Harbor District-
"Acker! Acker!"
The foreman's shout brought Acker, who had been waiting for a long time, straight out of the crowd.
"Here! I'm here!"
Acker, his temples flecked with gray, called back loudly.
Alka all but sprinted to the warehouse entrance.
Edwin glanced over the porter before him.
He looked no different from the other porters: dark skin, a deeply lined face, a body that stooped unconsciously, and hands covered in calluses.
Clothes?
What he wore could hardly be called clothes.
They were nothing but rags.
Even in winter, he did not have a proper padded coat.
Noticing Edwin's appraising gaze, Acker immediately gave him an honest, simple smile.
As for going up to make conversation?
Acker did not dare.
He knew he was only a lowly porter, while Edwin, sitting over there, was someone important. Hadn't even the foreman, who usually put on such airs, been bowing and scraping before him?
Acker would never bring trouble on himself or his children.
Thinking of his children gave Acker a sense of security unlike anything he had ever known.
His son Alvin had already become an apprentice at a bakery.
His daughter Alma was old enough to take odd jobs too.
Moreover, the old woman at the candle shop thought highly of Alma. Perhaps he could send her there to learn the craft of candle making.
Acker knew little of the world and understood none of its grand principles, but he knew that getting ahead was far too difficult for families like theirs-so difficult that they dared not even dream of it.
Learning a trade, however, would give them a way to survive.
That was why, a year earlier, he had borrowed 100 Sol and added the 200 Sol he had saved to secure Alvin an apprenticeship at a bakery