“Papa, what is on the agenday?” Primrose asked thoughtfully as she was carried through the building by her Papa. She didn’t know why they visited a bunch of people and fixed things for them, but she really liked spending time with her Papa and meeting the people who ran the shops around theirs. She even had her own wax tablets to take notes in and everything.

  “Agenda. Someone is interested in renting the empty store next to the beauty store. You know the one with the kind lady who gave you a hairbrush?” Her Papa responded, proud of his daughter’s enthusiasm for business. He was glad that she really seemed to enjoy accompanying him to his landlord duties. Not only did it calm his own nerves, but a little girl taking notes and nodding along made his tenants a lot easier to deal with.

  “What’s a renting?” She always learned so many interesting things while accompanying her Papa, like what taxes were and that you had to spend money to make money. She didn’t really understand the second one. If you gave money away, then you wouldn’t have any money. Her Papa sure was silly sometimes.

  “It means you pay to use something. They want to pay to use a part of the building that we own.” Norman patiently explained as he made his way down the street, which he owned half of. It still hadn’t sunk in yet. He could evict every single store here and build a gigantic mall if he wanted, and nobody could stop him. He wouldn’t, of course, but he hadn’t seen a mall in this world, and the idea smelled like money. “Like how we pay to stay in inns for the night, but for a longer time.”

  “Are they gonna live in our house?” She asked with worry in her voice. Living with more people was fun and all, but that meant she had to share all her things. What if someone rented her room and she had to sleep on the floor? What if they rented her dinner!? “They can’t rent my bed…”

  “Nobody is renting our home. They are renting that space over there.” Norman assured his daughter, pointing at an empty storefront down the street. It had apparently been the building's previous owner's storefront, and had stood empty ever since she sold it to retire. “They are going to open a shop there, just like we have. Every month, they will pay us to let them have their store in our building. We own all of this, see?” He gestured to the large building with his left hand while holding her firmly with his right.

  “Then why do I have to give them money if we already own the stores?” She tilted her head in confusion. Her Papa had told her that she had to give money to the person behind the desk if she wanted to buy something, but why would she need to do that if she owned everything already?

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Ah. You’re right when you say we own the stores, but we only own the building the stores are in. Everything inside the stores is the property of those renting the space from us. If you put your bag in your room in an inn, does that mean the innkeeper can take your treasures?” Norman really enjoyed teaching Primrose because she was smart. She would draw her own conclusions and ask follow-up questions when things didn’t add up, and she would find ways to use whatever she learned in her day-to-day life. “If we owned all their things, they wouldn’t have any reason to pay.”

  “But what if they don’t pay, Papa? Do we take the things as money then?” It made sense to her. Things could be sold for money, and money was needed to pay them. If they had no money, they could just give them the stuff and they could sell it for the money.

  “You are so smart. I can’t believe you’re only three.” He patted her head with all the fatherly affection his own father never gave him. He really was proud of her. She would be a fantastic business owner in the future, if that’s what she wanted to do. If she wanted to be a deep-sea fisherwoman, then she’d be great at that too. “You are absolutely correct. If they don’t pay, we are legally allowed to take their things instead.”

  “I’m almost four!”

  Primrose focused intently on the adults' conversation. She didn’t understand most of it, but whenever they said a word she recognized, she wrote it down on her wax tablet. The potential renters were a married couple, a human woman, and a weretiger man. They were both really kind, but the woman confused her. She was skinny, but her belly was fat; it simply didn’t make any sense. This needed investigation!

  She scooted out of her seat and rounded the table towards the woman, tugging at her sleeve. “Madam, are you sick? Do you need medicine? Do you need to poop?” Primrose asked, pointing towards her stomach with innocent concern.

  Norman wanted to die from embarrassment, but the lady just laughed and patted her on the head. “No, sweetheart. I’m not sick. I have a baby growing in there.” She explained with the patience an expecting mother ought to have. “I’m keeping it safe inside my belly until it is strong enough to come out into the world.”

  “Like an egg?” Humans had eggs in their bellies? Would SHE have an egg in her belly someday? She wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility; she still ate eggs for dinner! “I don’t want an egg in my belly!”

  The woman, and now her husband, laughed heartily. “Don’t you worry, sweetheart. Only adult women can have babies growing inside their bellies. And they don’t have to if they don’t want to.” She assured her, “How about we play together while my husband and your father talk about the adult stuff? My name is Juniper, what’s yours?”

  “My name is Primrose, and I don’t have an egg in my belly!”