Earning My Way

There is a party at my "house" that somehow involves me working and running errands, such as going to the bank.

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I emerge out of a forest onto a two lane road with a field on the other side. I am dehydrated and utterly exhausted physically and emotionally. I stagger over to the bus stop on the other side of the road, accidentally stumbling into the ditch. I need to get away from that forest as fast as possible, but when I check the schedule the only buses coming are the Community Transit 8--s, which will not take me home and cost more than the 15-odd cents I have in my pocket. This being a life-and-death situation, I choose to throw myself at the feet of the billionaire living at the nearby mansion in hopes that he will give me a job and I can earn enough money to eventually take the bus home. I know however, that this is hoping for a little too much, because poor people like me can never just earn money from rich people like him. According to the rules, I will essentially be required to sign my body and soul away for a year before getting my payment in the end... if I'm lucky.

I ring the doorbell and somehow convince his footman to let me speak to the master. The man who comes to the door is a sweet, kindly gentleman, who has to pry himself away from the adoring orphan boys he has rescued to talk to me.

"Please sir, " I begin, "I was wondering is you might have any positions available, you see, I am in desperate need..."
The man looks uneasy and his footman cuts in, "We have no positions now. Go home."
I think of the forest I just come from and feel an intense fear, though I cannot recall exactly what I fear so much. I cut the footman off somewhat forcefully and say, "I just spent a month in that forest with my brother and he didn't make it out-"
The old man stops me and says, "Come in, I'm sure we can find something for you to do."
I step inside the marble-floored mansion, filled with leafy plants, light, and playful young boys. As I change into new clothes and an apron, I feel a sadness when I think of my separation from my own family, as well as something like guilt at the mysterious loss of my brother, and confusion about my situation in the house in relation to the other orphans. Why wasn't I taken in as this man's child? Was it because I asked for work to begin with, and not care?