Accounting

originally posted September 27, 2006

The last of the items from the main room of the Boarding House are cleared away and either put into storage or where they belong. Much of Six girl's pottery, for example, the functional pieces, will be put to use. Some of the bowls and cups can be used for gruel and water when the girls are fed. There are some nicer pieces as well, items she crafted toward the end of our stay in Thentis, that might be used to serve customers if/when I re-open the doors to the public and begin serving meals. I am still weighing that decision. There is money from performances of 'Magic Veil' and 'Twenty Lanterns' as well as what can be earned from sending them out on the street. Six, in particular, has resumed that craft with little or no call to urgency on my part. She brings a heavy pouch each night. Every copper coin counts.
"You are bound and determined to keep me out of the poor house," I said to her.
"Yes, Master," she said.
The little slut was still flushed from the most recent of what were likely several rapings that day.
I spent much of my morning at Samsara, reacquainting myself with her. The boxes delivered there were substantially less than those that arrived at the Boarding House. I disassembled the crates and put the things away myself. A lute and a kalika were among them. One is the instrument Joy learned to play in Thentis. The other is an instrument she will learn to play as well. My musical tastes are varied, after all. Her canvasses, too, were unwrapped and put upon the wall. Some of it would be called 'modern art', I suppose. She literally put herself into one of the pieces, using her entire body as the brush. I had thought about keeping them all hung in my private den, but in the end only hung one there. A rather bold, geometrically inspired piece of the letter 'F' from the English alphabet. I did some painting myself. The front door is again painted green and washed free of the pitch and branches. Some of the windows are still boarded and there remains cleaning and dusting and such. It can be done another day. Perhaps soon.
For now, looking around this cluttered office, I need to set the accounting straight.