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Jim and his parents lived with two other families in a cramped apartment. There were several other children living there, though Jim himself had no siblings. He considered the others to be family, as they all looked out for each other. They didn't have much, but they tried to be happy as they went from day to day.

Jim's main source of joy was going out about the town. He took the kids out into the streets to play as often as he could. He was an honest kid. He didn't steal from the vendors, and not just because he would get in terrible trouble with the city guards if he tried. When the kids were hungry and they had no food, Jinks would do odd jobs around the town in exchange for bread, beans, and when he was lucky, meat.

It was the day Samuel's birth was announced that Jim took ill. He woke up feeling poorly, but he had worked through illness before. It wasn't worth losing a day's pay. He went to the butcher's shop as he did every morning. Practically the whole town was atwitter over the new baby born to the wealthiest family in the city. Everyone was clamoring to get a look at him and speculating what would happen when it came down for one of the sons to take over their father's business.

Jim didn't much care to be honest. The lives of the upper class didn't interest him. He was far more interested in keeping his own life in order. Granted, having never lived like that he wondered what it would be like. It was no use daydreaming about it though given the fact that he didn't even know where to begin.

As the day wore on, he began to feel worse. His head felt heavy and his feet light. His eyes blurred and his stomach lurched at the thought of food or even water. While scrubbing the pig's blood from the floor, Jim collapsed.