Broken Rice: Second Serial Installment

The second installment of a serial, about 6500 words.

Previously, in Installment 1: Caleb is a poor child laborer in an independent Republic of Texas. His family lives in debt bondage. He has no time to play, and no companionship other than his parents. So he can have some form of friendship, and something to call his own, he steals scraps from his shoe-sewing sweatshop and creates a child-sized doll that he hides in the hollow of an ancient tree nearby. When he finishes the doll, it springs to life. Before Caleb can do more than ask the doll who and what it is (“Jewel”), the doll spreads its wings and flies off, leaving Caleb behind. He's found by two of the sweatshop overseers who knock him out of the tree with a thrown bottle, drag him back inside, beat him, force him to work long into the night, then fire him and send him home beaten, jobless, and demoralized.

And now it's time for the next installment: