Lucid Waking

Archive for June, 2008

The Den of Thieves (IV)

        Devin was starting to wake up; the awareness was melting softly into his thoughts. I reached his side with breakfast and then jumped up onto the chair. I would have enough warning if the king came in. Devin coughed and sat up to look around the room. His mouth was dry, but I had placed his breakfast somewhere he would see it and he took up the meat hungrily. I watched him carefully, though I knew he was ignoring me. He was very good at closing the connection. He smiled at me, though, and reached out to scratch me behind the ears. Then he started eating and pretended not to know me.
        “It’s not my fault,” I said to him pushing hard our connection.
        “I don’t want you to screw this up, again.” His voice broke clearly into my thoughts. I jumped down from the chair in case I was too distracted from our conversation to notice someone coming in and catching my faux pas.
        “Again? It seemed to be John’s fault, not my own. Or if you really want to be picky, blame yourself for thinking you’d be all right.”
        “Mia, I don’t want to think about it.”
        “Well, then don’t think about it. But stop closing the connection if you don’t want to screw this up tonight. Besides, the bestia seem to be very suspicious of two connected not speaking to each other.”
        “How do they know?”
        “There is a way to figure out if two are talking through eye contact or facial expression and nonverbal communication—its as if two beings are talking without saying anything. When you get older, you’ll know. But for now, take if from me, please, that it is better to have a healthy open connection at this point. And trust me that I won’t screw things up. When have I so far?”
        “Give me a minute,” he smiled, “and I’ll think of something.”
        “If it takes you that long, I think you’re in safe hands.”
         He reached his hand out and petted the side of my face.
        “You’d best get clean,” I said, pulling away, “you don’t know where we’re going and we might need you presentable.”
        “Whatever,” he said, getting up. He walked out of the room into the main part of the cellar and snuck outside to the water pump outside. I told him to be careful, but he just told me there was no one out but the cows. I curled up underneath the throne and waited for him.
        I wasn’t prepared for a little white mouse to open the door and scuttle across the floor to my location. I recognized her instantly as Luna, but I decided to continue pretending to be asleep when she came. She cleared her throat daintily.
         “Miss Miaka,” she said and waited.
         I opened one eye. “Yes?”
         “King Diego wishes to meet with you over lunch today. He says he has some information to give you and all of us should be present.”
         “If I must,” I said and Luna gave a little gasp.
         “Of course you must! No one says no to the king.”
         “Of course they do,” I said smiling. “Most don’t live to tell the tale.”
         Luna squeaked before scuttling off in the other direction and almost heading straight into Devin’s boot. New boots, I should say. I sputtered an apology as the mouse ran off back towards the King’s chambers.
         “What was that about?” he asked. He was still sopping wet, so I let him stay in the corner where he couldn’t get me wet.
         “The menagerie wishes to speak politics,” I said. “Where did you get those boots?”
         “They were sitting outside.” He turned his ankle and admired them proudly. “They weren’t covered in cow cakes, so I thought they were good.”
         “I hope they’re not the king’s,” I said.
         “The king wasn’t there. If they are, I’ll just tell him I took them so no one would get suspicious.”
         “It’s your life on the line,” I said.
         “Well, why don’t you go look and see if he’s missing his shoes,” Devin said bitterly. “But my feet were cold and I didn’t want to get them dirty.”
         “What about your other boots?”
         “They’re too small for me.”
         “I hope these work just as well.”
         “I don’t see why not,” he said. “They’re not that much bigger than my feet.”
         “Well, triple knot the laces before we go on that job. And don’t get any more clothes. I don’t want you to trip.”
         “Fine,” he said paling. I could tell I had said the wrong things, but I couldn’t take it back. I put all the faith I had in those boots to stop my mind from worrying. Perhaps it would make him less jumpy. He did seem to relax a little bit as he practiced hanging onto the wall to see if the souls would slip. They did work almost perfectly, but he compromised the little slippage with the muscles in his legs and arms.
         “You’ll be fine,” I said honestly. The door opened just then and an ash-haired boy entered the room.
         “There you are,” he said. “John was wondering where you stayed the night.”
         “I’m sorry.”
         “No, it’s all right,” he said. He extended his hand. “I’m Edward.”
         Devin shook the boy’s hand. “Devin.”
         “I know,” the boy walked over to the table where the food was and sat on it. “You could’ve stayed in the bunks.”
         “I don’t think the King would’ve—”
         “Not with Jack; we’ve got cots on the other side. Some people of the den stay there.”
         “I didn’t know—”
         “You could’ve asked.”
         I glanced around the floor while this conversation was going on and noticed that beside me, they were alone. I wasn’t sure if Edward noticed I was there, but I thought it odd he didn’t bring Osirus while he was awake. But it wasn’t that odd. Luna probably left John to go invite me to lunch and I’ve left Devin to hunt or stake out certain areas. I watched the door for the snake.
         “I don’t think the King or his court would have liked me asking where I could have slept last night.”
         “How’d you get in here anyway? It’s usually locked.”
         Devin reddened. “I picked it.”
         Edward laughed. “A thief through and through. Except that I’ll have to find a new lock, you seem to show good potential.”
         “Thanks,” Devin said puzzled.
         “Anyway, just thought I’d say hello.”
         “Ok.”
         Edward waved on his way out and left the room as silent and dark as before. Devin waited a little while before leaving the room. I followed after him. He was brushing his hand against the wall and scuffing his foot against the floor gently, brushing bits of dirt away from the brick. Then he pushed against the wall and it gave way in a quiet little scrape of stone on stone.
         “This place has got to be full of doors,” he said under his breath.

(Previous Parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Silver Swan Apartments: Episode 1, Part 2

        The Silver Swan Apartments was a very tall building right next to the lake. It sat on the end of its block, but there were more apartment buildings continuing on the next block. She parked her car in the parking lot in an open space and took a deep breath of the fresh air. She walked in and stepped towards the first door that said: Landlady.
        The woman that opened the door did not look very kind. She was stout and short, looking like a very disgruntled fairy godmother. Her silver hair was in hot pink curlers and she had managed to scrunch into a pair of overalls over her nightgown. The apartment behind her smelled like apple pie and kitty litter. The woman took one look at Clara and then took a step backwards and closed the door. Clara was confused, and a bit hurt as she stood their not knowing what to do. On the left side of the hall though, opened a window, and the stout woman appeared through it.
        “I like to see when my tenants are coming and going,” she said in a surprisingly gruff voice. Clara nodded like she understood the woman’s nosiness.
        “What do you want?” she asked before Clara could cut to the chase.
        “I’m interested in the room for rent.”
        “I thought so. Why didn’t you call?”
        “I called on the way,” Clara said. After realizing in her haste that she hadn’t even called to see if the room was available, Clara had marched back up the stairs and called the number before leaving again.
        “Are you that girl that just called?”
        “Yes, I’m Clara White.”
        “Hmm. I don’t remember that conversation. Oh, well.”
        "May I see the apartment?”
        “Sure, I don’t have anything better to do today.” The woman closed the window and then left her room through the door. She beckoned for Clara to follow her up the stairs to the third floor.
        “You can have pets free of charge, but if they ruin the carpeting they are out without a warning. I’m not going to have a repeat of that stupid nervous Chihuahua piddling all over the carpeting. Oh, that was a pain.”
        The woman was huffing by the time she reached the door and pulled out a large ring of keys. She slipped one into the lock and opened the door smoothly.
        The door opened into a large, bright living space. There were honeycomb blinds on the windows on the walls across from her and on her right. The wall on the right led to a hall and next to the door she was standing in was a small coat closet. Like promised, she could see a wonderful view of the lake from the back window.
        The hallway had two doors on the right and a large linen closet and bathroom on the left. The hall led to a particularly large kitchen with more window views of the lake and an island kitchenette. The left wall of the kitchen had a door that went to the balcony, which she saw extended to her bedroom a little ways away. The sun was starting to set on the lake, casting a tangerine glow on the black water. The wind rustled her red hair and she felt…not relaxed, but rejuvenated.
        The landlady coughed, breaking her ecstasy. “I have a lot of people asking about this room, so I need to know if you’re going to have it today.”
        “Today?”
        “Yes today!”
        “Well I have a lot of questions to ask first.”
        “We’ll go downstairs and ask them, but I want an answer soon on whether or not you’re taking it.”
        “Why haven’t you leased this out sooner if it’s so popular?” Clara said a little more irritated than she had hoped.
        “Well? What are your questions?”
        “How often to I have to pay rent and how much is it?”
        “550 a month. Every payment is due by the first of the next month. You lease it out for a year.”
        “550! The ad said 500!”
        “Does it?” the woman wrinkled her nose. “No wonder I can’t get that apartment rented.” She looked Clara up and down. “What do you do for a living?”
        “I’m a writer,” she said. “I work at 1740 Bedford Street downtown where I edit the Arts and Entertainment section of the local paper and I edit various stories wanting to be published.”
        “How much do you get paid a year?”
        “$15,000.”
        “Any hope of a promotion?”
        “I just had a promotion.”
        “I guess I’ll give it to you for 500. But don’t ruin it or I’m adding to your rent.”
        “Does this include heat, electricity, gas, and water?”
        “Of course! What kind of a place do you think I have? We’ve got laundry on the premise, but that’ll cost you extra. You can have pets, but like I said, take care of them. I don’t want any unusual stains on the carpeting. If you want my opinion, get fish. If you want to change the length of your lease at the end of the year, you can. Parking’s in back but spaces are first come, first serve. Anything else you have to pay for yourself. Oh, and you can swim in the lake if you want, the beach is about a mile west.”
        “What sort of security do you have?”
        “I’ve got a shotgun and a window to the entrance.”
        “That it?”
        The woman laughed. “We’ve also got state of the art locks on the all the doors and an automatic burglary system for the front door. But you’re on the third floor, no one should get in through the window.”
        “Well,” Clara sighed. “When can I sign and move in?”

Silver Swan Apartments: Episode 1, Part 1

        The apartment was small and dusty, the paint crumbling slowly off the walls. Brown water damage dripped down from the ceiling and the carpeting had unusual stains. The kitchen was a sun-worn 1950’s yellow with fake marble countertops and grease-stained, contact-papered cabinet doors. The bedroom wasn’t much better with a dirty screen falling out of the frame and a latch that was broken. The closet door didn’t open or close all the way and a black mold was creeping in the upper corners.
        Clara sighed and stepped into her old apartment. Boxes were piled up in the hallway and in her bedroom and office almost up to her chin, but she hadn’t found a good apartment to move into. Her landlord was getting nervous and twitchy about putting an ad up for a new tenant, but she couldn’t seem to find a place any better than the one she’d leave.
        She looked at her tired face in the bathroom mirror. Although she was young, the dark circles under her eyes made her look at least half a decade older. Her copper hair was flat as a pancake and drenched from the humidity, but her green eyes still sparkled in the light. She splashed some cold water on her lightly freckled face and cracked open a window in her office. She opened up the newspaper she had thrown on her desk that morning and flipped straight to the Classified Section.
        She scanned the various ads, circling the ones in her area with a vibrant red pen. As she went down the list, a particular one caught her eye. She reread it.

Summerset—2BR, 1 BATH, view of lake, furnished. Air, prkg, balcony, garden. $500. Silver Swan Aptmts. 333-467-8009.

        Summerset was a small drive away, but pretty much in the country. Very few cars, and it seemed like a pretty good deal to her. The rent was a little high, but she could afford it. She grabbed her purse and keys and set off down the stairs to where her car was parked on the street.

Dancing

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Routine Visit to Sunshine Hill

        Sunshine Hill was located in a valley in between two large mountains in the Saint José Range. Its walls were tiered from near the base of the mountains downward to the town. A rather large lake bordered the west wall of the town and a small road to the other. There were two rather large gargoyles guarding the central gate and a labyrinth of locked doors leading into the town from each of the other walls.
It didn’t get many visitors and on the same token, not many people left. On the other side of the lake, were a few farms growing in tiers along the mountainsides. Most of the mountains on that side of the lake were also mined. The town itself was a bustling fishing town that generally flourished on mining.
         Sarah was heading with her brother towards the town like they did semi-annually in order to get enough grain to last her father a year. “They have the best grain in the country,” he would often say before going off on a tangent of the elasticity and consistency of his bread dough.
         Ian was not much older than she was, but he tried to act like the man of the house when her father wasn’t around. He would always drive and handle transactions, which left Sarah to lift the heavy bags of grain onto the cart.
         This time, she was older and fully hoping some attractive young man her age would volunteer to put the bags on the cart. It wasn’t that she was lazy; she just wasn’t as strong as her brother and could use the help. She’d feel less self-conscious without wrestling the bags onto the cart when she couldn’t lift them very far off the ground.
         Ian got off the cart and knocked twice on the town gate. The guard talked to him for a moment, before opening the gate and letting them in. Sarah helped drive the horses into the market. Ian took over again to cover the remaining length of the town. He paid a boatman at the harbor, after obtaining a pass to enter in the main town again, and they started across, with their trusty wagon, to the other side of the lake.
         “Any news?” Ian asked the boatman.
         “Nothing you’d be interested in.”
         “All right.”
         They continued the rest of the way in silence. The boat gently bumped against the shore and Ian got out to help pull the boat the rest of the way. Sarah calmed down their horses. She was always very good with animals and was probably the only job Ian would willingly give up. She led them carefully off the boat and towards the road again.
         “No news?” Ian said catching up to her. “I find that hard to believe.”
         “Maybe there isn’t.”
         “He said it was nothing we’d be interested in, not that there wasn’t any.”
         “Maybe it is nothing important. Well, to you. Maybe he heard news that his son was killed in the war, or maybe his wife is really sick. That’s news, but it’s nothing you’d be interested in.”
         “Always practical, huh, sis?”
         She shrugged and kept her eyes on the road. “How much farther?”
         “Actually, we’re right here.”
         The house was small, but well kept. Ian stopped the horses in the drive next to the house and got out.
         “Stay here,” he said.
        Sarah nodded and kept her eyes straight in front of her. Ian knocked on the door and then went inside leaving her alone with the horses. Once he was out of sight, she left the wagon seat and went around in front to pet them. At least it made her look a little more than a servant. The horse gently brushed against her hand when she reached up to pat it.
        “How long do you think he’ll take this time?” Sarah asked the horse. The other one tried to rub up against her hand she reached out her other one and rubbed its neck.
        “I’m sorry I don’t have anything to give you,” she said. “Just hope Ian’s quick.”
        “You know, if you keep talking to your horses like that, people might think you’re crazy,” someone said behind her. She turned around to catch eyes with a mischievous looking boy. She reminded her of a leprechaun almost perfectly except he was wearing brown clothing instead of green.
        “Well if there were people to hear me, that might be an issue,” she shot back.
        He laughed. “Someone with spirit. And I really should be talking, all the things who hear me are the sheep and rocks.”
        “So you’re a shepherd?”
        He shrugged. “I work for whoever will hire me and this week I’m a shepherd.”
        “What’s your name?”
        “That depends. Who do you want me to be?”
        Sarah was taken aback. “Nobody in particular.”
        “Then I’m Nobody. What’s your name?”
        “No one you need to know.”
        “Pleased to meet you, No-one. That’s quite a long name.”
        “You’re very strange.”
        “You’re very pretty.”
        “Uh, thank you.”
        They stood in silence for a moment.
        “Aren’t you going to ask me why a hired help is going around the farming district?”
        “Well since you asked: why is a hired help going around the farming district?”
        “See that’s a very curious thing, No-one. Most of the young men around the farming parts have disappeared. Some of the daughters were left, but there aren’t many that stay on this side of the lake to start out with. Rumor has it the monster in the caves takes all the sons and hides them away forever. They disappear in the night and are never seen again.”
        “How…odd.”
        “Don’t look at me. I’m not the monster.”
        “Then where did you come from?”
        “Lusitania. That’s far, far away from here. And no, not everyone is like me. I used to work in a mine there until the fumes finally got to me. Probably damaged something in my head, but I can still farm out here in the fresh air, so it works out.”
        “That’s good.”
        “No, it’s really not. It’s very boring. At least in the mines you never know if something was going to cave in and every step was a risk that you were going to die. You might scoff, my dear lady, but it’s very adventurous. My cousin and I used to make up stories about what lived in the caves. It was very entertaining. We used to believe we were explorers. Sometimes, just sometimes, there would be actual monsters down there and then we’d have to take a shovel—”
        “Felix! Get back to work!” the farmer yelled from his house.
        “Oops, that’s my cue to get back to work! Lovely meeting you, Miss No-one. Hope to see you again soon!”
        “Sarah, help me load up this grain,” Ian called from the back of the house.
        “Oh well,” Sarah said, “that’s my cue to get going.”
        Felix smiled and bowed his head. “Tell your brother to get a move on before the monster comes and gets him too.”
        “Really, Felix. What happened to all the boys?”
        “Sarah’s a very pretty name,” he said.
        “Thank you, but where is every body?”
        “I told you,” he said.
        She put her hands on her hips and gave him a persistent look.
        “I don’t know Sarah,” he said. “But if they find them I don’t have a job.”
        “I thought you didn’t like farming.”
        He shrugged. “It’s money away from toxic fumes.”
        Ian called her name again. “Are you sure you don’t know.”
        “Positive and I’m not looking for them.”
        “Well, good day.”
        “You too!”
        Sarah ran back to where Ian had already loaded five bags of grain onto the cart. He decided not to reprimand her and helped her load the remaining six-dozen bags. He waved to the farmer to thank him and set the horses back onto the ferry and through the town.
        “Did you hear any news?” Sarah asked.
        “Just about all the boys missing. Apparently someone’s been kidnapping all the farmers’ sons to take them to the mining fields in Lusitania. But you know they’ve been having trouble ever since that poisonous gas reserve was dug up lower down. That whole town is in trouble.”
        “That’s a shame,” Sarah said.
        “Yeah, well. Not much we can do. Sunshine Hill’s military is much better than ours and they seem to have it all under control.”
        Sarah remained quite, resting on the bags of grain to make sure none fell. The road back was monotonous and monochromatic until the sunset welcomed them to their own home town.

That Halloween Night

        It was Halloween, Hillary remembered, and quite cold for October. Sean was sitting on the edge of the peer because he had to show her something. She remembered being skeptical, especially since it was cold. She hated the cold. She couldn’t remember how he managed to convince her to go down to the peer, but somehow she was there.
         The next few moments she remembered clearly. He turned around and smiled at her pointing down into the water. Coral, he had said. It glows. As soon as she took a step forward, that’s when she saw the black hand coming out of the water and grabbing Sean’s ankles. Before she could react, he was pulled into the water with hardly a splash. She reacted before thinking and looked over the side of the peer to where he had gone, hoping for a trace…
         The water glowed green in a special spot. Coral, she thought and then turned and ran down the peer.
         “Damn it,” she said. It was years after the event and the weather was warmer. She had her stomach to the peer and she was staring at the dark water, hoping, like every year, for a glow of green.

Getaway

        She looked into the dark room, her jaw clenched. The floor was damp and the smell of rotting wood mixed with the hot sticky air. Mold grew in gray spots on the white plaster ceiling with a creaky fan in the middle of the room. Underneath the fan, a lonely chair sat in the middle of the room. A figure was tied to the back of the chair, gagged, and blindfolded. There was a small window by the floor, but it allowed only enough light to dimly suggest the figure was tied to the chair.
            She stepped onto the failing floorboards gently and crept towards the figure. At the sound of noise it tried to look for the source of the sound, but was restricted.
            “We’re here to help,” she said cutting the ropes quickly.
            The figure was still. She pulled it upward and tried to get it to stand up, but it was having trouble. She motioned for one of the people with her to take its arm.
            “Do you have the money?” it whispered.
            “Never mind about that.”
            “How are we going to get out?”
            “I’m trying to figure that out, now.”
            She peeked outside the room into the sterile hall. The eeriness came from the silence and them being alone. The walls were blinding and they melded into the floor and ceiling. Except for the scuffmarks from where they’d come, she’d believe that the whole thing had been turned on its head for someone’s enjoyment. She stepped out and led the troop of three down the hall where her captain was still talking to the head of this operation.
            She lost no time in waving her partners to the exit and put the person they had saved in the car. She could see now, it was another girl. Her hair was cut short and ragged, and she was covered in cuts and scrapes. On the way, she had collapsed and it was easy for them to gently fold her up in the trunk for a fast getaway.
            “I hope she’s ok,” one of her partners said.
            “She’ll be fine, if Isaac would hurry up.”
        Finally, their captain came out of the building and moved fairly quickly towards the car. Everyone fell into line, one person taking the driver’s seat, one in the passengers with his gun loaded and cocked, and she was in the back waiting for her boss. He slipped neatly into the back seat and locked the door.
        “Step on it, Shannon,” he said. Without further instructions, Shannon pressed the accelerator and at fourty miles per hour, shot out of the parking lot and towards the highway.
        “Where to, captain?” she asked.
        “The Purple Hotel,” he said. “Try to get there by seven o’clock.”
        “So what happened?” she asked Isaac. He sighed.
        “Nothing much. I managed to give them a small down payment, but they’re not willing to give up the girl. By the way, where is she?”
        “In the trunk.”
        “You never cease to amaze me with your hospitality, Teagan.”
        “It seemed the easiest place if we get stopped on the road. The girl passed out anyway.”
        “I’m just going to take your word on it that she’s actually there.”
        “She is,” the gunman in the front seat said, “we dragged her out.”
        “Once she’s in the hotel, Shannon you’re going to stay. Teagan, Darryl, you’re going with me back to headquarters. But give Shannon the gun because they’re not going to be happy when they find out the check is fake.”
        “What’s this all about anyway?” Teagan asked. “We haven’t got a lot of answers.”
        “Someone made a backroom deal at one point that never went through. It was probably a bet off the Boston Red Socks, but I don’t remember anymore.”
        “You don’t know any more than we do, do you Isaac?”
He laughed. “Not really. I used to be in the know, but now I just order people around and pass of illegal checks to places in power. I’m getting too old to do the dirty work, anyway.”
        “This route’s been pretty quite,” Shannon said. “Nothing out there?”
        “Just cars,” Teagan said. “And good riddance. Could you imagine if they hit the trunk?”
The car pulled off the highway and into the parking lot of a large hotel. Shannon got out first, and then Darryl. Teagan got out and switched places with Shannon, who opened the trunk with the keys before tossing them in the open window to the new driver. Darryl put his arm gently around the girl and walked her to the lobby of the hotel.
        “Jeeze, she looks awful.”
        “Don’t manhandle her next time,” Isaac said from the back seat. “And look sharp, there’s someone in that black car that looks very out of place.”
        Teagan looked in the rearview mirror. “They look normal to me.”
        Just then, Darryl came out of the hotel and walked past the couple. The man glanced at Darryl and moved towards his inside coat pocket. Teagan reared the engine a bit in warning and Darryl walked faster towards the car. But the other man hadn’t done anything by the time Darryl had reached the car and got in the back seat. Teagan pulled away as quickly as she dared.
        “To headquarters,” Isaac called to her from the backseat. “And don’t push the speed, I don’t want to get stopped by cops.”
        “Gee, Isaac. Trust me for once.”
        “I will. Just please drive the speed limit.”

Preview of New Theme

Yes, a sneak peak on the art I’m working on for a new theme.

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Amelia and Bianca

        “Is that so?” Amelia asked her dinner mate after she disclosed that her boyfriend was going to propose. “Why do you think that?”
         “It’s just a feeling,” her friend, Bianca, said. “He was awful nervous when we last had dinner.”
         “Could be something else,” Amelia said. “I thought Jason was going to propose one day, but he ended up breaking up. I found out he was so nervous because he thought I was going to kill him for ending the relationship.”
         “You do come on quite hard, sometimes.”
         “Sometimes, but that doesn’t mean you should be afraid of telling me something under penalty of death.”
         Bianca laughed. “I’d be intimidated if I didn’t know you half as long as I do.”
         “Whatever,” Amelia said rolling her eyes to the view out the window. “What are you doing this summer?”
         “Ian’s taking me to Venice,” she said. “And then to his family in Paris.”
         “Wow. I wish I was doing something half as impressive.”
         “Well, it was a surprise to me, too. That’s part of the reason why I think—”
         “Don’t jinx yourself.”
         “Hah. Well, what are you doing?”
         “Visiting my brother’s daughter in Minnesota. Just for a week and then I’ll probably find a job.”
         “Your brother’s daughter? Why not your niece?”
         “I guess she is my niece, but that would make me an aunt and I’m not old enough.”
         “Tell me about it; I’m already a great aunt.”
         “What?”
         “Oh yes, Tessa decided to be a teen mom, like her mother. I’ve got a great nephew and I’m not even married yet! Heck, I’m not even out of school!”
         “Excuse me madams,” the waiter said. “Desert?”

Ignaria

        Although snuggled in perfect spot of land for a small town, Ignaria was anything but. The town had divided itself into two districts. The Northeastern end was known as the Rich District. The theater was located there, along with other arts facilities. Only the well-to-do were living in Northeastern Ignaria. The houses were all at least two stories high and the streets folded around them as if they were excusing themselves for bumping into such important structures. Everything was kept clean, even the courtyard where the church stood and occasionally, the poor would loiter if they thought they would get money. The dress maker’s shop was always busy on Thursday because, without fail, someone important would have a party Friday nights. The town hall was a large rectangular building with Roman columns and gothic ceilings. The floor reflected the mural ceiling like a mirror and the doors, equally shiny, reflected the color of the ceiling from the floor. The town hall was located near the center of the rich district and following that was the novelty shops: baker, grocer, and butcher.
         The other end of Ignaria was called West End, although it was more south than west. The houses in West end were little more than cottages, the richest of the residences having a kitchen, which doubled as a parlor, and a bedroom upstairs. If you weren’t a farmer, then you were probably an inn owner, which was a good business as the river was the border of the town. The main road ran against the river about a mile the other way and secondary road going into town just missed the rich district by a quarter mile before turning straight for town hall.
         If you were neither rich, nor a farmer or inn owner, or their subsequent helping hands, you were probably thief. These were usually children, orphans, who didn’t make their way into the rich district by singing, acting, or playing an instrument. These boys and girls merged themselves into several gangs, the most famous being the Band of Thieves. They were the first group to create their own private base as opposed to just meeting in the streets and sleeping in alleyways. Their popularity grew because they provided a roof over one’s head and food that eventually, restrictions were made on membership and only the elite could join. But occasionally, someone still wants to join so that they could have a place to sleep.