Mina stood in Moonbean Market Lane with her striped scarf tucked close under her chin, letting the warm stone keep her feet cozy. All around her, the market was still awake. Steam carts rolled by with apricot-sweet clouds. Lanterns shaped like fish and one like a crescent swayed above the stalls. In the puddles, those lanterns shone upside down, so it looked like a second market was floating under the first.
Mina loved this part of the evening best. People were still choosing pears, laughing over ribbons, and calling good-byes to neighbors. If she stayed in the flow of shoppers, she felt like she belonged to the whole busy, shining place.
Then her toes met a patch of pavement that was not quite flat.
The stone under Moonbean Market Lane had tipped toward the narrow side passage. At first it seemed like a tiny wobble. But a basket of buns had already slid a little. A cart wheel had rolled sideways. Two careful shoppers had to step fast to keep from bumping into one another. Mina watched a stack of cloth napkins slip closer and closer to the same narrow lane, and her heart gave a small jump.
This was not just one thing sliding. It was the whole path leaning and pulling people together in a crowded tangle.
Mina stopped at the edge of the sloping patch, her bright eyes moving from the lane to the shoppers to the stalls ahead. If she backed away, she could keep to the safe, steady side. If she stepped in, she might help keep the market from getting stuck. But the pavement kept nudging carts and feet toward the same narrow place, and now she had to decide what to do next.
What happens next?
Sign in to rate
