by Amy Neftzger
“None of your business,” Kelsey snapped over her shoulder as she continued to eye the boy with suspicion. This was the last thing she needed. The child appeared to be an orphan, and if he really did save her, then she was in his debt and owed him for her life. She would have to find a way to repay him, and Kelsey didn’t have time for favors. She had no time for poor kids who needed help. It would only slow her down on her quest. A bee hovered near Kelsey as it sniffed the juices covering her body. Kelsey could hear the buzzing noise as if it had been amplified. She wondered how she would get clean again and felt her anger rise.
The door to The Memory Shoppe flew open, and the shopkeeper hurriedly scrambled outside with several large jars in her arms. She frantically smashed them on the sidewalk on top of the pool of bad memories. Almost immediately the smells of vanilla ice cream and lemonade became overwhelming. Once she had covered the shattered bad memories with several bottles of pleasant memories, the woman angrily stomped over to Kelsey.
“You!” the clerk trembled with anger as she spoke. “I should have known better than to sell you those memories. I knew you couldn’t handle them. I knew it! And now look at how many good memories I’ve had to waste to cover the scent, or no one would come near my shop. You’ve cost me more than you’re worth.”
“It was an accident,” Kelsey explained meekly. “I didn’t trip on purpose.”
“Did one of my competitors send you here to ruin my business?” The shopkeeper’s lipstick was sliding rapidly from one side of her mouth to the other. It looked like it was speed skating.
“No. I didn’t even know that a shop like this existed.”
“Didn’t know?” Her blue eye shadow bounced up into her forehead and back down again several times before settling back on top of her eyelids. “We’re famous. People come from all over the region for memories. You must think I’m stupid.”
“Please,” Kelsey begged. “Can I buy another memory? Just one more.”
“Get lost,” the shopkeeper screamed as she turned away. “And don’t ever come back here.” Kelsey heard the shop door lock after the clerk went back inside. It was hopeless. There was no way she could use a memory to find a miracle now. Kelsey, annoyed and exasperated, turned to the boy in front of her.
“Did you trip me?” The boy rapidly shook his head but didn’t speak. “Well?” Kelsey demanded expectantly, but the boy still didn’t speak.
“I told you that he saved you,” the melon vendor explained again as he released Kelsey with a little push. “He wasn’t anywhere near you when you tripped, but he pushed you out of that cloud of despair before it destroyed you. So don’t be hard on him.” Kelsey looked distrustfully at the vendor. “I don’t know what you were doing with those bad memories, anyway. Most people buy those and throw them at their enemies. I heard the king even uses those in the war.”
“There is no war!” a young woman shouted in disgust as she walked past without stopping to argue her point.
“Everyone knows that there is no war. Never has been,” a short, elderly gentleman with a mustache agreed.
“Not believing in it won’t make it go away,” insisted a young man in the crowd. Kelsey rolled her eyes. Every time the war was mentioned, people stopped to give an opinion on whether it was real. Opinions were OK as long as you didn’t have to listen to them. She didn’t have time to listen to anything that wasn’t helpful to her cause.
“Have you seen it? Have you actually seen the war with your own eyes?” the elderly man asked in an aggressive manner while pointing his finger at the younger one. “I suppose you also believe in flying fish.”
“If pigs can fly, I don’t see why fish can’t,” another young man piped in.
“Winged swine are not flying pigs,” a middle-aged women explained in a tired voice. “Just like those legless lizards and the snakes. Not the same at all. And besides, what do these things have to do with the war? Anyone with sense can see the effects of the war. You don’t have to see something to know it exists. We can’t see the wind, either. But we know it’s there because we see how it affects other things.”
“Effects?” the old man screamed back at her. “What effects can we see from this imaginary war?”
“Young men and women missing arms or legs, for example,” the woman responded in an equally loud tone. “I suppose they imagined they lost their limbs, too!”
“Actors. All of them,” the old man brushed aside her remark with a wave of his hand. “Every year the king spends more money on actors to convince us of his imaginary war, and we pay for it with our taxes.”
“Are they pretending they don’t have arms or legs?” the woman challenged.
“If they’re any good,” the old man remarked over his shoulder as he began to walk away. He clearly wasn’t in the mood to argue with anyone. Most people don’t like arguing if there’s a risk of losing. They were the same way in Kelsey’s village, especially when it came to arguing over the war.
“The real challenge would be to act like you still have the body parts that were lost in the war!” the woman shouted at the man’s back, but he never turned around. The argument had caught almost everyone’s attention in the area, but the melon vendor noticed the boy in rags shaking his head slowly.
“You don’t think there’s a war?” the melon vendor asked in an amused tone. The boy nodded.
“Yes, you don’t believe in the war or yes, you believe there is a war?” The boy maintained his eye contact with the vendor and slowly held up two fingers. “Two?” the vendor laughed and then realized what the boy was attempting to communicate. “Oh, the second explanation. You do believe there is a war.” The boy nodded vigorously and smiled that he had been understood. Kelsey was losing patience again. In her present situation, it didn’t matter to her if there was a war or not. She only knew what she needed to accomplish, and that was to figure out how to help the boy so that she could be rid of him and on her way. She turned to face him.
“Do you refuse to speak because you don’t want to talk or are you unable to speak?” she asked in a slightly hostile manner. When the boy shrugged Kelsey became annoyed.
“He’s lost his parents. That’s trauma enough to stop anyone from speaking, so have a little patience,” the melon vendor responded in a sympathetic tone. This only perturbed Kelsey more. Everyone seemed to feel sympathy for the boy. She felt her temper rise again.
“So you saved me. Good job,” she announced impatiently and with unsuppressed annoyance. “I suppose I need to watch over you now until someone can take care of you.”
His large, innocent-looking eyes gave the boy a helpless air that made Kelsey want to punch him. “I don’t need the responsibility of taking care of you, but since it’s the right thing to do, I will do it. But I won’t be happy about it,” she finally announced. The melon vendor laughed, but Kelsey ignored him. “I don’t have much money, but I will do what I can to assist you. Maybe I can find a place for you somewhere.” An idea suddenly occurred to her as she spoke. Her speech slowed and she took on a more pleasant tone. “Perhaps there’s a shop that needs some help in this town or the next. I’ll look for a place where you can work for room and board.” She turned to the melon vendor and smiled broadly. “How about you? You seem to have taken a liking to this young man.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied. “I can’t take on any help. I barely earn enough for my family. What this boy needs is an orphanage.” An orphanage! Why didn’t she think of this before?
“Is there an orphanage here in this town?” Kelsey enquired with undisguised optimism.
“No, but perhaps you could take him to the Orphanage of Miracles.”
“Where?” Kelsey heard only the word “miracle”, and her annoyance vanished. She was suddenly very interested.
“The Orphanage of Miracles. It’s the best place for anyone who has lost anything. People who have lost their way or their hope or their parents go to the orphanage to be restored.”
Kelsey had never heard
of this place, and it sounded too good to be true. In fact, it was perfect. She could dump the boy there and get the miracle she needed for herself. Beautiful!
“I’ve never heard of it before. In fact, where I’m from there are no orphanages at all,” she said.
“Well, then, you must be from nowhere because anyone who has been anywhere has heard of the Orphanage of Miracles. It’s famous.”
“I’m from Nayware,” Kelsey reluctantly admitted and then abruptly changed the subject before she had to explain further. “So where is this orphanage located? Do you have an address?”
“Miracles don’t have an address. They just are,” he laughed as though this point should be obvious. However, when he saw Kelsey’s expression, he quickly became serious and continued. “But you’re headed in the right direction. You might want to ask around when you get a little closer.”
“How do I know when I’m getting closer?”
“I’ve never been there, so I’m not sure. But I think it’s the right place to go. After all, this little guy was nothing short of a miracle when he risked himself to save you from the bad memories.” Kelsey again became irritated at the thought of her debt to the little boy. She turned to look at him. He was so full of sweetness and innocence. And he was clean while she was soaking with the juice of sticky melons. Her anger returned, and she felt impatient again.
“Do you have a name?” she snapped. The boy stared back with wide eyes of sweetness and innocence. Kelsey wanted to hit something. “You respond to me with silence? Then your name is Silence.” She knew that she gave him the name out of spite, but the kid had the nerve to smile in satisfaction when she said it. He liked the name. “Let’s go, Silence,” she ordered as she took his arm and pulled him through the crowd.
“Good luck!” the melon vendor called after them, stooping to pick up the broken melons.
“We’re going to have to set up a few rules, Silence,” Kelsey said after they had moved on. Silence eagerly nodded in agreement. This kid was acting way too congenially, and it made Kelsey want to smack him. “But I don’t know what all of them are yet, so I’ll make them up as we go.” Silence nodded. He seemed happy just to be with someone. Kelsey found his gratefulness just as annoying as everything else about him. She started dreaming up some rules that would make Silence uncomfortable, and this mental activity helped her to pass the time without talking.
She walked swiftly through the crowd, towing Silence along. Since the city was built into the face of the cliff, there was only one other exit on the eastern side of the path, unless she wanted to go back the way she came and return home. Kelsey was so focused on getting out of the city that she had stopped looking at the shops and street vendors. She wanted to put as much distance as possible between herself and the embarrassing incident with the bad memories. It wasn’t until Silence tugged on the hem of her shirt that she stopped to look at what he wanted to show her. One of the vendors was selling knives. When she saw the display, Kelsey quickly forgot how much she wanted to leave the town. She released Silence’s arm and stepped up to the merchant’s stall to look at the tables full of shining steel. The blades were all neatly lined up and shimmering in the sunlight like a choir of deadly metals. Her expression softened as she admired the craftsmanship in the knives. There were all kinds, too - large machetes, small razors, hunting knives, cooking knives and daggers. Hundreds of daggers with handles made from every wood, some of which were dyed in colorful patterns. If she had had the money to purchase them, Kelsey would have had a dagger to match every outfit. To her, they were better than shoes or purses and more practical.
“They’re beautiful,” she remarked tenderly, as if admiring a nursery full of newborns. Silence smiled broadly and pointed at one dagger in particular that he liked. He might be annoying, but the kid had taste. Kelsey examined the intricately carved handle. There was a design of inlaid pearl that resembled a symbol she had once seen but couldn’t remember. Someone had taken a lot of time to artfully craft it - someone who obviously cared about knives the way Kelsey did. She felt an immediate affinity for the artist. “That’s the best one,” she remarked aloud. Silence nodded in agreement, but this time she didn’t find his attitude irritating because she knew he was right.
“Best artisan work,” the knife salesman assured Kelsey in a strong accent. Kelsey didn’t know where he was from, but his blond hair and aqua-colored eyes made him look out of place in the city in the rock. He picked up the knife and presented it to her to examine more closely. She couldn’t resist taking it and feeling the way the handle rested in her palm. It felt so comfortable, like sitting in that big overstuffed chair in the living room back home. That was it: She felt at home with this dagger in her hand. Kelsey was in a trancelike state, admiring the dagger, when Silence tugged at her sleeve. He pointed at the knife and then at Kelsey. She already knew that she wanted to buy it, but she didn’t know if she could afford it. Her money was limited, and she didn’t know how long it needed to last, especially since she now had a traveling companion. It would be foolish to part with her money too quickly.
“How much is it?” she politely asked the salesman.
“For you, I give good deal,” he replied. “Special knife, special price. One golden crown.” He saw Kelsey hesitate and then continued in his broken accent. “I give good deal. Best quality. Knife cut everything. Knife cut magic.” Kelsey assumed that he meant to say that the knife cut like magic. The blade was wonderfully sharp. Regardless, she had only two golden crowns for the whole journey, and she knew it wasn’t wise to part with so much money. But she wanted it. She knew she wanted to take the dagger with her when she left the city. In fact, she would rather leave Silence behind, but that wasn’t an option. As she struggled with the price, another bee started buzzing near her face. She swatted at it, but it was attracted to the sweetness of the dried melon juice clinging to her hair and so it kept flying back towards her face. She batted it so hard with her hand that when it didn’t come back she thought she had stunned or killed it.
“It’s gorgeous, but I don’t think I can afford it,” Kelsey replied sadly to the merchant. She began reaching forward to place the dagger back on the vendor’s cart when Silence tugged on her sleeve again. When she looked down, he reached inside his shabby coat and pulled out a few silver coins. That was the last thing Kelsey expected. Silence was full of surprises. He pointed at the knife and then back at Kelsey. Then he handed the coins to the vendor and bowed. They totaled half the price of the knife. Kelsey wasn’t sure if she should be grateful with Silence for trying to help or annoyed at him for his generosity. The thought of owing him anything more irritated her, so she struggled between her desire for the knife and knowing that she would owe Silence another debt. Just as she was about to hand the dagger back to the vendor and tell him that she couldn’t afford it, the bee came towards her aggressively. Without a thought, she swung the dagger at the insect and sliced it in half. The pieces of the bee quickly fell to the ground. Kelsey stared at the knife in disbelief for a moment before coming back to reality and telling the vendor she would take it. Something about the way that she instinctively handled the knife with precision made her realize that a quality weapon might be a good thing to have on a potentially dangerous journey. Silence clapped his hands in excitement when Kelsey announced her purchase. It didn’t take much to make this kid happy, it seemed.
“Where did you get the money?” she asked the still smiling boy. He pointed down towards the earth, and Kelsey nodded that she understood that he had found it on the ground. She was too overwhelmed with the surprise of the situation to think clearly, but she paid the rest of the dagger’s price and then accepted the sheath for the dagger as the vendor handed it to her.
“Best knife ever,” the vendor assured her. “Thank you. Come again!” The merchant smiled cheerfully as he bowed to Silence. “You nice to big sister. You grow, be great man one day. Many blessings!” He bowed again before turning to another customer. Kelsey wanted to corre
ct him and let everyone know that she was certainly not related to Silence, but she let it go.
“Thank you, Silence,” Kelsey said uncomfortably as she studied the boy. She didn’t know why his clothes were so shabby if he had the silver coins in one of the pockets and she didn’t know why he spent the money on a new knife for her. A beautiful knife. He could have purchased something to wear or to eat instead. Maybe he didn’t know the value of money. “Is this the last of your coins?” she suddenly asked him as the thought came to her. Silence turned out his pockets to show that they were empty. He didn’t seem to care. He was still smiling, and his excitement over her purchase made her feel small. He was happy for her and didn’t seem to care as much about what he could have done for himself with that money. Maybe being without money for so long had taught him that he could get by without it. She didn’t know what to think of him. He’d saved her life and bought her a gift, and she had been irritated at the thought of taking him with her someplace that she probably needed to go, anyway. “You’re a freak, you know,” she said, speaking more in wonder than malice. It seemed strange that he would spend the last of his money on someone else when he was all alone in the world. “Someday I think I’d like to know your story,” she added. “Maybe one day you can tell me, and when you do, I’ll hear your voice.”
They walked along the path toward the eastern edge of the city until they came to the only other exit. Kelsey was more than ready to leave, but she stopped for a moment at a fountain to wash the melon juice from her face. Silence opened his mouth to catch the flow of water coming from the mouth of a stone lion and he laughed as he drank. He even pretended to roar back at the lion. Kelsey might have found the idea of drinking from the king of beasts hilarious on another day, but she was tired and the afternoon was wearing on. She wanted to leave the city and eat some dinner before darkness fell. The day had been filled with all kinds of strange events and more adventure than she wanted. She felt tired, but ready to move forward and locate the Orphanage of Miracles. At least now she knew where she was going, and she felt hopeful again. Having a destination made a difference, even if she didn’t know exactly where it was.
