Free Once (Gypsy Fairy Tale) by Dana Michelle Burnett Page A

his head out the window smiling wildly. “Twas a grand night Kieran, I haven’t even a crumb left.”
    “Best get to the grocer then,” Kieran said with a wave.
    “First thing in the morning,” the man said and then slid the window shut.
    Kieran led me to the next vendor, knocking on the side of the caravan as we walked up. I tried to hang back is another gruff man peered out at us.
    “Who’s out there?”
    “Just Kieran, have you got anything left?”
    “I have a burger and some chips.”
    “Could you see your way to make it two burgers and some chips?” Kieran asked as he pulled me forward. The vendor looked me up and down, and then looked back at Kieran.
    “Gorger?” The man asked.
    I had never heard the word before, but Kieran seemed to know the meaning.
    “Yes,” he said simply.
    The man’s expression remained solemn, but he nodded and handed out a cardboard basket of two burgers and a heaping mound of fries. Without being asked, he also handed out two cans of soda.
    “Thanks mate,” Kieran said.
    He led me back toward the main tent and took a seat on the platform at the entrance. I sat down beside him and took the hamburger and soda he offered.
    I looked at his profile, handsome even in the flickering light of the strings of bulbs overhead. How did I ever get such an amazing guy to notice me?
    “Can I ask you something?” I said as I opened my soda.
    He didn’t answer me, as he was taking a huge bite of his burger, but he nodded as he chewed.
    “What does “gorger” mean?”
    Kieran stiffened and swallowed. It took a long drink of his soda before he answered me.
    “A gorger is you,” he said softly.
    “Me?”
    “Yes,” he said as he examined his burger, picking off the onions and throwing them to the ground. “A gorger as an outsider, someone that is not a traveller.”
    “Oh,” I mumbled and went back to eating my burger.
    Kieran bumped his arm against mine playfully, “Don’t let it bother you. It’s just something the travellers say.”
    I nodded but I couldn’t help thinking that the message was very clear, there was them and then there were the gorgers.
    Kieran collected our garbage and threw it into the nearest trash barrel, “Twas good, wasn’t it?”
    I tried to push my negative thoughts aside and nudged him with my elbow when he sat back down.
    “So, I’ve had hamburgers before,” I teased. “How was that traveller style?”
    Kieran shrugged, “We were hungry and they fed us without question.”
    “So, it was free and that made it traveler style?”
    “No,” Kieran said with a smile. “We were hungry and they fed us, and someday I will return the favor.”
    “It seems so simple.”
    “It is,” he said as he sipped at his soda. “Only outsiders make it complicated.”
    Ouch...
    Realizing what he had said, Kieran ran his hands through his dark hair.
    “Sorry,” he said apologetically.
    I nodded, but I still felt the sting of his words.
    We were silent for a while, drinking our sodas and watching the last of the vendors close up their caravans. A few waved as they walked toward the campground. It seemed darker without the lighted signs advertising funnel cakes and Polish sausage. I crossed my arms as another rain cooled breeze blew through.
    “Are you cold?” Kieran asked.
    “No,” I lied.
    He nodded, maybe sensing my change in mood. “Okay. Well, can I ask you something?”
    “Sure.”
    “How did you get your name?”
    “What?” I asked, “Seriously?”
    Kieran smiled, “I’m just curious. I mean for us travellers names have meanings and that is not a name that one hears that often.”
    I glanced up at him. He was watching me, that I knew, but in the shadows, I couldn’t really see his expression.
    I looked back down at my can of soda, grateful that in the dim light he wouldn’t be able to see how bad I was blushing.
    “My mother came up with my name,” I said softly. “She wanted me to have like a rock ‘n roll name or something.”
    “A