Chapter Twenty-Nine – Normal People
Gina woke up alone. The small dwelling which Toby had taken her to looked pretty much the same as it did the previous night. Gina didn’t notice the flame that appeared that kept her warm all night and by the time she woke up it was gone. Gina wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t know where Toby was. She didn’t feel safe walking around by herself, so she decided to stay where she was.
The minutes ticked by slowly. As she was looking around, bored out of her mind, she noticed her clothes were missing. The clothes she wore that she had to change out of, they were gone. Toby must have taken them. Normally she would have been mad, but she wasn’t mad now. She didn’t need those clothes anymore. Those clothes belonged to the princess. She wasn’t the princess anymore. Toby finally came back. He brought with him some food for Gina to eat. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she started eating.
“I have some news. I got you a job. If you are going to be normal, you are going to have to work.” Toby announced.
“I don’t know how to do anything.” Gina protested, “What kind of job is it?”
“It’s a job in a bakery, baking bread.” Toby explained, “You will be assisting the baker and I have already told her you don’t have any experience. All you have to do is be able to follow orders.”
“When do I start?” Gina asked. Gina was resigned to her new fate. At least she didn’t have to find her own job.
“Right now.” Toby said. When Gina was done eating. Toby took her to a small bakery and led her to a back room where the baking was done. An older woman was there.
“So, this is what I have to work with?” She said out loud as she looked Gina over, “I guess she’ll do.”
“Then I will leave you two to work.” Toby says as he excuses himself. Toby was a bit apprehensive about leaving Gina but had to grow up sometime and he knew coddling her wasn’t going to do her any good.
Toby worked out in the fields, planting crops, tending to crops, picking crops. Anyone who has ever done that type of work knows it’s more than a full-time job. Today was different though. Today there were men there that Toby didn’t recognize. Furthermore, they didn’t do any work. They just watched. They didn’t say anything. They didn’t do anything. Toby thought it was kind of weird. He asked some of his fellow laborer’s if they knew who the strange men were and none of them knew. Toby wondered if these new men represented their conquerors. While Toby was working hard in the field, Gina was trying to get the hang of taking orders.
The woman who oversaw her was aware that she didn’t know much. So, she went over things as slowly as possible while still maintaining some efficiency. However, even going over things slowly was too fast for Gina. Gina was told what each ingredient was and that it was important to the right ingredient when called for.
The first mistake Gina made was mixing up the salt and the flour. If Gina had just taken a bit more time, she would have recognized that she was retrieving salt when she should have been retrieving flour. The problem was that Gina was flustered and not thinking clearly. When Gina’s mentor tasted the results, she realized what had happened.
“I’ve mixed up a few ingredients in my time.” The older woman said, “Just slow down and concentrate.” The older woman was understanding but this made her work harder. Because one batch was bad, she would have to take the time to make another one and all the money she spent on the ingredients in the bad batch were lost. “We’ll have to do it over again. Throw this batch out.”
Gina wished that she hadn’t made the mistake. Instead of being pleased, her survival depended now on pleasing others. She noticed the texture of the batch change at that moment and took a taste. It turns out the batch wasn’t ruined at all. She rushed back in to get the older woman.
“The bread tastes good to me. Will you try it again?” Gina asked. The older woman tried the batch again and this time it tasted good. In fact, it was the best tasting bread she had ever made. She wasn’t sure how this strange thing happened, but she was happy that she didn’t have to spend the time and resources to make another one.
“Maybe I was mistaken,” the old woman said, “This does taste good.”
Gina finished the day feeling a lot better. It wasn’t fun working all day, but she was doing something useful and participating in the general welfare of the community. She had earned her keep for at least one day. When her work was done, she waited. She assumed that Toby was going to come get her and while she had to wait longer than she wanted to, he did just that.
“How was your first day being normal?” Toby asked her as they walked back to Toby’s place.
“It was tiring. Is this what peasants have to do every day?” Gina asked.
“Everyday.” Toby replied.
“Something strange happened at the bakery. I had made a mistake with the ingredients and the bread tasted really bad. I wished for my mistake to be corrected and after that, the bread tasted really good.” Gina explained.
“Last night, a flame appeared on the stove but there wasn’t any wood.” Toby followed up.
“Last night I was wishing it wasn’t so cold.” Gina remembered.
“It’s just like the magic in the dream.” Toby said, “You thought something, and it happened.”
“Are you saying I’m a magician?” Gina asked, stunned.
“I don’t know but the old man let you kill him. Maybe by killing him, you got his power.” Toby surmised.
“That can't be right.” Gina shot back.
“It must be.” Toby said.
The next day, when Gina got to work, there was a crowd of people in the bakery. “You know that bread we made yesterday?” The older woman asked Gina.
“Yes.” Gina responded.
“All these people want us to make more!” The older woman exclaimed.