Fruit Cart

[Administrator]

Shiny red apples just sitting out there to be taken! ... and paid for!

[Christina Mathers]

Christina walked along the streets of Midtown with little care. She had a fresh cut along her jawline which she hadn't bothered to cover up. Her hands were bruised and under her jagged nails there was blood and fragments of flesh. A clear sign she had paid a visit to her family. Turns out some things never really changed. She hadn't bothered cleaning up before she left. She just wanted to get out of there, not because of the fighting (she could take that), but because it drove her crazy to be talked to the way she had been a short while ago. The words stung because, no matter what, he was still her brother. He was still family -- something Christina felt important. Especially now that it was shrinking, and so fast.

Christina happened upon a fruit cart filled with shiny red apples. They looked very appetizing and she wasn't the only one that thought so. Standing to the side of the cart was a small child, unsure if it was a boy or a girl, eying them hungrily. The conveyor noticed the child as well as Christina did and kept a close eye, as to make sure one of his precious apples wasn't going to be swiped. Christina fluffed her hair over the scar on her face and sucked on her bottom lip to bring out a bit of color.

She walked up to the cart, smiling at the man standing behind it.

"Such fresh fruit for this time of year," she marveled. "What's your secret for keeping them so red?"

He smiled, shyly, just like she knew he would. By the looks of him, he hasn't had any attention from a women in quite some time. "It's no secret. I get them shipped up here from the South."

"Wow," Christina exclaimed, impressed. She left he leg go limp as she suck out her hip, opening her coat to reveal a little skin. "You must have a lot of money to be able to do that so often."

The man laughed a little, running a hand through his thinning hair. "I do alright."

Oh, God, this was too easy. She smiled and rubbed one of the apples softly with her finger."I love apples." She kept her eyes locked on his as she picked up the fruit and slowly took a bite. "So sweet and juicy."

While he stared at her, all but drooling, Christina inconspicuously grabbed one of the lower apples and dropped her hand to her side. She licked her lips seductively and stepped away from the cart.

"I have other fruits," he said hurriedly. "You can come to my place and try some later."

Christina smiled at him and nodded before turning on her way. She slipped the remaining apple in the hand of the child as she walked past him..or her, who looked up at her gratefully before running off.

Just another day in the life of Christina Mathers.

[Milo]

It had been a pretty normal, almost boring day for Milo. He'd gotten up, gotten dressed gone out and gotten a piece of bread from the nuns before buying his papes and spending the rest of the morning going from place to place on his usual route, selling in the cold. For the most part a normal day was a pretty good day, but even good days could get boring when they happened over and over and over again.

Right now, he was going around to all the nice looking old ladies, mothers with kids his age or younger and older girls that he could find near the stores. He didn't even have to say anything to them to get them to buy from him most of the time. Just a tug on their skirts got their attention and then all he had to do was look sad and hungry enough for them to feel bad and buy a pape from him.

He was getting ready to do just that with a lady holding a baby and looking in a store window when he spotted a lady that he knew he'd seen around before talking to Mister Dennis while Martin stood by watching. Most of this was just more of the same. Martin always stopped by here around this time, probably coming back from work or something like that and mister Dennis was always here with his cart all day except on Sundays and almost every time Martin came by he always stopped by Mister Dennis's cart and sometimes took something if he could without getting caught. But in all the time Milo's been coming by here, he'd never seen any lady come by the cart and stop to talk to Mister Dennis for very long and he'd definitely never seen him let anybody eat some of his fruit without paying if he knew about it. He was really strict about that.

He kept watching the lady as he gave a paper to the woman with the baby and she gave him a penny in exchange. If she was tricky enough to get free stuff from Mister Dennis, she'd probably be pretty hard to trick into buying a pape she didn't need and a hard sell might just be exactly what he needed to make his day less boring. When he saw her slip an apple to Martin, he made up his mind. It was definitely possible to get her to buy from him. if she felt sorry for Martin, she'd probably feel sorry for him, but there was a difference between stealing an apple to give away and actually forking over your own money for something. He thought he could make it happen though. It just might take some time, which was something he had. He'd already sold enough papes to pay for lodging and food for the night, so it wouldn't be so bad if he didn't make any more sales all day.

Slowly, he wandered over to the doorway of a store just near the fruit cart where the lady could see him (and Mister Denis couldn't). Like he always did, he silently held up the newspaper to show her and waited for her to notice him.