The Scavenger's Daughters (Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters, Book One) by Kay Bratt Read Free Book Online

girls didn’t even notice her. It was like she wasinvisible as they continued to skip ahead, giggling and chatting to one another, oblivious to her discomfort.
    Just an added bright spot in another monotonous day,
she thought sarcastically as she hurried down the street. She refused to allow herself to even think about the day ahead for the schoolgirls. The books, neat classrooms, and free time with friends—she remembered those days. Because she was considered a
child of the state
, she’d been allowed only eight years of schooling before they’d pushed her out.
    She thought of her battered spiral notebook tucked deep into her backpack. She hoped to have time after work to go to the park and spend some time drawing. She knew she was good and wished she could attend art classes to show others that a poor girl from the old side of town could still have talent. And she’d put her reading and writing skills up against any of them. If only she were allowed to take them, she knew she could pass the historically ruthless university entrance exams. Her Ye Ye had taught all of them calligraphy and insisted they learn at least a hundred new characters a month, along with memorizing many famous lines of poetry. He was a fine teacher and Linnea felt a spark of guilt for wishing she were still in public school.
    She strained her eyes and could see the bicycle repair stand a block ahead and already a few people waiting to have repairs done. She picked up the pace, hoping to get there in time to share in the profits of the early jobs.
    “Zao.”
She called out a morning greeting to Lao Joh.
    In reply he tossed a bicycle tube at her. “Find the hole and fix this.”
    Despite the short warning, Linnea caught the tube in midair. The customers gave her a curious look and then went back to minding their own business. She was used to Lao Joh’s curt attitude and most of the time she just ignored it. She took the newly inflated tube and began rolling it through a bucket of water, looking for the air bubbles to form that would show her the hole.
    Finding a gathering of small bubbles, she covered them with her finger and pulled a rag from the supply box. She dried the tube, then used a pieceof chalk to mark the hole. Using her hand tool, she scraped and brushed at the bad spot to prepare it for adhesive.
    “See how slow this girl works beside the master,” Lao Joh stated to the crowd, breaking Linnea’s concentration. He was already working on another tube for another customer. Linnea quickened her pace until she heard a flurry of whispers.
    She looked up to find everyone around them grinning at the silent competition. She considered slowing down as she knew her boss would lose face if he was beaten by a girl, but something in her refused to bow and she picked up her pace again.
    She grabbed the tube of glue and very precisely squeezed out just enough to cover the hole. She didn’t want to get chastised for wasting too much, especially in front of the growing audience of gawkers around her. Beside her, Lao Joh picked up his glue and slopped a big patch of it on the tire tube he held.
    Linnea glanced over at Lao Joh as they both waited the agonizingly long few seconds for the patching to dry. She saw him take his lighter from his pocket and light it next to the glue, cheating to dry it faster.
    “Here.” A young guy watching them from the crowd caught her attention and threw her his lighter. She caught it with one hand and hesitated, looking over at Lao Joh. He could’ve saved his glaring look of warning; she knew how he felt about her ability to use a flame properly. She wasn’t allowed—short and simple. Using the flame could result in owing the customer a new tube, a mistake that would cost her
laoban
dearly. But if he was going to do it, she was, too. He shook his head at her but she ignored him and flicked the lighter, holding the flame to the glue just as he had, causing a murmur of amusement around her.
    Instead of the short