Chapter 2: Hidden Jobs and Hidden Worlds
The next morning is just as busy as the previous one, and Charles really has no time to speak to his wife before she heads off to work. What he has gotten is answer to his text message the day before, and that tells him some of what he wants to know.
The family is real, so is the tales of a treasure, and the job offer is most likely legit and there is definitely money to pay with, as for the legality... well hacking is hacking, even if it is just a library computer, but no one from the government will come knocking down his door anytime soon.
With that, Charles decides to reach out to this envoy and ask more questions.
He sets up a meeting in the park, where Charles can watch Neo play while they talk, but while Neo loves the new games of the park, and go again and again on the slide, Charles find himself waiting for someone who just doesn't show up.
Well after their arranged time, he gets a phone call. Lots of excuses, but a new offer of money for the hacking of the library computer to find the treasure. Charles say nothing about finding the key, but says he'll let her know one way or another tomorrow.
"Just text me," she answers, hanging up without saying good bye. A bit rude, Charles think.
That evening, he finally finds the time to talk to Candice about it, to hear her point of view. To his great surprise she is less hesitant than he is. "§2000! For hacking a library computer? And you've checked independently that the offer is legit?" she asks. When he nods, she just smiles. "So what's to think about? Plumbob knows we could use the money! You could get a computer, we could get some lighting in the kitchen, and maybe eat something besides macaroni and cheese for dinner."
With that settled it's easy enough to agree, and so the next morning Charles heads over once again to the library and while Neo is playing secretly hacks their computer. It only takes him about five minutes, and to his surprise he finds nothing he hadn't found the old fashioned way, but he texts the envoy with the results and a few minutes later, §2000 is in his bank account. He didn't even hand over the key! He decides to keep the key to himself for now, see what comes of it.
At home, things improve massively over the next few days. The kitchen becomes brighter with more lights, they hire a carpenter to get a fence up outside, but most of all, they get a computer. Finally!
For Charles being able to actually work from home, rather than having to go to the library every day, makes a massive difference. Now he might actually finish a project or two on time!
Over the next few days little happen. Apart from the money he received, Charles get no response on his job. He doesn't think much of it, instead focusing on completing more tasks and adding to the family income. Candice isn't making as much as she used to, which she finds hard, but she's happy when she returns home on Friday with her first promotion.
"I know office assistant isn't really what I want to be, but with this speed, I'll be back to the position I had in no time," she says, feeling optimistic about her career for the first time since they moved. It helps that the kitchen is much brighter than it used to be, even if it means seeing how mismatched the furniture is.
The next day is Saturday, which means that the family get to spend the day together. Charles, who has been exploring more of Willow Creek than the rest of the family, decides to take the family to the park for the day. Neo is happy to show mommy how good he is on the slide, and Sandy throws herself straight onto the pirate ship while Willow and her father play some chess together.
Later, Willow joins her sister and the other kids from the neighborhood playing pirate, while dad makes a complete fool of himself playing sea monster. Willow loves it!
They stay so long, Neo falls asleep on a bench. Charles carry him home and tuck him in and all of them sleep in the next morning.
If Saturday was a family day, Sunday wakes them up to chaos. The toilet and sink have all broken and there is simply no way they can afford a repairman at the moment.
"I can do it," Charles says, getting a toolkit he just should not have out. Candice isn't so sure, and stands hovering overing, silently praying that he doesn't hurt himself, or the sink.
Amazingly, Charles manages to fix the sink without hurting himself too much, and yet somehow, when he tries to fix the toilet, the upstairs toilet breaks as a result. So now they have no toilet at all.
"That's okay, I can fix it!" Charles, always the optimist, says. Candice bites hir lip and start calculating how much a replacement will cost and how much more expensive that would be to hiring someone to fix it.
While their parents are boring and stuck in the bathroom, Willow and Sandy runs outside. There is this really cool tree just beyond their own garden, and they can't help to be drawn to it. It's perfect to use as a backdrop to their games.
What they don't expect is for the tree to open up, or for them to find a secret passage to another world. The girls are thrilled! Running around, they explore the hidden underground world, shouting to each other about what they find. Willow is fascinated by a ring of mushrooms. "Those are called witch rings," she tells her sister. "Do you think there are witches here?"
They spend hours in their new hidden world, playing with each other before heading up, Sandy bringing with her a specimen of a rare type of frog as proof of where they've been.
In spite of that, their parents don't seem to believe them.
"A new world? Really? How exciting!" Dad says, which of course means he doesn't believe in it at all.
"Be careful about going too close to the water," their mother says. "I don't want you falling in." She helps arrange for the frog to have somewhere to live, but otherwise seem to take very little interest in it.
"It's like when she sprays the monster under the bed," Willow says. "She'll come with the bottle and spray it, but she doesn't really see it. She doesn't understand that there is actually a monster living there."
"Adults are weird," Sandy agrees.
The family is real, so is the tales of a treasure, and the job offer is most likely legit and there is definitely money to pay with, as for the legality... well hacking is hacking, even if it is just a library computer, but no one from the government will come knocking down his door anytime soon.
With that, Charles decides to reach out to this envoy and ask more questions.
He sets up a meeting in the park, where Charles can watch Neo play while they talk, but while Neo loves the new games of the park, and go again and again on the slide, Charles find himself waiting for someone who just doesn't show up.
Well after their arranged time, he gets a phone call. Lots of excuses, but a new offer of money for the hacking of the library computer to find the treasure. Charles say nothing about finding the key, but says he'll let her know one way or another tomorrow.
"Just text me," she answers, hanging up without saying good bye. A bit rude, Charles think.
That evening, he finally finds the time to talk to Candice about it, to hear her point of view. To his great surprise she is less hesitant than he is. "§2000! For hacking a library computer? And you've checked independently that the offer is legit?" she asks. When he nods, she just smiles. "So what's to think about? Plumbob knows we could use the money! You could get a computer, we could get some lighting in the kitchen, and maybe eat something besides macaroni and cheese for dinner."
With that settled it's easy enough to agree, and so the next morning Charles heads over once again to the library and while Neo is playing secretly hacks their computer. It only takes him about five minutes, and to his surprise he finds nothing he hadn't found the old fashioned way, but he texts the envoy with the results and a few minutes later, §2000 is in his bank account. He didn't even hand over the key! He decides to keep the key to himself for now, see what comes of it.
At home, things improve massively over the next few days. The kitchen becomes brighter with more lights, they hire a carpenter to get a fence up outside, but most of all, they get a computer. Finally!
For Charles being able to actually work from home, rather than having to go to the library every day, makes a massive difference. Now he might actually finish a project or two on time!
Over the next few days little happen. Apart from the money he received, Charles get no response on his job. He doesn't think much of it, instead focusing on completing more tasks and adding to the family income. Candice isn't making as much as she used to, which she finds hard, but she's happy when she returns home on Friday with her first promotion.
"I know office assistant isn't really what I want to be, but with this speed, I'll be back to the position I had in no time," she says, feeling optimistic about her career for the first time since they moved. It helps that the kitchen is much brighter than it used to be, even if it means seeing how mismatched the furniture is.
The next day is Saturday, which means that the family get to spend the day together. Charles, who has been exploring more of Willow Creek than the rest of the family, decides to take the family to the park for the day. Neo is happy to show mommy how good he is on the slide, and Sandy throws herself straight onto the pirate ship while Willow and her father play some chess together.
Later, Willow joins her sister and the other kids from the neighborhood playing pirate, while dad makes a complete fool of himself playing sea monster. Willow loves it!
They stay so long, Neo falls asleep on a bench. Charles carry him home and tuck him in and all of them sleep in the next morning.
If Saturday was a family day, Sunday wakes them up to chaos. The toilet and sink have all broken and there is simply no way they can afford a repairman at the moment.
"I can do it," Charles says, getting a toolkit he just should not have out. Candice isn't so sure, and stands hovering overing, silently praying that he doesn't hurt himself, or the sink.
Amazingly, Charles manages to fix the sink without hurting himself too much, and yet somehow, when he tries to fix the toilet, the upstairs toilet breaks as a result. So now they have no toilet at all.
"That's okay, I can fix it!" Charles, always the optimist, says. Candice bites hir lip and start calculating how much a replacement will cost and how much more expensive that would be to hiring someone to fix it.
While their parents are boring and stuck in the bathroom, Willow and Sandy runs outside. There is this really cool tree just beyond their own garden, and they can't help to be drawn to it. It's perfect to use as a backdrop to their games.
What they don't expect is for the tree to open up, or for them to find a secret passage to another world. The girls are thrilled! Running around, they explore the hidden underground world, shouting to each other about what they find. Willow is fascinated by a ring of mushrooms. "Those are called witch rings," she tells her sister. "Do you think there are witches here?"
They spend hours in their new hidden world, playing with each other before heading up, Sandy bringing with her a specimen of a rare type of frog as proof of where they've been.
In spite of that, their parents don't seem to believe them.
"A new world? Really? How exciting!" Dad says, which of course means he doesn't believe in it at all.
"Be careful about going too close to the water," their mother says. "I don't want you falling in." She helps arrange for the frog to have somewhere to live, but otherwise seem to take very little interest in it.
"It's like when she sprays the monster under the bed," Willow says. "She'll come with the bottle and spray it, but she doesn't really see it. She doesn't understand that there is actually a monster living there."
"Adults are weird," Sandy agrees.
They're actually called fairy rings, not witch rings.
ReplyDeleteIf this ended up as a second comment, sorry~ it just didn't show up for me that the first one posted