Chapter 86 – Practical issue

It was time for his long-awaited Saturday again. Benjamin now always looked forward to this day, where he felt the most freedom as well as a sense of adventure and unknown. His anticipation soon took a hard hit from reality, however. Checking his wallet, he found out that he barely had enough money for a round trip by train. Thinking about it, he did have a lot of expenses recently. Taking the train and the bus multiple times, eating out on several occasions, buying ice cream for his sister and all her friends, etc. He didn't regret any of those expenses but it was a fact that he was broke now.

The thing is, his family didn't have any concept of pocket money. Their mother was quite strict about money and wanted to build good habits in her children. Whenever a child needed something, they would have to ask her for it, which included having a good reason for needing it. The only other way to get anything was during birthdays or events like Christmas or the end of the year. Their grandmother and other more distant relatives would sometimes give some money to them during those events but it was never too much since there were so many children, after all. This also explained why Chloe had tried to use the grocery debit card to buy stuff for herself that one time.

Back to his issue, he needed some money to continue adventuring. He could ask his mother for some but that didn't sit well with him. Taking money from his mother and using it to go and have sex with girls was something he would never do as a matter of principle. He also rejected the option of waiting for the next time he would get some since that would be too long in the future. Thinking more about it, the most obvious way to earn money was to work. He could try to find a part-time job and get a salary from that. However, that had a crucial disadvantage. He would need to work during his limited free time and that free time was precisely the allotment he wanted to use to go on adventures or spend time with his family. That would contradict his goals, making it a bad choice.

Without any good idea yet, he went down for breakfast. As often during the weekends, he was the second last to come out; only his grandmother slept in longer than him. The only ones who were still eating were Olivia and Chloe. He greeted them and began his breakfast. He put some bread to toast and poured himself some orange juice. When the toasts were done, he put some butter and jam on them and savored them like that. Seeing his sisters watching him eat, he decided he might as well ask about his problem. Who knew, they might have a helpful idea.

"Olivia, Chloe, what do you do when you need money?"

"Do you need money, Ben? It's easy for you, just ask Mom or Grandma and they will give you whatever you want. That doesn't work for us though, right Olivia?"

"Right. The last time I wanted to buy a game, they both said no. They would only give us something if we have a good enough reason."

"So what do you do?"

"Not much? I just wait for my birthday or Christmas."

"As for me, I create game walkthroughs and I hope people will like them and donate a bit of money to me."

"What, really? That's so cool! Show me, show me!"

"I will show you after breakfast."

"That's really smart of you. My little sister is already a businesswoman."

Benjamin smiled as he praised her and patted her head. She blushed and happily accepted his show of affection. Since Chloe looked like she wanted some attention too, he gestured her to come closer and patted her too. Seeing both of them enjoying his touch, he pushed the conversation forward.

"What do you girls think I should do? I don't want to rely on Mom and Grandma and I want a method that would be less dependent on luck. Not that I have enough skill and knowledge to create walkthroughs for games or something similar anyway."

"What about a part-time job?"

"Yes, that's one of my options, I guess. Any other ideas?"

"Hm, I don't know!"

"Sorry, Ben, I don't know either."

"Don't worry, I will find something. So, what are two doing today?"

"I'm going to play soccer with my friends!"

"I want to play ranking games until I get to the next division on Campmonth."

"Hey Olivia, come show me your walkthroughs!"

"Okay, okay, let's go."

The three of them went to Olivia's room. She booted her computer and showed them several internet pages, full of text and pictures. It was done very well for an amateur and she apparently received positive comments about her work.

"They are very nice. That's a great job, Olivia."

"And, how much do you get from those donations?"

"It depends if people feel like giving something or not. If I get lucky, I can get $30 a month."

"Wow, amazing! Hey, teach me how to do it too!"

Benjamin and Olivia looked at each other, sharing the same thoughts. Chloe was saying that now but she would probably forget all about it after playing with her friends for a day. She liked playing games as much as any teenage girl out there but wasn't a gamer at heart. There was no way she would spend the required time and effort needed to create a walkthrough.

"Alright, let's go finish breakfast first."

They went back to the first floor and finished eating. Once they were done, Chloe checked the time on her phone and exclaimed.

"Ah! I will miss my train!"

"You're taking the train?"

"Yeah, we're playing in another town because it has a bigger and nicer ground. Mom gave me some money for the train tickets and lunch. I need to go now! See you later!"

"See you, have fun!"

She put her shoes on and rushed outside, running toward the train station.