“Forgive my ignorance, sir,” Elmer repeated the words the same way the gate-guard had done, only, his came with a deep bow instead of a salute.

Eli Atkinson laughed heartily. “Raise your head. You’re funny.” And Elmer complied. “How old are you?” he asked.

“Eighteen,” Elmer answered after clearing his throat, his ivy cap not seeming to return to his head from the chest it was placed upon.

“I heard you mention a name at the train station. Was that your sister?”

“Yes,” Elmer answered, pushing through his hesitation.

“Younger?” Elmer nodded. “Well, if you catch me enough leeches then you’ll be able to make her smile with your pay when you get home.” The doctor turned to the driver and told him to turn left into a branching road.

I wish… Elmer’s face turned gloomy, but he shook it off quickly after.

“You own this place as well, sir?” Elmer asked.

“No, my family does.”

And Elmer remembered the name that had been carved onto the block pillars at the gate, piecing it together with Eli Atkinson’s.

“But how come the fish pond of the magistrate’s family has been abandoned? I’m sure your family has the type of money needed to maintain it.”

The doctor turned to Elmer. “You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?”

Elmer became abashed with shame, and he bowed quickly in apology. “I ask for your forgiveness once again, good sir.”

Eli Atkinson waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. I don't mind much. We had fishes once and they all died, that’s all you need to know.”

Elmer nodded without saying any other word. His curiosity had gotten the better of him just now, he would not let it happen again.

They arrived at the pond sooner than later, and as Elmer highlighted from the car, the doctor gave him a small glass jar which prompted Elmer to go and get the job done.

As he had been told, the pond did look abandoned. Green was all about, but it gave him anything but serenity. Who knew, there might be snakes swimming within the deep-green water.

Elmer briefly had second thoughts steal their way into his head, but he quickly shook them off as he dropped the jar momentarily to roll up his pants. His legs were going to be the baits for the leeches—and maybe the snakes if they were there. At least he was going to get paid.

He took off his boots and socks, and let his bare feet drop onto the moss that covered the edges of the pond. Shortly after, he picked up the jar he had dropped and strolled into the cool shallow water of the forsaken pond.

It was still—quiet and still. Apart from the earlier ripples that had come from him stepping into the pond, nothing moved anymore. Maybe the water snakes were not here, but he so wished the leeches were, and he hoped they would come quickly to attach themselves onto his legs.

After waiting for a while, Elmer started to advertise his product to the critters. “Sweet blood here,” he whispered a call to them. “The blood of a country boy is sweet. Come have a taste.” He could still feel nothing. Maybe he should just walk away, he thought.

His legs grew sore, and they were hurting and itchy. He wanted to scratch them, but what if the leeches that might be coming ran away because he raised his legs? Elmer reasoned against it and kept still.

A while longer, the itches grew and he could take it no more. He pulled a leg free from the pond’s water, and to his utmost surprise, the little bastards had been feeding on him for quite a while.

“Blimey!” Elmer gulped as he saw the sheer number of leeches that were feasting on his blood. He opened the jar and flung the cover away quickly, then picked the critters bit by bit with a great amount of care.

By the time he was done, his legs were filled with red spots here and there, and they kept bleeding from the bites. He felt a slight dizziness as well.

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But the jar was with leeches at least, and he had counted them. Fifteen was what he had caught. He could have gone a bit longer and caught some more, if only he had figured out sooner that they had already been feasting on his legs. But right now he had lost, and was still losing, a good deal of blood for someone who had not eaten a whole day. There was no way he could handle anymore of those critters.

Elmer took himself away from the water, closed the jar and put on his boots, before walking sluggishly to the car that had been waiting.

“Fifteen leeches, good sir,” Elmer announced to his employer groggily. “All caught freshly with the blood of a country boy within them.”

Eli Atkinson laughed, took the jar from Elmer and put it into his small suitcase. “Get in, I’ll drop you off. Where do you stay?” he offered.

“Ah, do not worry about me, good sir. I’ll find my way.” Elmer waved his hands listlessly.

“I’m paying for an hour anyway, and I still have at least thirty minutes left. Isn’t that right?” The driver nodded in response. “So you see,” Eli continued, “get in and I’ll drop you off.”

Elmer looked down at his bleeding legs and hated the thought of soiling the steam car. “But I have to buy bread and mutton stew for my sister. I do not wish to bother you anymore,” Elmer said, his hand fluttering to the back of his neck.

“Oh, for the love of Chronos, get yourself into the car, boy,” the driver voiced out of frustration. “Take Sir Eli’s goodwill, will you?” He said that, but his eyes were filled with some sort of pain as he looked at Elmer’s legs—and Elmer knew that it was not for him.

Elmer sighed and entered the car hesitantly, his mind wandering off to how he would get a good meal for Mabel now? The slums he was staying at did not look like they would have any decent place to get what he wanted to feed his sister. Elmer shook his head tiredly. He had just made quite some money and he was too weak to even be happy.

“Let’s stop and get the bread and mutton stew on the way, okay?” Sir Eli Atkinson announced to the driver and Elmer suddenly lit up. He was about to thank the doctor when a raised hand shushed him abruptly.

“Here,” the man put three mint notes into Elmer’s palm, allowing the drawing on the green notes to fill Elmer’s eyes: a side profile of a young sharp-faced man with a crown on his head placed atop a faded crest. “Your pay. You can thank me now,” Eli Atkinson mentioned, and so Elmer did.

…

Evening had fallen when they arrived before Elmer’s apartment in the Backwaters.

With the remnant of a row of linen bandages the doctor had bought for Elmer’s legs inside the brown bag in his hands, along with the bread and mutton stew, Elmer bid the magistrate’s son farewell but not without thanks.

When all he could see was the steam erupting from the backside of the car, he turned around with a smile, ignoring all the eyes that were upon him, and walked up the stairs to the apartment he resided in.

A deep sigh followed by a profound inhale, then Elmer felt he was ready to push the door open. But as he wandered in with a mind to run up the stairs as he had previously been doing, he felt something about the apartment had changed.

Elmer splurged all the air he had stored in his mouth, and with steeled resolve he took a deep inhale.

It really was weird.

He breathed out again and took another deep inhale, then his eyes brightened. The smell was gone.

It seemed like whatever had been causing it had been cleaned up. Maybe the landlord had finally come to check it out. Whatever the reason, he was glad.

Elmer took in another deep breath to celebrate, then he noticed light flickering from beneath the space of the door of the last room to his right. Seemed like people actually lived in the building with him. He shrugged away from looking at the door and walked up the stairs and into his room.

He dropped the brown bag on the bedside table, took off his waist bag, his boots, and suspender, then rushed to his little sister’s side.

“Quite a day I had, Mabel,” he said happily, but exhausted, as he sat beside her on the bed. “I made three mints and fifteen pence, can you believe that? On my first day. It’s a good start. My employer also agreed to contact me anytime he needed help with the leeches. It’s not a pleasant job, but it makes more than working at the train station, that’s for sure. If I do this a couple more times I might even make enough for the college sooner than I thought, that means I’ll be able to help you quicker.” He stroked her hair, but all she could give him in return were her lifeless stares and unheard voice.

Elmer didn’t mind though—at least not at this moment—and he wanted to tell her more about how his first day in the city went, but he was so tired that despite his stomach’s grumbles he needed to sleep first before he could even think about eating.

Just let me sleep a little, Mabel. With the way I am now I don’t think I can feed you without choking you…

But just as he was about to lie down, he noticed subtle grains of sand on the bed beneath the underfeet of Mabel’s outstretched legs.

“What’s this?” He leaned closer to the end of the bed and dusted off the sand along with the ones that were on her legs.

Elmer was not sure why there had been sand on the bed, but it must be something he had done that he had forgotten about.

At the moment he was so tired that he couldn’t even think straight. What he needed was just his rest.

He shook his head as he yawned, took off his glasses and dropped it on the table, then he fell weakly beside his sister, hugging her tight as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.