Chương 11: Black Mould - Seven - Cultivating Friendships

The girl stared at me with utter incomprehension.

"Wha?" I held back a sigh. She couldn't be much older than two or so. Maybe I could try someone who had figured out object permanence? But then, why would an older kid want to spend any time with what was basically a baby?

"Nevermind," I said. She shook her head.

"It's okay."

"Uh, yeah, thanks." I started looking around some more. At least this place had things I could do. Like catch tetanus on the swings, or slice myself apart on the slides. This place was a safety inspector's waking nightmare. The girl looked a bit disappointed, but it was mutual so I didn't comment. That is, until she reached into a small bag she had with her and pulled out a book. I stared. It wasn't a large book, just a few dozen pages, with a weathered cover made of some sort of pressed cardboard.

There was a drawing on the front of an owl, a bear, and three raccoons.

"Do you know how to read?" I asked. Actually, that wasn't quite true; I didn't know the word for 'read' yet, so I had to go through a bit of a pantomime to get her to understand. The girl nodded. Well then, maybe I had made a friend after all.

"Show me how?" I asked. As it turned out, kids were shit teachers. Sure, the kid knew how to sound out a few letters, and could point to her name (which was Bet) scrawled at the start of the book, but that was about it. Still, it gave me a baseline to work with, and a few facts. The language was phonetic, maybe more so than English. That, or my little teacher didn't know about silent letters and letter-pairs. There were forty letters. Maybe a few more.

Some of them looked terribly similar, and I couldn't tell if they were two letters, a capitalization of the same, or just poor typography on the printer's part. I would complain, but the English lowercase l, capital I, and the numeral one all looked the same and weren't exactly inspired designs. Eventually, Bet got tired of reading for me. She pouted and closed her book.

"Want to run?" she asked.

"Run?" I repeated. She nodded, then gestured to the open space. Well, exercise wasn't bad.

"I only just learned to walk, you know," I said. Bet frowned and considered this.

"I'll show you." Bet brought her bag over to Martha, who nodded and placed it in a cubby on the wall behind her. I imagined that anyone stealing from that would get to see what the cane hanging from a strap on the wall next to the stuff was for. Then Bet took my hand and led me down to where the other kids were playing. She very patiently showed me how to run. It was embarrassing.

I had walking down, more or less, but my too-big head messed with my balance, and my legs weren't nearly as long as I kept expecting them to be. One advantage to being short though, was that when I inevitably fell, it didn't hurt. I was light enough that I practically bounced.

"Like this," Bet said as she showed me her incredible ability to run back and forth. How did she have so much mindless energy?

"Fine, fine," I muttered as I ran after her. [You have unlocked the [Running {Common}] Skill!] [Do you want to add the [Running {Common}] Skill to your known repertoire of General Skills?] I tripped over nothing and crashed onto Bet, who lunged over to help keep me on my feet.

"I got the Running skill," I said. [Running {Common}] Move all of yourself as efficiently as possible to gain speed and cross distances faster. As this skill grows, you will find running, jogging, and sprinting easier and less tiring. Category: Physical Movement She nodded.

"Because run."

"Yes, because run," I agreed. That had been easy. Barely a dozen steps. Then again, it was a common skill. Maybe those required less effort? I hadn't been flooded by skills when doing other things though. Admittedly the repertoire of things I had done was limited. Was something different?

"I teached you," Bet said. I blinked. Was that it? She taught me how, so I learned it? Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. That was… nice, actually.

"Thank you." Bet nodded again.

"You're welcome." I patted her on the head, which required that I reach up, then accepted the text prompt. [Congratulations! You have obtained the [Running {Common}] Skill!] That was going to prove handy, I just knew it, even if only because running was a cheap and easy form of exercise. If I ever got into any sort of trouble though, [Running] would be a good skill to have. Judging by the number of kids running around, it was going to be a skill that a lot of people had, including some who would want to harm me.

Bet and I played a sort of version of tag which didn't quite have any rules. I couldn't keep up with her at all. Surprisingly, the other kids left us alone until Martha banged a pot together and called everyone over. I followed near the back with Bet and watched as some of the older kids set up a couple of long tables, some of which were quite low to the ground, then carried out stools made of random bits of wood and tin.

I sat next to Bet at one of the shorter tables, then watched as Martha and a few girls who were just shy of being young adults went around and placed filled bowls in front of everyone. Gruel. Tasty, tasty gruel! My bowl had more in it than I'd eaten over the last two days, and I absolutely devoured it, little spoon tapping against the side after every mouthful. I was only halfway through the bowl when something whizzed into my peripheral vision and rammed into my food.

Gasping, I flinched back as warm gruel flew all across the table, Bet's front, and onto the floor. The bowl followed it, clunking on the ground with sad, dull thumps. I turned to the left, murder in my soul. Some brat was laughing, leaning back in his chair while piggish snorts bubbled out of his nose.

"What is your problem?" I asked. He laughed louder, then pointed.

"You looked stupid." Why did they give me a wooden spoon? What I needed right then and there was a sharp knife. Or a fork. Yeah, I would settle for a fork.

"It's okay," Bet said.

"No it's not!" I shot back.

"He… he… broke my food." My inability to find the right words was only making me angrier. Bet looked sad, then pushed her own bowl towards me, but I shook my head. Why wasn't… ah, Martha was busy talking to some parents on the landing above, and the older kids were all grouped up at a taller table, talking together. No one was paying attention to the brats.

"You're a snot-nosed brat," I said. Snot-Nosed Brat squealed at me some more. He wasn't much older than I was, so… maybe I could forgive him. In twenty years or so. I absently picked at the vegetable bits that had fallen across the table. They were nutritious, and I needed that. Then food time was over. One of the older kids went around with a wet towel. She sighed and rolled her eyes at the mess on our end of the table, but it was clear she didn't feel like listening to my complaining. I let it go.

Bet cleaned herself off as best she could, then took out her book again. The rest of the afternoon was pleasant. A lot of the kids went to sleep after their meal, and eventually Bet dozed off while reading. I took her book and continued, putting sounds together in my head as best I could for practise. Then, at long last, kids started to leave in ones and twos as parents arrived.

I said goodbye to Bet, who followed a willowy woman with the same hair away, then I cheered up some as my mom arrived and gave me a quick hug.

"Did you have fun?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yes. I made a friend, Bet, and I learned how to read a little, and some snot-nosed… boy made himself my… not-friend."

"Uh-huh," my mom said. She smiled and picked me up.

"Come, let's get you home." I nodded. Home it was. I had to figure out a way to start cultivating more mushrooms. Maybe I'd start an at-home garden. I'd need to find the right words to convince my parents that it was a good idea, though. They seemed honest and forthright enough, maybe I could be the same in return. Soon I'd gather up more skills, grow a little stronger, and maybe find a way to cure myself of some of my afflictions. Everything was possible, I thought, with enough hard work.