The Fourth Law

Chapter 1, Part 2

By six Lily was dressed and, if not feeling better, at least she was feeling less bad. There was another hour before she had to attend to her duties at the orphanage, so she decided to head to the market to see if there were any deals to be had. Grabbing an apple on her way out, she walked from her office/flat to a rack of bicycles in the parking lot. St. Edward's Home for Children only had one pickup truck, and given the price of gas – even in oil-rich Texas – most travel was by foot or pedal these days. Unlocking her bike in the red tint of early morning, she set out west onto the road toward the farmers' market of the much-reduced town of Waxahachie.

Even at the early hour, many were already out and about. After the year when electricity was rationed, people got used to getting up with the sun rather quickly. "An evolutionary adaptation," her father would have said. Thinking of her father – and the bad dream – made her weave slightly on her bike. Glancing around, she wondered as she had so many times before: when they look at me, do they know whose daughter I am?

With that thought on her mind, Lily turned into the large parking lot of the abandoned supermarket and eyed the stalls being set up. Some farmers, the wealthy ones, actually had trucks, but most got there with wagons pulled by their horses. The clever ones, like Billy Thornton, used biodiesel, or, as he liked to call it, "lard power!" It was to his stall she went first.

Short, but stocky and powerfully muscled, he was helping his men unload. He stopped when he saw Lily.

"That's a mighty mean look for such a cute little girl, Lil'! You tucker yourself out staying up on those fancy computers of yours again?" As Billy spoke with a smile to take the sting out of his words, Lily relented. She also knew that before the Breakup, Billy was one of the sharpest technicians at the nearby Owens Corning plant; he probably knew more about computers than she did.

Her face softened and she shrugged. "It was just... one of those nights, right?"

He nodded back with a hard grin. After the Breakup and Formation War, too many of us had nights like that. It was one of the reasons that hers, and so many other orphanages, had been established.

"Anything good today?" she asked.

With a look of mock-horror, Billy exclaimed, "Why, little missy! My meat and produce are good every day!" Some of his helpers chuckled at that.

Rolling her eyes, Lily countered. "You know what I mean; anything on special. We're pretty good on rice and corn, but I was hoping to get the kids some meat this week."

"Coin or paper?" Even with the new state using fractional reserve banking, everyone preferred silver to paper. Lily patted her purse lying just over her Ka-Bar knife.

"Coin, of course. We're always square with each other."

"Indeed, indeed. In that case, for five silvers I can get you thirty pounds of ground beef. How about that?"

That was a pretty good deal, but one never gives in to the first price. But, she also didn't want to haggle like some woggy rug merchant.

"Sounds about right," Lily said, "but I was hoping to treat the kids to some bacon this morning...?" She smiled sweetly. That's always worked on him!

He smiled back and called to one of his men. "Buford! Get that meat... and five pounds of bacon!"

Lily handed over her coins, embossed with the Lone Star on one side and a Crusader Cross with the current year on the other, while Buford secured the meat both in the bike's front basket and onto the platform behind her seat. He lent a hand for her to get onto her bike. "Always a pleasure, Miss Barrett!"