Arrogance & Innocence

The Market and Bethany

Finally finally I reached the town out of breath. Breathing heavily I made my way to the Market. It was a mob scene. I looked down at the list and found that I had to get everything from food to ribbon. Sadly I had no idea where o start. I felt a hand grab the back of my shirt and turned to see who it was. A girl somewhere in her early teens looked up at me curiously.

“Well, Hello there.” I said awkwardly. “Who are you?”

“Who are YOU?” She asked seriously. “You're dressed to nicely to be a villager. Are you a Lord?”

“First I'd like to know who you are.” I answered calmly.

“Why should I tell you?” the girl asked furiously.

“Well, I don't see why I have to tell you who I am if you're not going to tell me who you are. And you're the one who grabbed the back of my shirt for no reason. I also asked you first.” I explained.

“I'm Bethany.” she answered sighing. “Now WHO are you!?”

“I'm Harris.” I answered grinning. It's nice to meet you Bethany.”

Bethany let go of my shirt in shock and stared at me open mouthed.

“You're the DUKE!” She breathed in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to figure out how to do this.” I admitted sheepishly.

“But WHY?” She asked.

“Well I guess you could say I'm and ex-Duke and a new-servant.” I answered before thinking.

Realizing I'd said to much I backed up.

“Um...” I stammered. “I should get going.”

“Wait!” Bethany called as I turned to leave. “I can help you!”

“Help with what?” I asked confused.

“The shopping. Duh.” She answered grabbing the list from me. “How much can you spend on everything?”

“A lot.” I answered thinking of the bag of gold coins in my pocket.

“OK. I know some great placed to get everything you'll need.” She said grabbing my arm and pulling me along after her.

“Mr. Potts has the best veggies around. And they're cheap to. Come on I'll show you how to find the good ones.” Bethany said as we neared a stall full of vegetables.

“OK?” I said uncertainly

When we got there Bethany explained how to tell how good a carrot or tomato or whatever we were looking at, was and she was chatting about her family the whole time.

Mr. Potts was a frail old man I soon found out when we were ready to pay. His hair was a grayish white color and it looked on the verge of falling out. He had glasses resting on his thin pointy nose to cover his critical hazel eyes. He never smiled once, not even a hint. After I had payed Bethany dragged me to another stall explaining that it was owned by a lady named Mrs. Flock and that she sold eggs. “You have eggs on your list.” She assured me when we got there. Ms. Flock was a big lady with brown hair to her elbows and she was laughing at us. Her big and kind brown eyes were dancing and she looked about as jolly as anyone could be. She was the exact opposite of Mr. Potts. She bundled up a half a dozen eggs for me so they wouldn't break and asked if I needed any help finding anything. I grinned and told her thank you but no. She was very kind. Next Bethany dragged me to the Bakers. Apparently I needed to get bread to.