Gold Or Gone

Chapter 5: Spice It Up

Currently the biggest problem we had was food and money. We just didn't have enough food to last us even a week. We had no source of income to get money to buy food either. It was a daunting problem.

My mother passed away in 7th grade and since then my father had been in the factory almost 16 hours a day before he had to leave for the army. With no one at home I don't have someone that can provide for me. Ak was also living with only his father who had to go to the army along with basically all the men from this town due to the recent war. Leah's mom was angry that she couldn't earn for her and thought of her as a burden, hence she kicked her out. We all were basically orphans now.

Since it was better to stay together than alone for survival, I let Leah and Akar to live with me.

"Hey like, doesn't the library have even one book on cooking?"

"We need to earn something; we're running out of money."

Hearing me talk, Leah got up and walked into the shelves, she came back with a book titled "Spice it Up: Bold Flavors for Every Occasion" and handed it to me.

"So...Wanna start right now?"

Akar and Leah agreed, we got up and went to the kitchen. But there was one problem, out of nowhere an earthquake shook the house, The floor was covered in slurry and the kitchen was completely messed up. We had no experience nor talent in the kitchen.

"I wish we could take cooking classes or something," Akar said, disappointment in his voice.

Currently none of us could create even an omelet. The situation was looking grim.

"Maybe we can ask the lady down the street to teach us?" suggested Leah.

I and Akar looked at Leah skeptically, "Do you think she would agree?" we asked. "Yeah well she seemed pretty kind to me?? we don't have options anyways..." She replied but there was another problem. They had no money to buy ingredients. I felt a pit in my stomach, realizing this was going to be a bigger challenge than I had thought.

After discussing their plan, they decided to visit Mrs. Stewart and ask for her help. They walked down the street and knocked on her door. She was surprised to see them, but as always, she welcomed them with open arms.

"Hello, my dear children, what brings you here?" she asked, smiling warmly.

Mercury took a deep breath and explained their situation. "Mrs. Stewart, we want to learn how to cook, but we don't have any money to buy ingredients. Can you please help us?"

Mrs. Stewart listened patiently, then put her hand on Mercury's shoulder. "Of course, my dear. I'd love to teach you all how to cook. But the ingredient are very expensive, I'm afraid i cannot provide those for you."

"Miss, if we arrange the ingredients, could you please teach us how to cook?" exclaimed Akar.

"OfCourse lad."

Mercury felt a wave of relief wash over him. They had a plan and a teacher, and things were starting to look up. However, as they left Mrs. Stewart's house, he couldn't shake the feeling that they were still in trouble. They had no money, no food, and no way to make ends meet. Additionally, now they needed more money to buy the ingredients.

As they walked back to the library, Mercury couldn't help but wonder how they would make their food stall a reality. They needed to come up with a way to get the money they needed, and fast.

The next day, they headed to the local market to see if they could find any odd jobs to do. They approached several vendors, but no one was interested in hiring three teenagers with no experience. Disappointed, they sat down on a bench in the market square.