Chapter 1
“Sam," Rita Hillman said, "Douglas and I will be heading back to Redstone for provisions. Anything you might need?” I shook my head yet again, as I always do, at the request. There was nothing that I needed that she or Douglas could provide.
Soon it was just me on the front porch of the Sewn-Flower, key in hand, watching the Hillmays starting their trek with the caravan to Redstone. Part of me wished to join, to return myself to the city, but the very thought was met with a resounding, “No.” Instead, I wiped the dust and the budding sweat from my forehead before retreating into the less dusty Tailor shop.
My name is Aisamijk (AA-sam-eeZH), but I’ve been going by Sam Phoenix for months. Sweeping floors wasn’t my first choice of work. Nor was milking cows or cooking or stitching cloth into dresses or hammering nails to thatch a roof. But seeing that I came here with nothing, other than the charity of the Hillmays, I took on anything I could get.
The Hillmays were the only consistent work I managed. Each week I earned enough to buy a few meals and save for a rainy day. All I had to do was come and sweep the shop three to four days a week. Okay, there are other duties, but it’s the dust that is the constant perpetrator to be battled. Linen had to be placed over the bolts of fabric and window displays lest to return in the morning to a fine layer of desert dust on all the ware.
When I’m not working at the Sewn-Flower, I hire myself out in the hopes for a meal or a place to sleep, but it’s been difficult. A lady without long hair is not my idea of an attractive woman. When I first arrived, I had a fine stubble of hair regrowing. Three months later and it’s only two inches long according to Rita’s measuring tape. It’ll take years before my hazelnut hair is cascading to my waist again. It’s interesting how much hair is apart of a person’s identity...
I was lucky that it was Rita and Douglas I had happened upon. Though I hate their kindness, it could be worse. Being new in town, no one knowing who I was, it was like being a stray dog. Some people took pity and let me earn a meal or a place to sleep. Other’s shooed me away, taking me for a whore or disease they didn’t want to catch.
I almost became a whore... It’s funny what a hungry stomach could do to a person. My pride was- still is- too big to keep accepting the Hillmay’s charity. At the end of my first month in Skullcreek, I took to heart what one of the tavern maids said to me. “Darlin’. Why you scarfin’ down food like ya ain’t eatin’ befor? A pretty thing like ya could eat fer a week if ya make the right man’s night.”
The whores did dress better than I and had more meat on their bones. And when the next two day stretch without a meal came around, I gave in. I doubt I chose the right man, or maybe it was too soon to be intimate, if that’s what I could call it. The moment his hands were on me, I felt a terrible pit form in my stomach. My first and only lover, Elrik, sprang to my mind. The way she use love me was something to be desired over the lust the man handled me with. At the same time, it angered me that I would crave for her. It was all because of her that I am where I am.
It’s enough to say I never returned to the work of a whore. Whoever the man was, I hadn’t seen him since. Probably someone passing through.
As people got use to me being around, I began to acquire more jobs. There are still nights I go hungry, but surely in time I’ll have something steady. Maybe even earn enough to buy a home and pay the Hillmay’s back for everything they’ve helped me with.
In the meantime, wiped my brow with my apron. The day was going to be another scorcher. Hastily I finish sweeping and dusting the shop. Once the Sewn-Flower was locked, the key secure in my pocket, I went to retrieve my lute from my nook in a barn.
To avoid the heat, I went to my favorite place: the Mesquite tree next to the creek the town was named after. In the shade of the tree I play my lute to pass the time. And on a day as such, with coin for food, I play music until my stomach can’t stand being empty any more.
