Chapter 33

Boyd spent an hour prowling around the magnificent house.

The wealth in it was staggering, and he had no idea what to do with it. He didn’t meet anyone in the house, but he didn’t prowl the back regions where he guessed the servants lived. He was also unsure which room Adelia used as none of the rooms he entered looked lived in.

He selected a room with a huge bed that was to the left from the top of the stairs. The room had its own bathroom, which he used, and even a sitting area with comfortable chairs. He then headed downstairs to look around the property.

He soon determined that while the house was at the end of a short street, everything behind it was obviously part of the home property. The 3m high and 60cm thick wall was a testament to this fact. He couldn’t see the ends of it and had no idea of the area it surrounded.

The huge, iron gates were open, and he walked past the three homes along each side of the street to enter a major thoroughfare. He guessed the homes were big enough for three bedrooms. They and the small yards were neat and even fenced.

Boyd guessed that they were built of the same bricks as the main house. It was hard to tell as they all had white stucco plastered over them. The windows were large and curtained. The rooves were of a red clay tile that formed wide runnels. He would bet they didn’t leak.

The road was wide with a grey, pebbled surface that looked like basalt to Boyd. It cantered to the drains and slanted grey gutters on the sides. Footpaths in the same grey stone as the gutters ran down each side of the road.

Both the road and the path were solid under his footsteps and didn’t have cracks. They even had street lights down their lengths. Across the road was a well-organised market area.

Other shops surrounded the open market on two sides, and another road ran away down the left side. It was a good hundred meters from where he stood. The market was busy with shoppers who had ventured out after the heat of the day had cooled a little.

Boyd was interested to note that most of the people didn’t wear a toga over their tunics. Quite a few even wore soft materialled, wide-legged pants to protect them from the sun, and their tunics were shorter, more like a long shirt with loose, elbow-length sleeves.

Boyd wondered where he could get some of the clothes from. He didn’t mind wearing shorts around the house, but he had worked all his life in work clothes. These clothes looked more comfortable too.

He put his hand back into the coin pocket and was surprised to see he still had the ques coin with the other four coins. He also had a rotab, a quek, a trik, and a rotak.

He knew they were valued at fifty cents, a dollar, two dollars and five dollars. So, a total of eighteen dollars and fifty cents. He chuckled as he knew it would buy him a lot here.

He estimated their prices for many things were a twenty-fifth of what he paid for similar items at home. So, his true wealth was more like four hundred and sixty dollars. He was quite sure he could afford some clothes and buy some dinner.

So, Boyd went on his first shopping experience in Rocksville. He had decided that he could change the place’s name since he owned it, as just Rocks was a bit strange for a town to be called.

Boyd poked his nose into every shop and browsed every stall. He ignored the odd looks he got and just let his hair down. That reminded him he needed a haircut. He was delighted when he found a barber who wasn’t busy.

He did have to explain what short back and sides meant. The barber, who introduced himself as Juno, thought him mad, but he did a credible job, and Boyd was more than happy to pay the five cents or rather, a rota.

Juno was able to give him change for his rotab. He had been a chatty fellow, and Boyd had got the low down of what was happening in town. One topic interested Boyd the most. It started out...

“Did you hear that Madam has finally declared a new heir?” Juno said as he put the apron around Boyd’s neck.

“Did she?” Boyd responded.

“Indeed, it is all over town. We’d knew she was getting restless, so it’s no surprise that she be taken off again. She’ll be back when the new heir fucks up or dies. She does that. Ol’ man Fergus says she has done it five times now.”

Boyd had to chuckle at that assessment, and Juno chuckled with him.

As he combed and sniped, Juno said, “I bet that the Senate groans in despair every time the paperwork turns up. This is a rich area, and plenty of people would love to get a hold of the place, but that big old shield don’t let them greedy sods in.”

“What if the greed sod already lives here?” Boyd asked with interest.