Molly’s Cut

copyright Rowena Curtin

Molly’s Cut

It took years to find the hidden alley where Molly’s shop lurked.

She leered at me. “I sell one thing: time. One amount: forever.”

I swallowed. “How much?”

“Pay in kind, boy.” Her sapphire gaze wormed into mine. “Twenty years.”

I coughed. She scoffed. “Fool! It’s water from an infinite well. I deserve my cut.”

She gave me a deal: one hour worked meant two off my balance. But then food cost extra, plus other expenses. The minutes piled up like tinkling coins.

Five years later, I found I now owed twenty-two years.

And I finally understood Molly’s true cut.

9 Comments Add yours

  1. neilmacdon says:

    You owe your soul to the company store

    Liked by 1 person

  2. poetisatinta says:

    That is definitely too deep a cut for anyone well written 🙂

    Like

  3. Too dire a price to pay. Writing slavery into such a poetic piece is admirable. Thank you.

    Like

  4. My favorite line…pay in kind, boy. I can see her shaking him down with just a look.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I like the writing but hate the concept.
    Tracey

    Like

  6. Dear David,

    Molly’s cut is too deep. The price too high. Well done.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Sandra says:

    Not a good deal at all. And an appalling outcome.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, it’s one of those deals that looks great at the beginning but then you find all the hidden conditions.

      Like

  8. msjadeli says:

    Always read the fine print. That “sapphire gaze” tells him all he needs to know. Very good writing.

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.