A/N: Sorry for the delay with this chapter, but you know the combination of
Christmas and a lack of inspiration, or writer's block or something like that.
Anyway here it is hope you like it and Happy New Year.
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. "Cry."
Chapter 6: Workhouse food and weed pulling.
The dining room was very large, and it seemed, that the whole workhouse ate together, as Gohan saw men, women and children of all ages.
Jim had told him to sit on the second row of tables with the other boys his age. Which was where he was now.
The noise of everyone settling down, getting ready for their evening meal, echoed around the giant room, and didn't stop until there was a loud, commanding bang on a table, and Mr Broom, himself, stood at the head of the room.
"We will give thanks to God, for our food, and then you'll come up table by table, as I call your group, to collect your meal." Mr Broom ordered, authoritivly.
Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub, Gohan thought, before covering a grin with his hand.
"Give us this day, our daily bread,
and lord, make us truly grateful.
Amen."
Gohan listened to the whole room, man and women, boys and girls, of all ages, recite the well known prayer, amazement spread across his face. How was it so structured in this place, he thought, there's so many people in here?
"Green group first." Mr Broom commanded.
The younger children rose to their feet and walked towards the trolley, holding the food, two long lines of boys and girls, ranging from about 2 and 3 years old to about 7 years old.
It was then that Gohan noticed red lining in his grey uniform. He must be in the red group.
"Red group next." Mr Broom said, when the young children had sat back down with their meals.
Gohan rose with the other boys and followed them to the trolley. His stomach growled in anticipation. He hadn't eaten at all today. He felt like he was wasting away.
As he reached the trolley, the stench of burnt…something, took over the air. The dinner lady was tall, with greasy hair. She looked down at Gohan, as he was shoved up to the trolley.
"So you're the new boy." She said quietly, passing over his food on a plastic plate. "Enjoy your meal!" She added, with a slight smirk.
Gohan quickly walked back to the table and sat down. He looked down at his meal, and had to suppress a yell. What the hell was this on his plate? It looked disgusting! The meat, whatever it was, looked well over-cooked. The potatoes, if that's what they were, were boiled so much they were about the size of a brussel sprout, and the measly amount of vegetables on his plate didn't look very appetizing either.
"Is this it?" Gohan whispered to the boy sitting next to him.
"Just eat it and be thankful you got that." The boy whispered back, before going back to devour his own.
Gohan started to reluctantly eat the mess on his plate. He suppressed gags while eating the meat, and quickly took a drink of water, having just poured it into the plastic cup in front of him from the plastic jug.
After dinner, they had to clean away their table and wait to be given permission to leave. Then he followed the rest of the boys out of the large dining hall.
"Hey, where do we go now?" He asked the same boy he had spoken to at dinner.
"Evening chores, duh." The boy replied, rudely. "I'm Benny by the way."
"Oh!" Gohan muttered. "I'm Gohan."
Benny stared at Gohan and laughed.
"Don't worry, Gohan. I'll take care of you. The workhouse isn't so bad, if you know what your doing. Stick with me." Benny said, offering his hand to Gohan.
Gohan shook his hand and managed a smile for his new friend.
Benny smiled back, his hazel eyes full of life, before flicking back his brown hair, which was growing down towards his eyes.
"Come on, Gohan. We better not be late. Its ten hits with the cane for tardiness." Benny warned, pulling Gohan's arm.
Gohan nodded and followed Benny, and the other boys, down the corridor.
Several rooms later, Gohan found himself in a room with benches laid out in two rows. He followed Benny to the back bench and sat down.
"What do we do now?" Gohan asked Benny, over the loud noise of the other boys sitting down.
"We wait for our keepers, Jim and Bob. You know the two men you met earlier. They give us our jobs for the evening." Benny explained.
"Oh! Um, okay." Gohan replied, still a little confused.
The two burly men, from earlier, came in. Bob, who was slightly taller and meaner looking than Jim, stamped his foot on the floor to gain the boys' attention. At this sound, all heads pointed forward, fully attentive.
"Right you little urchins. Listen up." Bob said and started walking down the front bench. "This half of this bench will go to the kitchen, where you'll be given jobs. The other half will go to the sewing rooms."
The boys on the front bench stood up and split into two groups, and walked off in opposite directions. Bob moved closer to the bench Gohan sat on.
"You little runts will go and help in the garden."
"But, sir, its cold and dark." Gohan protested.
"No answering back, you little brat. You'll do as your told." Bob shouted back.
Gohan held his tongue but kept a stubborn look on his face. He may have lost his abilities, but he wasn't going to lose his spirit. He wouldn't be ground down like a lot of the other boys here were.
"Come on." Benny whispered. "You don't want to get on the wrong side of Bob straight away. He's mean."
Gohan followed Benny, and the other boys on the bench, out of the door, into another room, which must be a cloakroom, as coats lined the walls, hung on hooks.
Benny took two coats off the hooks, and chucked one to Gohan.
"Here wear this, Gohan, its cold out." Benny said.
"Thanks." Gohan replied, pulling the thin, grey coat on, which, like the rest of his clothes, was too big.
Hurry up, you young hooligans. Get outside, and report to Mr Grimes in the back garden." Bob ordered, as he entered the small cloakroom.
Gohan and Benny followed the other boys out the door. It was very cold outside, even with the coat on. It was pitch black, with a new moon just visible in the star less sky. They walked down a path for about three minutes, and then came to a halt outside a small hut.
A man of medium build and height came out of the hut. He wore a hut, which probably hid greying hair. Under the light of the candle he was holding, Gohan could see that his face was stubbly and he had a hooked nose, which stuck out at an odd angle.
He must have broken it before, Gohan thought.
"You lot are a bit scrawny, but I suppose you'll do." Mr Grimes said in greeting, to the six young boys. "Come with me."
Gohan, Benny and the other four boys followed Mr Grimes further down the path. They kept walking until they got to a more disorderly part of the large garden.
"I don't know how long you little runts will last out here, but there's a whole field of weeds out here, that need pulling, so that we can plant some good stuff in here." Mr Grimes explained.
"Weed pulling? Doesn't sound to hard." Gohan whispered, having never done any gardening before.
"Believe me, Gohan, you won't want to see another weed again after tonight." Benny warned, before motioning for Gohan to stay close to him.
"Right, pair up and start at opposite ends of a row. Pull up all the weeds until you meet in the middle, then choose another row and repeat until I say otherwise." Mr Grimes ordered, in an authoritive tone. "Get moving and no slacking."
Benny quickly pulled Gohan over to the nearest row, and told him to go to the other end.
Gohan knelt down and immediately felt his knees sink into the damp soil. He got into as comfortable position as he could manage, and started pulling up the dead weeds, still thinking he was better off than the boys in the sewing rooms.
Two hours and ten rows later Gohan and Benny followed the other boys back up the path. Their hands were throbbing and they were soaked to the skin, as the kind English weather decided to give them a downpour.
"Remind me never to weed again." Gohan groaned to Benny.
"Well I hate to say this Gohan, but I told you say." Benny replied, managing a slight chuckle before shivering again.
They walked into the cloakroom, hung up their soaking coats, and walked through to the room with the benches, which was called the briefing room. Jim and Bob were standing at the front again. This time Jim spoke.
"I'm sure you have all worked hard this evening, although we await reports of unruly behaviour." He began. "The boys who were outside come with me. The rest of you go with Bob.
Gohan got up with the others and trailed after Jim, deciding that Jim was much more likeable than Bob.
Jim led them through a couple of rooms, down a short staircase and finally stopped in a room with whitewashed walls.
In the centre of the room was a large, tin tub. As they approached it, they could see bubbly water inside.
"Right, you six, get washed. Give your damp clothes to me, they'll be dried while you wash." Jim instructed.
The boys all took their soaking wet clothes off and handed them to Jim before jumping into the warm water, letting out sighs of content.
Gohan sat in the tub of bubbles, splashing warm water over himself, wondering why Will and Jack were so against the Workhouse. This was better than sleeping on that hard, cold roof and stealing food.
About ten minutes later, Jim returned with their dry clothes. They all reluctantly got out of the warm bath and dried themselves on old towels, which were laid out on the floor for them. Jim gave them their clothes and they got dressed.
"Okay, follow me." Jim said, when they were all dressed.
He led them out of the bathroom and through many more doors, until they reached the room with the beds in it.
"Get into bed now, you have five minutes then its lights out." Jim told them.
The other boys were already settling down in their beds. Gohan walked over to the bed he'd been given earlier. Benny walked over to the bed next to him.
Hey, cool. We're close enough to talk." Benny said quietly to Gohan.
They took their shoes and socks off and crawled under the thin covers, curling up to get warm.
Jim came round and blew out the candles, leaving the room in darkness. It was quiet apart from the two new best friends whispering to each other in the far corner of he room.
"How long have you been here, Benny?" Gohan asked.
"All my life." Benny replied, sadly. "My dad died just after I was conceived, my mum was sent straight to this workhouse. I was born here. I never really saw much of my mum while she was alive. They separate families. My mum died two years ago when I was eight. She couldn't cope with this lifestyle."
"I'm sorry." Gohan whispered softly. Poor Benny, he thought, he's really got it bad here.
"Anyway what about you, Gohan, how'd you end up here?" Benny asked, perking up a little.
"To be honest, it's a bit of a long story. Basically I came to London, stayed with these kids who called themselves the rooftop gang, got caught by the police, and was sent here." Gohan replied, wishing he could tell Billy the truth but knew that it was pointless as Benny wouldn't believe him and would think he had gone crazy.
"Oh!" Benny said. " Goodnight Gohan."
"Goodnight Benny." Gohan replied, sleepily.
He fell asleep dreaming of swimming in a sea of weeds, trying to get to his father on the other side, but the weeds kept pulling him further and further away.
End Chapter.
How was that then? Worth the wait? I know it's a bit slow at the moment but their will be some action soon. Anyway r&r and I'll try and update quicker next time.
