It had been about half an hour since the girl left my booth. I had gone back and forth between scolding Yelena and being grateful that nothing bad had happened to her. Unfortunately, Maria was still quite upset.

“What did we say? What is rule number one? It’s to not even look at the Blessed! What did you do?” she whispered angrily at Yelena, smoothing out her hair. Yelena was weeping softly, snot running down her nose. I let it go on; she needed to learn as quickly as possible. Finks are far worse than the gangs.

“But what did you do?” Maria continued. “You asked a Blessed to roll your dice! Do you know what could have happened to Boris? To us?” Her words felt like a spanking, sharp and biting. I decided she had heard enough for now, and that tomorrow would be the time to sit down with her.

“Enough,” I said, my voice firm. “She made a stupid mistake, but we got away with it. As long as she never…” I looked at Yelena the way I usually reserved for the older ones. “…does anything like that again, it’s okay. Come now, the future finks will be here soon. We’ve got to prepare the game nicely.”

We settled into our routine as they started to pour in slowly. Soon the civvies from Goudstad arrived, and I called out as respectfully as I could to the crowd, seeing all manner of people. Some wore Blessed uniforms, their sleeves full of gold rings; the rich civvies had shirts that looked more expensive than a submarine ticket.

But I must have seen at least fifty finks in black, almost all of them with strange patterns running down their arms—flowers decorating the arm with the only sleeve, or one guy with what looked like two guns stitched in gold into the back of his cloak. Far more finks in black than any other year. Far more than I ever thought I’d see again. Something big was happening today. I decided that keeping my head down and avoiding anything that looked like it could kill me with a thought was a good plan.

I’d been through about two customers when Maria scoffed, a tell that we’d won too much. There was a future fink, dressed to the nines in a suit that would probably let me buy a new church, rolling now. He rolled a one.

“So, sir, would you like to bet higher or lower?” I asked.

“I can’t go lower now, can I, civvie?” he said, his voice dripping with disgust, like I’d kicked his puppy.

“Of course not, sir. My mistake,” I said, looking down. I glanced at Yelena out of the corner of my eye, making sure she understood exactly what would happen if she even whispered. She sat obediently, watching me.

“What happens if it’s the same number?” he asked, as though he had discovered a Colonel flaw in the entire game.

“Since you’re such a good customer, sir, it’ll be your win,” I replied, giving him the usual answer when someone discovered the “hole” in the game.

“I can’t go lower, and it’s my win if we roll the same number. So I’ve just won then? Fantastic. Give me my money so I can leave this poor excuse for a business.”

He hadn’t placed a bet, but pointing that out seemed like asking for trouble. I lifted my dice cup, revealing a three, then handed him the five dollars. Others, seeing the exchange, began gathering around, eager to make a quick buck.

If last year was anything to go by, I might finally be able to afford to move out of that church and get enough iron sheets to build a shack big enough for everyone. It wouldn't be much, but it would be better than the cramped church area, away from the taxis. I could build it closer to Goudstad, and maybe, just maybe, we could start scavenging for food that didn’t have fish stuck to it. It had taken me five years to get this close, but it was finally within reach. Just around the corner.

It hurt me every day that I couldn’t buy them all meals first thing in the morning. I had to make them starve so that I could keep them safe. God forgive me, but going hungry would be worth it. And today would hopefully prove that.

I was shaken from my thoughts by Maria’s stomach growling. She tried to hide it, but I knew the orphans well enough that they couldn’t hide things like that from me. After a few more customers, I hung up the closed sign at the end of the booth.

“I’m hungry. Gonna go buy us some real food,” I said, giving Yelena a pat on the head. “Don’t move from this spot until I’m back, okay? I’ll be five minutes,” I said before walking away from the booth.

“How much can we afford?” I asked Maria, pulling her aside. She was the only one who knew our exact funds, since she was the one I trusted to figure out how much we’d need to move.

She looked down, avoiding my gaze. “Maybe a sandwich? We’re making a lot, Boris, but the blessing could go off any minute.” She finally met my eyes. “We just need another twenty customers or so. Then we’ll have enough. It’s okay, we can hold off for a little longer.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Why is it that one sentence from a girl can crush your heart? I took the five bucks I'd earned from that girl and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “It’s okay. Just once will be fine, and look…” I said, gesturing toward the finks and their wannabe counterparts milling about, “…if it was going to go off, they’d be more worried. Don’t worry. I’m gonna have plenty of ’em to take advantage of for the rest of the day,” I said, trying to sound as reassuring as I could.

I walked away from the booth, hurrying toward the food stands. I tried to avoid as many finks and their kids as possible, taking side streets and walking down paths where fewer people were headed. Eventually, I spotted Finn with his sandwich stand.

“Heya, Finn. Can I get a sandwich?” I asked discreetly, trying to make it look like I wasn’t anywhere near the food stand.

“Come on, Boris,” Finn said, looking around, as if even thinking the word "fink" might set off the guard. “They won’t eat here if I serve you. I’ll save you some if you’ve got the money, but not now.”

“I got five bucks,” I said, glancing at the sign that practically screamed, “Ten bucks for a sandwich, what a steal!” hanging next to the stand.

Finn looked at me with pity. “Boris, I’ve got my own bills to pay. Serving you would mean I’m stuck in your neighborhood for good. I’m sorry.”

I thought about it for a moment, then sighed. “Yeah, fair enough. Thanks for giving me some time, at least. Appreciate it.” He looked down, struck with guilt. I couldn’t blame him, even though I really wanted to rip his teeth out.

That’s when I spotted Jack, standing with an apple near the parking lot, hiding behind the booths. I swallowed, steeling myself, stuffed the money in my pocket, and walked over.

“Hi Jack, any chance I could buy the rest of that apple off you?” I asked.

We were behind his booth that sold toys. He was making a killing this time of year for some reason. Guess the finks’ babies liked the look of them. If I could buy one for Yelena, or one for each of the kids at the church, I’d die a happy man. But that was too much, so I just waited for his reply.

He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. “Do you even have any money to buy this?” he said, waving the apple with one bite taken out of it in front of me.

“I got five bucks?” I said, pulling it out of my pocket again.

“Apple was seven,” he replied.

“Look, man, I gotta feed the boys at the orphanage. You know how it is. I’ll even throw in a free game of dice for little old Jill, since she’s bedridden?” I tried to make myself sound less desperate than I felt.

“I know the two you brought with you today are girls, Boris,” he said flatly, still staring at the apple in his hands.

At that moment, I felt my temper flare. If this got back to the gangs... It wouldn't get back to the gangs. Not while I was breathing. I scanned the crowd, but there were too many people around to kill him. I couldn’t wait here all day. Maybe I could take him somewhere else? Before I could figure out a way, though, he handed me the apple.

“Should’ve just told me. I figured it out when that fink hit you earlier. It’s okay, man, we gotta help each other out, you know?” he whispered, glancing around to make sure no one heard him slur.

Could I trust him? I’d insulted him earlier. I sized him up the way I would when checking if one of the kids had lied to me. He seemed genuine. Shit. What was I supposed to do? Kill a man for handing me an apple? I mean, I would, but I didn’t want to. Against my better judgment, I decided to trust him.

“Thank you,” I said, handing over the money and taking the apple. He pushed the money back into my hands, along with a small toy.

“Sorry, gotta attend to some customers,” he said, turning back to the booth to show off some of the toy animals.

I stared down at the toy, stunned, then thanked him again and hurried back to my booth. I’d only been gone ten minutes—long enough to miss out on a few customers, maybe even a few extra bucks. But at least I had the apple. I walked back in, feeling triumphant, and handed it to Maria.

“Don’t worry, I took a bite earlier. The rest’s for you and Yelena,” I said, gesturing toward the teeth marks, clearly proof of my lie. Luckily, she bought it.

As she and Yelena devoured the apple in the back, I went back to hustling the finks. My stomach twisted with hunger, but I pushed it down—just like always. I kept at it for a few hours, until the last of the finks had wandered off to the main building, ignoring us like usual. I was packing up the sign when Maria came over, staring at the side of my head, a piece of paper in her hand.

“Yes?” I asked, already knowing I’d done something wrong, though I wasn’t sure what.

“When was the last time you ate?” she huffed.

“Earlier, took a bite of the apple?” I said, feigning confusion, though I knew she’d caught me.

“Your stomach’s been growling all day. For fuck’s sake, Boris, you can’t keep doing this.”

First of all, I could. Second of all, who was she to tell me what I can or can’t do? I was the eldest. I decided not to argue, though, since I didn’t want to get into it. So instead, I asked, “Did you enjoy the apple?”

“Of course.”

“Then leave it. Since I assume you’ve got some news for me?” I said, glancing at the paper, a grin spreading across my face.

She rolled her eyes but accepted the change in topic, with one of the best smiles I'd ever seen. “We have enough, Boris. We have enough.”

I burst into a little dance, Yelena looking confused before I scooped her up and put her on my shoulders. Then she joined in. I spun Maria around, feeling the need to shout at the top of my lungs.

“Finally! Finally! We have enough! I knew today was going to be special!” I said, grinning at both of them.