You were heading to the administrative vendor to see if any canned fruit was in stock ... Speaking of, where did the secret police go off to? ... the street is long, grey, and terribly dull. Perhaps the street is longer still, leaving time for the thoughts of another?
from the Utterances of the Sybil Ursula Silva, lost in the fourth century A. D.
Arid land
Arid land
One day this will all be
Arid land
In arid land my heart is not at home
In arid land my heart is free to roam
Arid land
Arid land
Ah, yes. You were looking for canned fruit.
You begin to stride over the uneven sidewalk. You look up, wondering if it's going to rain; there are many clouds and a seeming smell of water in the air, but it doesn't seem to be raining yet.
The words of an old song run through your head. You know one day we'll sail on the wine-dark sea ... Though it's not here, the shore will come to you and me ... How did it go again? You're not sure, even, if those are the right words, and you can remember only snatches of the other lines.
You heard a rumor that canned fruit was being sold today at the administrative vendor's. It may be true, or it may not be. You hope it is. Fruit is something you like.
A thought comes to you. If there is fruit, perhaps you could make ink with the juice?
Hmm ... no. That really wouldn't work.
The street is long, and empty. You are well past the reclaimed storefronts and into the rows of empty buildings. More thoughts wander around in your head.
What happened to the secret police, anyway? How could they have simply disappeared? Did they go somewhere? You think that, if they were simply disbanded, there would have been some sign. They would have showed up again as armed bandits bullying the townsfolk for whatever they wanted, not simply melted back into anonymity.
Do they still have a headquarters around that you can find? Could you look for clues there? You shake your head, unsure of where your mind is leading you. That could be pretty dangerous.
The street is long, and there is still much more of it. As you continue to walk, you feel the first drop of rain land on your head.
***
You are Elsa.
You are sitting, curled in a blanket, in the living room of the abandoned farmhouse that your family calls home. You have situated yourself, as best as you can, away from the spreading puddles of water that have formed under each dripping hole in the roof. It's raining again, and were your family to fix up the holes in the roof, the house would no longer be an abandoned farmhouse.
Father has been gone for a week now. He said he'd come back when he found food, but you're getting worried and your remaining supplies are down to almost nothing. Mother, meanwhile, won't be back for a month at least. She went to visit family who still live in the cities, and also to trade for items which are hard to acquire out here in the woods.
You need to find food, and fast. You suppose you could always try looking for mushrooms again. You could even leave a note and head out on a large expedition yourself - it's what everyone else seems to be doing. Maybe if you get to an area you haven't been to before there'll be more cellars to ransack for provisions. You and your family have pretty much exhausted the ones around here.
Or, you know, you could just keep waiting, and ignore your mounting worry. You don't really want to go out in the rain.
Do you look for food or stay? Or is there something else that you want to do?
