Weekly Drabble #274: Thanks for Giving (Patreon)

This week's prompts are 'potluck' from Sam C and 'a cake for father' from Lincoln Neal, wherein we look at one of the culinary traditions of the City of Shadows. In the redrafts, the focus on the food shifted to a more cultural look, but the spirit is there. Enjoy!

~

Thanks for Giving:

Horrak-Sarn’s human civilization was a patchwork gestalt of the servants of alien overlords, slaves, rebels, theoretically free humans and mutants, each with their own customs and traditions. Nonetheless, among the constant and disparate struggle for day-to-day survival, some trappings of shared culture had emerged. These came from amalgamations of the identities of the millions of Earth-born humans that had been abducted across the millennia from wildly different nations and ethnicities, and the changes that the City-born inhabitants had gone through.

One of these few shared traditions was Thanksgiving. Over the last few centuries, it had spread from the Earth-born to become the biggest holiday of the year and it was celebrated by almost all humans, whether they lived in the protected districts of the inhuman Masters, the slave pens or out in the wilds of the endless ecumenopolis.

Though custom had changed, adapting to the realities of Horrak-Sarn, it still carried a semblance of what it had meant for some countries on Earth. Here in the City, Thanksgiving was the herald of the end of the light season and a time to gather with one’s friends and family – perhaps for the final time – and recount what small victories, treasures and happiness they’d had over the year before the long, cold twilight closed in.

For Robert and his fellow orphans, the holiday was no less important. They’d been saving food in cold pots and a stolen freezer they’d managed to hook up to the cistern’s power supply. They were well-stocked, but it wouldn’t last all season. There was going to be a lot of algae dinners over the next few months but as long as the tank kept running and stayed clean, they wouldn’t starve.

That went on the list. Robert had given everyone in the group an assignment: make a list of your Thanks. Giving Thanks was an important part of Thanksgiving, especially for this little group. He’d handed paper and pencils out to everyone to write down their Thanks, just as he had. His mother had told him reading and writing was important, especially if he wanted to do anything with machines and he tried, in his own way, to make sure the rest of his gang were literate.

As he sat in the circle with the rest of the group around their small fire, Robert looked over his list. At the bottom of his list, his most recent Thanks was that he, Tayo and Lopika had gotten away from the Kings. The other members of their group had reported similar incidents, but none of them had had such close calls. Butcher Betty didn’t like having ‘little rats’ around and she’d made a deal with the Kings. If they brought the kids to her, she’d help keep Kinside fed over the dark season. Robert had never been important before and in a way, that the movers in Kinside were after him and his little band of scavengers and thieves was kind of flattering. Flattering and very, very dangerous.

Tayo was saying they should move somewhere else, but where could they go? They didn’t have wheels of their own. Groups of adults got wiped out when they went down the wrong street in the City. What were seven kids going to do if they ran into a pack of tar hounds, or some of the Uglies that had come up after the gang war? Not fucking much, as his father would say. Robert had a plan and he’d shared it with the others.

We don’t get caught.

Joshua had snorted and said that was a pretty clever plan in a tone that meant he didn’t think that at all, but Robert had told him to shut up and he’d explain. Every day they didn’t get caught was one day the dark season came closer and one day the Kings would get more desperate. Things would get bad, yeah – but the gang couldn’t afford losing control of what little they had left in the district. Once the people here realized there wasn’t going to be enough food for all of them, the Kings would be up shit creek as hungry, angry citizens either rioted or fled to other territories. The Kings would either be ousted or they’d be left ruling an empty sub-city. They couldn’t let either happen, so if they went too long without catching Robert or his gang, they’d have to squeeze Betty to get her help, maybe even get rid of the tub of grease entirely.

They just had to wait things out. Robert told his gang that. Never take any risks was their watchword, but now it was even more important. The Kings might get some of the locals to help. The shopowners and traders the children nicked from would be happy to get rid of them. They wouldn’t even have to know what was going to happen, the Kings could sell it as cracking down on thieves.

But they’d made it this far. They just had to keep going and make it a little longer. These were bad times, but there was a little bit of light this evening as the children gathered for Thanksgiving.

The group had gathered in one of the empty buildings near their little lair. It wasn’t as secure as the cistern and algae pool, but it had a better view and it was safe enough. Until sunset, anyways. They’d even gotten a fire going, battered pots and pans cooking up their meager little feast. As the food boiled, spit and crisped in front of them, Robert looked at his gang. April was sitting next to him. She had a small piece of paper in her hands, the tips of her fingers tapping it nervously. She rarely ever talked, but she wanted to tonight. “Let’s start,” he said. “We’ve made it through a season. We haven’t lost anyone. We’re all together and if we stick together, we’ll make it through the dark season, too. A lot of shit has gone down and a lot more’s going to come, but we all made it this far, didn’t we?”

He got nods and murmurs of agreement from the other children. “This is our first Thanksgiving together. We’re celebrating tonight, right? We’d do this with our families, but we’re family now.” He turned to April, letting her go first before her anxiety could get worse.

“I’m...” she coughed, cleared her throat. It was the first time she’d spoken in several days, but even Joshua gave her the time to get the words out. “I’m thankful I found you.” Her lower jaw quivered and she tried to say more, but it was stuck in her throat.

“It’s okay,” Robert told her, rubbing the girl’s back. “It’s okay. That was good. That was perfect.” She nodded, breathing quickly to calm herself. She handed Robert her card and let him read the rest of her Thanks the rest to the group.

Enzo was next. “I’m thankful we’ve made it this far too,” he said. “If I’d been on my own... I wouldn’t have. I was born on Earth. I couldn’t even imagine a place like this existed until... I’m thankful to all of you.” He paused, taking a moment before continuing down his list.

After Enzo was Tayo. He started with an attempt at levity, trying to make a joke of his normal pessimism. “I’m thankful we have months more of this bland-tasting shit to look forward to.”

Once his Thanks were done, it was Tuyen’s turn. “I’m thankful...” she began. “That you didn’t eat me.” It sounded like a joke and it probably mostly was, but it was also a real possibility. In Horrak-Sarn, a friendly smile could easily hide a knife, even among other children.

“Pfff,” Joshua muttered. “Not enough meat. Ow!” Lopika elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

“Don’t interrupt Thanks,” she snapped.

“Right. Yeah... sorry. Go on.”

Tuyen continued and when she finished, Lopika read from her list.

“I’m thankful,” the Tibetan Earth-born said, looking at her list. She bit her lip. “That when my mother sold me, it was to a Turner’s Man who rescued me from the pits.” Lopika didn’t talk about her mother much, but she’d been with Henry for several months. She said Henry reminded her a lot of her father, and he’d taught her a lot about how to survive in the City. She never talked about how he died.

“I’m thankful,” Joshua said. He clenched his jaws. “That you all ain’t that awful to be around and that,” he said with a quick glance at Robert, “I listened to you a few more times than I thought I ought to have.”

“I’m thankful...” Robert began, but before he could continue with his list, there was a flutter of wings. Cass and Snowy descended upon the building’s exposed rafters, the Watchers’ red-eyed masks light by the dancing flames.  There was something in Cass’s hands and she let it drop to the floor with a wet plop. It was a rabbit, already skinned. The Watcher looked to her companion, nudging the white-winged killer with one elbow.

A second cleaned rabbit fell wetly to the ground. Neither Watcher spoke, folding their great raptorial wings around themselves like roosting eagles.

April stepped forward to pick up the first of the rabbits, giving it a quick inspection before skewering it and leaning it over the fire to cook. Tayo took the second. Basking in the warmth of the fire under the aegis of the City’s most terrifying predators, the children continued the season’s last feast. When the sun got lower in the sky, they’d return home, but for now they were safe enough.

“...that we made a good choice,” Robert finished, looking up and meeting the red lenses of Cass’s helm... but only briefly, and he was still quick to look away.