Dinner for them was always soup and bread which is usually delivered by the overweight man, the soup they make themselves.
Usually from what is laying around outside like mushrooms and herbs from the rich soil.
The meat was not something these kids could have unless one of the older boys catches a critter, but they would never share it with us, roasting it over a fire as far away as they can.
I was able to join them for dinner now that I was a little over a year, I would eat bread and soup along with my daily milk.
This was not out of the goodness of their hearts I overheard a Silla she was "surprised the runt is still alive" making Kirle chuckle.
They didn't know what it was like to not have a stomach or to have to eat your own offspring or to survive off of alien sea plankton.
I was counting my blessings but both boys next to us were very displeased with their lot in life, taking it out on the little girl because the older one was too big to bully.
They would take portions of the little girl's food at dinner and when they are working they would make her turn the cart around and go back with a full load when it was their turn.
I felt bad for the girl, but I had to give it to her, she knew how to lay low.
If she wasn't eating you would never see her, she would disappear behind the house when not needed and always be there when someone is looking for her, which wasn't often.
I also learned the names of my roommates. Silla was the oldest Kirle was the second child Tume was the third and the little girl was called Isla.
Isla was always kind to me feeding me and picking me up when she could so that I could see the outside world from the window.
I made sure to make cooing sounds and never let on that I understood too much but with Isla, I truly felt like it didn't matter.
Silla stared at me one day and said, "Stop staring at me"! I think what creeped her out more was when I stopped making eye contact with her.
She wasn't cruel to me but she did the bare minimum making sure I was fed, clothed, and didn't die.
I didn't mind it, Isla seemed to take it personally and consoled me often "You're just a baby it's not your fault" she would say when she and I were alone in the room.
I didn't know if she was talking to me or herself.
I'm about eighteen months old and walking around.
This was an amazing time for me because I could walk away from the crowd of children and no one would notice.
Other children my age would be crawling or walking around with me but were always pulled back into the group before they strayed too far away, Silla on the other hand wouldn't notice until it was time to leave.
I wonder how many kids got hurt or worse in this kind of environment, I shrug that thought away as quickly as it came.
I knew what happened to those kids, they were placed in the barrels of bread and thrown into the back of the fat man's cart.
I was brought some clothes in the form of rags, saying goodbye to the bedsheet I walked around with.
I was given a new bed although it was the same thing as everyone else's a bunch of sticks tied together with some pillows stuffed with red grass as a makeshift mattress.
I never saw anyone drop these things off it seems like it has been here or in one of the other houses. I was okay with the change and since I wasn't defecating on myself anymore and using the outdoors the room, we slept in smelt a lot better.
The bad thing was I didn't know where to wash myself as Isla always brought a bucket every week or so to rinse me off.
Soap was out of the question; these children lived in filth and knew no other way.
One day the horse cart came early and along with the portly man came another sickly-looking man with pale skin that gave you the shivers.
His nose was hooked over his extremely thin lips giving a gargoyle-like appearance.
All the children stiffened at his arrival. He jumped off the carriage without a moment's hesitation disembarking quickly.
Covering his nose and wrinkling his brow as he walked around and started pointing at children starting with the oldest one who was now twelve along with some other boys who were coming close to his age.
They loaded the boys and took as much grass as they could, there was no yelling or grumbling, not even a lecherous look from the plump man as he looked like the children, with a hunched back trying his best not to be noticed, making himself as small as possible.
They left as quickly as they came. As we were going inside, I could see the color drain from Silas's face knowing that her time was soon.
I almost pitied her… almost.