holds her nose, coughing. “Ugh! The smell!? What’s that smell?”
The mayor talks funny with her nose clipped, not sliding out the travel car. “The smell comes from the garbage located on the hillside, before the me-chees collect the garbage, at the end of the day. And, it is, also, the location of the mysterious black circles.”
The interns laugh funny with their nose clipped.
Marsilla holds her breath, grabbing both the eyeglasses and nose clip. She places over her face, frowning with depression at the tall mount of garbage.
The mayor giggles and fingers the hillside. “So, get going, intern Marsilla, for your review and interview of the black circles.” She scans the row of shops. “We will be waiting for your vocal report, inside the closest food shop, over there. I would suggest, starting with the newest set of black circles, way over there, near the set of empty trash bins, before more trash accumulates along the dirt tracks of the hillside. And, please, take your time, also.” She scoots from the car, walking towards the shop.
The interns laugh funny with their nose clipped, following the mayor.
Marsilla exhales, sobbing with tears, making a big mistake. Her tears cause the eyeglasses to blind her eyeballs. She rips off the eyeglasses, cleaning her eyeballs of moisture, walking towards the empty trash bin.
Bakery shop
The mayor enters the shop, holding her breath. She removes the face mask, inhaling the recycled fresh air. She shuffles towards one of the tables, smirking and chuckling at naïve intern.
Nephella frowns with annoyance, sitting inside one of the empty chairs around the table. “Mama, that would really mean and cruel.”
The mayor raises her hand for the waitress to come to the table for her food order, saying. “Daughter, you are training to be the next administrator of Colfax, eventually, replacing me, when I retire. You must learn to recognize both techniques of deception and betrayal, immediately, in order to act, appropriately for an appropriate…action.” She giggles, wiggling her fingers at the busy waitress.
Rincon sits near the window, viewing Marsilla.
Marsilla walks up the hill then slides back down.
He chuckles then winks at Duchie. He says. “I believe we have found a clear cut explanation of the black circles, inside the smelly city of Montag. The metal trash bins hit the wall then echo back with a set of black circles. The numerous black circles, lining the wall, are the numerous tall and ugly trash bins.”
Duchie frowns with sadness, thinking it’s mean and cruel to make Marsilla climb through the trash bins. She watches Marsilla climb up and then fall down into the trash. She softly asks. “How long are you going to make Marsilla climb around the trash? I agree with Nephella. Marsilla has learned her lesson, today.”
Rincon laughs. “Marsilla is going to stink up the travel car on the way back into Colfax. I do not wanna ride back with her smelly…body.”
“Me, either.” Duchie nods.
The mayor wiggles her fingers at the bakery clerk, standing behind the counter for attention. “I have ordered a new travel car, coming and arriving through the wall, within the hour. That should be sufficient time for Marsilla to find and locate one of the newest set of black circles. Then, she can confirm that all the dents come from the metal trash bins, banging against the barrier wall. In which time, we should be finished with our beverage and pastry, if I can get the attention of the clerk.”
Rincon stands. “I don’t think, this is a restaurant setting, mayor. I believe we select our entrée from the window displays and then pay for the food…”
The mayor exhales. “You are very acute with your observations, Rincon. You would make a fine administrator technician in Colfax, too, but my daughter possesses that job.”
Duchie stands and giggles, punching Nephella on the bicep, being shorter.
Nephella exhales, walking behind her mama. “Thanks for the compliment, as always, Mama!”
Rincon stands at the window display, ordering. “I would like a cupcake and a beverage…”
The door opens with a bang, hitting the wall.
“I’ve be robbed.” The shop keeper tosses her arms, yelling. “I’ve been robbed. Someone stole my cookies, cupcakes, and birthday cakes. Who’s the authority, here, inside Montag? Who do I contact for assistance in this urgent criminal matter? I have been robbed. My lovely cakes are gone, missing. I want my cakes found…”
The shop baker frowns with confusion. “You have been robbed. Well, there has never been a robbery, here, inside Montag, before, that I know of. I don’t know, who to call. I don’t know, who the authority figure is here, in Montag.”
The mayor gasps with shock, swinging around to the angry shop owner. “I am the mayor of Colfax. I am the authority figure, here, in Montag.”
The baker frowns at the mayor’s back. “You live in Colfax, not Montag. Why do you have authority here, inside Montag?”
The mayor shoves the shop owner towards the door, ordering. “Show me! Show me your evidence? Then, I will find the robbers and punish them.”
Second bakery shop
The shop owner nods, swinging around. She dashes out the room, running down to her shop. She exhales and opens the door, standing along the wall. She fingers the room. “Look at this mess! The robbers ate all the other cookies and cupcakes that were not stolen, last night. Then, they robbed me of my cakes, too.”
“What cakes?” Rincon stands inside the archway, scanning the messy room.
The lobby of the shop shows three out of ten messy tables. The messy tables are covered in numerous cookie crumbs and smeared cupcake colored frosting. The chairs are scattered around the room. The window display is empty of fresh baked cookies or cupcakes.
The shop owner walks behind the counter, saying. “I arrived at my usual time. When I entered the lobby of the shop, I found this ugly scene. Every night, the tables are cleaned. And, the chairs are scooted underneath the table. When I left, last night, the tables were neat and clean, also. The robber entered my shop and then robbed me of my livelihood. I depend upon selling my cookies and cupcakes, every day to the Colfaxians.”
The mayor gasps. “The goodies were traveling to Colfax.”
“Yes.” The shop owner shifts, moving towards the rear table.
The mayor and interns follow her into the bakery room.
The shop owner stands in the middle of the bakery floor, fingering the empty table. “On top of that clean table, there were three tall cakes of white with pretty colored flowers. The cakes were going to Colfax for three birthday parties…”
Rincon walks around the bakery floor. The room shows spilled contents of flour, sugar, milk, and other messy ingredients for making and baking both cookies and cakes. He asks. “Did you accept payment in advance for the three cakes from the parents?”
“No.” the shop owner says.
Rincon swings to her, smiling. “Excellent, you can prepare three more cakes for the birthday parties.”
“I was robbed,” the shop owner frowns.
Rincon says. “I can’t explain the robbery. But, you can recoup the lost of the thief.”
The mayor scans the messy baker room. “Who was here, last night? Did someone see the robbery, inside your cake shop? Or, did someone help with the robbery, inside your cake shop?”
The shop owner shakes her curls. “No. I was the last one to leave, last night. The rear door was closed, as usual. The other cookies and cupcakes were inside the window display, ready
for selling, this morning.”
The mayor nods. “Yes, you were robbed. How did the robber get inside your shop?”
The shop owner gasps then nods. “The door is not locked.”
The mayor gasps. “What!?”
The shop owner shakes her curls and hands. “The door is latched, when it is closed, at all times from the wind or another natural event. However, any person can enter the store, at anytime.”
The mayor frowns with annoyance, parking both hands on her hips. “This is why I am not the mayor of Montag, but Colfax. You can’t claim a thief robbery, if you do not lock and seal the front door for both protection and safe guarding your goods. This is not a crime, here, inside Montag.”
The shop owner nods. “This is our way, here, in Montag. Everyone is nice and polite and honest. No one steals, here, ever…”
Marsilla rushes into the open door, scanning the room for the mayor. She saw the interns and the mayor enter the shop, spying on them from the hillside. She rushes around the window display, entering the baker flooring.
Duchie holds her nose. “Poo-wee! Someone smells like gar-barge,” she giggles with Rincon.
Nephella punches Duchie on the collar bone, frowning with annoyance at her new friend.
Marsilla sneers. “Shut it! Ms. Mayor, I found something, really weird. The last set of black circles are not located behind a trash bin, but beside it. And, I touched and examined the wall barrier. I felt two tiny slight cold spots, along the wall of the surrounding warmer molecules, like Rincon did, inside Dandine. I conclude, that a smart teen is whacking the barrier wall and breaking it, and then the teen is coming through the wall. What are ya’ll doing in here?” She scans the cookies and cakes. “I wanna a cupcake, too.”
The mayor gasps, studying Marsilla and then the shop owner.
The shop owner fingers the table with the missing cakes, nodding.
The mayor views Marsilla, saying. “Show me the spot on the barrier wall.”
Marsilla grins and nods. She swings towards the front door. She exits with the mayor and the interns, following behind her.