~Delilah Rose~Delilah had been waiting in line for hours. The medic station was always a nuisance, and the lines were unbearable. Not to mention the posibility of catching god knows what from god knows who. Medications were hard to come by in Port City, especially if you were poor, and Delilah was exactly that. She had taken off from work a few hours early, a terrible inconveniance it was to have to close the shop.
Never gonna make any money like this, she thought, but thats the way things went for her all too often. Her brother, Frankie, had taken on a high fever three days ago. Frankie was always getting sick. His immune systems was less than par, and on top of that he could hardly leave the house due to his asthma. Having asthma in Port City is almost a death warrant. The soot and smoke from all the coal was simply too much to bear. In fact she couldnt remember the last time Frankie had been oiutside.
"has it really been that long?" she muttered to herself, scratching her head with her finger, as if doing so would open up some sort of filing cabinet in her brain.
The people in line behind her were becoming aggitated. Come to think of it, so were the people in front of her, and she was too. She could hear the old, bent up woman at the counter giving the imperial a what for.. Man was that lady onary. The imperials rationed meds here in the city to the extreme, especially in the Shanty, and lots of people went without it. Going without was not an option for Delilah though.. All she could think about was her poor Frankie, sweat all beaded up on his pale little forehead. Nothing ever seemed to favor Delilah, or anyone in her family for that matter.. Her parents were both black bagged, and later exectued during
"the Great War", and her grandfather was left without a leg from the same tragedy, and poor Frankie, he never had the chance to enjoy being a child. The whole situation of the lot of them infuriated her, and the imperials didnt give a damn about any one of them, or anyone else for that matter. Not to mention all the taxes, and all the regulations they kept shifting around on everyone. She was startled from her thoughts as the old woman clamored out..
"what do you mean it isnt enough money?" shaking her bent cane.
"It was sure as hell enough money last month"The imperial guardsman rose from his seat at the counter.
"Look lady, quit making a scene.. you dont want things to get any worse for you.. It aint enough money" He scowled at the woman and lifted his arm, pointing for the lady to move along.
"NEXT!" he shouted abrasively, not taking his eyes off the woman as she grabbed her bags and stammored away.
Delilah stepped up to the counter, watching as the woman made her way down the streets, before returning to the business at hand. What a shame she thought. She wished she could help the woman, but she could barely afford what she needed as it was.
"Yes?" The man said in inquiry.
"I need some antibiotics for my brother. He has a fever of a hundred and three. All I have is Forty bits."The man scratched his head, as he looked her over. Delilah was a very attractive young woman, and it got her a lot of unwanted attention. Sometimes though, it worked out for her benefit. He was smitten and she could tell, though it disgusted her a bit. Man like that, looking her over, made her want to hurl.
"Price is Fifty five." He said, stringing a crooked smirk from his pursed lips.
"All I have is Forty." she said. This wasn't going the way she wanted it to.
The man looked her over once more, cocking his head to side like. He turned and went to the back of the small boxed shack for a moment and returned, placing half a bottle on the counter.
"Forty bits for that?" Delilah said sharply.
"Hey, take it or leave it.. Im not the one who needs it." He said sliding the bottle across the counter.
Delilah grabbed the bottle and handed the man her forty bits. He grabbed her hand harshly as she did, drawing her in a bit closer, leaning in as he spoke.
"Besides, Im the one who's doing you a favor.. Your lucky I don't take the rest out of that pretty little ass of yours." He said in a low voice, audible only to the two of them.
Delilah jerked away from him and stormed off. Completely intolerable, these imperials, she thought to herself, cringing at the idea of it. If the circumstances were different and he hadn't been an imperial, she would've pushed his eyeball through the back of his skull with her .45.
"See you next time!" He said, laughing as she stomped off.
"Next!"Delilah made her way back down the muddy, soot covered streets, to her family's shanty, just down the alley from Grenley Street. People standing around fire barrels, trying to keep their hands warm littered the streets and back alleys. The streets were always crowded in the Shanty, and danger was always afoot. It was a good thirty minute walk from the medic station on the outskirts to her place. She made it though, openeing the door to their cozy little two room shack. It wasn't much, but it was warm. It was home. Her grandfather Gerard was stoking a small fire in the hearth when she came in. Frankie was still on the sofa, nothing but his head poking out from a pile of quilts and blankets, and his hair was drenched with sweat from his fever. She went over to her grandfather and kissed him on his forehead.
"Glad to see you back home." He said with a genuinely warm smile. She and Frankie was all that he had left in the world, his only joy.
"How'd you make out?""Fifteen pills.. FIFTEEN!... I can't believe I waited in line for three hours for FIFTEEN PILLS!!" She was furious.
not to mention that the imperial pig at the medic station was all eye groping me.. gross." she said in disgust.
"I've told you a thousand times, its how you dress Delilah, with yer' flesh all hanging out everywhere.. Why every croney in the Shanty be eyepickn' those things.. For god's sake, you ought to dress more like a lady sometimes." Gerard said, half serious, and half in jest.
"Why if your father were to see...""Don't." Dellilah said. She hated when he brought up her parents, and how they act if they saw her dressed like that.. She had heard it a thousand times.
Frankie coughed and rolled a little onto his side. The wet rag on his forehead landed on the floor with a
FWOP. Delilah sat herself down at the table in the kitchen and Gerard got up from his stoop by the fire with a bit of difficulty and made his way to join her. He sat down and placed a hand over Delilah's. He could tell she was stressing hard about the way things were.
She dropped her eyes to the table, and then to Gerard.
"I've got to find a way to make some extra money soon. This medicine is'nt going to be enough for Frankie.""Now don't go gettn' all crazy actn' on me. I know how you get. Things'l work theirselves out out. Don't go around frettn' and gettn' yerself into any trouble.. You know how I worry about you."She was desperate, and when she was desperate things got dicey. She didn't want to worry her grandfather but something had to be done. She had made up her mind and that was that. Tomorrow she would go and see Captain Slade down at the docks. Maybe he could help them out with a little cash, or maybe he had some extra work she could do. She just smiled at her grandfather, not saying a word about her plans.
"I know grandpa, everything is going to be fine. Don't worry about me.."Everything was going to be
fine, just
fine, she thought to herself. What a mess....
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