The Board's Decision
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You are Oliver Twist. For the sin of asking for more gruel, you have been confined in a dark, solitary room for a week. Every other day, you are flogged in the dining hall as a public warning.
Today, you are summoned. A bill on the gate offers five pounds to anyone who will take you off the parish's hands. Standing before the Board is Mr. Gamfield, a chimney sweep with a brutal face. He wants an apprentice.
"Young boys have been smothered in chimneys before now," one gentleman remarks.
"That's because they damped the straw afore they lit it," Gamfield replies with a grin. "There's nothink like a good hot blaze to make 'em come down with a run."
The Board seems inclined to sign the papers. You are terrified of this man.