Breadwinner Novels & Stories

’ she thought, confused. Mel brushed off the thought and decided not to bother herself with Bjorn this night. She went ahead with her plan to make friends with the other women of Grime, heading over to some of the female encampments, glad she wasn’t the only one dressed in the ridiculous attire. Supper that evening consisted of spicy mutton soup which disturbed Mel as she had never really fancied spicy dishes. The women assured her that there were varying degrees of how the dish could be prepared and they made the exception of preparing a milder variation for Mel, something she insisted she could do without.

Breathed. Four point three billion. Three jobs. Three buses. Rice four nights a week and whatever the diner let her take home on the others. A mattress that sagged in the middle and an apartment she'd nearly lost today and a tip jar and a microphone in a bar where nine people usually showed up if the weather was good. Four point three billion. And he had walked into her world and let her believe they were the same kind of broke. Not the same, she'd always known they weren't the same, but the same general territory. The same general species of person who had to think before spending.

I would save this money up, and once Ate Raine managed to send her remittance next week, I would add it to my daily budget. After expressing my deepest gratitude to Dominic and Lola Aida, I headed back to my house. I had already showered earlier this morning, but since the afternoon heat had left me sticky with sweat, I decided to take another bath. Once I was clean and refreshed, I stepped out to buy some groceries using my newly earned one-hundred-peso wage. I decided on a simple dinner. A single can of corned beef, one egg, and twenty pesos worth of cooked rice from the neighborhood store. The moment I got back, I started cooking. I mixed the corned beef directly into the beaten egg and f

On the day I started the job, the offer letter in my hand told a different story than the one I'd been promised. A million dollars a year had turned into three thousand dollars a month, printed in black and white. I looked up. "This isn't what we agreed on." The HR rep just smiled. "Ease into it first. We'll talk about a raise once you're off probation." I picked up the pen and signed. On the day of the signing ceremony, Mr. Pyatt was riding high. He turned to his assistant. "Has the money from the co-investment funds cleared yet?" I slid the offer letter, the one with "$3,000 a month" printed on it, gently across the table until it sat in the middle. "Mr. Pyatt, that $970,000 you save