The Red Planet

Chapter 4

Over the next few weeks, Andrew and I developed a routine; wake up, breakfast, work, home, dinner, sleep, and do it all again the next day. Although it was repetitive it was nice to have a set routine that hardly changed.

One night we ran out of spyle, so Miss Prudy sent us out to the market to get some. Since we had been on Mars, Andrew and I had only been to the market a few times, but we always went with Prudy, during the day, and it was usually after work. Andrew and I were excited to see what the market looked like at night. We were also excited because Miss Prudy gave us thirty-eight moon credits, and she said that if there were some left over after we bought everything, then we could buy something for ourselves. The market was within walking distance so we both walked over there together.

The market was a whole different environment at night. It was lively and more crowded than during the daytime. The atmosphere vibrant filled with shouts of vendors trying to convince people to buy from them. There were also lots of smiles and joyful laughter. The air was filled with the smell of exotic spices and hot street food. The crowdedness made me feel closed and uncomfortable, but I forced myself to brave it out. We tried to make our way through the crowds but we had no clue where anything was, and we found ourselves lost.

There was a variety of vendors at the market, including handmade clothing vendors, street food vendors, jewelry vendors, produce vendors, and more. There was a little bit of something for everyone. In addition to the street vendors, there were illegal peddlers trying to sell items to people passing by. Andrew had to constantly wave a bunch of them away.

We wandered around for 20 minutes, and we were even more lost than we were before. We were about to ask someone for help when we heard a familiar voice behind us. We turned around and saw Xena. Immediately our faces lit up.

"Andrew! Quinn!" She said as she ran towards us, her arms outstretched.

"Xena, it's good to see you." Andrew said.

"Especially right now because we're totally lost."

"This is perfect! I can be your nighttime market tour guide! Where do you guys need to go?" Xena asked.

We showed her the list Miss Prudy gave us and Xena led us to where the spyle was first. After buying the spyle, she helped us navigate our way through the market and find everything else on the list. On our trips to the different vendors, we learned that on the day of our trial, Xena went to visit our cell, but we weren't there. She asked the guards where we were, and they told her that we were at trial. We made sure to catch Xena up on what's been happening with us too.

Once we finished buying everything Prudy asked us to, we still had 18 credits left over. We decided to use the left over credits to buy us something to eat. Xena showed us the best street food place to eat at. Andrew and I had enough money to buy us both food and a drink. It was essentially like a turkey melt but one-hundred times better. The flavors just melted on your tongue, and it was absolutely wonderful. The name of the food was called dyud tai. Originally, for our drink, Andrew and I were going to buy frúsca, but then Xena told us to try chameu. She said it tasted like berries and cream, and it was a light drink. She also said was sweet, but not too sweet, and had just the right amount of tartness. According to Xena, it was like a warm hug that tasted creamy, warm, and heavenly. Her description convinced us to buy it. When we got it was scorching hot, and it was hard not to burn our tongues. Xena didn't have a problem with the temperature though. She seemed to be completely immune to the heat.

We later learned that Martians have natural cooling systems in their bodies so whenever they come into contact with something hot, their body automatically works to cool them down to protect them.