The Legend of Barry {Guts & Blackpowder}

Barry's New Sweetheart

"What? You must be joking, sir," Barry responded in utter disbelief.

Mister Charles stared at him with a serious face and said, "No, no, Barry. It says it on the list here."

"But, Mister Barnaby is the one who writes that list. He hates my guts. Why would he assign me to the Marsdens family?"

Loud footsteps suddenly came from the entrance. Everyone's eyes averted from Barry to the mysterious sounds. The figure appeared to be dressed in all black once he was revealed from the very little sunlight peaking through the gray clouds.

"Because I want to challenge you, Mister Williams," Barnaby answered, "And yes I do hate your guts. But I want to give you a chance at something, a chance to prove to me that you're not a worthless little dweeb, like your father. That, you're something more."

Yes, his words hurt like venom to Barry. But he was giving him a chance at... something?

"How would I prove myself to be greater, sir? What would I be proving myself worthy for?" Barry inquired with curiosity.

The entire room was silent for a moment.

"If you manage to actually do a good job of cleaning the Marsdens' ginormous chimney for the next five weeks, and gain the interest of the family's youngest daughter Clementine Marsdens, I will give you a much, much higher wage. Any more questions, Williams?"

Silence. Barry had to repeat what he just said over and over again, trying to process it slowly.

"I have two questions: Why would I have to charm Miss Clementine Marsdens? Are you plotting something... mischievous?" Barry asked, trying to find the real truth behind this.

Mister Barnaby sighed. "You need to gain the trust of Clementine Marsdens. You will then manipulate her trust into begging her father to invest his money to my company. To answer your last question, I wouldn't call it mischievous. More like a well-planned... plan."

"So you're using me for your own personal gain?" Barry pushed.

Mister Barnaby thought about it for a second. Only one second.

"You do need the money, don't you? Your father is struggling with alcohol, you will probably starve soon, and your house is slowly breaking apart. But with a higher wage, all that could change. Let's say, a thousand pounds a week good enough? So what do you say, Barry?" Mister Barnaby inquired.

Barry knew this was wrong. Manipulation. Power. Greed. But then he thought back to his dreams. Those dreams of heaven. A better life. He would finally have a dream come true.

Mister Barnaby walked up to Barry and took out his right hand.

"Are you in?"

Barry looked up and stared right through his eyes, trying to see if he was being truthful. But he couldn't see anything, anything good in them. He had a gut feeling. A really bad gut feeling about his next decision.

Barry shook it.

"I'm in."

**********

Since Barry was visiting the wealthiest family in all of London, he had to fix himself up. He used a clean, damp rag to wash off the chimney dust. The boys gave him a clean cut and used a comb to brush his hair. And he finally managed to scrape off the mud off his worn-out boots. Mister Charlie lended him his old rusty brown tailcoat from when he was a young child. Barry Williams was now a clean, nice-looking gentleman.

Barry hopped into Mister Barnaby's carriage, and rode off to the east side of town. Mister Barnaby was only going to give a good first impression to Mr. Walter Marsdens, the wealthiest man of all of London. The whole ride was filled with loud, intense, ear-bleeding silence. But he didn't care. Barry knew he was being used, but he didn't care. Barry was finally going to get, to earn, his dream.