One Man's Trash, Part 2b
Jayne meets an old friend.
"Thank you, 英俊的男人 yīngjùn de nánrén," Kaylee said with a flirtatious smile, as she left the fourth salvage yard. Captain hadn't given her a budget, but she knew she had to keep it as low as possible. Cap'n tried to hide it, but she'd seen the despair in his eyes as she mentioned the atmo feed and the navsat. She wasn't privy to the amount the job had paid them, but she knew down to a platinum how much the parts were like to cost, and she knew pretty well what it cost to fuel the ship. She visited four salvage yards in succession, and knew which ones had which parts. She wasn't shy about using her feminine charms—even though female mechanics weren't a real rarity, most junkyard employees were male, and Kaylee wasn't about to pass up the opportunity of flirting her way to a bargain. She was glad Simon had left her at the salvage yard on her own, 'cause she wouldn't have dared flirt with the salvage boys this way if Simon were with her, and the prices woulda been a lot higher. It weren't nothin', just a little batting the eyelids and smilin', and it worked, too, but she still felt a mite guilty playin' that card when her heart belonged to Simon.
天啊 Tiān ā, she was tired. Usually, she was like a girl in a candy shop when she got to a salvage yard. She loved lookin' at all the fine things, and imaginin' what use she'd put them to when she got them aboard her girl Serenity. Maybe it was all that bargaining, and the not bein' able to buy anything yet, but this time she was just plum tuckered out. She sat down in the shade on the main street of town, and waited for Simon and Inara to finish their shopping and join her.
. . .
Simon was dismayed by the prices. He knew the Captain would be receiving payment for the cattle shipment soon, but as was all too common lately, there seemed to be a shortage of ready money. Simon had a little pocket money saved up, and he determined to use it now, and replenish when the Captain's funds came in. He purchased minimal amounts of topical anesthetic, weaves and bandages, as there was a frequent demand for these on Serenity, given the nature of their business. He also purchased a small stock of sterile saline, Ringer's solution, and D5W—he did not dare run out of these items, you never knew when someone was going to get shot and need the fluids, and sad to say, gunshot wounds were among the most common injuries on Serenity. He had only a small amount of money left and was trying to decide between re-stocking the men's contraceptives (which had been in higher demand lately) or buying a broad-spectrum antibiotic when he noticed something important.
"This antibiotic is nearly expired," Simon pointed out to the pharmacist.
The pharmacist bustled over to the shelf where Simon stood, took a good look at the box, and swore a blue streak. Just what Simon was hoping to hear. Well, not hoping hoping (as the Shepherd would say)—but it played into his new plan.
"You won't be able to sell this lot after tomorrow," Simon pointed out in an annoyingly helpful voice. "It's illegal to sell medications past their expiration date."
"We got a whole crate of that in the storeroom," the pharmacist complained with another round of curses. "All from the same lot. Gorram pharmaceutical company must have sent us their oldest stock. The shipment it came in on was delayed, too. Only had it on the shelf for a week, and now we're gonna have to pitch the whole lot of it." She rambled off into another round of sincere, if uncreative, cussing.
"I have a proposal to make," Simon said.
. . .
Inara inspected the garment carefully. The fabric was of good quality. The colors were good. She held it up in front of her, and it was way too long. She took a moment to consider carefully if it was way too long enough, considering how much taller than she the intended recipient was. While she considered that question, she took in the style. Not her kind of thing, but perfect in its way. She hoped it would be acceptable to its recipient. It was so hard to shop for someone whose clothing choices were made deliberately, with such exacting specifications, yet someone who never spoke of fashion preferences, and kept them closed like a book. She also worried about the prospect of giving a gift to one who was unaccustomed to receiving—and had never received a gift from her.
On the other hand, it was absurdly easy to shop for someone whose taste in clothing had never been expressed, because the person in question was not yet born. One baby romper was just not enough. She selected another charming but practical outfit from the rack. And another. Luckily she had enough credits to afford them all.
. . .
The Captain had insisted that no one go into town on their own. He and Zoe then took off for town together on some business or other. Shortly after, Kaylee, Simon, and Inara walked into town in a group, headed for the salvage yards apparently, although what business a doctor and a Companion had at a salvage yard, Ip couldn't imagine. He'd asked River if she'd like to go into town with him, and she lit up like the lanterns for the 灯篭流し Tōrō Nagashi at the end of 盆 Bon, which was a bit disconcerting in and of itself. But then she declared that she couldn't. The Captain had given her an assignment, and she would stay with the ship. She told Ip the nature of the assignment, and when he understood she'd be using the ship's cortex link, probably for hours, he knew he'd have to go into town. Which left Jayne. Ip wouldn't have chosen Jayne for his companion. The man would no doubt protect him if need be—he was certainly well-armed—but Ip didn't anticipate being mugged in broad daylight in the middle of the main street of Central City, Beylix, and he couldn't imagine any other problem. Other than: where on this dusty planet would he find a public access cortex link? He didn't think Jayne knew or cared, and he wished he could shake the man off and spend the afternoon without the pleasure of Jayne's company.
Jayne knew there'd be trouble. Cap'n hadn't managed to extract any coin from that 青蛙 乱伦的 qīngwā luànlúnde bank, even though he'd set in that place for the best part of an hour. Gorram waste of time. Except Jayne had scouted out two bars—the Friendly Inn and the Freight and Salvage—and a whorehouse from where he'd been loitering on guard duty, so he knew where to go soon as he had the coin. But that was the rub, weren't it? No coin. No coin, no drinkin'. No coin, no trim. What was the use of a few days' run planetside, when your pockets were empty? Cap'n better come up with something that paid, and fast, or the whole time on Beylix would be wasted. Just like Persephone.
Captain was gettin' soft. That slave break-out on 泥球 Ní Qiú was good fun, but gorrammit, it hadn't paid even a single platinum. Jayne had loved the recon, the scouting out escape routes, the look-out, the gorram break-out itself. But he figured the Captain had at least worked out some kinda re-ward from them Abolitionist people on Persephone to pay for the lark. It pissed Jayne right off, to get to Persephone and 'stead of gettin' a re-ward, he got jail time. Even if it weren't the worst jail he'd ever been in, an' even though he got out with nothin' added to his rap sheet, Cap'n had bungled it. Turned out the Cap'n had done it all for love, not money. Now weren't that all manner of stupid? Always thought the Cap'n had more smarts than that. Not that it weren't the right thing to do, breakin' people out of slavery an' all, just that he couldn't afford to go around bein' a hero for no pay.
They spent a few more days on Persephone after gettin' outta jail, and there was plenty of bars and whorehouses right within spittin' distance of the docks, and still he got no play. Cap'n had him humpin' halfway across town and back on foot, just to visit some no-account Browncoat friend of his who wouldn't know a payin' job iff'n it came up and bit him on the 屁股 pìgu. Finally Cap'n coughed up some money an' gave Jayne his pay, but then he worked him like a slave installing all that 狗屎 gǒushǐ in the cargo bay for the gorram cows. Jayne only got the one night out on the town, and they was parked on Persephone for near ten days. When he figured out he wasn't gonna get but the one night, he sent most of his pay to his mother for little Mattie, and blew out all the rest of his money on a good time in the Dockside District. Ain't nothin' to spend the money on in space anyhow, and he figured he'd get another payday soon as they got to Beylix. Figured wrong, as it happened.
Yep, Beylix was gonna be trouble. Like right now, when he had to baby-sit Doc 'Noy-man instead of gettin' himself a good drink at the Friendly Inn. Ah well. Not nobody said he couldn't go window shoppin' while he watched the Doc's back. Now that there was a nice piece a' 女人的屁股 nǚrén de pìgu walkin' down the sidewalk towards them. Good healthy-lookin' female, nice big titties. Pleasant face. Looked kinda familiar.
"Jayne Cobb! It's you!" the woman hollered. She covered the last dozen yards at a run and threw herself into Jayne's arms, covering his face with kisses.
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glossary
英俊的男人 yīngjùn de nánrén [handsome man]
天啊 Tiān ā [God]
灯篭流し Tōrō Nagashi [lantern floating ceremony (Japanese)]
盆 Bon [A Buddhist observance honoring the spirits of the ancestors (Japanese)]
青蛙 乱伦的 qīngwā luànlúnde [frog fornicating]
泥球 Ní Qiú [name of a world]
屁股 pìgu [ass]
狗屎 gǒushǐ [crap]
女人的屁股 nǚrén de pìgu [ass (woman's)]
A/N: Anyone care to speculate about who Jayne's friend is? (Feedback! Comments! Reviews!)