Free Monthly #36 Kirk & Evervine (2)

Part of the Community Fiction Series of Short Stories!

Introduction

One of the on and off series I’ve been thinking about and writing down ideas for is what I’ll describe (for now) as “utopian”. Utopian in the sense that the society has “figured out how to remain civil” while still having strife and adversity to keep humanity progressing towards perfection. Take that as you will.

This is a direct continuation of an earlier short story and by clicking here, you can view previous short stories.

Community Fiction | Kirk & Evervine (Community 4)

2: Charitable

Beneath the towering monastery, Evervine possessed a street dedicated to restaurants. Restaurants row was a ghost town when Kirk arrived. The absence of patrons and proprietors was normal, as they were worshipping at the monastery and those who didn’t attend services but lived in the agora were mostly doubtful relatives on security duty, ensuring everyone paid for their food.

Today, Kirk’s coworkers and the largest cluster of non-practitioners had situated themselves at a Korean BBQ, one of the few places where the food was self-service and all you can eat. Not wanting to deal with his coworkers, Kirk stopped short of hailing distance. He looked around, and to his surprise, saw a man slicing meat at a sandwich stand. The curious circumstance carried Kirk across the street. A haphazard beard covered the man’s warm smile as he looked up. “Hello, sir! Ya hungry?”

“I am.”

“What can I get ya?”

“I never see anyone working this place during services.”

“I’m new. They hired me just yesterday.”

Kirk frowned. “Are you new to the community?”

“Yessir. Are you hungry for food or answers?” The man chuckled and switched from turkey to chicken breast.

“I think I’m hungry for both.”

“Well, order something and I’ll tell ya my story. I have to tell my story to one person per week to stay in Evervine.”

“I’ll take a chicken breast sandwich with cucumber, mayo, lettuce, and tomato. Full length and toasted.”

The man placed the turkey breast on a tray. Then, he set the remaining chicken breast aside, leaving just the sliced portion at his workstation. “What kind of bread?”

“Whole grain. What’s your name?”

“Aaron Bob.”

Kirk couldn’t restrain his disbelief. “Aaron Bob? What kind of name is that?”

“The kind my parents gave me,” Aaron Bob retorted, adding the indicated ingredients to Kirk’s sandwich.

“I don’t mean to pry. Just didn’t expect it.”

“I suppose that’s where my story begins, man, with my parents. They were a couple of weirdos and I ended up running away from home before I was of age and without papers.”

“A couple of weirdos?”

“Yeah.” Aaron Bob bobbed his head as he sprinkled the shredded lettuce over the cucumber slices. “I grew up in one of the strangest agoras you can imagine. All members were practicing Wiccans with a habit of tattooing body parts at wild swinger parties. Definitely don’t know if my parents were my biological ones or not, but there ya are, man.

“Instead of being initiated as a full member of their religion, I ran away at sixteen. I had my fill of their obnoxious rules and rituals and readings and superstitions. I got caught about three months after, sneaking into a community that had better security than I’d thought. They pitied me and let me stay. They were good people. Christians. The whole lot of them. They considered me a tough case and informed me I wouldn’t gain membership at eighteen, forcing me to find alternative accommodation. Just wouldn’t put up with my lack of principles, ya know?”

Aaron Bob slapped the top piece of bread on, spun around, and slid the sandwich into the toaster oven. Kirk seized the silence to follow up. “What principles were you missing they felt were non-negotiable?”

Aaron Bob laughed as he washed his hands. “It was a fairly strict community of Christians. They thought my having consorted with demons and played all manner of satanic games. Ya know the throwback to the twentieth century with Dungeons & Dragons and the like man? Yeah, they said unless I joined their church as a priest, they couldn’t accept me. Something about too much sin to not dedicate my life to repenting publically, and every day. Man, I gotta tell ya, they were an interesting group. Didn’t agree with the whole principles thing, considering my understanding that a past sin shouldn’t be used to judge current morality or anything. By the end of it, I just wasn’t into what they were offering, so I didn’t argue.

“Eventually, I found a good-paying job at a restaurant and shifted into management after several months. It was a pleasant community too, fairly small but well managed and not overly populated. Falls Court, I think it was. I was making a stack of cash and decided I’d visit Delphi to spend my spoils. Biggest mistake of my life, man.” The oven dinged and Aaron Bob scooped Kirk’s sandwich out with a wide spatula and laid it on a plate. He turned and raised it to Kirk. “That’s five dollars. Nah man, we don’t except Crcy.”

“You know, I always forget Evervine is mostly cash driven. You’d think I’d know better.” Kirk lowered his smartwatch and grabbed his wallet. “Though… it’s curious they haven’t upgraded their systems agora-wide.”

“Yeah, Evervine takes tradition pretty seriously, man. They want something tangible.”

“Here you go.” Kirk handed the man three bills. “That’s a little something extra for you.”

“Thanks, man. But I can’t accept it.” He handed two notes back. “Evervine has a tradition of no tipping. Ya know that, right? Ya new here or something?”

“I’ve never had the urge to tip until today. My bad. You were saying about Delphi? That’s the casino place close to here, right?” I realized I’d adopted his speaking mannerism and bit a comment back as Aaron Bob poured two glasses of water.

“Yeah, yeah. Let me join you. It’s time I took a break, but anyway.” Aaron Bob joined Kirk at a nearby wooden table. The parasol depicted Jesus exiting his tomb to the shock of his closest friends.

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Yeah, man. Delphi was a lot of fun. Ran out of money real quick, though. Came back a year later. Then six months later. I did that for a few years before it became every paycheck. Suffice to say, I got careless and lost everything. I’d no idea until I went to pay for the flight back and realized my credit card was maxed out. Stupid idea to get one of those. Stick to tradition and only pay with what ya own. Don’t loan. Just, don’t do it man.”

“That’s the first economic concept my parents beat into me. Literally.” Kirk hesitated. “Physically.”

He took a bite of his sandwich, chewing for a few seconds. He swallowed and exclaimed, “This is amazing!”

“Thanks man! I picked up some culinary skills at the restaurant, but that’s just quality ingredients more than anything. Heirloom seeds from the owner.” They both drank and Aaron Bob continued his story. “I was penniless for about a week, just hanging out on the streets there. I didn’t want to leave and tourists don’t know better, so they give ya food and stuff. Eventually, the enforcers there rounded me up and sent me here. Evervine tries to help reform addicts like me. Alcohol, women, and gambling are my vices. That’s about all there is to it. Ya know, man?”

“That’s all to your story?”

“Yeah man.” Aaron Bob watched Kirk down another bite. “It’s good seeing the fruits of my labor. Never get that in line management. That’s why I looked for thrills to keep me going, ya know?”

“Pardon me if it’s rude, but, you seem fine to me. You’re not hung up on vices or you’d go running back to Delphi.”

“I was on the street for about a week after gambling my accounts dry and maxing my credit. Evervine has a week-long program to sort the people that need more help out to other places. I just get carried away, ya know, it’s a vice I can consciously resist. No chemicals or any dependence like that. And ya know what? After my first week, they realized I could work a job here until I had enough to get back home.”

“Falls Court?”

“Nah, I bought a nice place on the coast. I was a manager for one of the big insurance cooperative for a while.” He paused, deep in thought. Kirk continued to the second half of his sandwich instead of asking how Aaron Bob went from a restaurant manager to working for a multiagoral cooperative. Kirk went for his glass and drained it.

Aaron Bob replenished the water. “I bet my dog sitter is wonderin’ what happened to me. Can’t do much from here, anyway.” He shrugged and addressed Kirk. “Man, that program helped me center myself. I realized I let the materialism and intoxication of Delphi’s atmosphere take control. As soon as I can get back home, I’m gonna see if my company will take me back. If not, I’ll find another job and rid myself of that credit card and its debt so I can move on.”

“It’s good, then, that Evervine is so close to Delphi.”

“That’s true, man. That’s true.” Aaron Bob glanced up at the sky and then to the bell tower. “I’d love to see the sun fall below the horizon from up there.”

Kirk considered for a moment. “You know, I’m intending to do just that this evening. When’s your shift over?”

To Be Continued Next Month!

I hear that there’s poetry drops each Saturday and short story drops the last Sunday of every month! If you aren’t subscribed, you’ll miss them and any spontaneous drops!