"Thank you," I say, and lift up the bucket. I'm about to try and just sip from the edge.
"Wait," the water-seller says, seeing what I'm going to do. "Here, use this."
She has a cup on a string tied to the barrel-backpack. For her customers to use, I suppose. The string is looped around part of the backpack frame a few times, to keep it tidy, it seems. The water-seller unloops it, and holds the cup out to me, and the string is long enough I can stand arm's length away from her and still hold it up to my mouth to drink.
It's a wooden cup. Carved from wood, without a handle, so like a glass made of wood. It has a wider base with a narrower stem, as a wine-glass does, and the string is tied around that stem.
I look at the cup, and decide not to think about germs, since we're drinking out of a river anyway. And out of a much-used communal water bucket, too.
I dip the cup in the barrel, and fill it with water, and then I look at Lexi, and feel sorry for her.
"Can she have some too?" I say to the water-seller, and get another shrug.
I mean, I'd assumed we could both have a drink, but I thought I'd better check.
I hold out the cup to Lexi, who takes it, grabs it actually, seeming relieved, and drinks. She drinks fast, and finishes, and hands the cup back to me.
"Thank you," she says, and sounds like she means it.
I grin. I'm feel smug that I worked out a plan, and I'm also glad to help her. I'm thirsty, too, though, so I dip the cup in the bucket, and, still trying not to think about germs, I drink as well.
I drink, and it's good. It's wonderful. Like, well, cool water is, when you're really thirsty. It's so good, and my mouth is so dry, the water tastes almost sweet as I drink.
I drink, and then fill the cup again, and give it back to Lexi. She gulps more water down, and then I do too. We do that two more times each, while the water-seller watches us, before we're done.
There's still half a bucket of water left, so I look at the water-barrel, wondering.
"Should I tip it in there?" I ask.
YOU ARE READING
Eden
FantasyAshlin dies, and then wakes up, very surprised that she has. She remembers dying, remembers it precisely, and is completely certain that she did. She is equally certain that she hadn’t expected there to be anything else afterwards. But yet, here som...
