I took a deep breath, and walked through my front doors. I hadn’t brought home nearly enough carrots as I was supposed to, and I knew I was in for it. I looked sadly at the 11 carrots I had managed to get from the garden; the other 10 were lost in the flood. But that didn’t matter to Nina.

            I heard the back door slam and my heart started to beat faster. Was it Nina? What would she say about the carrots? Suddenly, I didn’t want to be there. My legs told me to run and never turn back to this horrible place. But I couldn’t leave Jake; he needed someone to look after him. I then realized I was shaking. I knew that Jake wouldn’t survive here if I didn’t help him, he almost never brought enough money back, he wasn’t any good at playing the fiddle. I didn’t want him to get punished, so I would slip him a dollar or so, from money I was given from older men who pitied me.

            I heard small, quick footsteps through the kitchen, Jake. He wasn’t supposed to be home yet, it was only 5, and he surely couldn’t have made enough money to come back early. I remember when I was still playing the fiddle on the street corners of Ame for Nina, but I got harassed about prostitution, whatever that is, and the policemen said I couldn’t play the fiddle on the street corners any more, so now I pick carrots and do odd jobs around houses to earn my pay for Nina. 

            A small figure slammed into me, Jake.

“What are you doing home?” I asked him, dusting off his trousers and fixing his tangled, golden hair.

“My money got stoled! These real big boys came and pushed me down and broke my fiddle and took my money!” He blurted out, bursting into tears. It was then that I realized he was carrying the remains of what could have once been a fiddle, but now was just 2 strings and a pile of kindling. I sighed. Nina would not be happy at all, and it would mean sever punishment of Jake, maybe even the cage.