the grass is always greener

the fat man went in search of somewhere to sell his powders and potions and tablets. he met a young girl. she has her own story. she witnessed a murder by bad men and had to flee from where she lived, because she helped the sheriff there lock the bad men up. the young girl had a sister who was twelve years old. the young girl also had a flat where she lived with her sister. the fat man thought this would make a nice place to sell his powders and potions and tablets from.
so he set about wooing the young girl. she was tired and scared so she let the fat man into her life. soon the fat man had given her a baby. the young girl was tiny and as thin as a bird and scarcely old enough to look after herself and her sister. but she loved the baby and looked after it carefully and it grew and grew and thrived. the fat man set about selling his wares. life went on. sometimes the fat man got angry with the young girl and hit her. sometimes he shouted at her sister. but mostly they muddled along all right.

the fat man's sales operation went well. he had to keep it a secret from the sheriff so he got the young girl's sister to work for him. he gave her a very important job. she was a runner. this did not involve an awful lot of running. mostly it involved carrying powders and potions and tablets, wrapped up in gossamer, in places where the sheriff and his men would not find them if they happened across the young girl. the fat man had another runner. he was a young boy who was fourteen. his job was to carry the money that the fat man's customers paid for the powders and potions and tablets.

one day there was a knock at the door. it was the sheriff. the fat man was out. the young girl did not know what to do, so she let the sheriff in. the sheriff was not alone. he had his men with him. they looked around the flat. it did not take long as the flat was very small. but in the bathroom one of the sheriff's men found a package. it contained powders and potions and tablets wrapped in gossamer. he placed it in a special container so he could have it tested by the clever scientists. the package was not the only thing that the sheriff's men found. down the side of the clothes washer they found a sword. behind the door they found a cudgel. just then the young boy returned to the flat. when he saw the sheriff's men he turned around but the sheriff's men wanted to have a little chat. they asked him to show them what was in his pockets and the young boy drew out a great deal of money. the money was folded in a magical way, to keep away evil spirits, in little bundles with one note wrapped round the others.

the clever scientists tested the package. they told the sheriff that it was powders and potions and tablets. they tested the gossamer. it had been in a very private place inside the body of the young girl's sister. but the sheriff could not prove that the fat man had anything to do with any of it. the young girl had learned her lesson about what happened if you helped the sheriff. so she said she didn't know anything about any of it. the young girl's sister said the same. but the fat man could see that his days at the young girl's flat were numbered. now the sheriff knew about the powders and potions and tablets he would be keeping an eye on the place. so the fat man went off into the world to find a new place to sell his wares.