The Rusty Jug - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next day, Lia picked the pocket of someone in a crowd, and was delighted to discover quite a bit of money in the wallet she stole. She immediately brought the wallet to the post office, selected an appropriate size box, and addressed it to the wallet’s owner – minus the money, of course! She added a note that said, “I’m sorry,” and sealed the box. Then, she paid for the box and postage, and tossed the box into the outgoing mail.

“Now that that’s done, let’s go get something to eat… You do eat, don’t you?” She asked, figuring that he must. Why else would he have a kitchen in his home?

“Yes… I won’t die from not eating, but I do feel hunger, and enjoy the taste of food,” Jin answered honestly.

“Interesting,” Lia remarked, and chose a diner called ‘Ma’s Home Cooking' to eat at. Soon, they were busy chowing down on handcrafted cheeseburgers, and drinking thick vanilla milkshakes.

Jin examined his food and drink closely before trying it, and Lia wondered again how long it had been since he had been out in the world.

“How many years has it been since your last…” She faltered. Should I really say master?

“Release from prison?” Jin supplied. “500 year exactly, and believe me, I know for certain. I have a magical clock to remind me.”

“I see… No wonder you seem like some medieval lord,” Lia mused.

“Medieval?” Jin questioned.

“It means from a time in the distant past,” Lia answered, hoping that no dictionary writers would hear her and scold her for her paraphrasing.

“Oh… sometimes I am amazed by how much the world has changed while I am imprisoned, but this has been the most shocking change thus far!” Jin admitted.

“Yet, except for occasional small phrases, you speak as if you belong to this time and place,” Lia stated.

“It’s part of the curse, I assume, since it would be hard for me to grant wishes if I couldn’t understand what was being said.”

“That makes sense,” Lia nodded, and then finished her shake with a loud slurp. “We should go. I don’t want to stay in one place long enough to risk my gang finding me.”

Jin shrugged, he had no say in the matter, or in anything she did. They walked down a street that would eventually lead them out of the city. Lia kept an eye out for any members of her gang. She had no idea whether there were any informants around to spot her, and prayed there wasn’t.

Even with her senses on high alert, she was still completely caught off guard a moment later as she felt hands wrap around her mouth and body, and snatch her into the alley.

“Hey Lia, it appears that we didn’t beat you hard enough, so we get to do it all over again,” a young man announced menacingly. He was one of her gang’s junior “officers” and would have been about the same “rank” as her if she hadn’t asked to leave the gang.

“And this time, we get to play with your friend,” another added. Lia knew that all witnesses or bystanders were considered fair game, and that it was her fault for involving Jin in this, but she also figured that Jin could handle himself.

Meanwhile, Jin was distracted by the inability to breathe. It would be a whole lot easier to protect her if I didn’t have to deal with a tight chest and no air every time she’s in danger! He thought in mild frustration.

No breath hmm… Jin used his magic to make it impossible for Lia’s attackers to draw in a breath. Then, he proceeded to inflict as much damage as his mistress would let him get away with. He was surprised that she let him beat them all nearly to death before she stopped him.

“That’s enough, Jin.”

Jin nodded, and dropped his current victim. If he herded her away from here before she realized it, the attackers would soon suffocate anyway. They deserve it! He tried to pull her out of the alley, but she pushed him away, and his binding considered this an order.

Lia figured that they were unable to breathe by the way they clutched at their throats, and she had to really consider letting them die. She stared at them dispassionately for a few moments, mildly fascinated as their desperation turned to a slow motion falling asleep. No, this isn’t right…

“Let them breathe, Jin,” she ordered, and Jin bit back a sigh. He complied with her order, and rolled his eyes in disappointment as they all began to cough and gasp.

“Let’s go,” Lia said as she tugged on Jin’s sleeve.

*******

Lia bought a nice sturdy hiker’s backpack, and set the rusty old jug inside it. Then, she bought some new clothes for each of them; stashing their pure silk garments in the bag after folding them neatly to hopefully prevent wrinkles.

“Ugh!” Lia softly bemoaned. “After we buy some dinner tonight, we won’t have any money left. I’m going to have to pick another pocket…”

They had been steadily walking out of the city for hours, but hadn’t gotten very far since Lia had taken a long time to choose the right backpack and clothing for them. She wanted to make sure they would blend in with a crowd, and she also wanted to make sure their clothes would survive if they did get into a massive fight.

Lia managed to slip a full money clip out of an older –wealthy looking – woman’s purse while her attention was occupied with rearranging her many shopping bags for easier carrying.

“Why even carry a full money clip if she was just going to use her cards to pay for everything?” Lia wondered as it was the only explanation for why the lady had had both tons of shopping bags and cash. She shrugged and figured that it must be a habit from a time before cards minimized the amount of cash a person needed to carry.

They continued on their way until they reached a bus depot. Lia used an interactive map to decide where she wanted to go, and bought tickets for the next bus; which left in two hours.

They still had plenty of time to get dinner, and Lia chose a nearby steakhouse with immediate seating available. She ordered them each a porterhouse steak with garlic mashed potatoes. I’ve never had such an expensive meal in my life!

During their dinner, the waitress kept screwing up Lia’s order, and flirting with Jin. Lia had been subjected to much worse behavior on a daily basis, and so didn’t really notice, but it angered Jin. He was born in an era of extreme politeness. Even if you planned to kill someone, you always treated them with civility and respect. This rudeness was an affront to everything he believed in!

“If I could, I’d teach her a lesson in manners,” he muttered.

Lia heard him, and chuckled. “Go right ahead.”

Certain that she didn’t actually intend to let him; Jin tested her by causing a minor accident. He used his power to make the waitress trip while holding a full tray for the table next to them. The food splashed and splattered about 2 feet in all directions, thoroughly covering the waitress, but not the customers. Jin made sure of that.

Lia watched with mild interest, glad that it wasn’t her, and even more glad that if it had been her, her gang leader wasn’t around to punish her for it. This thought made her think of a few things her gang leader might do to her in such an instance. Her mind relived several recent painful memories as she ate.

Meanwhile, Jin continued to cause minor accidents to the waitress every time he noticed her display bad manners to a customer. The accidents flustered her, causing her to be even more short tempered, which just provoked Jin all the more. I’m really starting to enjoy myself!

He looked to Lia to see if he could determine how close she was to stopping him, and noticed that she sat as if frozen, staring blankly at her plate. It was obvious that she was seeing something entirely different, and he wondered what it was. Is she reliving her recent brush with death?

Jin reached out and shook Lia’s hand until she looked at him curiously. He subtly pointed to a table three tables away, and mouthed, “watch.”

The rude waitress suddenly fumbled, and sloshed a steaming bowl of three pepper minestrone into a handsome customer’s lap. The customer had been treating the waitress with barely concealed hostility, and Jin figured this made him fair game. He immediately started yelling at the “clumsy” server.

Lia snickered for a few moments, and smiled gratefully at Jin. “Thanks, I needed a laugh, but enough now. There’s no need to get her fired.”

Their waitress was clearly fighting tears as she brought them the small folder containing their bill. Lia felt an unexpected surge of sympathy. She asked Jin for a pen – which he made magically appear – and wrote a note for the waitress on the back of the bill.

I’m sorry if this offends you, but your service was rather shoddy and rude for our entire meal. I believe that Karma was trying to humble you. Even so, I wonder, “What if it were me in your shoes?” and I sympathize. Here is a bigger tip than I intended to give you; much bigger than you deserve based on your service. I only hope it will inspire you to be more gracious to your customers.

Lia put enough cash to pay for their food plus a hundred extra into the payment folder, and set it on the table. She gathered their boxed leftovers, and indicated that it was time to go. Jin gestured with a wave of his hand that she should go first.

Near the exit, a sign reminded her that she needed to use the ladies room. She stood as close to Jin as possible and rose up on her tiptoes so that she could whisper in his ear. She clutched his sleeve to steady herself so that she didn’t accidentally lose her balance.

“Do you ever have to, uh… urinate?”

Jin grumbled non-committally.

“Well, if you do, you can do so in there,” she informed him, pointing to the men’s room before disappearing into the ladies room. He was waiting for her when she emerged, so she still had no idea if he was like humans in this respect. That he ate food made her think that it was likely he did use the bathroom, but she decided not to ask. She would likely find out at some point anyway.

*******

They got off the bus in a small town about three hours north of the city, and Lia asked for directions to any sort of nearby place to stay. She was directed down a street and over two blocks to a motel. She got them a room to share since it didn’t make any sense whatsoever to pay for two rooms.

Jin looked around the room, noting that it had a bed, a table and chairs, a dresser with a large black box with a shiny front on top of it, and a door that led to a small room with a tub, sink, mirror, etc. in it. The whole thing reminded him of his jail – only smaller and less richly decorated – and he flung open the curtains to make sure they weren’t inside a peasant version of his bottle.

Lia stripped out of her newly bought jeans and shirt – mentally reminding herself to buy some underwear at some point – and rummaged through the complimentary toiletries.

“Jin, I forgot to ask you before, but did you bathe me before you dressed me?” She figured that he must have because she looked, smelled, and felt clean, but for all she knew, he could have just waved his hand and magically cleaned her up. She didn’t know that he was much too preoccupied at the time with using his magic to heal her to think of such a simple solution.

Jin turned from the window to find a naked Lia standing just outside the door to the bathroom. It was true that he had seen her naked before, but she hadn’t been in any condition to interest him as a male at that time. He almost blushed, but managed to prevent the tell-tale reaction.

“Yes,” he answered. “I took you into my bath with me.”

“That’s good. I mean I would have hated getting your nice clothes all dirty… especially with what I was covered in.” She turned to reenter the bathroom.

“Mistress… Uh, Lia,” Jin remembered that she’d suggested he call her by name. “Can I ask you a question?”

Lia bit back a sarcastic I don’t know, can you? and called out, “Sure!”

Jin tried to figure out how to put this delicately. “In my… time, we generally… I mean ladies generally exhibited modesty. Why doesn’t it bother you to be naked in front of me? Do you consider me a eunuch?”

Lia emerged from the bathroom, the sound of running water indicating that a bath was being readied. Jin briefly wondered where the water was coming from. He had never seen a bathtub other than his own that was able to make water from nothing.

“Jin, I have been stripped naked and raped before an audience randomly for years… Simply being naked in front of someone doesn’t bother me.” She turned, and then added in a soft mutter as she reentered the bathroom, “Neither does being raped… anymore…”

Jin knew she thought he hadn’t heard her, and honestly, he didn’t know what to say. Hell! He didn’t know what to think! It had been much longer than 500 years since he had last bedded a woman, and yet… How could any man with even half a heart try to bed her after knowing what she’d been through?

“Have you ever used a shower before?” Lia called out to him. Jin walked into the bathroom so that she could hear his reply. “No.”

“Well then, I’ll show you how to use one. It’s simple; just…” Lia explained how to operate the shower, and then spent her entire shower explaining the mechanics of how plumbing worked, as far as she knew.

Jin was fascinated by the idea of pipes providing water from a distant source, and absently stripped naked so he could examine the shower head up close. Lia laughed, and stepped back to let him fiddle with the controls for the water temperature. Not to mention the switch from shower to bathtub spout.

She stepped out of the shower to towel herself dry, and examined her hair in the mirror. She mourned the missing long tresses that used to be her only pride and joy… and handle when the gang leader wanted her to get over to him, and wasn’t in the mood to ask. He loved to keep a handful of her hair whenever they were in the same room. Yanking her around seemed to bring him pleasure.

“The water is cold even though I’ve set the controls to scalding,” Jin complained, regaining her attention.

“That happens when the hot water runs out,” Lia replied.

Jin nodded, and decided to exit the shower. He turned the water off, and accepted the towel Lia handed him.

“If you’re hungry, we can eat our leftovers. Otherwise, we can watch TV until we fall asleep,” Lia suggested. She also hadn’t thought to buy pajamas, since she normally slept without them – all the better for a gang member to take his pleasure without disturbing her slumber. So, she pulled on the silk robe-like garment that Jin had given her.

Jin’s imagination suddenly went wild at the sight of her wearing nothing but his silk garment. He focused on her comment. He hoped her answer would distract him.

“What’s TV?”

Lia rearranged the pillows on the bed to be comfortable while sitting, and grabbed the remote to the TV. Jin finished putting on his silk pants – not bothering with the shirt at the moment – and watched her push buttons on a small rectangular device. The TV startled him as it suddenly blared next to him. He was startled so badly that he jumped back slightly, and tripped onto the bed.

Lia laughed, and realized that she had laughed more since she met him than she had in years.

“A TV is a box with life-like moving pictures in it. It’s a form of entertainment,” she explained.

Jin sat up on the bed, and crawled over next to her. He watched as the pictures on the TV changed rapidly as she pushed buttons on the device. Finally, she located a favorite show.

“Awesome! Dr. Who is just starting!” Lia exclaimed happily. She then explained what the series was about, and Jin privately thought that this Dr. character had a much more interesting power than he did.

After a while, Jin noticed that Lia was asleep, and gently removed the remote from her hand. He examined it carefully until he decided that the slightly bigger circle that said “power” must be the one to shut off the TV. He pushed the button and was proven right; he smiled and silently congratulated himself on his intelligence.

Not wanting to bother figuring out how to extinguish all of the various fireless lamps, he waved his hand at them, and his magic made them all go dark. He shifted Lia until she was lying flat, and looked comfortable. Then, he got as comfortable as he could, and listened to her breathe until he fell asleep.

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