<<>>
I followed my mother down the busy streets, wide eyes taking in every booth and every product being sold.
I didn't get to come into the market much, but today was my birthday.
Nik, my little fluff of a dog loped beside me as I hurried to catch up with my mother. This was my favorite game to play in the market, diving in and out of crowds, taking time to dart across the street to touch the wooden sides of every booth that sold bananas.
Not for any reason, really. Just fun.
All the while Nik raced after me, his short stubby legs keeping up pretty well with my slightly less short but equally stubby ones.
Today, Mom was going to make me a birthday cake.
<<>>
She took large steps, strutting down the ordinary stone road. She was tall, like the rest of them of course, and had long, dark brown hair flowing down her back, curled slightly at the ends. She walked like everyone was watching, yet she was watching no one. I knew the technique from seeing it dine so many times.
Walk with a purpose, strut. Eyes forward, head up, strut. Seem powerful and beautiful, strut.
That basically summed it up.
And the thing was, everyone was watching.
I hated her for it.
She was just like the rest, arrogant and proud - proud of something she shouldn't even be admired.
People did watch her, their brains abandoning whatever they'd previously been thinking about and focusing on the girl who had and would always have more class than them, heads turning as she walked further and further away from their pitiful section of the market.
This was my time.
True, it was her time, everyone was watching her, but I was the one who made the impact they would remember.
Darting behind some of the more popular booths, - popular for the pitiful section - I made sure the vendors were watching the girl.
Of course they were, I don't even know why I still checked.
I grabbed two apples, a mango, and a coupe of coins from one booth, a whole cooked turkey and a sausage link from another.
That's how obsessed they all were.
Pitiful people - just perfect for the pitiful booths. It was no wonder they were stuck down here.
I ran along the backs of the booths for a while until I trusted I was far enough away that the vendors wouldn't see me carrying their produce. It was their fault for being so beetle-minded anyways.
~
I had a pretty good haul. The whole turkey was kind of a stretch, I would normally go for something smaller and easier to transport like a sausage link (I'd grabbed that along with the turkey, I was proud of myself) or a banana. Bananas were usually my go-to food because they were easy to transport and came wrapped, with a wrapping that didn't make your hands all sticky like the peel of an orange did. Quick, portable, and clean. Did it get any better?
Sure, they did make my bag smell like bananas for days if they got bounced around too much and they didn't hydrate me like the other fruits did, but everything has it's downsides I guess.
Feeling proud, I headed back to the previously abandoned house the others and I called our home.
~
