The next morning Rosemma was up early, she was worried about the dogs. They had never been kept in a fenced area, and Chomper had never spent a night away from her.
Sneaking down the stairs, she came into a hallway that ran along the side of the dining room.
She tried to remember where Greatgrandfathers family had shown them to take the dogs the night before. And chose turning right into the hallway.
Soon she saw the kitchen and remembered to look around very well before she bolted out into the room. Then she saw the back door she remembered from the night before. She had brought some dried meat in her pockets to feed both the dogs, knowing they would be hungry.
Stepping out into the courtyard, both the dogs came wagging their tails as she shut the door.
Kneeling she hugged them both then offered them the dried meat.
"You don't have to worry, I gave them some stuff to eat"! A voice from a corner of the courtyard spoke out.
Startled, Rosemma stood up and turned to look. There was a slender and tall young man in a white apron standing there, smoking a cig, as she had learned to call them, and a gold earring in one of his ears. His hair was pulled back into a long braid, and he smiled at her.
She smiled back. Remembering her manners, she said"Thank you. They were really hungry."
He grinned, "Oh man, were they ever, wow they are big dogs, I like them, what kind are they?"
She thought, what kind? "Well, my grandmother would know their lineage better than I do, we keep the big ones as work dogs and guardians, and little ones as alert dogs inside our
yurts." But I am not sure about what kind, other than they are big ones, and my best friends."
He nodded, " I am Leslie, boy the way, I work here for my great grandfather, and I hear you are a cousin of sorts."
Rosemma nodded, " I think so, my great-grandfather is Jack Chang." She paused not sure how this would sound, but then pressed on.
" We all have come here to try and find a boat. We need to travel north by sea, and none of us have any kind of idea of how and where to find a boat."
Leslie gave her a startled look " Wow, that is so, wierd, I just dreamed of being out on the ocean last night. I thought it was kind of really different for me, thought maybe it was something I ate for dinner or something.!"
Then, " Really, the Jack Chang, you are his great granddaughter? Wow, he is famous around here, we hear about him, the Magician, traveled all over performing, feats of the amazing, yeah the Amazing Jack Chang or something like that they say. The people around here in Chinatown."
Rosemma blinked hard, she didn't quite know how to take all of this in. Her Great grandfather, the small happy, boisterous man who liked his ale and tea, and was always in trouble with her Grandmother Magnolia. That was the Amazing Jack Chang?
"Well, he is older now, and maybe he hasn't tried to be really amazing for a long time, not since my Great grandmother passed away. He mostly does little magicks, for the children in our camp, and it has been a long, long time since he traveled all around. But he still can do some far out stuff, I know, I have seen him make the ground shake once." This she said with pride.
Leslie came closer, "Really, how cool is that? I so wanted to be a magician when I was a kid, but who could tell me if I even had any talent, there was no one around to teach or be apprenticed to after Jack Chang left. Not a soul who does any magick, by that I mean the real kind."
