Lenny's Ideas

"Wake up, River, wake up!" Lenny pried my human blanket Laura away from me. I immediately started shivering. I tried to make some noise in objection with my broken voice box. What came out sounded like a dying whale's mating call. Lenny stared at me in shock. My face went red as he nearly doubled over laughing.
"Ok.. ok.." Lenny said, trying to calm down. "So I have an idea."
I sit up, mildly interested but mostly wanting to go back to sleep for once. Laura crawled back onto my lap like a little dog and started snoring.
"Ok.. so.. you know how Micheal can make instruments.?"
I nodded. Sure.
"And we have a few people who have skills in making stuff. Like Roger, he made a table for us once. And I think we have some carpenters and i think masons.. does that matter? Maybe we could.."His eyes lit up. "What if we.. but, no..."
I made a rolling motion with my hand to say Get to the point.
"Oh.. right, sorry. So, um, we have alot of people that can make stuff. And if we had tools and parts and a place to work, we could make a store for the stuff we can make! We would only need enough money to get a cheap building, and some supplies. if it works, we'll be totally self-sufficient.Even if the business barely scrapes by, We'll never have to beg again in our lives, and we can get anyone who can work to make money for himself."
I looked at him uneasily. Lenny meant well, but his ideas were usually sketchy at best, and this was no exception.
Lenny had an amazing ability to read my mind.
"Well, it wouldnt be easy, obviously," He continued, losing confidence in his voice, "but it's better than sitting here doing nothing."
I sighed. I rubbed my fingers with my thumb. "How much will it cost?"
Lenny gulped nervously. He always does that whenever he tries to convince me of something sketchy like this. I was trying not to turn him off then and there, but everything rational in me screamed 'Do it!'

"I dont know yet, but we would need enough to buy a shop... and pay for it for a few months rent... and get the supplies."
I shook my head. I grabbed my notebook. I couldnt use vague hand symbols for this. I was going to have to actually talk.
"We dont have the money for this", I scribbled down and showed him.
"Yes, we can!" he objected. He motioned for my notebook. I shrugged and gave it to him. He laid the notebook flat between us and scribbled down some chickenscratch. I couldnt read half of it or follow any of it, but it looked like some kind of math equation. I stared at him in reverent awe. How did you do that?!  We had never gotten any real education, but Lenny was kicking up dust scribbling down equations and numbers.
"Alright, alright. Most buildings are about 4,000 dollars. Your average run brings in 20 to 100-some odd dollars. I can usually make 5-10 dollars a week. Minus feeding 300-some people minus paying off the police and some criminals to leave us alone.. that goes around 100-200,  that usually leaves us..." He grimaced wrote a bunch of numbers and lines. "200... to 500 dollars in debt.. a day." He sighed. "Thats why we cant live like this now. You see the people we don't have the money to feed, and now with the stockpile gone, too.. We cant survive unless we change. If we can find some way to help ourselves, just scrape enough to keep ourselves alive, we could let you loose, you could earn that 4000 or so in a month. You see what I have to deal with?"
I nodded, completely lost. My head hurts so much.
"So basically, I have a grand plan to feed every one of us if it works. Problem is, I don't know.. how to make it work. I spent the entire night, trying to think of.. of anything! And... and.." He sighed as he buried his head in his hands in frustration.
I petted sleeping Laura like a little pet as I tried to think of something. She tried to eat my hand in her sleep. She must be hungry. I smiled, but then my smile faded. Lenny's words cut deep as I realized I still had nothing to feed her with. You see the people we don't have the money to feed. I didnt want her to ever go hungry, but I knew it happened all the time.
I sighed and took the pen and wrote, "I will do whatever I can for your idea." I really hope this wouldnt put us 4,000 dollars deeper in the hole, I thought to myself.
"But how are we gonna get that much money, and keep us fed?"
I shrugged. I dont know.

Eventually, my day finally went  like it should. Picking a house to rob blind, and tommorow, doing it. But today, I knew I couldnt do a normal run. After we had all of our stockpile taken, no ordinary heist could feed half of my people. I had to up the risk today, run something so big, we could make a new stockpile, one that could feed everyone, every day, for a while. I tried to remember what the best place in the whole city was. Or, what the worst place to rob was.
A bank. No, I couldn't do that, at least not without a team, and a whole lot of violence, and that's not how I work. But what other place has tons of treasure and cash just lying about... treasure lying about. Valuable items on display. I knew what I was going to do.