Dreams Ltd (31 page)

I didn’t hide, nor cover anything up; I was just sipping the fragrant tea from the porcelain cup and answering his questions, thinking about how and where I could spend the first share of the points accumulated on the second bracelet.

As it turned out, I didn’t know much about life in Tally - was there any shopping areas and if there was any, how could I get there - under the condition that I will be allowed from the ranch for a “walk”; was there a bus stop somewhere around and other rubbish like that. Anyway, the screen of the second bracelet was glowing with a pleasant number forty-three, so I decided rightly, that it’s the right time to start building plans.

After hearing out my story, Hulk walked me to the door without saying a word, looking as if I was disturbing him from doing something important. I didn’t get offended; instead I pinched a piece of cake from the fridge in the kitchen which Tabitha left for me and returned to my room to carry on with the translation. Therefore, for me there was no difference between "before" and "after" Hulk acquired knowledge about my past. I felt pretty happy to secure a manageable relationship with the owner, no longer have the need to do the hard work in the yard and be able to pamper myself with something sweet because of Tabitha’s kindness. All the rest of it wasn’t really important anymore.

One evening, when I brought the new pages to Hulk as usual, I dared to ask where and how I can spend the earned points.

“You must tell me first what you want to buy.” the ruthless tyrant grinned.

I hesitated. Actually, it would be good to get some new underwear and a couple of new shirts, but I felt a bit shy to talk about it out loud. I just glanced piteously at his grin when I realised that all my thoughts were written in capital letters, right there on my face.

“There are few clothing shops in Tally as well as some places where you can buy household items, furnishings, bath accessories and all that.”

Seeing how I started salivating and my eyes immediately lit up with excitement he openly laughed out loud for the first time. His laughter illuminated the cosy room and filled it with warmth.

“Women...”, he said “I'll tell you when and where you can go shopping. Now scram, I have to work.”

I shot out of his office like a bullet, still drooling like a homeless dog that saw a piece of smoked ham lying nowhere near its own bowl. Trying to break away from the appealing thoughts about the future purchases, I spent almost a quarter of an hour standing under a cool shower and even then my work flow was interrupted by the thoughts about all those marvellous things I’d get hold of soon. Of course, ultimately, it would all come down to the range available in stores, but it would’ve been an absolute blasphemy to crush the dream, and therefore by bedtime there were only three new lines of text translated.

My “happy” day came on Monday, when right after the breakfast one of the maids knocked on my door and said that I was summoned by Hulk to appear before him. I quickly did my shaggy hair in a ponytail, flew out into the hallway and rushed up the stairs.

“So, we shall assume that today is your day off.” said Hulk, “now you can get out of the ranch. There is a bus stop on the road behind the electric fence, a hundred meters away. If you hurry, you should catch the bus that goes to the city in about thirty minutes.”

He looked at his watch, and then at my shining like polished copper basin face.

“It would not be advisable for you not to come back too late, I hope you understand that. I wouldn’t like to start a search and worry about you.”

I quickly nodded. Hulk seemed to be satisfied with such an uncomplicated answer.

“That’s it. You are free to go.”

Standing under the blazing sun on a deserted road by the tiny rusty shack, generously called a “but stop”, I was enjoying my life to the full. And not even the worn out sweaty blue shirt, saggy jeans, dusty falling to pieces shoes or poking out hair could not ruin my cheery mood. My first day off! And shopping! I couldn’t believe my own luck. A well-deserved whole day of rest when I didn’t have to do nothing but lazily wander the streets, eating an ice cream and carry the bags full of new clothes - what on earth could be better? I’d already decided that the ice cream will be the highlight of my agenda today (after an hour I still couldn’t remember the last time I pampered myself like this). Perhaps, I could even find a café and enjoy a cup of coffee with a croissant. Of course, Tally is not Clendon City, but I just waved my hand carelessly - any old stale piece of bread would do it for me. This day gave me a feeling of a life as a normal person, and took my mind off the endless cycle of slavery and pain, which I could never get used to. Mumbling the words of gratefulness to the heaven, Hulk or both of them together, I was impatiently twiddling the plastic bag, which I brought with me in order not to spend any extra points on trifles. Finally, a slowly creeping and creaking yellow bus appeared in the distance.

The adventure begins!

I guess I could hardly find the words to describe all those delightful emotions overwhelming me on that day. I was almost lovingly admiring the cracked buildings, passing by people, faded signs, shrubs, benches, dishevelled windows and so on. Even the puzzles on bus tickets I was now solving with a smile on my face. People were looking at me without anger, rather than envy, not understanding why any person in Tally would be in such a good mood. A few days ago, I wouldn’t have understood it either, except for today. Today was my day.

Who would have thought that those miserable points which I could now spend on some quite ordinary household items or dry bread could bring me so much gratitude? Or that dilapidated exterior of Tally city centre could seem almost like an exotic holiday in a crowded metropolis on another continent. Perhaps the expression that “everything is relative in this world” happened to be extremely true to life. At least I experience it first-hand. Live and learn… Live and learn…

After browsing a few different stores (to my surprise, the shopping area in Tally appeared to be fairly big) my plastic bag contained a whole bunch of different things: a new shower sponge, a deliciously scented shower gel, soap bar, shampoo, hairbrush, hair bands, face cream, two deodorants, q few shirts, socks and one thing I didn’t even attempt to dream of - a new pair of jeans! I even bought a small book so I could truly feel like a human being, sitting on the porch at the sunset, relaxing with a little novel in my hands. It wasn’t that much fun to keep pounding the Tueric’s “Agriculture and farming” all the time.

I didn’t forget about the pharmacy either. After a chat with the pharmacist, a rather nice guy in a white coat, I bought several sachets of strong cough medicine, some bandages, plasters, antiseptic and even a box for storing the medications, which I intended to pass to the quarry workers.

Later on I got even luckier - in a garden centre (was it really that common here to have a vegetable patch in Tally under this merciless sun? Perhaps, only the owners could afford such a luxury on the rooftops of their penthouses). Anyway, in this store I pretty much surprised the shop assistance by buying an assortment of gloves made of some durable material, which, in my opinion, could withstand a certain number of days for workers working with the picks. Now I was as happy as a tomcat in May dating a dozen pretty chicks at the same time. I added my new “treasure” to my already heavily overloaded bag whilst humming some melody to myself; I went to look for a cafe.

And only in the evening, a sniffy bus brought me back to the same bus stop on the outskirts of the city, where I - well-fed and content, almost hiccupping from the amount of ice cream in my stomach - slowly walked to my shelter.

After I unpacked my simple but valuable purchases, I felt like a millionaire. Of course, to feel completely happy I still needed a few more items such as a new pair of shoes but for now this was enough. There were still a lot more pages to translate, which meant that I could hope for a repetition of today’s experience again. My feet will be alright. But I was thrilled from what I’d already got for just fifty points! Thinking logically, it was about right since fifty points was one twentieth of the total amount required to be released from Tally, and nobody would scatter such an amount for nothing, whereas my situation was just perfect for doing that. Meanwhile my first bracelet was slowly collecting the priceless “freedom” points.

Fortunately for me, Hulk did not come to inspect what kind of junk I’d got from the shops and as a true sybarite I asked Tabitha for my favourite tea (she kept it aside for special occasions) and then went out on the porch to enjoy my new book.

As soon as following morning came, I was on my way leaping to the quarry. As it was someone else’s responsibility now to deliver the food and I wasn’t too concerned about that since Tabitha promised to personally check that workers won’t starve any longer, I was running there with only a box with meds in my hands, not having to lug a heavy cart.

The men noticed me approaching them from afar and began to gradually gather by the barracks; their dusty, as always gloomy faces were now expressing some curiosity and even a resemblance of cordiality - the workers somehow found out that the increased amount of food they were getting was my doing. It felt good to know they were grateful, though I didn’t carry out my "great" deeds because I wanted to massage my ego and I would rather stay in a shadow than hear their muffled, interrupted by a cough, "thank you".

Nevertheless, those were the words I heard the most over the next two hours, during which I was giving out gloves, cleaning and covering their palms with medicine; putting bandages on their wounded hands. Then, I read out the instructions for the cough remedy and handed them out to the men, explaining how and when they should take it. They were looking at me in a more and more friendlier way, and after I got out the last gift - dust protective masks, they started to look like almost sane people who were able to enjoy their life. Masks were immediately tried on and the mumbling perked up.

At the end, I was approached by one of the workers - his face was speckled with thin lines, battered by the wind, hard life and illnesses, but he still had the spark of the man with an indomitable spirit. In one hand he held the mask and pills he’d just got and his other hand was clenched into a fist.

“Here.” he said he opened up his palm, “Take it. Let it be yours - for good luck.”

He handed me a small shiny blue stone similar to an uncut sapphire but it still looked amazing and was shimmering in the shades of ultramarine. Before I could thank him for his generosity I was surrounded by other men and almost each one of them brought me a stone - and not just the blue ones, but also red, pink, clear and even green.

“No, no thank you! Why would you give them to me? Please keep them for yourselves!” I began refusing, feeling desperately embarrassed but the gaze of the old man who gave me his first gem made me stop.

“Take them, girl. They are no good to us anyway but you may find them useful one day. We don’t say anything to the owner about the rich lode we found here and you don’t tell him please, it’s not worth it. Take the rocks - one day you’ll be free…”

“One day you’ll be free as well!” I protested.

“Maybe, but that’s not the point.” he interrupted me and looked at the dust masks, “you’ve just added years to our lives and it’s worth more than any diamonds and we want to thank you. Don’t refuse.”

I helplessly looked at the pile of coloured gems laying on my palm and then at all the people around me - they were still holding their small gifts in their hands. Another young guy from the barrack hurried up towards me with a black sock in his hand. He gave it to me and the all gems were placed in there.

“Thank you. Yes, thank you! For the masks and gloves and for the pills...” I heard the men’s voices.

“Please, don’t thank me...” I kept saying to them over and over again, feeling completely confused, trying to get break away from the crowd and holding back the tears, “Please, don’t forget to take the pills on time; I’ll bring you some more medication soon.”

As I walked up the hill I could still see them waving “goodbye” to me.

And then there was more translating, evenings on the porch, brief meetings with Hulk and other people in the house, and more shopping trips. Little by little I got plenty of useful things for the ranch workers: simple but comfortable hats for people working in the fields, gloves for the berry pickers, new kitchen towels and aprons for Tabitha and many more necessary items that I handed out here and there. I didn’t even try to remember or count what’s already been done but simply wrote down my new ideas at the back of the notebook, so I could implement the created plan during my next trip to the city.

Hulk - many thanks to him - did not interfere with my charity, although I was sure he knew about it. He usually pretended to be busy or he actually was busy. Nowadays I thought about him more often than ever before, but I wasn’t in a hurry to search my soul for the explanation of my own behaviour - perhaps the reason for it was the gossiping that suddenly popped up a couple of weeks after I’d started doing the translation for him.