Souja

Souja Chapter 3

Souja

Chapter 3

On your next round you saw Johnny furiously whittling away at a hunk of wood.

"Refill on your stew Johnny?" You offered as you came to his table to refill the bowls of his companions.

"No thanks, give my portion to a more deserving one." He answered with a meaningful smile to you and if you could have reached him and kissed him you would have for being so sweet.

"You've paid for your fair share Johnny. Don't worry about us not having enough to go around, we always have enough and the deserving have already had their fill. You should get yours too. Can't have you going hungry, much less getting weak or faint when you'll need your strength and wits the most." You reassured him as he seemed to weigh your words.

"Last one then." He begrudgingly agreed before you took the bowl and filled it and gave him extra bone marrow hunks and extra meat hunks before giving him two rolls before you moved on but still gave him an appreciative smile over your shoulder.

Sure enough, after the sixth round, most had had their fill and were in the process of taking their whore of choice to bed and by the seventh round, the whores were getting their second customers of the night and by the eighth, the whores were getting their third.

And Johnny was left all alone at the booth, continuing to savor that last bowl of stew and other left overs on all the plates and dishes, having taken all the bits and moved them to his own plate, not wanting much of anything to go to waste as he was whittling away as the others were gathering the dishes while the dogs, cats and little dragonets, that were the size of dogs came in to eat up the little bits of leftovers from the plates before they would be washed up to be reused in the morning.

"So, what are you working on so hard tonight?" You asked as you came around and picked up the abandoned plates and set them on the floor for the cats, dogs and dragonets to lick up what they could before you put them into your bin.

"Um, a gift, for whichever one of your children will take it." He answered as he looked up from his hunk of wood, having collected all the shavings into a dish so he didn't leave a mess.

"Aww, aren't you the sweetest Lad." You cooed happily. Although his whittling skills weren't the best, you had no idea what it could be, but some kind of animal with a head and four legs.

"How old were you when you had your little ones?" He asked before you slid into the booth opposite him and rested for a moment, seizing your opportunity to talk with him as you set your bin for the plates on the rest of the table.

"I was only 18 when Lena was dropped off at the door. She shouldn't have been much older than 2 or 3, maybe four. Her Ma died of consumption and who knows about her Da. We think it was maybe her parent's neighbors that dropped her off. Her Ma was found in one of the shacks by the sea, a bottle of rum mostly drunk in her hand as she was sprawled out on the floor- in the worst way a woman could be found in. Lena was beyond dirty and hadn't eaten in who knows how long and practically naked, her nappy long gone and wearing a nightgown that was barely hanging on by a few measly threads that was two or three sizes too small for her. She was drawn to me and I was drawn to her and so it wasn't hard to adopt her as my own after that." You informed him.

"Oh. So she's adopted then?" Johnny asked.

"They both are. I was 20 when Grayson wandered into the place. He came into the tavern the morning after a really bad storm. He was following the scent of the food. He was very oddly dressed, in a style none of us in the larger Souja family had ever seen or recognized. He was dirtier than a mudskipper. His clothes must have had an inch of muck on them. We're guessing he survived a shipwreck at sea because he hates just the sight of the sea and really hates bad weather. But he'll eat seafood with the best of them. Hell that boy will eat any food you put in front of him. On nights where it storms, they both sleep with me in my bed and I have to hold them both, one under each arm and cuddled up and I have to sing them every lullaby I know for them to go to sleep on stormy nights." You recalled as Johnny blinked in surprise but his smile never faltered from being anything but adoring when he was looking at you.