He felt the wind of his hair press against him like a tornado. The engine of the podracer rang in his ear like a krayt dragon. Even with his noise suppression headgear the sound was practically defining. None of that however worried him. He was too busy taking in the adrenaline and focusing on getting through the finish line. He was there. It was so close. Almost there…stay on target. Suddenly the bell rings the crowd begins to cheer as he hears the racing announcer shout his name.
"You're winner for the race, Anakin Sky…!"
Just like that blackness takes over. The sound does not fade, so much as it's cut off. The young boy opened his eyes and found himself back in his banthaskin bed. He looked around and realized he was back in his room. It was all a dream, a dream and nothing more.
"Dank Farrik." The young boy put his head between his knees as tears fell from his face.
"Ani," a gentle voice echoed across the mud hut. "Ani, come to the table. It's time for breakfast."
His name was Anakin Skywalker, and for his entire eight and a half year life he had only known it as a slave. The first 6 years of his life was under the cruel hand of Gardulla the Hutt. Anakin couldn't help but shiver upon thinking her name. It was not uncommon for Anakin to have nightmares. Most of them involved having to doing disgusting acts such as cleaning her or worse feeding her. The worst dreams however often involved her eating him instead.
Anakin and his mother's servitude ended when the Female hutt lost a bet with a junk dealer named Watto. Anakin had to give Watto credit. The Toydarian junk dealer seemingly treated them less like slaves and more like low wage workers. Watto would teach Anakin the tricks of trade such as figuring out a customer's needs and pitching the proper sale. Watto would even give Anakin a set amount of money once every couple of weeks. Though he insisted it was not a wage but an allowance. He'd even give Anakin the occasional day off. On those days off, Anakin would use his allowance to buy parts from the local jawa's and even Watto himself. He would then use these parts to work on his special projects. In fact he had just recently bought a salvaged protocol droid. He had hoped to fix the thing up so that maybe it could help his mom. How he did not know, but he would find away.
"Ani, come to the table. I'm not going to tell you again."
Anakin washed his hands and sat himself at a table. His face turned into a grimace when his mother handed him a bowl of Cream and vaporator mushroom. In truth he expected his mom to give him a scolding look followed by a lecture, but when he looked at his mother's face, all he saw was pity.
"I know it taste awful honey but even with the allowance Watto gives us it's the only thing we can afford. The Hutts increased the tariffs on Offworld foodstuff again. I wish I could do more but I can't."
Anakin didn't know how but he could sense the desperation and despair that his mother had felt. It was almost as if he could see the tears form in her mind before they formed on her face. He reacted accordingly.
"don't cry mom." Anakin spoke before grinning and switching to his sales pitch voice. "One of these days I'm going to become the best racer and pilot in the galaxy. I'll buy our freedom, get us a nice ship. We'll get off this planet. We'll eat real fruits and meat and even bread.
"Honey, please don't mention that awful racing. you know I die anytime Watto makes you do it."
"Come on mom I love it."
"Then please don't fill my head and heart with such foolish dreams."
If the galaxy was a body, Tatooine was practically the armpit of it. Unless your name ended in The Hutt, or you were a part of the spice trade or space trade, then you'd be lucky if you made a decent living. Even Traders and dealers like Watto were squeezed by the Hutts to the point where profits were minimal, the hutts often called it "A tax" but it was more a less a racket. Pay the protection tax or prepare to have your store blown up, and yourself sterilized in the most barbaric way. Anakin would sometimes overhear Watto at night mournfully talk to the walls asking "The goddess" why he was placed in this dustbowl of all places in the galaxy. Sometimes Watto would sing about what he would do if he were a rich merchant. How he'd set up his own shopping center in the mid rim or even the core. Living in a luxury mansion where the streets were paved with limestone and the water was as clear as Crystal.
Anakin would never mention these things to Watto for fear of embarrassing the Toydarian and risking getting a slap across his rear. Still in its own twisted way, there was some kind of comfort in knowing that eve Watto felt the harshness of Tatooine even if it wasn't quite the same as being a slave. Anakin finished the bitter suit before getting up from his seat.
"Bye mom I'm heading out."
"This early, what for?"
"Watto got a new Ship part, a T-14.
"Aren't those meant for Nubian ships?"
" yep which means it's likely to sit in the back of the shop for stars only knows how long. So I'll need to make sure it stays in sellable condition. It's likely to stay there for months."
Shmi could not help but chuckle. "Maybe someone wealthy will come along and buy it and Watto will give you a cut of the profit."
"Wouldn't that be nice." Anakin quipped sarcastically Who knows maybe that hyperdrive is our key to getting off this rock."
With that, Anakin left.