~Dusan~(February 15 79AD):
All the fights from then was fought by the other gladiators. I didn't fight much.
Maximus usually came and cheered me up, but most of the time he was occupied with work. I can't blame him. Being a slave spares you no time. It was great that he was at least able to get a considerable amount of sleep.
Guildford knocked on the bars.
" Hey you", he pointed at me, " look!! I can't engage someone who sits and does nothing but eat, sleep and cry!! I need MONEY!! I bought you for that purpose!"
He unlocked the door and waved at me, asking me to follow him out.
"Look, I don't understand why you're doing this, nor am I interested in knowing. But I didn't buy you to give you free food! You have to work and earn it!!"
I nodded sideways. "I don't want to live. I don't have a reason to!"
"I am your master respect me!! You are walking as if you are the master here!"
"Sorry master."
"You do have a reason to live! Fight for me! That's your reason! If you die I'll be at loss. After all the food you are for free."
That made sense, actually. For him, I was nothing but a source of income. I did feel like dying, but I didn't kill myself. That's because, my instincts kept me from doing so. Maybe deep inside, I really wanted to live. Maybe I'll find the reason to live later.....
It was night. I went to take my share of soup.
Kwame hit me on my back with a lot of force (he said he was just patting).
"Hey look, your friend, he died because he wanted you to live. So fulfill his wish by continuing to live."
"You've gotten better with your pronunciation."
"Yeah all thanks to the sleepless night that I spent studying, while you all slept."
"Huuuuhhh!! I was spending those nights teaching you!"
"And we spent those night watching that comedy drama! So basically none of us really slept!", Maximus commented. Many others burst laughing.
It was indeed funny, Kwame's accent.
Maximus looked as if he was a 17 year old. But he was actually just 15. He looked and spoke maturely. Though he was a little naughty, he was the one to get least likely to be hit.
Yeah, get it right, we are slaves, so it's natural to be hit by our master. Of course I've been hit too!! Once Guildford's son tripped over a stone and fell down, knocking a trash can which spilled all the trash (banana peel, rotten bones of chicken and fish, etc...) over his head. He looked around to see, if anybody saw him, and found me laughing on the ground.
Yes, at that time I laughed. Naturally! Trust me, even you would have, after seeing his expression... But what I didn't know then was, he was Guildford's son! So he went and told on me, and I was hit pretty badly. But thinking back, I still find it funny.
"Why are you giggling like a mad man? Just one second ago you were all droopy and sad!", Kwame asked.
"Oh it's nothing! Just thought about the trash can incident."
Kwame was there, when the incident took place, so he knew. But he didn't laugh, so he wasn't hit.
He stared at me. "You were beaten, pretty badly! Your nose started to bleed and it just wouldn't stop!! I thought you would not laugh at anything from then!! But look at you, still laughing at the same! I can't believe! What's so funny?"
"You just won't get it! His expression, you should have seen it!! He looked like a monkey with a punched face!"
Thinking back at that incident really improved my mood. So I decided to think about it whenever I felt down...