Rinaye left the shop with a bounding excitement. She never thought she Edna ever again.
The town was lively and bright, nothing like what Rinaye had previously seen in this world before. Kids were flying kites, vendors were selling skewers and other street food, the aroma of bread wafted from each bakery. This place quickly started to become special in Rinaye's heart. Even in Rinaye's past life these kinds of places were a rarity. Everyone was inside, on their screens, keeping their heads down, and Rinaye was no exception. She never really went outside for anything other then errands. When she was younger she would go on small hikes with her family, but as she grew up and her parents got older, those became less and less frequent. It was such a sight to see everyone, women, children, elderly, just enjoying the sunshine and peace of this town. It was truly something special.
As she ran around, she found herself in a more residential area. There were still a few shops here and there but mainly all the buildings were housing. In the middle of all of it was a little town square with a fountain smack dab in the center. Other children were playing with a ball, passing it around in what seemed to be a fantasy version of monkey in the middle (the only difference being that the ball game is set in a fantasy world). Adults were siting down eating, it must be their lunch break. Speaking of lunch. Rinaye was hungry. She wanted to save the money she got from the pearls for an emergency situation but she was huuunrggyy. So she went into a bakery that seemed popular with everyone eating lunch since the bakery's logo was on every paper bag in sight.
The bakery was gorgeous. Gorgeous in the way of delicious sights and smells everywhere. Sandwiches were sold, bread was sold, pastries were sold, samples were free! Rinaye liked this place already. Most likely because of the free samples. One lady worked at the counter. She was distracted, from scolding someone who looked like her daughter.
"Excuse me?" Rinaye asked, needing to stand on her tip toes to even see over the counter.
"Don't you think this is over just because a customer is here!" The women scolded the little girl, most likely her daughter but lets not make assumptions here. "Sorry about that, cutie. What do you need help with?" The women said.
Rinaye pointed to the free samples sign.
"Oh, of course, sweetie! What would you like to try?" The women asked.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Croissant. Chocolate." Rinaye answered.
"Awwwwww, if only you were as cute as my niece." The women told Rinaye as she handed her a paper bag with a whole chocolate croissant inside. See, the little girl was the woman's niece! It pays off to not make assumptions sometimes.
"You shouldn't have a croissant for lunch, especially one with chocolate filling," the little girl said with a frown on her face.
"Ruby, don't say stuff like that to customers!" The women said to her niece.
"She didn't even pay, you just gave her a whole croissant when she asked for a sample. Mom was right, you really don't have a knack for business," the girl rebuked.
"Ruby!" Her aunt gasped.
"I'm right aren't I?" She said right back.
Rinaye laughed. It was just so funny seeing this interaction between two people of the same family.
"I can pay for the whole thing!" Rinaye told both of them while pulling out a gold coin she got from the pearls.
They both looked at Rinaye like she pulled out some rare treasure out of her pocket.
To explain this situation let me explain the value of the pearls that Rinaye sold. One genuine pearl costs about 350 in US dollars at the time of writing this, at the middle mark. Rinaye sold about 150 of these pearls from her now destroyed dress that she tore apart. Together, the pearls were worth 52500 in US dollars. Edna gave ten gold coins to Rinaye for this transaction. Meaning the highest value of a gold coin possible is 5250 US dollars. Edna slightly underpaid Rinaye to make a profit of the pearls so in total, Rinaye got 50000 US dollars for the pearls. This means that a gold coin is the same as 5000 US dollars.
5000.
Rinaye just tried to pay for a croissant with a 5000 dollar coin.
Do you understand the situation?
Both the lady and her niece just looked at her, in awe.
"Where did you get this, kid?" She asked.
"I sold a few pearls a found on the street at the shop." Rinaye responded.
"Listen, we can't really accept this. Our store only excepts bronze, copper, and silver at the most. You're welcome to just take the croissant." The women said, restraining her niece from grabbing the coin.
"Okay.." Rinaye responded and exited the shop. Now Rinaye hated taking free things that weren't samples. She didn't like being pitied. So she did the only thing she could do.
She pulled out a ukulele.
What? I told you the bag was enchanted last chapter! Don't look at me like that...
She placed her bag on the ground and started jamming out to [insert your favorite pop song here]. Apparently the rhythms and the melodies of [insert composer of your favorite pop song here] hadn't been discovered yet because Rinaye gathered a crowd quite quickly. Not only was the song new to them, Rinaye was actually quite good at playing instruments from her past life so her playing was beautiful. Rinaye even sang the lyrics. Somehow she was able to sing three parts at the same time, don't question it, it's magic.
Her plan was working too! Coins were pouring into her bag like nothing else and Rinaye was about to pack up when she heard a voice call out to her.
"Rinaye!"