Rise (Alfie Solomons)

Chapter 6

The past few weeks, Shirley has been taking the time to eat, bathe, and dress up in a way that would surely be acceptable for Alfie's tastes. Today, she settled on a powder blue outfit and white shoes, throwing in a splash of rose pink in her belt and hat. This outfit certainly complimented her bright blue eyes.

Once she was satisfied, she went shopping since she had some time to spare before work. Coming across a small mom-and-pop shop, she decided to go in and pick something out for Alfie.

Walking through the store slowly, she took in all the delicate items they were selling here. The shop had teapots, imported cloth from Italy and France, endless amounts of tea, which she never saw in New York. Usually, a family-owned store owns a few flavors but not much more than that. Coffee was more her style. She could sip on a good cup of joe any time of the day.

She settles on buying a fruit basket for Alfie along with some tea and cookies or biscuits as she heard the store clerk correct her. She decided not to fight it. She never knew they were called biscuits, having rarely left her small community. Before coming to London, she had only ever heard an English accent once or twice.

Shirley never brought it up, but over the past week that Alfie was in the hospital, she heard the doctor talking to him about an illness that came up when running tests. They don't know what it is yet, but it's severe, and it might start taking a rapid toll on his health. In the meantime, he was advised to eat well, take walks, and get lots of sunshine.

Shirley made it to the bakery on time, and the guards let her in as usual. She had gotten to know them quite well over the past month and found out their names were Samuel and David, good Jewish names. Samuel was a young man, no more than twenty or so, and David was well into his thirties with a wife and a few kids.

On the way in, she decided to chat them up.

"Have you boys had anything to eat this morning?"

"I did, Miss Shirley," David replied.

"Of course you did. I'd be surprised if you didn't, having a wife and all. She's a good woman." Shirley said. "How are the babies?"

"Oh, they're fine. Hardly babies anymore." She nods and looks over to Samuel.

"And what about you? Have you eaten this morning?"

"I must've missed it on my way out."

"How do you expect to remain big and strong if you've been fasting since last night?" she shook her head and rummaged through her purse, pulling out a sandwich she had saved for herself for lunch.

"You don't have to, Miss Shirley."

"Don't be silly, Samuel. I'll be offended if you don't."

He took the sandwich and happily inhaled it, letting Shirley pass through. She didn't know why Samuel wasn't eating in the morning. Perhaps he was too busy, or his money was going elsewhere. Maybe towards his family. She could've sworn she heard him say something about having many siblings and a sick pa. She would bring him sandwiches every day if she had to. He was a sweet boy. Big and strong, but had a heart of gold.

She made her way to Alfie's office and set the fruit basket beside his desk, and placed the tea and biscuits in the cupboard. He wasn't here at the moment, so she sat at the desk closer to his to try to make some calls and plan Alfie's schedule for the week.

She had only been sitting there for roughly twenty minutes when Alfie came in with a man behind him. He was Italian by the looks of him and incredibly thin. His eyes were beady, and it looked like he had a rat sitting on top of his lip disguised as a mustache.