Small: The Diary of Aggie Klanad
A/N: Hello, and welcome to my first J&D fanfic piece. Applause! (Muriel hears dead silence.) Oh, well. This story shows the events of Jak 2 through the diary of an eleven-year-old girl whose mother cooks for the Underground. It sounded fun to me when I thought about it, so let's just see where it goes. I don't own anyone or anything except Aggie and my other OC's. Everything else is the intellectual property of Naughty Dog. Rated for violence.
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Day 1
Momma gave me this diary yesterday. Said that it's good to keep a diary during a war, so later people can read it and take warning. Well, my name is Aggie, I'm eleven, and here's my warning: Don't cook cabbage on a hot day when you're also doing laundry. It STINKS! I can't think of anything else to say, and Momma's telling me to turn the lights out and go to sleep.
Day 2
I am so mad! Momma says we must let our anger go, but she's mad too. I know she is because she's working faster than usual today. I can hear in our tiny kitchen, chopping cabbage at lightning speed.
Here's why we're mad: because Cyril was so rude today. Cyril is the man who helps us unload our wagon when we take it to the Underground headquarters. He has a bad eye, chews and spits tobacco, and is always rude. Today, he was worse than usual.
"Crikey, look at this," he said when we gave him a crate full of bread. "Looks like Metal Head crap."
Momma's back got stiff, but she didn't say nothing. I could tell she was upset; she stayed up late last night baking. She says it's getting harder for her to "supply on demand." I'm pretty sure that means that the Underground is asking for too much.
Cyril snarled at the boiled meat when he saw it. "Well, I don't want to know what part of the hiphog that came from. And I bet all our troops get salmonella and die by next week. Not my fault." He barely even glanced at the bags of onions, but when he got to the big metal pots full of cabbage soup, he cussed. Momma threw her hands over my ears, but I heard what he said. "Val, what is WITH all the cabbage juice lately? You'd think--"
"In case you haven't noticed, we are in a war, Cyril," Momma said. "We still have a surplus of cabbage to go through, and when you get right down to it, we're lucky we've got a surplus of anything."
Cyril grumbled to himself as he went through his pocket. He pulled out fifty-five credits, gave Momma fifty, and gave me five. "Though I don't know why we're still paying you for this trash. I hear Commander Torn Granzer is still sick from the boiled yakkow you sent us last week."
"Thank you and you're welcome," Momma said. She put her credits in her pocket, grabbed my wrist and the wagon, and we walked very quickly away from the HQ. I wanted to ride in the wagon, but Momma looked tired, so I didn't. If I had, though, it would have rolled more quietly instead of clattering on the cobblestones. The neighbours hate hearing the wagon clattering, and I don't blame them. It sounds like a shivering crocadog.
"Momma," I finally said, "I cooked that yakkow all by myself."
"Now, don't you listen to what he says. Torn's never been sick in his life. I think Cyril is having a bad day."
Cyril must be having a bad day all the time. "But what if I got someone else sick?" I said.
Momma smiled at me, "Aggie, do you know what? You worry too much. Be confident."
Con-fi-dent. That's harder to say than to write. And it's harder to be than to say.
My friend Oda Wade, now, she's confident. And she ought to be. Oda's dad is one of the Underground's most trusted informants (that means spy!) Oda is just like him: very smart, very nice, and very sneaky. Sometimes Oda does a bit of spying herself. Mostly, though, she helps me and Momma by finding out where we can get supplies at a good price. Also, Oda is eleven like me, and my best friend in the whole world. Momma is friends with Mrs. Wade, too, so me and Oda get to play almost every day, usually at my place.
Before I stop writing, here's a secret: I am just as sick of cabbage soup as Cyril is. I'm not going to say so, because it would make Momma sad. But I still hate cabbage soup. It looks like dirty water, smells like socks, and has no taste at all. The only good thing about it is that it's hot. It's not a good thing that it's easy to make, because that means Momma makes a lot of it. I can't wait until the war's over and we can start eating good stuff again. Like sweet cornbread. I miss sweet cornbread. Momma used to make it every weekend.
Day 6
I've been too busy to write. I get up at seven every morning and help Momma cook, and at noon, we take the food to the Underground HQ, which is about a half-hour from our little apartment. If it's a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I also do lots of laundry or mending. When all my work and chores are finished, Oda and Mrs. Wade usually come over, and we play together.
Today I got to go to Oda's place for a change. I don't see why Momma usually asks Mrs. Wade to come over. They only live a couple blocks up the street. Anyway, we found a secret room in their apartment! In their hall closet, there's a plank of wood loose near the very back. We just scooted it aside a bit and found a teeny-tiny room! I cleaned it up a bit, and Oda put two flashlights and a few pillows in there. It's going to be our secret hideout. Whenever we leave, we can put the plank (the door) back where it was, and set a big box in front of it. Mr. Wade doesn't even know about this! Momma's calling, have to go...
Day 8
This morning I got up and went to the sink to wash my face, but the water wouldn't turn on. I tried the shower, but it didn't work. The kitchen sink didn't work either. I found Momma in her room.
"The water don't work," I said.
She nodded. "Yeah. Baron Praxis ordered it shut off."
"Why?"
"I don't know!" Momma looked ready to cry. "How can we live without water? How can we take care of our kids?"
"But what about the laundry? And the cooking?" I said, before I knew--we wouldn't being cooking. Or doing laundry. And we wouldn't get our weekly pay. We might die of thirst and the Baron wouldn't care.
This is why I hate the Baron. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. After he banned us poor people from hospitals, Oda's baby brother died of cholera. His name was Max and he wasn't two yet. I spent the night with Oda, and she cried all night. That was last year.
We had enough water stored for today, but we're going to need more. So tomorrow Momma and me are getting up early, taking a few tanks and a lot of canteens, and going for the Water Slums. Hopefully their water is still on. I hate going to the W.S. It takes half the day to get there and the other half to get back, not to mention the place stinks. But we haven't got much of a choice.
All we could give the Underground today was bread, raw cabbage, and some of our own dried yakkow meat.
Day 9
Unbelievable! We walked all day, dragging those stupid tanks with us, only to find out that sewage from the higher-class parts of town is being emptied into the Water Slums now! So we couldn't get any water. Momma cried all the way home.
Later
Cyril just stopped by and gave us some tanks of water. He said they were from the Underground's storage. "It's the least we can do," he said. Momma looks more relieved. This water should last us about five days.
Day 12
Our water is back on. So is everyone else's. Oda said that some of the newer Underground agents snuck into the Pumping Station and turned our water back on. Momma said if she ever meets one of them, she'll give them a hug. Well, I'm glad--except that now I have to do laundry again. Blah!
Day 13
Momma had a headache, so she let me go to the Wade's house alone. Oda and me stayed in our secret room most of the time. Oda told me that she had three really, really big secrets, and she wouldn't tell me them unless I swore on my life I'd keep quiet.
"Okay, I swear. What are they?"
"First, look what I got." Oda pulled a bunch of toffee bites wrapped in white paper out of her pocket. "I've got a whole bag of these. Have some!"
"Oda! Did you sneak into the sweet shop again?" Oda giggled. "Kind of. But nobody caught me. Remember, I'm the queen of stealth!"
"Whoever sold that toffee to you might have caught you! You know your dad says you're only allowed to use your ID when you need it!" (It is, by the way, a fake ID.)
"Well, I needed toffee. And a Lurker sold it to me. Lurkers are too dumb to tattle. Have some toffee before I make you go home!"
I felt guilty, but I love toffee, and I haven't had any since my last birthday. If only Oda would be more careful, though. I took a piece and crammed it in my mouth. I hoped to Mar nobody was spying on us. "What's the second secret?"
"It's about my Aunt Tess. She's going to the Port!"
"Really? Why?"
"On a super secret mission." Oda started whispering. "She's going to spy on one of our suppliers there. Dad says he's been acting suspicious, so the Commander told Aunt Tess that she's going to stay there for a month or so and watch him. She gets a nice apartment near the Bazaar, and her own security passes, and everything!"
I bit my toffee piece. "Man, your family has all the luck."
"Well, your family's lucky, too. Cooking is really important, you know. And you get a higher salary."
I could tell Oda was just trying to be sweet. Cooking is nowhere near as important as espionage. "Thanks, I guess. What's the third secret?"
She gasped. "Oh my gosh! You won't believe this: I think Flynn is in love with me!"
Oh, brother. Flynn is another spy kid, thirteen years old. He lives towards the South Side. Oda has been swooning over Flynn for months now, and I'm about sick of it. "Right, Oda, we all know that you like--"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I think that now he likes me back!"
"How come?"
"Yesterday, he smiled and waved at me!"
"He smiles at everyone."
Oda sighed dreamily. "Oh, Aggie, you just don't get it. Flynn is THE ONE FOR ME. A smile is a big step in the right direction."
I thought about telling her that last year, she thought Kurt was THE ONE FOR HER, but I decided not to.
Anyway, when she had calmed down a bit, we made more plans for our secret room. Oda says she's going to make us a candy stash, and we're going to hide treasure there, too. We'll see. She asked me if I would bring my map and my books. The map I can bring, but I don't know about my books. I want to keep those with me. I love reading.
Day 19
Momma says I have to get a ride with Cyril and get some food tomorrow. I HATE IT!!!
Whenever I go to get food, I have to dress up nice (so does Cyril) and go into a big warehouse, which I'm banned from, and pick up all these bags of flour and vegetables and meat. I get in with my fake ID.
Well, it's actually not fake--it's a copy of my cousin Pam's ID. Pam's momma is Aunt Luci, and she Momma's sister. Aunt Luci is rich, and she helps finance a lot of the Underground's efforts, though the Baron's goons don't know that. Anyway, Pam and I look almost alike, and when I'm wearing a nice dress and have my hair done up, you can't tell us apart. So when I go for food, I have to pretend I'm Pam. (I have a pretty dress from before the war; I only wear it to get food now.)
Lucky for me I only have to go once a month, or I think I'd go crazy.
Day 20
I got the food, but I guess I'm lucky not to be sitting in the Fortress right now. I almost got found out.
When I was getting out of Cyril's zoomer, I tripped over my skirt and almost fell. I saved myself, but my ID dropped out of my pocket and fell on the ground. Then a Guard, of all people, walked up, picked up my ID, and examined it.
I stayed in the zoomer and held my breath. The guys at the warehouse barely glance at my ID when I show it, but this was a Guard, and he should know a fake ID when he sees one. I was so scared, I thought I would cry with him standing there. Cyril left the engine running, in case we had to get away.
At last the Guard tossed my ID at me. "Sorry for the holdup, kid. Have a nice day."
While the Guard was marching off, Cyril said, "I'll be waiting around the corner. Be careful."
I got out of the zoomer and ran, and didn't stop until I got to the warehouse. I don't think I've been more scared in my life.
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I think that should do for the time being. To anyone looking at this, wondering, "Where's Jak? Where's Daxter? Where's Torn? Where's Keira? Where's Ashelin?", don't worry. Aggie will meet some of them in the next part, I promise. In the meantime, please review, even if to tell me it sucks!