The commotion on the street was not far from the point where Leon and Lisa were waiting for Bear.
Slowly, the commotion died down as people returned to their routine. Leon spotted Bear in the distance. Mentally, Leon was 26, so waiting a few minutes was no big deal for him, but Lisa had grown bored from all the waiting. As soon as she saw Bear, she started questioning.
"What took you so long?"
Bear, looking downcast, said, "I got nothing. No coins, not even a piece of bread."
Lisa rummaged through her clothes, finding the coins she had hidden before.
"We had quite good luck today, look."
There, on her palm, were 2 copper coins and 11 iron coins.
"We're doing well. With these, mine and Leon's quotas will be completed soon, and by evening we'll have enough for yours too," she said with a cheerful voice.
"You don't have to worry about that. I can manage one way or another," Bear said with confidence.
The group made their way toward 30th Street and, just like before, agreed to meet at its entrance when the bell rang for the second time.
As Leon and Lisa got to work, time passed slowly. The first bell rang, and after a while, the second.
On their way back, Leon witnessed a scene that felt like déjà vu. In the middle of the street was an old man, very similar to the one he had seen before, lying on the ground with blood bleeding from the side of his forehead. This time, though, the others were different — the carriage driver was helping the old man stand, apologizing repeatedly for hitting him.
Although the old man from 29th Street had been dressed in tattered clothes and looked dirty, this one looked quite different. He was wearing a lavish black coat with a white shirt underneath. His clean, pale skin shone like polished marble in the sunlight.
Just like before, Lisa dragged Leon away too. This time, Bear was already there, waiting for them. As soon as they arrived, Bear pulled out a big piece of bread from his pocket, tore it into three equal pieces, and handed one to Lisa and one to Leon.
Nibbling on the bread, Lisa said with delight, "Ohh, it's fresh bread. It tastes so sweet."
"A bakery owner gave it to me when I helped him unload his carriage," said Bear, taking a bite out of his piece.
Although the bread was cut into three pieces, it was still too big for Leon's mouth, so he tore it into smaller pieces by hand and began to eat, earning an amused stare from Bear and Lisa.
"Wow, Leon, ever since you hit your head, you're like a new person."
Leon's heart stopped for a second as he choked on the piece of bread he was eating.
"Cough, cough!" He started coughing wildly until the piece of bread flew out of his mouth. Letting out a sigh of relief, Leon looked at the pair and asked, keeping his tone childish, "Is it bad?"
But underneath, Leon was sweating buckets.
Lisa laughed. "No, it's quite good, actually. If I had known you'd turn into a good boy after hitting your head, I would have long ago smacked you like this," she said, making a smacking motion.
Leon tore another piece from the bread and said, "Was I a bad boy back then?"
"Yush, yoo wle a vly badd boy," Lisa said while chewing her bread.
"If it had been the old you, you would have thrown a tantrum about how the bread was too big for you, and you'd have asked someone to break it into smaller pieces for you instead of doing it yourself," Bear said, interrupting Lisa as she spoke with a mouthful of bread.
"You also seem much different somehow — like… I don't have the word for it. You don't throw tantrums like you used to when your brother was around. You're very obedient now, and also much braver. The way you stood up to Dan for Mathew yesterday… the old Leon would have been too scared to do that. He would have acted like Roan, too frightened to move," Bear said as he put the last piece of bread into his mouth.
"It's a good thing I hit my head then," Leon said, and both Lisa and Bear burst into laughter.
"Leon, it doesn't matter if you threw tantrums or not. For us, you were Leon then, and you're still Leon now," Lisa said with a gentle smile on her face.
It took some time for Leon to finish his piece of bread, and soon after, the trio went to 31st Street and split up as usual.
By the time they gathered together again, the sun had already started to disappear from the horizon.
Lisa rummaged through her clothes and took out the coins.
"2 copper coins and 20 iron coins. With this, all of our quotas are complete," she said.
Their daily quota was a minimum of 10 iron coins per child. As 1 copper was equal to 5 iron coins, they had just enough for everyone.
Bear also rummaged through his clothes, and to Lisa's shock, he pulled out 5 copper coins, 6 iron coins, and one paper note.
"I–is that a one-dollar note?" Lisa said in a bare whisper, afraid someone might overhear them.
Bear just shrugged his shoulders. "I got lucky too."
Although Lisa was still suspicious and about to press for more explanation, Bear raised his hand. "Let's talk when we meet Mathew and the others."
The trio moved together towards the alley Mathew had told them to gather by in the evening.
As they were on their way, Leon spotted the same old man — but this time, he was wearing a black tailcoat suit with a red shirt underneath and was sitting in a restaurant on the side of the street. He had ordered a lot of food, and the whole table was packed with plates.
Leon was puzzled as he watched the old man. Not only had the man's clothes changed on all three occasions, but even the length of his hair and beard was different. If Leon hadn't paid such close attention to both commotions, he would have mistaken this old man for someone else.
"Walk faster, Leon. It will be night soon," Lisa said while tugging on his arm.