Chapter 9. Job

Grandfather had given him his first job. He was walking over to the tavern which didn't take long at all. He opened it up and was immediately greeted by the smell of food and alcohol. He walked to the receptionist who was a young man with average looks. He had freckles, short scruffy hair, and glasses.

"Hi, I'm supposed to work here, can you tell me where Tabitha is? "Said Shawn

The young man looked at him and smiled, "You must be the new meat that she hired, welcome aboard. She's usually busy so I and the other staff handle most of the stuff around here. My name is Casey." Shawn smiled back and shook the young man's hand. He seemed nice enough. "Let me introduce you to the others, they walked over to the dining area.

It was well sized and had a bar with tables. It was early morning and not many people were up so there were only a few customers eating and drinking.

There was a busty waitress with wavy hair and a bartender who was average height but seemed stocky. Casey waved them over and both walked over and introduced themselves.

The waitress was Beatrice and the bartender Allen. They seemed less friendly compared to Casey as they just gave him a bland welcome. He then asked Casey what it was that he was to do. "Well, you'll be the busboy, you'll also sweep, and move the less heavy items when we receive our orders." Shawn took a mental note of the jobs he would be doing. He grumbled internally a little because he would have to still practice with the old man afterwards.

Casey walked over to the kitchen area and continued to move back until there was a little cleaning setup for the dishes. Just wash those dishes and let them dry, once you're done come find me. Shawn immediately got to work but the muscle cramps from yesterday's training hampered his movements. He continued for over two hours until he finished, winded, he slowly walked to Casey who was scribbling in a book filled with numbers.

"Oh, seems like you're done, well let's get you started on your final task. They entered a cellar that branched off from the bartending area. It was lit with Lumen bugs, colorful and bright creatures that were good for lighting. Shawn noticed that the walk in the cellar was lasting a long time and realized the depths of the cellar. It was kind of long for a cellar, but his thinking was cut short by Casey who stopped after getting to the wine cases. Along the way he saw boxes, food, and what looked to be different doors leading to other places.

"When you are down here, I expect that you are only unboxing the wine and doing nothing else. If you steal then you will follow the last man who did so, if you are caught exploring then you will be fired and your tongue will be removed, should you drop the wine then it will be deducted from your pay. I would not recommend that because even though you will be handling our lesser wines, they are far from what you could afford."

Shawn nodded, understanding the severity should he do something foul but taking note of the harsh demeanor that Casey took when referring to anything in this cellar. He did wonder what happened to the last man that stole, but then again it was probably nothing good. One of the doors in the cellar opened and out walked an older gentleman with an unkempt appearance, although he looked like a haggard middle-aged man with a friendly smile.

Casey stiffened and immediately bowed, sweat starting to fill his face. Casey quickly forced Shawn's head down as well then said, "Hello sir Uris, it is a pleasure to see you today. Could we be of service to you sir?" Shawn was starting to understand that this man was important. The disheveled old man said with a complete change of expression, "why did you think you could help someone of my status?"

Casey started to sweat even more, which drew laughter from the middle-aged man who said, "I'm just yanking your chain young man, thank you for asking but I need nothing more than to speak to Tabitha. Casey gave Shawn a get to work look and ran off at full speed to find her. The old man never spoke to Shawn as he went back into the room he came out of; it held a strange smell in there that Shawn couldn't put a finger on.

Although it could be described as fragrant. Shawn stood in front of the wine storage area where he would unbox and set the wine on a rack that held strange glowing symbols. Slowly he opened the box and took out the wine bottles, delicately placing each one in the designated slot. After a few hours, he was done. He tiredly went upstairs and found Casey once more at the front desk. Casey smiled and gave him 2 iron for today's work.