Book One – Chapter 19

It was well past ten when he finished with the floor, as the great brass clock beside the door told him. After that, Yu went back to the sink, to rinse the last of the filthy cloths he had used to wipe up his various disasters. For far longer than needed, he stood and stared into the cloudy water. He wished he could sink into it and simply be gone. He wanted to put his head under until he drowned — and then wake up in his own bed in his own room at the estate, blinking at the morning light and thinking, Gods, what a weird, fucked up dream that was, just before forgetting the whole thing altogether, forever.

He was still wishing, when Bubs entered the kitchen. Yu noticed much too late, but then immediately snapped the pipe shut and did his best to pretend he had been pressing the dirt out of the rugs the whole time. Bubs came to stand beside him, staring at Yu and into the sink and all around the place. Then Bubs inspected the bowls in the shelves and sifted through the cutlery in the cupboards. From everything Yu had just put away, Bubs pulled out a full third of it, dumped it into the sink, and told Yu to clean it again, because apparently, none of it had been done properly.

Bubs also refastened the bandage on Yu’s arm, though not out of care, but to ensure Yu would not contaminate whatever came into contact with food. The process was an infuriating mix of intrusion and condescension, made worse by Bubs narrating, step by step, exactly how it is done oh so properly. Yu had no resolve left to argue that Estingar had done it, not him, or that not even the most excellent bandage in the world would have survived the amount of lifting and hauling and washing and scrubbing he had been forced through today. Bubs also gave him something to drink, against infection, as he said. Yu drank it. There was no way around it.