Driving School

That night, Eucali had an absurd dream.

She dreamed that she had returned to Madam Fatima's banquet hall. Everyone wore animal masks, and the gold and silver threads on their evening gowns gleamed beneath the candlelight. She looked around for Hesta and Eleven, only to hear someone softly say behind her, "Excuse me."

Eucali immediately stepped aside. When she turned around, she saw that it was the vagrant she had spotted by the street that afternoon. The old woman carried a spotless white bone china plate and shuffled through the crowd, intending to get food from the buffet table.

Eucali jumped in fright. When she looked again, she realized the hall was filled with hunched, ragged old women. They passed slowly by the laughing nobles and dignitaries, deaf to the music. Their worn hoods covered their eyes, and their wrinkled faces were buried in shadow.

More cries of "Excuse me" came from all around her. Eucali looked about in confusion and discovered that all the nobles had vanished from the hall. Only more vagrants remained, streaming in from the courtyard outside with plates in their hands.

Eucali woke up.

The next morning, Everyone had breakfast together. During the meal, Eleven solemnly promised Everyone that starting today, she would never skip class again, and hoped Hesta would return her wallet.

"How am I supposed to believe you?" Hesta asked.

"That business wasn't going to last anyway," Eleven answered. "These past couple of days, I've already noticed people copying me and selling kindling. They're selling proper firewood, of course, so they're more popular than me using floorboards—if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have called Kiki over to help me work!"

After hearing this, Hesta nodded and placed the wallet beside Eleven.

Eleven snatched up the wallet, squeezed it, and found