(Page 1 of 4) Maxwell's Adventure, Part 1 by Mark Mieckowski
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SUMMARY: Stuff happens to Maxwell. Rate it!Maxwell rolled the dice again. A three, a four, and a six lay on the table.
"You lose." The burly sailor scooped up what little was left of Maxwell's coins.
"Want to play again?" Mawell dug into his pockets, but only managed to put a few pennies on the table.
The sailor shoved the last of the coins into his pockets, shook his head no, and left.
"Anyone?" Maxwell raised his small change hopefully.
The other patrons of the bar ignored him.
"Maybe you should call it quits for the day," Coor, the barkeeper, suggested.
"I suppose you're right." Maxwell pocketed his change disgustedly. Getting up from his chair, he drowsily wandered towards the door. It slammed shut behind him. Standing in the shadows, he listened to the muffled sound of other people having a good time.
"Now I'm never going to be able to pay Derak back." he thought to himself. The idea of slaving away at dishes forever in this lousy town did not appeal to him. All of this because of a lousy bet.
Walking quickly, he saw something stir in the shadows. Turning, he peered into the dark alley. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust, and then he could see a dark shape moving. It was definitely human. The shape was searching a dark mass on the ground.
"Probably just a bum going through garbage," he thought. He realized that he had walked past his house already. Backtracking, he threw his pack up on the roof, then started climbing the tree to get to his window. Hopefully his mother didn't wake up because of the noise. If she found out that he'd been sneaking around again, he'd be grounded forever. He landed on the roof as lightly as possible. Crawling through the just-big-enough window, he pulled his pack in after him, only now noticing how much lighter it was than when he left. Looking around his small room, he hid the pack under his bed and hung his cloak on the hook on his wall. The floor creaked in the hallway, and Maxwell just managed to pull the sheets up over himself before his mother peeked through the door to see if he was sleeping.
His mother closed the door with a loud click, then lumbered over back to her own room, thinking that the noises she heard just came in through the open window, or maybe from the rats that they shared the house with. Maxwell really tried to sleep, but thoughts about money kept him up well into the night.
Yawning, Maxwell tried ineffectually to get up. The bird screamed again outside of his window, and his hand reached out to pull it closed. It almost reached the handle, but not quite. He let his arm drop, sending the glass candle holder on the sill crashing to the ground. The bird screamed again at the noise, then flew to the next house to torment whoever was sleeping peacefully there.
The door to his room burst open, revealing his mother blocking the doorway.
"Maxwell, if I have to pull you out of bed by your toes, and then beat your head in after that to wake you up, your not gonna like what I do to you for making me go through the trouble."
Stifling a groan, Maxwell raised himself up in the bed, and his mother closed the door.
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