Chapter 9
Paulo felt the cold air at his back as he laid by their small fire, worrying about Effie kept him focused on more than his own discomforts. The boys slept as they usually do in a pile like puppy dogs. Knocked out from being so tired, always hungry, and the crazy day they have had seeing their friend thrown to the river by the cruel tax man, Grover.
They thought their dinner for the day was secured when Elye the bar keep had given them food in exchange for hiding his inventory from a patrol coming through. The tax man had given them a look over but took what he saw and left, not wondering about looking for more, or suspecting anything. Or at least it seemed that way. Before they finished eating, in stormed the entire patrol troop of the largest men, with the finest fur coats, fat cigars, and shiney shoes. They had the nice things because they took them, they had taken anything nice they found. Who knows if the things they took even made it to any treasury or bank. No notes on what they take or dont take. It was just aimless cruel taking.
Each with various facial hair, styled elaborately to show their individual personalities, the mob of men cackled taunts at the boys. Luckily for them Effie stepped up and between the men and the boys, telling them to back off. Bold, even for her, it wasn’t wise to stop a mob of tax men. But she was hungry and worked so hard for days to even get this much food for the group, only for these jerks to try to take it away.
The ”boys”, which consist of Ty, Joey, and Allen, were lucky they looked even younger than they were. If anyone knew they were 13, they wouldn’t be safe. They are not related. Well actually Joey and Allen were cousins but they were too young to remember it when they started traveling with the group. But Ty joined the group most recently and fit right in alongside them. They trap food together, and scout ahead when Paulo let’s them. They are learning to hide in the shadows to avoid being caught as well.
But sitting there in their Abby hideout, surrounded by taunting tax men, the boys froze. Nowhere to hide. Allen considered stomping on the closest man’s foot to distract them while his friends got away, but he was reconsidering as Effie jumped in to take the focus. He really wasn’t THAT brave to want to take a beating from half a dozen grown men.
It all happened so quickly, but it replayed in the boys’ minds as they traveled in the dark along the river. And as the boys tried to fall asleep, they replayed it still, the scene of their friend being thrown in the water. The river took her before they could even shout in protest. Their voices were gone as they struggled to run fast enough to the river banks after the tax man and Effie. They were too late as the taxman lifted Effie over his head, and threw her into the cold rushing river. Barely able to keep an eye on where she was taken by the current, as the tax man turned his attention to them.
Unsure if they should run or jump in after Effie, the group stood helpless on the banks. Jerrico shaking and rage in his eyes. He surely would be taken to be a soldier by this group of tax men, he and Paulo had been seen, and they didn’t hesitate to hurt Effie. He debated for a moment to at least take one of these men out on the way. As Grover walked towards Paulo, his focused gaze softened and he simply turned and just walked away. The tax man just left without saying anything.
The group was left just hurting for their friend and alone. Not sure why the tax man walked away, Jerrico still worried even now away from town, cold by the fire. What could it mean? Did he feel bad? Like he had hurt them enough and just gave up on taking in at least 2 able bodied young men?? Why? And no one even argued with the man, none of the other tax men wanted the reward? It was like a miraculous random event he couldn’t explain.
But Sandfly slept soundly. She wasn’t worried about being followed by the tax men, she had already taken care of them, if only Effie hadn’t jumped in before Sandfly could use her “get out of jail free” card. She worried for Effie but she strongly felt Effie would be found.
“Mr. Tax man! Mr. Taxi Tax Man!!!” She yelled, even though they were close enough to hear her plainly. She shouted on, “Paaweesseee!!! Please Please help me Mr Tax man! I need some work! I can go find more than a big obvious guy like him, who would hide their goods when they see me coming?” She offered up her services to secretly benefit her own group, but if she got something out of it too then that was perfectly Sandfly.
“Hey you little snot! Get out of here!” one of the Tax men said as groomed his mustache in a small mirror.
“Wait, that’s not a bad idea dirty child. Who would even notice you?” The man said as he looked up and down at Sandfly, smiling like he just thought of it. “Okay kid, go up this street and sneak around at least a few buildings up from us as we patrol, when you find something good, bring news back to us, and if you hustle up enough, maybe there will be something in it for you.”
“No! I want to keep some of everything I find, if I find a bag of grain I want my share of it. AND if I find something really good, I want you to move on to the next town, and leave my friends alone. If you agree to that, I’ll find plenty of great stuff you would never get out of these people.” Sandfly smiled, knowing he would want to see what she was capable of.
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