When Skyler left, Miss Winifred arrived a few minutes later, right on time. The woman wiped her cold hands on her blue sweater as she walked inside, moving her curly pink hair out of her wrinkled face. Her walking cane made a satisfying taping sound on the hardwood floor as the elder walked to the main room. Miss Winifred smiled as she saw the children.
"Hello, kiddos!" She sweetly said. Zane said a Hello back while the other kids muttered under their breaths. Miss Winifred reached into the bag she had and pulled out a small container of cookies, grabbing the attention of the other children.
"I hope you're hungry; I made snacks!" She happily said, making the children, besides Zane, look at the container.
"It's oatmeal raisin," She finished with a sweet smile, making the other children make a face of disgust and go back to what they were doing. Zane, on the other hand, smiled at the homemade treat; he wasn't a picky eater or the type to complain. Miss Winifred passed the cookies around, oblivious to the disgusted looks on the other kid's faces. Zane happily ate his cookie while the other kids hid theirs in their pickets to get rid of later.
After a few minutes, Zane got up, letting Miss Winifred know where he was going before he left.
"Are you sure? You don't have shoes on; you're going to freeze your little feet off," Miss Winifred objected.
"I appreciate your concern, but I have no money to afford shoes. I can't feel the cold anyway," Zane explained, getting a few snickers from the children. Miss Winifred hesitated, but with a little bit of convincing, Zane was allowed to leave.
Zane walked out of the orphanage, his feet feeling the cold ground as he walked down to the market, ignoring the whispering and stares from others. Zane wandered around, observing the shops and keeping a distance from everyone.
'Just a normal Tuesday,' Zane thought. The first thing he did was to go to the local bakery for his shift. Zane was allowed to work there. In a way. Zane was allowed to help out with serving customers, alerting the baker if there was an emergency, and cleaning up, and in return, Zane got ten dollars (Depending on how well he did) and a small loaf of fresh bread. Sometimes if work was slow, the baker taught Zane how to cook, which Zane appreciated.
Zane walked into the warm building, seeing only two people at separate tables, and went to the back to get an apron.
"Hey, Zane. You're just in time," The baker said, taking something out of the oven. "Someone left a mess at table three; can you clean it up, please?" he politely asked.
"Yes, Sir," Zane agreed, grabbing and putting on his apron before grabbing the broom and going to clean up whatever mess was left behind.
"What are you doing?" Someone from another table asked. Zane cleaned up the area as he answered the customer's question.
"Cleaning up."
"Why? You seem too young to work. Don't you need to be fifteen or something?" the customer asked.
"True, but I asked for this job. And I'm allowed to work as long as I don't work during school hours. I'm only five, and where I come from, I don't have enough money to attend school yet. I have until I turn seven to get enough money to go to school. So far, I'm not doing so well," Zane rambled, sweeping up some crumbs from under the table.
"How do you know all that?" The customer asked.
"I visit the library every Tuesday and Thursday around twelve or three," Zane answered. "I read all of the children's books and continued onto the school books when I turned four."
"How much money do you need?" the customer asked.
"I'm not sure, but I know I'm not even close, especially with the condition I'm in. I need money to get food for the other people in the orphanage; I need to help Miss Skyler with taking care of the building and-"
"Why are you worrying about that?" the customer interrupted. "You're only a child. You shouldn't have that kind of stress." Zane paused.
"What do you mean?" Zane asked.
"Kids should lay back, have fun, make mistakes, and learn from them. It's all a part of growing up," the customer explained. Zane was silent. He never thought of that before.
"Huh. I guess I didn't have the option to do so."
"Dude, you need some serious R&R," The customer said as Zane threw away some trash.
"I need what?" Zane questioned.
"R&R means rest and relaxation," The customer explained. Zane thought for a moment. Did he even have time to relax? With all of the dreams and thoughts on his head, everyone being suspicious of him, and the need to help Miss Skyler and the orphanage get back on their feet, Zane didn't have time. Speaking of time, Zane glanced at the clock on the wall, seeing that he has been cleaning the same table for longer than he should have.
"As much as I enjoyed this conversation, I must get back to work. I will think about our discussion and consider seeing what I can do to try the R and R you mentioned," Zane said.
"Oh yeah, sorry. Don't let me stop you. I have to get going now anyway. My family and I are going to adopt another cousin today," the customer said, getting up and putting a tip of five dollars on the table as he left. Zane grabbed the five dollars and put in it the tip jar while he put away the cleaning supplies.
'I guess that man was right. But how will I find the time to slow down and take a break?' Zane thought, going behind the counter to wait for another customer.