Chapter 8: Reaction

The two were now travelling upon the sidewalk.

“So where does she live?”

“The Umbra Lane.  We can take the Umbra trolley.”

An awkward silence ensued.  It was stifling.  The trip on the trolley; the loud clanks and chugs, the people boarding and unboarding, the random chatter - it covered up the silence but it was still there.  Resistance had hoped to ask Ampere something.  Why him?  Why did he bother?  It didn’t seem like he enjoyed this so why do it in the first place?  The atmosphere was oppressive.

“We’re here.”  Resistance and Ampere jumped off of the trolley and began walking down the sidewalk.  Finally, Resistance’s eyes lit up as he rushed for the apartment’s door.  It was a warm embrace from his previous oppression.  He took out his key and opened the door.  Ampere was standing right behind him.

“Volta!  I’m home!”

Yelling from upstairs, “Resistance, is that you?”

“Yeah!”

“Wait right there!”

Volta came running down the stairs, her mane a tad unkempt.  “Resistance!”  She gave him a warm embrace, but then gave him a light, scolding push with her hoof.  “You had me so worried.”

“It’s okay, I’m fine.”  Guilt had seeped into his words.

Ampere was still standing in the middle of the doorway.  Volta, forgetful of the guest, said, “Oh, thank you for bringing him back!  Thank you so much!  Please, come in.”

“I really shouldn’t.”

“Really now?  After all you’ve done you can’t afford a little bit of hospitality?  Oh, and I never got your name.”

“It’s Ampere, right?” Resistance asked.  He remembered the name from the office.

Ampere looked down at him, and then at Volta.  “Right.”

“Well, come on in!” Volta and Resistance sung as Volta wrapped her right hoof around his neck and Resistance tugging his left hoof.  Ampere wore an uneasy countenance, a reluctant face.

“So here we have the kitchen...” Volta pointed towards the right.

“Volta makes a lot of yummy stuff in there.  It’s the best!”

Volta blushed a little.  “Aw... well, I try.  It’s not much but I try.”

The kitchen was a tad dingy.  Everything in the apartment was.  The kitchen was noticeably small.  The counters were littered with random utensils flung here and there.  A few paper bags full of groceries rested on the limited countertop space.  Ampere remembered them from this morning.  His head was caught in a trance, reliving the scene that he first met her.  And something else.

Volta was staring at Ampere.  She could tell he was meditating on something, thinking about something, but what?  “Well, if you’re hungry you could’ve just asked.”

This broke Ampere’s trance.  “Right, sorry.”

They walked a tad farther.  The room wasn’t big.

“So next we have the living room,” Volta said.

“Hi Volta!” the foals inside screamed.

“Hi kids!  How are you all doing today?”

“Fine!” they sung in unison.

“Did you forget your manners?  This is Mr. Ampere, our guest, say hi to him also.”

“Good afternoon Mr. Ampere!”  The air was filled with a choir of singing foals.

“Good afternoon,” Ampere said stoically.

Some of the foals in there were playing patty cake.  One was reading.  Some were playing Go Fish.

“The kids love to hang out in here.  Sometimes, it’s not always safe to be playing around outside.  Helps them stretch their hooves.  So over here to the left is the storage room.”  Volta pulled the light bulb switch.  “We keep a lot junk in there like mops, clothes, and paper.  Guess you can call it the junk room.”

“May I go in?”

“Knock yourself out.”

Ampere looked around the small space.  He saw a package of paper lying on a shelf.  He picked it up with his right hoof and flipped it over.  He blew on it to remove some of the dust.  He read the information on the back.

“Ream one million, four hundred thirty-four thousand, three hundred thirty-nine dash oh five dash twenty-two...” Ampere said quietly.

“Something the matter?” Resistance asked.

“It’s nothing.  There was an upstairs, right?”

“Yes, let’s go there now,” Volta said.  Ampere shut of the light and they departed from the closet.

Volta led the way.  “Now watch your step.  You especially, Resistance.”  Volta turned to Ampere, “He always falls on these steps when I come home.  Guess he’s just really happy to see me,” Volta joked.

“Hey!  I-I I’m just glad the food’s here!”

“Watch it!” Volta warned.  Resistance almost fell on his front hooves before Ampere caught him.

“Whew, th-thanks.”

Ampere looked at him for just a pause.  “Don’t mention it.”

They reached the top of the stairs.  “So on the right side are four rooms.  Each room is where they sleep.”

“May I take a look?”

“Be my guest.”

“He already is,” Resistance quipped.  Ampere stared at the foal.  “Er, bad one, I guess.”

There were no doors to these rooms.  Ampere peered inside the first room, closest to him.  No windows either.  The room he entered was only furnished with a simple, dusty drawer.  There wasn’t a bed.  Some dirty shirts were littered on the floor.  The air - this was the first taste he received from the general atmosphere - was stale.  A broken mirror, specifically half of one, was placed atop of the drawer.  The drawer only had two shelves and the lower third was missing.  There was one sheet and one pillow in the place of the mattress.  He moved on to the second room.  There was a mattress.  It was small, definitely worn, definitely dirty, but there was a mattress.  No mirror.  His neutral countenance was starting to turn sour.  The pillow was slightly torn and some feathers were scattered on the bed.  The air was starting to stifle him.

“Volta?” A young filly’s voice wept from downstairs.

“Yes, Demeter?” Volta said.

“I feel better but I think it’s medicine time again...” Demeter coughed.

“Oh dear, let me help you.  Resistance, do you mind showing Mr. Ampere some more?”

“Sure.”

“Go to the kitchen Demeter, I’ll give you your medicine there.  We’ll knock that fever down.”  Volta began her departure down the flight of stairs.  Ampere came back to the start of the staircase.

“On this side, we have two rooms.  One room is where I sleep in, the other is Volta’s bedroom.”

“Hmm.  I see.”  Ampere did not dare to venture in either rooms.  First, it was a case of privacy.  Resistance was standing next to him and he might discovered something that could get him in trouble.  If he tried to steal an old stallion’s wallet, what else did he steal?  Second, the chances of Resistance or Volta having an extensive décor was out of the question.  It would have been near the same of the other rooms.  “Thank you for showing me around.”

“No problem.”

“Guess I can go back to work now.”

They both headed downstairs.

Demeter came out of the kitchen, a blanket wrapped around her.  Volta followed suit.

“Poor Demeter, it’s always around fall that she gets a fever like this.  Did you enjoy your stay Mr. Ampere?”

Ampere took a pause.  “Yes.”

“I made some tea for you.  It’s not the best, but think of it as a token of our appreciation.”

“You really shouldn’t have.”

“Now, I thought we were over with this?  You’re our guest.  It’s as simple as that.  Now come sit.”

Ampere sat down.  Volta levitated the tea to him with her magic.  He took it gently.  “Thank you.”  He blew on the tea’s surface and then took a daring sip.  A light hint of mint.  That was it.  But it was enough to revitalize him.  He was used to the bitter taste of pure black coffee but now he had something sweet in his life.

“Well, if you don’t mind me, I have a dinner to prepare.  Just tell me when you finish your tea, Mr. Ampere, and I’ll take it up for you so you can be on your way.”  Volta began levitating some carrots out of the grocery bags and also levitated a knife.  She began cutting them as she turned on the stove.  She filled up some water in a pot and put it on the stove.  Two foals, a filly and a colt came in, arguing over Go Fish.  She broke up the argument - carrots still being cut - and then returned to add salt to the pot.  She began to search for some utensils and plates.  It was a veritable mess - an orchestra of chaos and order with Volta as the conductor.  Magic here, magic there.  Crying here, crying there.  Ampere had only take one sip of his tea - it was cold at this point.  After staring at the mess of chaos, he looked down at his teacup and into his reflection.  An orange hue dominated the scene.  The surface was wobbly and broke the image, yet semblances were still there.  He looked at the hard working Volta and then back at his reflection.  He looked at Volta again.  By now, in a span of five minutes, she was sweating at her forehead.  Her hair became a tad unkempt and without question she was stressed.  Something twitched in Ampere’s right hoof.  Something.  He recalled the dirty, miniature rooms; the terrible living quarters of these kids.  He saw a woman working to the death to sustain said kids.  There was a fire that grew in his heart.

“Volta,” Ampere said sternly.  He was standing up at all fours.

“Yes, I know, I’m- oh, Mr. Ampere?  Did you finish your tea?”

“I want to help you.”

“I’m sorry?”

“All of this.  It isn’t right.  These kids deserve a better life.  I don’t want to sit idly by knowing that there are kids suffering in poverty and sickness.”

“Mr. Ampere, that’s quite kind of you, really, but I have everything under control.”

A sharp yet light acrid smell emanated from stove.  It was from the Dutch oven and its vegetable contents.  In short, her food was becoming overcooked.

“Ooh!”  Volta quickly turned down the flames to the stove.

“Look, I’m not going to take no for an answer.  The air in this apartment is stifling.  I can help you open up anther window.  These kids will develop asthma if something is done soon.  Let me help you pay the rent, buy some cleaning equipment - something.”

“Mr. Ampere... why?  With everything you’ve already done, why help us now?”

There was a crack in Ampere’s outer shell.  The warm core sought to spill its honesty yet the shell remained a bastion.  A falling bastion.

“I... I don’t want to see these kids suffer.”  A compromise was made.  “It’s as simple as that.  I would ask you, why do you help these kids?”

Volta relaxed her muscles and took a sigh.  “I guess I don’t really have any better answer.  Same for you, I wanted to help them.  I’m not an orphan, but it didn’t seem right to live a comfortable life when others are struggling to survive.”

“It’s settled then.  I’ll help you out with making sure these orphans find a safe home to live in.”

“It’s a deal.”

“I’ll be leaving then.  I still have work for the rest of the day.  I’ll stop by after work, around five o’clock.  We’ll have to plan something out.  Until then, I’ll see you later.”  Ampere started for the door.

“Mr. Ampere?” Volta halted him.  Ampere veered his head back.  “Thank you.”

Ampere looked forward, sunk his head a tad, and then back to Volta.  He trotted a few steps forward before stopping.  He took a shallow sigh.

“You’re welcome.”

It was a victory.