(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/7d/6a00e55003818f883401543213d274970c-320wi.jpg)<br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">Sue, the Cook</span></span><br/><strong>Location:</strong>At the cannery<br/><strong>With:</strong>Braxton, Cassie<br/><br/>I ran the phrase through my head.  Wasn't something I was entirely familiar with.  Took a bit of processing on my part.<br/><br/><strong>"It's a pleasure, Cassie.  <em>Yi da dwei bun chou roh</em>?  Ya'll mean, 'big stupid pile of stinking meat?' "</strong><br/><br/>Her comment didn't sit well with me.<br/><br/><strong>"Now, now, ain't no need for that kind of talk, 'specially when we'll be driving on through them strikers who are just lookin' for what they reckon is a fair deal for them and theirs.  <br/><br/>"And 'specially when our bosses answer to a place that produces cans of, well, you know, meat.<br/><br/>"But no, they didn't give us no trouble, not once they had they-selves some of mah very own Sue's Shadow Stew."</strong><br/><br/>I watched her mount the mule.  I licked my lips, imagining for a moment that she would be mounting something else, namely me.<br/><br/><em><strong>"...Don't wanna be here any longer than ya have to, I can understand that.  Been here far longer than I wanted to myself as it stands.</strong></em><br/><br/><strong>"Much obliged, Cassie.  That fancy dressed gentleman?  That's Braxton T. Early, captain of <em>The Line</em>, and Ah'm part of his crew.  If ya'll wanna get off this rock, he can help ya with that, if ya'll can pay or work, that is."</strong><br/><br/>I drove my mule up to Braxton and whispered to him when he had a moment.<br/><br/><strong>"Hey, Captain, ya'll comin' back to the ship with me now?  Or ya wanna wait here until I'm back with the next load?  Also, young lady over there on the mule is gonna help unload, and seems like she might want to pay for passage off of Shadow or join up."</strong><br/><br/>I waited for the Captain's response, then headed back to the ship on the mule with Cassie behind me, with or without Braxton.  Hopefully, there wasn't gonna be no trouble on my way to the ship, or back to the factory with the next load.<br/>