“Tom, there are 3 customers up front that want a full tour of the city, and they’ve already paid up front so hop to it.” The Manager said nonchalantly as walked around the corner separating the front from the office.

I was already in the middle of taking off my brightly colored work uniform when I looked up at the fat man.

I was expressionless as I looked him in the eyes, any show of defiance would get me trouble, but I was internally writhing.

This shit again, right before I leave.

I flicked a switch in my brain and turned on a smile. “Yes Sir. Do you know if there was any part of town in particular they wanted to visit.”

“How would I know?” He scoffed with a dismissive gesture as he sat down at the desk, “It’s your job as the tour guide to figure it out, so go figure it out.”

He had already turned his attention to something on his desk. I stared at his mostly bald head, and internally sighed.

I tucked my bright yellow and red shirt in trousers and made my way up to the front. An imposing woman a head taller than me was the first thing that caught my attention. Her dark short hair emulated a cut that a man would get but she was definitely a woman, I think.

A shorter blonde woman stepped forward with a blank stare and spoke flatly, “Can we set off at once, please? It will be getting dark soon and I would hope to have supper at a reasonable time.”

“Of course,” I replied, stammering with a sheepish grin. I looked around only noticing the two women. “I was told there were three of you…” I was cut off by a tall slender man stepping out a shadow in the corner of the room.

Without looking, the blonde woman gestured to the tall man.

I hesitated and regained my focus, “Of course of course, is there anywhere in particular that you all would like to go?” I asked quickly in an attempt to transition past the awkward situation.

In a baritone voice the tall dark haired woman responded, “Oh we are just here to see the sights. So what you would normally do is fine.” She began rubbing the back of her head while letting out a deep laugh.

In a moment of prescience that I would later regret ignoring, I thought about turning around and leaving. I imagined walking up to the manager, slamming my uniform on the desk and giving him the bird as I quit. Although it was only a fraction of a second, it was the only thread of fate that would have saved me from my impending destiny.I blinked and pushed the thought away where it disappeared to only resurface years in the future.

“Well in that case let’s begin the tour!”

Over the span of the next two hours i showed them the trading district, town hall, court yards, market place, the bath house, the banks, taverns, inns, the cathedral of the church, the azalea gardens, the palace where visiting royalty stayed, and the two entrances located on the North and Western ends of the city.

After a full day of talking my jaw was sore, and I rubbed it absentmindedly as we ended our journey where we began it.

The slender man in flowing clothes whom the other two referred as Charles, tossed me a gold coin and sauntered off.

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I caught it clumsily and stared in disbelief. A gold coin was worth a month’s wage for me.

“Thank you for showing us around,” the large woman boomed as we stood in front of the now closed tourist building.

“Anytime!” I beamed in genuine appreciation. The shorter woman had already walked off without saying anything.

I waited for them to walk off out of sight heading towards the inns and taverns located at the northern part of the city.

I turned and began running towards my home located on the opposite side of town.

What luck!

Passerbyers gave me weird looks as I ran by them.As the neighborhood got dirtier, darker, and generally more depressing I knew I was getting close to home. A few minutes later I arrived at a small 1 bedroom/no bathroom, or as Jerry liked to call it, a glorified shed. Speaking of Jerry.

“Where the hell ya been, Tom?” Came the incredulous voice sitting on a stump by my door. A familiar silhouette with a mop of brown hair and glinting brown eyes, it was none other than my best friend.

“Sorry,” I replied. Deciding at that moment that there was something super interesting on my shoe that I needed to look at.

“We were supposed to meet up with the other lads for cards tonight! We’re partners for Voth’s sake. Can’t play doubles alone, otherwise… otherwise… they would call it singles!”

“You know there is a game called singles, right?” I replied with a half smile trying to lighten the mood.

“You know what I mean!” Jerry blurted out. “Seriously man what happened?”

I sighed, letting my shoulders droop, “Last minute tour, and you know how my manager regards my time.” Letting my words trail off.

“You gotta stick up for yaself man, can’t let some fat bloke walk all over you. You’re 17, you’ve been a man for well over a year now. Voth, man.”

Letting silence be my reply, I stood there awkwardly, until I remembered my generous tip. “Let me buy you a drink, to make up for missing out on the doubles.” My grinned a little more forcfully than I would have liked.

“What the hell is this?” Jerry got off his stump, eyes wide in disbelief, “Tom buying me a drink? Tightstrings Tom buying me a drink? It’s not my birthday so something else must be going on?” He walked over to me draping his arm across my shoulder. Jerry was my best friend, but I knew if I told him about the gold coin he would probably make me buy him more than one drink, and I had plans for my money.

I slipped out under his arm and over to my door. “Give me 5 minutes to change and grab some money, I’ll meet you over at your place.”

“Fine,” He sighed heavily, “But don’t keep me waiting a second longer, or I’m going to make you buy me 2 drinks.” A twinkle lighting his eye.

Although a slender man, Jerry had the uncanny ability to drink more than twice a man his size. I know that for certain because I was his size and he could drink twice as much as me.

After unlocking the door I quickly lit a nearby candle. The place was clean and well organized, just as I had left it this morning. My meager amount of clothes sat inside a chest at the foot of my bedroll and I opened it gingerly. Underneath the latch on the inside cover was a secret pin I had installed. I took out the pin, carefully, and lined it up with an inconspicuous hole on the back corner of the chest, a false bottom. After pressing the pin in the false bottom there was a faint click, releasing the latch that held it in place. I carefully removed my folded clothes and placed them on the bed.

I pulled out the secret drawer, revealing my life savings. Mostly copper, with a few silver coins strewn throughout and only one gold coin. Well now 2, I smiled to myself in delight.

I grabbed the small notebook that lay politely in one of the corners. I added the gold coin to the balance, and deduced the 10 copper pieces I would useto cover the night's activities.

After carefully placing everything the way that it had been, I rinsed my face and hands on a basin of water that I had used this morning, quickly wiped my body off with a wet rag, and put on a fresh pair of clothes from the laundry from the day before. Folding my dirty clothes and placing them in a basket, I headed out for a night with Jerry.