With a jolt, I got back up as I heard the sound of footsteps coming from the hall. How long had I been lying on the ground? There’s no way that it could have been two hours, could it? I quickly wiped away my tears and dusted off my clothes looking at them they looked pretty disheveled but I would just have to deal with that.
Out of the door walked Markus all by himself. That would mean that maybe it wasn’t six maybe he was here early. As he walked through the door the bell suddenly struck Dong! Dong Dong Dong Dong Dong! Six. somehow not only had two hours passed but also I missed the bell ringing at five, I was still confused as to how but that didn’t matter now. No one was here except me and Markus.
“Where is everyone”
“I have no clue It’s just me here sir”
“Did you hear the bell? I’m not dreaming am I?”
“No sir. I have no idea why they are still not here.” I wasn’t lying he had made it clear that we were supposed to be here at six. It seemed obvious to me that meant when the bell struck but maybe it was less clear than I thought.
“When I said six yesterday was I not clear that I meant when the bell stuck?”
“It seemed pretty clear to me.”
“That’s what I thought. Well, I’ll just have to go get them.” With an annoyed look, he started to walk away.
“Excuse me! Before you go, sir, could you show me what my job is today so that I can get started?”
Turning around with a look of slight surprise he says“ Yeah that is fine, may I ask why you want to start work earlier than everyone else.”
I had nothing to hide I didn’t mind telling him my reasoning
”Well if what I understand is correct, my job should be able to be completed, at least to some degree, autonomously, after all, you said we could leave early on a individual basis depending on when we get our jobs done. It wouldn’t make sense to say that unless we could finish earlier or later depending on each of us separately so I was hoping to start my job and have it finished early so that I can work on the extra work to help prepare for my school year.”
Markus responded with a pleased look“I’m impressed you were listening so attentively if you were though it would also make sense that you know I specified that you also needed my trust.”
“I believe that first impressions are important and if I can demonstrate my good work ethic and punctuality, then maybe you’ll trust me enough to let me go.”
Laughing he walks back over” You’re not too insufferable. I guess I can show you your job and if by then I still have to go get them I’ll be pretty mad.”
He walks past me and gestures for me to follow.
“Since you got here on time and you’re pretty polite I’ll give you what I think is the best job you will have to work on repacking the supplies from our last expedition. I heard that you were picked up on the expedition so it seems kind of fitting that you would help reset the packs from it.” Bringing me over to the lean-to on the side of the wall he showed me a pile of empty wooden boxes and leather and canvas bags and boxes.
“This is all that needs to be repacked but, it will take a while so you won’t need to fill up all of them but you can start with the crates, I’ll show you what to do with one of the crates and you can copy it.” turning to the box he pulls one out of the pile and gets a matching lid. Once he has both separated he goes to another part of the lean-to with a door into the wall, he pulls out a key and unlocks the door while looking over to me.
“You need to stay here at all times when the door is unlocked, do not leave unless I come back and have locked the door.”
Turning back around he walks through the door, a moment later coming out with small bags of flour, fice, sugar, and beans. He carried them back to the crate and pilled them on the lid carefully not letting them touch the ground and pick up dirt. Markus then went back into the room and I followed him this time.
Through the door was a dark room, only lit by the sun streaming through the door, It was a medium size room with shelves on all of the walls holding a wide assortment of jars, bags, and other weird items of equipment like different pieces of cloth of varying sizes and materials, as well as blocks of wax and other unidentifiable things on the shelves, there were also chests full of different grains, and weird tools and piles of tarps, and more all along the floor. He went to an unremarkable shelf and grabbed one of the larger pieces of cloth. Bringing it out to the box he looks at me completely seriously.
“Watch very closely this cloth is meant to keep the rain and bugs out and act as a second layer of protection for this food you need to fold it into the inside of the box in this certain way for it to be effective you must fold it this way so watch closely.”
Turning back to the box he lays the middle of the cloth in the bottom of the box, pressing it into the edges and corners. The cloth is some sort of stiff and very dense yet thin leather so when he presses it into the corners it stays then at the vertices he folds it over to one side layering it and pressing it into the side. He does this on all sides. The end product is a box with a leather-like lining covering the inside. The cloth is big enough that it reaches higher than the edges of the box. Once he finishes he steps back to let me see the folds. Once I’ve seen enough I step back, he reaches over to the different bags and starts layering them into the crate checking the knots at the opening of each bag before he packs it. Once he has packed all of the bags they reach the brim of the box, the cloth is folded over onto the top of the bags covering it completely in cloth. Markus gets up and goes back into the room he comes out once more with a smaller piece of cloth, another square of cloth the size of a side from the box, nails, and a small hammer. He places the small square of cloth on the top of everything and on top of that he places the lid of the crate. He then lines up a nail and starts hammering the lid on. He uses 8 nails one on each corner and in the middle of each edge. Once he is done nailing it he goes into the room one last time grabs a charcoal pencil and makes a small mark on the lid of the box.
While he did the entire process I hadn’t said a word making sure to pay attention instead so that I would get everything right. Now that he is done however I see no need not to ask my questions.
“Why did you nail it? Wouldn’t that make it too hard to get access to?”
“Another pack will include a pry bar to get into these crates. But these are for medium-length expeditions where they often stay in the range of villages where they can just buy food. Often these crates will stay closed and if we pack them well enough we can just leave them until the next expedition. Also, everything would be ruined if any bugs, or rats, or water got into this box. better for a small inconvenience for us than a disaster. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound solution.”
“Makes sense. One more thing why don’t we pack all of a single grain in one box, why do we do a little of everything per box”
“Oh thats simple, if you lose one box and it has all your flour, thats bad news, but if you lose one box and it just has a little of everything then, all that causes is for serving sizes to a be a bit smaller.
”Thanks. that's all that I need to know I can start work”
“That’s all you need to know right now. You’ll have to learn more in the future.‘
With a wave, he starts walking back to the door. To my surprise, there is still no one here. Even if they didn’t think they were supposed to be here at the bell wouldn’t they at least wake up to the six bell and have gotten ready and be here by now?
Well, it was none of my business I just wanted to get my work done and start learning what I could. Pulling out another box and lid I went into the store room and grabbed the different bags of grain and left them on the lid like I had seen then I went and got the big cloth, folding it into the box was much harder than I had thought And it took me a lot longer than Markus to get it right, it took longer because I wanted to get it right. This was people’s food, potentially life or death and I wouldn’t ever take something like that lightly again. After many attempts lots which I could have called good enough, I finally got a result that I was satisfied with. Once I was done I looked over at the bags and realized that while I knew to check and reknot the bags I didn’t know the knot I hadn’t thought to double check with him. I looked over and saw that in the time I had been trying to get my box packed, Markus had rounded up the majority of the boys and was lecturing them. Rather harshly judging from the look on most of the boy’s faces. With some apprehension, I walk over to him and wait quietly to the side while he finishes his lecture.
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“-you’ll all skip breakfast today to help you remember”
Ouch, that seemed harsh, especially seeing how nice and respectful he was to me. He seemed like one of those strict but fair individuals, I liked that.
At the break in the lecture I walked up to him and with hardly a glance at my peers I asked
“I'm sorry sir but I forgot to ask you about how to tie the bags. When you find time could you help me with the knots? ”
Glancing at me he turns back to the group of boys “You hear that? This is one of you who paid attention to what I said yesterday. Just because you brats are upset that you all can’t start school and you have to work a year as servants doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard. Now because you all thought it was smart to keep me waiting you can wait while I help someone who made an effort.” with that he turns to me
“Let's go.” as we walked back the way I came he said” I appreciate that you came and asked about the knots. It’s good of you to care. Know that I’ll never get mad if you need to make sure of or learn something. Although that doesn’t mean that you can just take advantage of me.”
“Of course not sir. And thank you for the help.”
Arriving at the crates he grabs one of the bags and taking the cord undoes the knot and shows me as he wraps it around the opening in the bag a few times before making multiple loops and knots. Overall it isn’t that complicated and looks very secure.
“Do you understand it or do you need another demonstration.”
“Once more, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Not at all” as he grabs another bag and repeats the knot.
“I’m sorry I’m a bit of a slow learner could you please do it one last time?” I ask sheepishly.
“That’s fine, I’d rather you get it right and not risk it. ” then glancing over at the group of boys he adds” And I also don’t mind antagonizing them a bit more.
“If you don’t mind me saying I feel like your punishment was a little harsh.”
“I probably will let them go to breakfast late. They’ll have to run but they could probably still get some food I just need the message to sink in. I would like to say that I’m one of the nicest people you’ll have to work for but thats probably a lie, and I'm definitely not one of the meaner ones, but it is important to listen to instructions and to be punctual, better they learn now and maybe miss a meal than later when the consequences could be much worse.”
That seemed reasonable to me.”Thanks for the help.” I say as he stands straight after demonstrating the third knot.
“Of course,” he says walking back to the group of boys.
Turning back to the bags I undo the first bag and tie the knot it takes a while I’m not near as fast or efficient at tying them compared to Markus. But that is okay I would rather be slow and get it right. So I tie the bag lay it in the crate and grab the next also undoing it and retying it. I repeat this with all of the bags and then I go into the store room and grab the next piece of cloth folding the first one I lay down the second one and then lay the lid on top. Going back to the room once more I grab 8 nails and the hammer and I also grab the pencil too. I nail the crate shut and then replicate the symbols as best as I can. Then I push my box next to the box Markus did and move on to the next box ready to repeat the process for the next long while. Before I can though Markus yells out to me.
“Dante come here this applies to you as well.”
Jogging over I slot into the group of boys. Noticing as I do that I don’t get the friendliest of looks.
“Alright, now what did I say the reason for being here early was?”
“A few of the boys raised their hands me included.”
With a nod of approval, he points to one of the boys
“So that we could check on the equipment and stores.”
“That's good. Now why do we need to check on the equipment and stores.”
Some boys still raise their hands but it is noticeably less this time.
Again he points at one of the boys
“To make sure none of it has been tampered with.”
“Half-right but ultimately wrong”
“To make sure that none of the equipment has degraded?”
“Another close answer but still incorrect.”
Now there are only 3 people with their hands up.
“Is it to check on the animals and make sure nothing happened to them in the night.”
“To help with discipline.”
“Both wrong.”Finally, he points to me “Don’t let me down, Dante”
The reason that he keeps saying that all of the answers are wrong isn’t that they are incorrect, it's because they are incomplete. He hinted at it in his first rebuke when he said, Half-right. The problem was that he hadn’t included everything. All of the boys were probably right, they just hadn’t answered with the entire answer.
“I think that it is everything the other boys said: to prevent tampering, to keep tabs on equipment degradation, to be disciplined, and to watch the animals. But on top of all of that, there is one more reason, we warehouse lots of the food and different equipment that people use out on expeditions it could be a matter of life and death depending on the condition of the food and equipment that we supply them, we must make sure that everything is how it should be.”
“Very good Dante,” he says with a nod
Nice! I was confident in my answer but it never hurt to have confirmation
“But you are still missing a few things.”
Ohh. damn I guess I celebrated early. What was I missing? I look up at him waiting for an answer
He notices my perplexity and lets out a small chuckle
“A lot of the expeditions that we send out leave after breakfast and we might need to prepare an expedition in the morning we need to be awake and ready for that.”
Right as he finished the bell started sounding Marking it as seven, Breakfast time.
“Alright Dante, you can go. The rest of you follow me we are going to inspect some equipment.”
“Thank you, sir” Without looking at my peers’ faces I walked out the door and to the cafeteria as I had heard it be called.”
Walking over to the line I waited to get my food. It was some sort of porridge that looked rather bland, along with it I got more bread and I got a glass of slightly tinted clear liquid.
Sitting down I tried everything one by one. The porridge despite appearances tasted very good. Very robust with a distinctly woody caramel taste. The bread was nice and soft. The unknown drink was mint tea very refreshing to go with my porridge. Sitting I enjoyed my food. However, it was not lost on me that I still needed to get back to work and should probably hurry. After finishing I noticed that I was done rather quickly and none of the boys from this morning were here yet. And the boys that were here were from another group none of them were finished it was just me. Without hesitation, I went to the drop-off with my dish and then left to go back to the courtyard. When I arrived I saw Markus waving all of the boys to go to breakfast. Once he saw me he came up to me with a dark look. All of my coworkers ran past me and Markus came to a stop.
“Forget something, Dante?”
“I don’t think so?”
“I thought that you cared about this job and doing it well but then you forget something so basic.”
Shit, what had I forgotten? What was making him so mad? Looking around I pinpointed my workplace. All of the stuff I had laid out in prep had been moved. Ohh… shit… I forgot to put everything back in the room and ask for it to be locked. The boxes Markus and I had packed were still there but the hammer and pencil were gone.
“I’m sorry sir” Looking at the ground in shame I continued” I forgot to pack things up before leaving and to have you lock the door.”
My shame wasn’t an act either I truly felt terrible. Even if it seemed I was being dramatic even if the chance was small those things I packed could be life or death and I hadn’t taken it seriously enough.
Looking at me his face softened a tad, although he still looked angry.“It’s good that you remembered and didn’t completely forget. Also, look at someone when you apologize don’t look down you don't get to look away from the shame. It is incredibly important that you make sure everything is set right before you leave always.”
“At least the rest of your peers and I were here and you didn’t leave the food out. However, that doesn’t make what you did any less bad. You can get back to work because it seems that you’ve learned, but don’t let me catch you forgetting something so important again.”
Gratefully I nodded as we headed back to my spot in the lean-to He unlocked the door and I dragged a box over along with its lid. I pulled out the same bags of grain and set them down then I went and grabbed the cloth and started folding it once I had returned. Retying the bags and filling the box I went in and grabbed the cloth, pencil nails, and hammer. Folding the cloth I put the lid on nailed it shut and marked it. Now rinse and repeat for the next few hours.