The young lady looked over the Freetrader. He had asked her to tell him her story and she was not sure exactly what he meant. Did he want to talk about her current situation and responsibilities to Ms. Scarlett? Did he want her to talk about how she ended up working at the Red Dress? Or did he simply want her to keep him entertained while he ate his food. She decided that he was an honest man, as honest as a man could be anyway and gave him the short version of “her story.”
When i was a young girl we landed on Bliss. My father was an educated man brought over to help with the design of the aqueduct that brings water to the main colonies and the spaceport. Unfortunately he died in an accident when a wall he was working on collapsed and killed him. My mother who’s job it was to take care of me and our small home was distraught. She had only come to this place for him and now he was gone. She had multiple marketable skills, it was a requirement to be on the first colony ship, so she started working for the government of Rouran the township in which we lived. She was good there. Thanks to her job I was able to go to the best schools and stay out of trouble.
The young lady at this point waved over the waiter and asked for a cup of Hot and Sour soup and a glass of water.
“When I graduated school the plan was for me to enter the new “College on the Lake” which was the first major education center built after the landing. There was some kind of scandal within the government and my mother was implicated in that scandal. My mother was dropped from her job and was no longer able to work within the government. She eventually was able to get a job in a local restaurant as a waitress. My invitation to the College was overturned and I was told that unless I was able to pay they would not be able to accept me. My late teens I bounced around from small time job to small time job. Not making much money but I was making enough to get by. Then my mother died. I did not know at the time, but she had gotten into a drug called “The Drop”. Drops are a solid narcotic that is “dropped” into a glass of soda water, they work together and make a very hard drug. Someone poisoned her drink and she died. With both my parents dead , I had no more hold in our small town.
The young ladies food came and she stirred her soup and blew with her lips to bring the temperature down. It was clear that she was not going to continue her story till she was done eating. She sat a long time drinking her water and enjoying her soup. Soon Rick finished his meal and was enjoying the view and drinking his water. After she was done she once again waved over the waiter to take the items and ordered them another round of waters.
She continued “After my mother died, I was lost. No education, no real job, and now no family. I moved from our small town to the city hub to try and find work. There I met Ms. Scarlett. She was unlike any woman I had ever met. She saw something in me and brought me to The Red Dress. She explained what The Red Dress was and that I had two choices if I wanted to work there. 1) Make the easy money and work on my back or 2) work for almost nothing but learn how to run a business. Both had a strict rules of no drugs or any illegal activities and both could are only as good as the person doing the job. I had no problem being a worker but I had enough thought to think that the better job would be learning how to run the business and eventually start my own or take over this one. Now I am here having dinner with a FreeTrader, something I never thought I would ever do.
Just then the young woman stopped what she was doing and pulled a small cellular telephone from her pocket. She answered “Hello Ms. Scarlett. /pause Yes. /pause I understand. Good bye.” The young lady took a breath and drank some of her water. “Ms. Scarlett would like me to tell you that she has found the candidate that you are looking for.” “Great said Paxil, when will we meet her?” The young lady looked him over and said “My name is Daisy Bradshaw, I will be your guide and companion while you are here on Bliss.” At this she put out her hand.
Paxil reached for it and then bent over to kiss the hand. He looked up into her eyes and smiled, it was something Daisy had never really seen before in the type of men that usually come through the doors, it was kind. “We have a lot to do…..
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