Chapter 2: Darn it all, the washing machine broke down!

Edwin saw his roommates only then when he had to do something for them. It was either when it was his turn to clean the apartment, or when something broke down.

And since he had a sick leave from work, his two roommates decided that it was his turn to pull his weight.

Not that they had not tried to book a meeting with the workshop which their landlord had given them, but after they had waited about five hours for an answer, they had simply given this duty over to Edwin.

And Edwin was still in the throngs of saving up cash, so, he looked on Forestia Search for a workshop which was in his part of the town and would not charge him an arm and a leg.

The first two calls to the workshop had ended up with him just listening to elevator music. As if he did not spend enough time doing that at work.

But the third call did go through!

And so, Edwin was assured that he could get the washing machine repaired, and that in two days, for the modest price of 70 gold coins.

Edwin had to agree because there had been no workshops willing to charge him less than that anyway.

But the problem with him making sure that the washing machine got repaired, was that he had to pay for the repair costs.

And get them deducted from his rent at the end of the month.

Edwin opened his e-banking and stared at the shrinking number.

For what did he pay for?

He scratched himself behind his head, and then opened Forestia Play. There, much to his horror, he saw that he had yet to cancel his Forestia Watch subscription, which he was not using anyway, and not only that, but also the clunky image generator he used to get ideas for new runes, and the e-library, which cancelled books as soon as they became popular, just so it wouldn't have to pay to the authors.

And so, with a heavy heart, Edwin started to cancel subscription after subscription. The rune design app was the hardest choice he had to make, but he figured that he had no choice.

There were tons of free ones, even if they were clunky. He just had to make do with what he could get his hands on.

"Ok," Edwin said to himself, as he started to check out the biggest purchases he had made that month. "Most of that is medicine. That is ok. I need it."

He ran a hand through his hair, and then sighed. Without the expensive shampoo, he would have to go back to braiding it, to hide the fact that it was about as uncontrollable as a cluster of vines.

Edwin stood up, went to take his potions, and then, as he sat down by the kitchen table, stared out of the window.

Everything was the same. The surrounding apartment buildings looked like the relics of a bygone dystopian era, the birds were still singing, the neighbor's dog was still barking…

"I can survive," he told himself, as he smiled. "Now, let us see what I can make with the groceries!"

Edwin took one of the onions, and since he wanted to stretch the vegetable for as long as he could, cut up only a half of it. The other half he put in a cooling box. Next, he diced some carrots, and then he started washing the rice.

Soon, a pot with rice with onions and carrots was bubbling on the stove, and Edwin was heading to the bathroom. No point in waiting for the rice, he reasoned with himself. It would take him just ten minutes to shower, and then, he could just take the cooked rice off the stove to cool.

Edwin went into the bathtub, looked at his shower gel, which was becoming emptier and emptier, and then at his shampoo. Oh, he would miss the shampoo.

But such was life.

The warm water washed away his sweat, and he felt like a normal person as soon as he wrapped himself in his bathing robe.

On his way to his room, he took the cooked rice off the stove, turned it off, and then got himself a bowl for dinner. A little ketchup and it would be just like the good old days!

The good old days, during which he put ketchup on every meal, just to give it flavor…

He shook his head, as he went inside his room. Just as he was about to open the wardrobe, he saw something disheartening.

The mountain of dirty clothing was not giving him any hopes that he still had anything clean in the wardrobe that was not some leftover winter clothing, but he tore his gaze away from the result of a broken-down washing machine and opened the wardrobe.

Hoping that he would not need to sleep in his bathrobe.

There were his winter pajamas on the top shelf, and much to his horror, just some spring pants and a single T-shirt hanging on the rack.

"Well," Edwin said to himself, as he took the pajamas. It was late, and it was more important that he managed to cut costs, anyway. "I suppose I have to go thrifting soon."

With that thought, he bundled himself up, and then went to eat his dinner. And if he drowned the rice in ketchup, then, well, he needed the spiciness.

0000

With his last pair of clean clothes on, Edwin entered the thrift store. As thrift stores went, this one looked clean. He looked up at the labels and saw that the clothes were five gold coins per piece.

Which was still something he was not willing to pay, but he had to. With a heavy heart, and not thinking he would manage to get anything good out of the shop, he picked up a shopping cart, and started to browse.

A nice T-shirt caught his eye, then a pair of shorts, then a jean jacket. What the heck, he told himself. It was just five gold coins per article, right?

He went in the changing room, and then started to dress up. The clothes fit, and he found that the colors were not faded. Surely, that was a good sign.

With a heavy heart, he went to the check-out. He was not willing to pay more than 100 gold coins, and since he had lost count on how many clothing articles he had picked, he just had to wait and see.

The cashier smiled at him, as she counted his clothes. He waited, ready to be that one guy at the checkout who wanted to return things, but as the cashier totaled everything for him, his eyebrows rose.

"Just 45 gold coins?" Edwin asked. The woman giggled, so, as if she was getting such reactions every day.

"Well, yes! Nine times five makes forty-five!"

Edwin nodded, felt like someone who should be wearing a dunce hat, and paid.

The question which bothered him the entire way home, was, why the hell was he willing to give more than 400 gold coins for clothes normally, when he could get tons more for 45?

0000

The workshop worker had come, repaired the washing machine in record time, and left Edwin with the promised 70 gold coins bill.

Edwin, as was his habit as of late, looked at his bank balance, and cringed internally.

He had needed clothes, but now he was seriously set back. If there was any hope of him getting a paycheck this month, then he had to be frugal.

But the problem was that there were two whole weeks before he could get paid!

"Ok, there has to be something I can do to save up money!" He told himself, as he felt the urge to go outside.

Oh, he knew what awaited him. Tourist traps, which preyed on the locals as well. He had a craving for an ice coffee. He wanted to eat a burger. The Pizzeria near his building was calling his name with the smell wafting through his window…

"Darn it all!" He said, as he started to pace around his room. Why the heck did he have to get sick so many times this month? Now he had no money!

"There has to be something I could do, which won't cost me a thing, right?" he asked himself. The park… had burger stalls, and there one had to leave about double the price of the burger as a tip. A movie theater…how the hell was he going to watch a movie without popcorn? A bowl costed 10 gold coins!

"I can make me some bread chips!" He told himself, for he was pretty sure he still remembered how. Soon, he was cutting up four of the slices of the bagged bread, covering them with sunflower oil, for olive oil was expensive, and then dozing them with dried basil.

After which he took his potions because his fever was not going down, and he did not know what he could do at that point.

As the apartment got filled up with the smell of fresh bread and basil, Edwin made himself some tea, put some lemon juice inside, and then got the bread chips out.

It was crunchy, it was fatty, it scratched the itch to do something he had been feeling ever since he got the 70 gold coins bill.

And the best part was that he would have enough of the bread chips to last him the entire day!

0000

Edwin yawned, as he was woken by the sun. He looked at his phone, wondering why it had not woken him up before sunrise, so he could go about his day.

Then he remembered that he still had sick leave, and so, as if by magic, his body remembered why his doctor had given him five whole days.

His intestines grumbled, he rushed towards the bathroom.

The next twenty minutes were just the norm for him these days.

Edwin placed the eggs in the tortillas, and then dosed the entire thing with ketchup. He had no idea if that was healthy, but it was making the food taste good, so why not?

He ate, wondered whether that day would rain or not, and then checked his card balance.

Nope, if he went out now, he would surely regret it. But if he did not go out, he would lose his mind.

Maybe… maybe he could go to the park early in the mornings, before the tourist traps opened?

"Just a walk. I don't have to buy anything. It is just a walk," Edwin washed up, placed the rune on himself which would suppress his symptoms long enough for him to stretch his legs, and then went outside.

The fallen fruit on the ground made him angrier than usual. The streets were littered with wild fruit trees, for some reason, but no one picked the fruit. So, instead of the fruit ending up as jam or juice, it ended up fermenting on the ground, and dirtying the shoes of pretty much everyone who passed by it.

But did it have to?

Edwin took out his emergency shopping bag, which he kept in his backpack, just so he would not forget to bring one to the supermarket, for a shopping bag there cost a grand total of 2 gold coins, and… started to fill it up with fruit.

No one stopped him, but he did get some strange looks. He picked the plums which were destined to rot and dirty shoes, and then got an idea.

Why go to the park where there were no fruit trees, when he could go to a park which was closer, where there were even sour cherries falling on the ground?

He grinned, went back to his apartment, and then marched to the dog park, with three shopping bags in his backpack, and the desire to make himself enough juice and jam to last him until he got his paycheck!