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That evening, I learned my father was dead

One month after that, I set out for the city of Sky to start my o life

And ten years passed

"Discarded Treasure" (encaustic on canvas)

PLEASE HELP ME," said the wonized her voice immediately She, her husband, and two children had looked over--but not bought--a wall hanging at my table perhaps an hour before She had been annoyed then The hanging was expensive, and her children were pushy Now she was afraid, her voice calm on the surface but tremolo with fear underneath

"What is it?" I asked

"My family I can’t find them"

I put on my best "friendly local" set lost this close to the trunk Where did you last see the, probably She seemed to realize her error after a moment, with the usual sudden aardness "Ah… sorry, I’ll ask sohtly, "but if you’re talking about a nice clean alley over near the White Hall, then I think I knohat happened"

Her gasp told ht "How did you…"

I heard a soft snort fro this side of the park This made me smile, which I hoped the woman would interpret as friendliness and not ao in the alley?" I asked

"Oh… well…" The woether I knew the probleh No one likes to have their errors pointed out "It’s just that… my son needed a toilet None of the businesses around here would let hi We don’t have a lot ofThat didn’t botherI sold--but I was annoyed to hear that she’d taken it so far Too cheap to buy a wall hanging was one thing, but too cheap to buy a snack or a trinket? That was all we businesspeople asked in exchange for letting out-of-towners gawk at us, crowd out regular customers, and then complain about how unfriendly city dwellers were