Kevin rose with the sun out of bed. He had slept well and was eager to begin the day.
Brushing his teeth and washing his face in his basin, he donned a tan shirt and brown pants and exited his room, heading down and out into a courtyard still wet from the previous night's rain. After eating a small breakfast of eggs and bread, he headed to the library for his daily Yankish lessons.
The lesson was quick and uneventful. Once completed, Kevin stayed for an hour, studying to see if Dyson would come to retrieve him for an interview or meeting. When this did not occur, Kevin grabbed an empty notebook, a pencil and borrowed a single strap bag from Clay before heading to the university's gates. Today he planned to go to the bounty board on his own without Clay guiding him. This was for a multitude of reasons, one being that after two weeks of constant study, Kevin felt that he'd reached a point where he could handle most basic interactions in Yankish without the assistance of a translator, as long as the conversation didn't last longer than a minute. Another reason he wanted to leave on his own was to test what his limitations were.
Kevin, as a guest of the University of Myami, was expected to follow the rules the university set for him. Despite this, he had never been explicitly told by Dyson what was and wasn't allowed. He had noticed that there were definitely rules that could be implied, from what Dyson said and did. For one, Kevin probably didn't have a choice when it came to being spoken with and interviewed by Dyson's scholarly companions. Likewise, due to his value to the University of Myami as a someone directly from the Silicon Age, Kevin believed they likely didn't want him to leave the grounds unsupervised and exposed to danger. While it was clear that these rules existed, the extent to which he had to follow them was not. This was the primary motive for Kevin's decision to go to the bounty board alone today. He would finally see how much freedom he truly had while staying at the University of Myami, though it was preferable if they simply didn't notice he left.
Once Kevin arrived at the gate, the guards let him through without too much fuss and before he knew it, he was back out onto Coral Gables. As he took his first steps outside the university, the city around him seemed to tower over him, making him an ant climbing up a tree. Taking a deep breath, Kevin started walking. His heart pounding and his feet moving fast.
He was alone, and his only guide was his memory of the day before.
I'll be fine. Just remember the path from yesterday and I'll make it there easy.
After 20 minutes of walking under the blazing sunlight, Kevin reached Myami's downtown and made his way towards the bounty board.
Wiping sweat off of his brow, Kevin scanned the boards, looking for anything valuable and easy.
He quickly caught a job of interest. He slowly read the words on the poster, ensuring that he completely understood the task. It was a simple request. Apparently, someone wanted a goat to be retrieved from a nearby market. The location was in Little Havana, south of Calle Ocho Street. The pay offered was 25 copper pennies.
Kevin was surprised that he found such a simple job so quickly.
He deliberated briefly before deciding to take on the job.
Who am I to mess with fate?
He quickly jotted down the address and task. After asking around for directions, he was off.
It was a long grueling walk for Kevin, who had spent the last 2 weeks living a sedentary life in the university and it didn't help that the last 3 years of his life before being frozen were spent constantly studying to meet the demands of college and medical school.
As he approached Little Havana, Kevin felt the culture and language slowly shifting around him. In the downtown Yankish could be heard everywhere. The buildings were larger and typically made of stone bricks and wood colored in grays and browns. The restless pedestrians were always on the move and despite the warm and humid weather, almost everyone wore some sort of suit or extravagant dress. Umbrellas and hats were pervasive accessories.
However, as Kevin walked further away from the downtown, the culture changed almost completely. Cubano became the dominant language, the buildings became smaller and shabbier. The Georgian and Colonial style architecture of the downtown became baroque and moorish. People could be frequently spotted in groups on the street, engaged in conversation and dressed in light-colored clothes .
It didn't matter much to Kevin as he felt out of place in both regions, but he couldn't help but ponder on the huge divide that existed between the two areas.
By the time he got to the market, his feet were aching and his stomach growled.
He was hungry and tired, but the job needed to be done. An outdoor market nearby was jampacked with people. Various stalls sold goods as exquisite as jewelry and more mundane items such as food and other necessities.
There also seemed to be many sheep and goat herders managing their animals as they shouted prices.
Kevin asked a passerby for directions to the address he recorded back at the bounty board. After some miscommunication, Kevin was guided away from the market and towards a shack in a residential area nearby. After some deliberation, he walked up to the shack and knocked on the door.
From behind the door, an elderly woman's voice answered, "Mande!"
Kevin, not knowing Cubano, replied in Yankish, "Hello? I'm about the job you posted."
The door opened, revealing a small and frail woman with grey hair and wrinkled olive colored skin. Her appearance and outward demeanor gave Kevin the impression that she was not physically well. Of note were her small dark brown eyes, which had dark circles around them and seemed rather dazed. She wore a light blue Bata Cubana with a matching blue head wrap.
She said, "Come" in Yankish and motioned him inside.
Kevin walked in, he saw the interior of the house was simple, with no furniture except for a table, a few chairs, and a kitchen with a small stove and some pots. On the floor there was a soft mat, next to a shrine which consisted of a statue of what looked to be a mix of a saint and cloaked angel placed atop a blanket. A variety of coins, herbs, and flowers were placed methodically around the statue.
The elderly woman said, "You are here for the job? Come sit."
Kevin sat down on the mat, feeling awkward. The woman coughed violently as she slowly moved to open a drawer a few feet away.
She then slowly walked back to Kevin with a bag of coins in her hands.
Coughing violently, she handed him the bag. "Go the market and buy a goat. Then come back, understand?"
"Why don't you buy it?"
She laughed. "Why you complain about money, boy? I am old and very sick."
"The market's right next door. How the hell did you post your request all the way downtown!?"
The woman made a look of confusion. "What are you saying? I don't speak this language."
Kevin blushed. He had accidentally spoken in Silicon English.
He stuttered as he tried to apologize in Yankish. "Sorry I was-"
The woman didn't allow him to finish. "If you want money, get the goat!"
Kevin nodded and exited the shack, feeling foolish.
As he walked back to the market, he counted the coins in the bag and estimated that his employer had given him around 50 copper pennies.
Entering the market, he scanned the crowd, trying to find a goat to purchase.
Kevin approached a young teenage boy watching over a group of goats. He was short for his age and fairly ruddy skinned. His attire and appearance suggested he was from outside the city and wasn't used to the local climate.
"How much for a goat?"
The young shepherd, who seemed bored and hot, said "2 silver dollars for a goat. They're very healthy." His Yankish had an accent Kevin hadn't heard before.
"That's outrageous"
"Then ask someone else. We had to bring these goats all the way from Texas and we can't sell them for less than a fair price"
At the prospect of haggling, Kevin felt tempted to just take the money for himself and go back to the university, but he didn't have the heart. Kevin felt sympathy for his employer. It was obvious she was struggling to make ends meet and being sick likely made her situation even worse. Kevin didn't want to take advantage. He pointed to a small brown goat and said, "That one looks young. I'll take it for 30 copper pennies"
"Make it 80 and it's yours."
"I'll give you 40, and that's it."
"60"
"50. That's all I can give."
The young shepherd smirked and said, "I'll take it if you give it a nice long kiss on the lips."
Kevin stayed silent and gave him a long, piercing glare.
Say that again, bastard, see what happens!
The shepherd raised his brow and said, "What are you waiting for? If you think it's too young, I can get an older one. Is it too ugly for you? The guys back home love the brown ones. Something about the sme-"
At the sight of Kevin's clenching fist the shepherd burst out into laughter "Relax I'm just messing with you lighten up you're too serious for this city hand me the money"
The average Myamian would have joined in on the joking by comparing the goat's qualities and appearance to their own lover or spouse. Of course, if he tried this on an Ayisyen in Little Haiti he probably would've been beaten.
Kevin gave the shepherd the bag of coins. Once the young herder finished counting them, he tied a small rope around the horn of the goat Kevin wanted and handed it to him.
"Enjoy."
Kevin grabbed the rope and dragged the goat out of the market. He sweated profusely as he struggled to pull the stubborn animal out of the crowded local.
The goat made a low and pitiful bleating sound, as if trying to convince Kevin to let it go. While his heart ached for the poor thing, he was not swayed and kept tugging it along, his determination inflamed by his hunger and exhaustion.
Kevin made his way back to his employer's house, the goat struggling and bleating the way there.
As he walked up to the front door, he noticed that it was ajar. Preparing to enter, he noticed a short man with black hair staring at him through his peripheral vision.
"Is the goat for Madaline?"