The CRES code

Chapter Thirty Five - Jane rents a room.

     Jane could have found her way to Gribblers with her eyes closed by the mouthwatering smells of spices and cooking meat that drifted along the street, allowed to escape by the open front of the shop and carried on the fresh, early morning air. A small crowd had already gathered in front of it and she waited near the back as the people in front were served. An elderly woman with a lacy shawl around her shoulders glanced sideways at Jane as she took her place beside her. A pair of sharp, grey eyes frowned disapprovingly as they scanned Jane's faded, second hand clothes and then the woman turned to look directly ahead as if Jane would just evaporate into the air if she ignored her hard enough.

      The butcher, Mister Gribbler himself Jane assumed, was a cheerful looking broad bellied man wearing a bloodstained apron who took the time to chat with each customer as he served them. Further back in the shop, two assistants were hard at work, one chopping up a side of pork with a large cleaver while the other was kneading a pile of mince and plopping lumps of it into premade pie cases. Behind them was a large iron oven from which so much heat was radiating that Jane could feel it on her face from five metres away.

     "You got any fresh pork pies yet?" asked the man standing closest to the serving counter.

     "How the pies coming, Tom?" called back Gribbler without turning his head.

     The man kneading the mince opened the front of the oven. A wave of heat washed out, carrying with it a scent of cooking pie crust that drove Jane's hunger all the way up to eleven. All of a sudden she wanted one of those pies so much that she would have snatched one from a baby. Well, she wouldn't, but almost. Suddenly muesli seemed drab and watery in comparison and she marvelled that she'd been starting her day with it for the past fifteen years when she could have been eating a freshly cooked pork pie fresh out of the oven.

     "Five minutes," called back Tom, closing the oven again.

     "You want to wait five minutes?" Gribbler asked the customer, "or you want one of yesterday's cold ones?"

     "I'll wait," the man replied. Several of the other customers evidently felt the same way because they moved a little to the side allowing other customers to reach the serving counter.

     By the time Jane reached the counter the pies were ready. She lifted the middle of her skirt a few inches to create a fold for Gribbler to drop her order into, then held it with one hand while she fished in her pouch for a few copper coins. She counted out five pennies which she dropped into Gribbler's huge, meaty hand while trying as politely as possible to avoid being drawn into a conversation with him. Then she shouldered her way through more recently arrived customers and headed back to the registry office.

     The clerks greeted her enthusiastically while at the same time keeping their voices hushed and glancing nervously at the door to Trabe's office. Philip dropped his roast chestnuts into a desk drawer, smiling as he thanked her. "Are you going to be going round Gribblers every morning?" he asked hopefully.

     "If Trabe doesn't like you leaving the office he probably won't like me doing it either," replied Jane. "I'll eat before I come in, like you do."

     Philip nodded with disappointment. "Where are you staying?" he asked.

     "I haven't found a place yet. I'm new in town."

     "I know a few good places. I could show you around after we close up tonight."

     Jane could tell that the clerk was trying to come on to her and she really didn't want to become entangled with a personal relationship so her first reaction was to turn him down, but then she reconsidered. She really did need a guide in this new city, and being seen in the company of a long time resident might help her evade detection by the priests who would be keeping an eye out for new arrivals. And besides, he wasn't bad looking and seemed nice. She decided to sound him out. "What would your wife think?" she asked. "Being seen in public with a strange woman?"