The Thrill of Belonging To The Queen

Chapter 1

Aksalo

I was tossing and turning. The coolness from the night was leaving the room fast as the summer sun was creeping further up in the sky. Sweaty skin was clinging to the light sheets and too long limbs were dangling over the sides of the small bed.

I had to accept that it was time to wake up sooner or later. I got up from the bed in my corner of the room and set to work. I was the last to wake up since I was the one who managed the later hours of the family's stall in the market. I set to tidying up the even smaller room. Climbing over beds and retreiving toys and silly things from under them while shaking my head at my little siblings. After a quick washing up in the very DIY rigged shower I was ready to go for the day.

All I had to do was head for the noise downstairs at the front of the house where the face of the shop/stall was. Using the small amount of monies in my pocket I bought a price of sweet bread from the baked goods stall next door. The stalls being so close together that I just shoved one of my brothers out of the way at the register, angled my body over the counter and shouted, this was part of the daily routine. With breakfast in hand I settled down on the stool that sat behind the shitty old register which was already covered in a layer of dust from the clay dirt floor of the street. Foot traffic through the market kicked up dirt all day long and it was inevitable that it ended up in every nook and cranny.

All day long my fingers danced fast over the register. This week my long nails were painted a soft nude. I did my job robotically and almost lazily as hectic activity happened both in front of and behind me. It was muscle memory at this point. I'd been doing this since barely being able to see over the counter. At first watching and learning beside my mother's hip while she dealt with customers and then soon I was on my own. Learning and maturing fast was part of the job as oldest sibling.

The youngest set of twins played around my feet under the counter with some old dolls that were woven out of dried palms and
other big leaves. Behind me the bigger siblings worked with mother. Their fingers worked fast weaving lots of things like bags, baskets, small toys and other items. We had a small system that worked. I managed the front, kids 13 and above had to weave, the eldest of the little ones had to keep the chaos reigned to a minimum, and our mother went from section to section of the space to make sure we were all good. Of course this was developed over time. I used to do all three jobs at certain points.

Only the pleasant events of the day stood out to me. All the tourists faces blurred together in my memory though. I remembered the wink from the gross older men that left a large bill in the tip jar hoping that it would help their cause. I remembered the friendly old woman who bought a bassinet basket for her soon coming grandchild. And last but not least I remembered her. As if she was ever easy to forget.

A certain girl had been stopping by the stall every other day for almost three months at this point. I was keeping track. Everytime she stopped by she bought one thing and stayed at the counter chatting me up forever or at least until a new customer needed my help. Then she would slip away, leaving me wanting more. It didn't even seem as if it was on purpose. Either way, I certainly didn't mind it.

My eyes had memorized her appearance and accounted for as many details as possible so far. She was all long dark curly hair that somehow always escaped whatever style she had it in and sweet looking toffee skin. She wore modest clothes that made me curious to what shape was hiding underneath. Her heart shaped face held wide cheekbones, full cheeks, thick dark eyebrows, large almond eyes, an adorable nose, and pillowy pouty lips. But when she spoke her voice was fully sure and confident. That voice had many conversations with me at length about important topics and the most random things. Both of us did well to hold up our ends of the conversation and did it with ease. We had built up a good familiarity between us that made it so.