Maple got the piggy bank down from the high shelf. She pulled the plug at the bottom out, and a few coins fell out. She shook it until all the coins were in her hand. There were a lot.
"I wonder why kids in cartoons always smash their piggy banks with hammers? This is a lot easier." she said. "Is this enough for bus tickets? I'll check it on the phone." She took out the cell phone they shared (Another example of grandpa being stingy) and searched it online. "It costs 100 gold for a ticket to Stardew Valley. That's 200 for two tickets. We have 700 gold in here, so we'll have 500 to spare."
"Mom built Snowyfox off of just 500 gold." Sterling had heard that story from almost everyone he knew in the first 8 years of his life.
"Yeah. Are we all packed?" They went over their packed things again. They had all the things they had brought to Zuzu City, plus about two weeks' worth of food. "Yep! All ready to go."
"Good. Now we need the deed. So here's the plan. We wait until the grandparents are definitely asleep, then we find the deed in their room. That might be a bit hard because they probably hid it. Then, once we have it, we grab our luggage and make a run for it to the bus stop. We buy our tickets, and hopefully, make it to Stardew Valley without problems. Understood?"
"Yeah."
That night, after Grandma's television program had ended and snores resounded across the apartment, Sterling and Maple got out of bed and grabbed their backpacks and suitcases. They tiptoed to Grandma and Grandpa's room and began searching everything. Sterling quietly opened drawers and cupboards while Maple looked under laundry heaps and beds. Eventually Sterling noticed the piece of paper at the top of the closet. Maple climbed on his shoulders and just barely managed to get it down. She quickly put it in her backpack and tiptoed out of the room. Sterling followed. They left the apartment and went down the elevator. Once they were on the open sidewalk, they switched from tiptoeing nervously to a mad dash down the sidewalks. It wasn't far from the apartment to the bus stop. Maple was holding on to her glasses. Sterling was holding on to Maple. Eventually they made it to the stop. A booth was being manned by a very tired young lady.
"Two tickets to Stardew Valley, please." Sterling got out 200 gold, plus a little extra.
"200 gold, please." The ticket manager didn't notice that two little children were buying tickets in the middle of the night. Sterling handed over the gold, and Maple handed over a tea bag from her backpack.
"Thank you!" they said in unison.
The siblings sat under the covered bus stop and waited nervously, both expecting to see Grandma's pink car driving towards them, or police officers running. These concerns were paused when the bus pulled up. They stepped on and handed their tickets to the driver. Sterling couldn't make out any features on the driver, because it was dark and they were obscured by a big black coat. They dashed to a seat and nervously waited to see if they would make it to the farm without being stopped. As the bus left Zuzu City, Maple put her head on Sterling's shoulder and fell asleep. He took off his hoodie and draped it over her like a blanket. Sterling watched the urban landscape go by until he, too, fell asleep.