Part 2: A Retelling

When Jack arrived in Dearing he happened upon three young men who looked to be loitering on the main street. One was of an average height, one was just a bit short, and one was almost tall enough to draw looks.

“Looking for work?” he asked the trio.

“Yes, good man,” the man of middling height responded.

“Are any of you much familiar with the villages that surround here?”

“Uh…” the middling man muttered, then looked to his compatriots.

“Nope,” the short one said and the tall man shook his head.

“I’m afraid not, Sir,” the middling man said, turning back to…

“That’s fine,” Jack said. He wouldn’t have hired them if they were. The tall one, he wasn’t so eager to higher, but he supposed he’d do for intimidation. “I’ll be traveling around this area for a time and I’ll be needing some helpers while I do so.”

“What’s the pay?” the short one asked.

“A day’s wage each for everyday you three accompany me. Half a day’s more if you can keep your mouths shut about the business I’m handling.”

“Depends on the business,” the short one said. Apparently, he was the type that wasn’t quick to trust. Jack liked that even less than the tall one’s height.

“It’s the business of the crown,” Jack said. “By the order of His Majesty’s army, I am to collect those who have denied his decree, so that they may either carry out their service or face punishment for their defiance.”

“So you’re one of those inquisitors?”

“Yes and you’ll have to keep quiet about that even if you decide not to work for me. If you do decide to work for me, however, you’ll be getting your fair share of the reward for any Jack that we capture.”

The three men gave each other a quick look. “What’ll you have us do then?” the middling one asked.

“I just need some extra muscle and a few extra heads to look out for me in case whichever Jack we end up running into isn’t so willing to take his comeuppance. Can’t trust lawbreakers, after all.”

“Can we see the money?” the short one asked.

“Of course,” he untied a pouch from his belt and showed them the coin that lay within. “But expect something worse than death if you plan to steal from me.”

“Sounds good to me,” the short one said as Jack moved to tie the pouch back to his waist. Apparently, he was also the kind who was easily swayed by money. The other two were willing to work for Jack as well.

“Then wait for me here and I’ll be back before it gets too late,” Jack said.

“But how do you know we ain’t Jacks?” the tall one asked before he could walk away.

Jack smiled. “Well, I imagine you wouldn’t be asking me that if you were, but once you’ve done your work for me, I’ll know for sure. It isn’t only Lord Finedhur who can locate a target, after all.”

Of course, he had no such magic ability to do so, but they didn’t need to know that. Catching every Jack wasn’t something he needed to do in the first place. He just needed the Jacks foolish enough to take his bait.

— — — — — — — —

"You really think you can convince Auntie Agatha to go to the Spine of the World with you?" Hailee asked me as we sat atop the highest branch of a tree. It was just two weeks short of summer’s end, so there was a nice warm breeze blowing up there.

"That or at least the capital," I said. Though I would really prefer not going anywhere near that city on account of me being a draft dodger and all.

"You're an even bigger dreamer than you were before."

"What do you mean? It's safer than here with the giants running around now."

"If she wanted to go somewhere safer, wouldn't you guys have already left, though? I know nobody has left the hamlet yet, but nobody saw the giants killing people like you two did.”

"My mom saw,” I corrected her. “I didn't see a thing, remember?"

"But you saw that giant killing the baron's men when you rode out into the forest didn't you?” she countered.

“Yeah.” I’d seen more than I needed to of that.

Hailee continued. “You know Ben and Matthew told my mom and dad to move out of the hamlet after seeing that, right?”

“Why didn’t they then?”

“Nobody outside the forest died, so they thought it would be better to stay. At least until the harvest is done, you know?”

“Yeah,” I did know. Even after everyone pitched in, there was barely enough money in the hamlet to make sure everyone was fed for the summer. If they left before selling what they got from the harvest, they’d end up as beggars.

“So how are you going to convince Auntie Agatha to leave?” Hailee asked.

I sighed. “I don’t know.” Even with everything that happened here, Agatha had shown no interest in leaving. “I’ll think of something after the count’s men come to pay us.”

“Well…” Hailee hesitated. “If you do end up going, can I come with you?”

“Huh?” That caught me off-guard.

“Andrew promised me he’d take me out to see the world,” she kicked her legs back and forth. “I’d been looking forward to it before all of this happened.”

“And now?”

“I’m not really looking forward to it anymore, but I’d rather be gone with you two than left here alone.”

“And your parents are fine with that?”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine with it.”

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“Then I’d be happy to have you.”

Hailee smiled. “Thanks, Jack.”

“Anytime.”

The wind whistled as it passed by and for a minute or two, we just watched the sky as it started to turn gold.

"I guess they really aren't coming," Hailee said.

"I guess not.” Ben and Matthew were supposed to be coming around for the monthly visit that day, but we were already this late into the afternoon and they still hadn't arrived. We waited for them the next day too, but they didn’t come either.

It was disappointing that we weren’t going to get another chance to hang out with the twins before the end of the summer, but Hailee and I were still able to make the most of the time we still had with just the two of us. Agatha had told me I’d chopped down what could have been expected of me for the season the day before the twins failed to show up, so I was mostly free to do what I wanted until the count’s men arrived.

I still had to help around the house, but I spent most of my new found free time exploring the forest and racing up trees with Hailee. We went in pretty deep, but giants and their wolves were long gone, so the forest was more than safe.

Honestly, I’d been hoping we’d happen upon a fey. I'd done some searching for them over the summer during the times Agatha and Hailee did their work in the hamlet. You'd think me just being alone in the woods cutting down trees would have them comfortable enough to approach me, but nope nothing.

I even got one of the merchants in Milaway to rent me a horse for a couple days, so I could go further into the forest to look for them. If there were any fey hiding out in this forest, then they either wanted to wait for the right time to see me or didn't want me seeing them at all.

Anyways, hanging out with Hailee had the days flying by and all too soon the summer had come to its end. On the last day of summer, Agatha spent her day at the hamlet, then returned with Hailee’s parents just a short while before sunset. Henry and Joyce thanked us for taking care of their daughter, Agatha and I said our goodbyes to Hailee, and the three of them set off back for the hamlet. Agatha was straight back into the house after our final goodbye, but I watched them go until they’d taken the road out of the clearing.

Once they were gone, I headed over the barn the men from the hamlet had rebuilt for us. It was smaller than before—being built from the parts the giants hadn't completely wrecked—but that was something we preferred with us only having one cow and some tools to put in it now.

I went in and gave our cow a milking for all she had left, which wasn’t much considering how long it'd been since she'd given birth. Almost that time, I thought.

I took the bucket into the house and put what little there was in it into a pitcher for Agatha and I to share over dinner. There was an off-putting quiet as we ate that night, but I could tell it wasn’t because Hailee left for her parents’ home. It felt like Agatha had been on edge since she’d gotten back from the hamlet.

"Jack," Agatha said when I had finished eating.

"Yeah?"

"When the cow runs out of milk, I want you to take her to the market and sell her. If the count's men haven't come by then, then I want you to talk to the merchants you sold the wood to before while you're there and see if they'll buy the harvest from you."

"You think the count's men aren’t coming?" I asked.

Agatha stood up with a sigh and her emptied bowl. "I think it's more likely than not," she said, stacking the few utensils and dishes she'd set out. "A merchant passing through from the county's way said as much when I was at the hamlet earlier. Said that the count has fled."

"He fled from the giants?"

"Yes. I’m not sure if his men did too, but in all these years they’ve never been this late before."

"So what's going to happen now then?" I asked, getting up. I couldn't imagine the army not doing something major after something like this happened.

"I don't know," Agatha said as she scrubbed away at her bowl with more force than necessary. "I just know that I don't want us to be here for any of it. We'll go somewhere safer where the war won't reach."

I stacked my bowl with the rest of the dishes. "You have any places in mind?"

"Somewhere with a forest. Close to the mountains, maybe,” she smiled at me. “You'd like that wouldn't you?”

"Yeah," I smiled back.

After taking what was left of the milk and pouring it into a bowl, I walked out onto the front porch. “Meow.” Right on queue, a black cat scurried out from the woods for her free meal. I learned pretty early on that she liked me petting her while he ate, so I sat down next to her and did just that.

“Hey,” I said as the cat finished up her meal and she immediately looked my way. “Can you understand me?” I had looked throughout the forest for the fey, but maybe one had been coming around for dinner every night all along.

For about a good ten seconds, the cat and I just sat there staring into each other’s eyes. Without warning she took off sprinting from the porch and back into the forest.

“Hmph,” I grunted. Well, if she was just a normal cat, I hoped she had enjoyed this meal to the fullest. There probably weren’t going to be many more like those heading his way.

After feeding the cat, I did a few more chores before heading up to my room. Not Andrew’s room or the guest room, but my fully repaired room.

Once I had the door closed, I slipped my hand under my bed’s pillow and took out my page for the first time in a while. Except for how to write on it, I had figured out almost all of its tricks within my first week of being here.

With barely a thought given on my part, dual columns of text sprung into existence upon the blank page, each filled with a version of Jack and the Beanstalk. The left column held the version that inspired my story and the right column held the version that influenced it. I could make the king’s story appear on the back, as well if I wanted to, but it wasn’t necessary for this review.

Neither story presented could fit in the space given to it on the page, at least not at a reasonable size, but it was fine since I could scroll through them with my finger or my mind. Besides, I wasn’t going to need the full story for either story anyway.

By my will, sections of story disappeared, parts of paragraphs collapsed, and gaps widened between points of interest. It only took what may have been a couple seconds for what was different about the two versions of the story to disappear and what was similar about them to be organized.

The Jack of the Left Column was an only child born to commoners. He abused the kindness of a giant’s wife, stole from her husband, and ended up having to kill her husband too thanks to his sloppy thieving.

The Jack of the Right Column on the other hand was the last child to a knight. His father and his siblings had been murdered by an evil giant and his quest—given by a fairy, a fey—was to reclaim his birthright that the giant had stolen.

Different backgrounds, different morals, different justifications, Left and Right Jack were so far from each other, yet they still managed to tell the same story or at least a similar one.

That’s what made the stories important in connection to me, similarities. Both Jacks had a widowed mother and cow to get their story rolling, but I only started with the widow. Now, I had both.

Next there was an incident, one that would make the widow tell her son to sell the cow. For Left Jack it was the cow running out of milk and for Right Jack it was his mother’s realization that they’d starve to death if they didn’t sell the cow. It took the whole summer for mine, but with the count having fled, my inciting incident had now occurred for me too.

My story’s context strayed far from its influence and inspiration, but what both stories had, my story did too. To be more precise, my story would too. The author hadn’t given me both versions of Jack and the Beanstalk so I could review, they’d given me them so I could see which parts of Jack and the Beanstalk would occur in my story for sure. In other words, by comparing the stories, I’d been given a vision of my near future.

There’s a poor widow living with her son, Jack, the only family left to her. She owns a cow, but she has to send her son to sell it at the market because they need the money. That’s as far as my story has reached for now, but the other two continue onward.

Whether within the market or outside of it, Left and Right Jack meet a man offering to trade magic beans for their cow and both of them accept his offer. Both their mothers get pissed when their son brings the beans home and both of them end up having the beans planted. The beans grow into a giant beanstalk overnight and the Jacks climb the beanstalk in the morning. They find a dwelling at the top where a giant lives with his wife.

Long story short, Jack steals three treasures from the giant, then cuts down the beanstalk; the giant falls down with the beanstalk and dies; Jack and his mother live happily ever after.

Once I finished my review, I made the story fragments disappear and left the page blank. Even after putting the page away, I laid awake, thinking about what I’d do with the treasures I’d take from the giant. Heh, maybe I’d have enough money to find a way back to my version of earth.

If that was something that I could do, I’d probably end up traveling the world once I got back. And even if I couldn’t make it back, I think I’d still end up traveling this one. There was a wanderlust I had inherited from the other Jack and just thinking about what could be out there got me excited.

I just have to wait until the milk runs out, I thought. That was when my fantasy would begin and I could leave this sad place behind with Agatha.