His Eyes

HIS EYES: Chapter 11

THE ENGINE stopped and the driver was yelling something. I looked outside from the window and it was already morning. There was a sign saying "Welcome to Town 3". It looked like we already arrived.

"Yo, wake up," I said while shaking Orlstein's shoulders. She slowly opened and rubbed her eyes.

"We're here," I added. The driver had left the bus and so as the passengers. I looked around and realized we're in their terminal. It was small and it seemed like it was their basketball court.

We went outside the bus. It wasn't as hot as our town. There were trees everywhere and their road wasn't wide. One lane only. No wonder, this was the poorest town.

No buildings, no supermarkets, no schools nor universities. Fewer people. They said, most of the citizens here went to our town to study and work. Transportation was quite hard in here because there's only one bus who would pass this route.

The town wasn't big. The houses were not organized and there were no vehicles like motorcycles and cars.

"Where are we going now?" I asked Orlstein who was finding something from her backpack. We were sitting on the cemented bench near the terminal.

"I actually don't know where is his house but we can ask these people," she replied, pointing those civilians walking around the town.

"Do you have any picture of him?"

"Here," she said. She took something from her backpack which she was finding it a while ago.

It was printed in colored. The picture was crumpled but not too much. His eyes were blue which caught my attention. How come that his eyes were blue but mine were green? Before I had the transplant, my eyes were brown like the mud. My relatives used to adore those eyes.

"Are you sure this is him?" I asked. Those eyes really confused me. Orlstein nodded and gave me a questioning look. "I just noticed that his eyes are blue."

She took the picture and looked at it closely. "Maybe he was wearing contacts."

She had a point but something in my head didn't believe what she said. We stood in front of a woman whom I thought her age was 50. She was a vendor. A vegetable vendor to be exact. Her skin was wrinkled and her hair was white.

"Uhmm, excuse me. Have you seen this person?" Orlstein asked while showing the picture to the woman. Her eyes narrowed while staring at the picture. It looked like she couldn't see it clearly.

"Do you someone whose name is Adolf?" This time, I was the one who asked her. She stopped for a moment and thought.

"I'm sorry sir but I can't tell you the exact person since I don't know his surname."

Well, I was expecting her to say that. It was pretty obvious though.

"But, I know two persons," she added. "One is Adolf Lothar, he is a farmer. The other one is Adolf Francisco, he is the son of a vegetable vendor."

Orlstein asked for their addresses and thanked the woman. Before we could leave her, a man whose teeth gritted came furiously. His body was thin and he had dark skin, probably because of his work. He was holding two bills and threw it on the woman's face.

I exchanged look with Orlstein. Should we leave already or not?

"Get back to work old woman!" the man growled. I could see his nerves visible on his forehead. "And you! Don't you ever talk to her if you're not going to buy something! Leave!"

There were people shaking their heads as if they already expected this to happen. To stay out of trouble, we walked away from them.

"He's a ferocious one," Orlstein said out of the blue.

"Absolutely."

We went to their small market, a few meters from the terminal. It was an open market. We asked almost all of the vegetable vendors if they had a son named Adolf but they just shook their heads.

"Francisco? If you are pertaining to the Francisco vendors, then they already left the town. They moved to Town 5," Cecilla, another vendor, said. It looked like Adolf Francisco wasn't the Adolf we were finding.

"How about Adolf Lothar?" Orlstein asked. Cecilla shook her head and gave us a sad smile. I showed her the picture of Adolf but she just said sorry.

We bought five slices of bread from a bakery. It wasn't a modern style bakery and it cost cheaper than those from the city.

We sat inside the bakery. It was hot and made of wood. It was also dark. The smell of flour was circling the whole place. I looked at Orlstein who was leaning on the wooden chair while closing her eyes. She seemed tired. Why would she do this for me? If I were her, I should find the killer of my sister than be responsible for somebody's problem.

The chime that was hanging on the door sounded and an old man entered the bakery. His clothes were wet and dirty. Was he a beggar? He was wearing a hat and two eyepatches. He was also holding a crane. Maybe he's blind.

"What? You're here again? I told you, I don't have enough money!" the baker said, shoving the old man away using his spatula.

"Come on. You got some customers right there," the old man said, pointing us. Wait, I thought he's blind. Could he see us? Echolocation, I guess. That was kind of a weird guess.

He didn't look like a beggar to me anymore. I took the picture from my pocket and compared it. They had the same hairstyle but different color. I looked at his face and then the picture. I almost screamed when I noticed their similarities.

"Oh shit," I whispered. Orlstein faced me and gave a questioning look. I showed her the picture. Her eyes widened when she saw it and compared the two of them.

I watched those two again and they were still arguing. I should make a move so I stood up and went to them.

"He's with us," I lied. The baker stopped and chuckled.

"How could a worthless person like him have friends?" he said. He was still laughing like a coyote and it irritated me.

"He's telling the truth," Orlstein backed me up. The old man sighed and grinned.

"Well, well. I think I have to go with them. See ya later!" the old man said. Was he crazy?

The baker had nothing to do anymore so he went back inside his kitchen, away from us. This was a perfect time. We got the jackpot.

We found him.

~<>~

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