Snippet #2381482

Hunger in the city was different than it was back at home. At home, hunger was winters and thin stew, huddling in fur coats around little fires. Hunger was peeing a lot because everything was diluted with water, and after meals there was only water to take the edge off the pangs in your stomach. But at home spring always came and things got better. In the city, however, hunger was dirtier, rougher, and more desperate. Hunger meant furtive glances and sneaking around and stealing hot bread and burned fingers. It meant looking over shoulders and being scared of men in uniforms. And, as Kip's situation was looking out, hunger meant a descent into law-breaking with no way of climbing back up.

Kip moved away from the bakery quickly, heading toward a more crowded area where she could blend into a crowd and no one would noticed a strange foreign girl with bread cradled in her skirt. The traffic led her down to the ocean. She had never seen the sea before coming to the city, and of yet she had not touched the sea water. Before she could truly appreciate the view, however, she was accosted by the horrible odor of the fish market. It hit her like a wall. She stopped, gagging slightly; someone bumped into her. She kept going.

Kip detested the fish market. She didn't understand why anyone would buy fish that smelled rotted and horrible. The market stunk of hot fish, rotted fish, fish blood and fish guts, and she found it a rough and noisy place. No one was happy in a fish market. However, Kip didn't want to be out in the open any longer. Gingering choosing an area she thought looked the cleanest of her options, she discreetly ducked behind a crate of fish--awful, stinking fish--and hunkered down out of sight. She did her best to keep her skirt off the ground, but she could see the vibrant red and yellow fading with each filthy moment she spent hiding from the authorities.

It was only after she had unwrapped her bread that she glanced furtively around her and noticed that there was actually someone nearby, a blond-haired young man working at the stand that was almost certainly directly next to her. She began to make yet another sneaky escape, but as she stuck her head out from her hiding place she spotted the baker's son heading in her direction. With a jolt in her heart rate, she ducked back behind the crate and held very still, hoping the fish-worker was too focused on his work to notice her.