Wyatt Biddle - Short Story - Taylor County

A "Wheely" Good Story

A “Wheely” Good Story
I am a 25-year-old trader, who is going to visit my brother, Aon. He lives in Zerkar. The
city has so many animals that some think even outnumber all the people. It is surrounded by a
hot, dry, rocky, and dusty desert.
Entering through the large wooden gates, I could hear Aon. He was yelling, “Zon I can’t
believe you’re here!” Aon led me to his house. Since it was getting late in the day, I joined his
family for dinner. While we were eating Aon said, “Recently a friend of mine told me there is a
shortage of meat at a city far east of here. It would be very profitable to buy meat here and sell
it there.”
It would be the longest trip in my life, but so much money could be made! “I will do it
then,” I said.
“Not without me you’re not,” Aon demanded.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I need to keep you out of trouble and I miss you,” Aon heartfeltly said.
“Okay,” I relented.
“Farewell,” said Aon to his wife and son.
After we left Aon’s house it was a short walk to the market. The market was packed with
people, there were merchants trying to sell their wares. Traders coming from faraway lands
selling their exotic goods. Normal people buying their groceries. Colorful stalls surrounded the
crowd of people.
We pushed our way through the crowd until there was a stall in front of us with a purple
fabric canopy. It sold the meat we needed. Behind the counter was a man with a very curly
mustache. “What would you like to buy?” the merchant asked.
“We need 50 pounds of meat,” I said.
“That will be 800 denars,” he said.
That is when I noticed an expensive looking block of wood sitting on the counter. “Wait
just a minute we need to see the meat first to make sure it is of good quality,” I demanded. He
foolishly turned around to grab the meat. While his back was facing me, I quickly snatched the
wood and hid it behind my back.
Nobody knew how important it would be.
When we were finally on the trail, Aon asked me, “Why did you steal that wood? I
thought you stopped doing that kind of stuff.”
“Well, he doesn’t care about it much if he just left it on the counter,” I said.
“But still it’s not good to steal things,” he said.
“Well, we can’t take it back now,” I reasoned.
“Okay,” Aon said reluctantly. “So how is the camel training business going?” I asked.
“Great! Last week we got 5 camels and were able to train them all in 3 days,” he said
proudly.
While we were traveling, each day we switched who was driving. On one of the days I
was driving, I started to get distracted by the thought of gold. The solid, round, and shiny coins
filled my head, so much gold that it seemed to weigh more than me. That is when I was jolted,
out of my thoughts, by the feeling of hitting a rock and coming to a stop.
“What happened?” Aon shouted.
“A piece of the wheel rim has broken off!” I yelled.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no! We must get to the city before the meat spoils!” I exclaimed.
“There has to be a way to fix the wheel,” Aon said.
“I don’t have any ideas,” I said. Sitting on the rock that broke my wagon’s wheel and
wondering how I could get so distracted by money, I was struck with an idea. “Aon what if we
use the piece of wood I stole to fix the wheel?” I asked excitedly. We painstakingly carved the
shape of the missing piece of wheel using a knife. After it was the right shape, we spent an hour
trying to push it into place. At last, with a satisfying, “Pop!” it went in and we were back on the
road.
“Just because stealing helped us one time does not mean it’s good,” Aon said.
The city was so big maybe even 5 times the size of Zerkar! With gates as big as 5
elephants and heavier than any house. It was the most impressive city I had ever laid my eyes
upon. Entering a set of large gates again, I could see merchants ready to buy my meat thanks to
that one piece of wood.

Wyatt Biddle

12

Short Story

Taylor