Across The Pond: A Rosa and Tintin Adventure (Sequel)

Chapter 5: Meet My Family

     The sun began to go down on the bustling city of New York as thick clouds of smoke from the burning hotel broke up the rays of light coming from the sunset. Tintin followed Rosa closely, dodging people on the street as he went while Rosa avoided them easily. "What do you mean 'family?' You said your parents left years ago," he yelled over the roar of the busy city crowd.

     "They did-" Rosa held the lie in place with her tongue before sighing. "I-I... have siblings here." She winced at her words.

     Tintin widened his eyes as he grabbed Rosa's hand to stop her from walking ahead of him. He stopped in his tracks. "But you said you were an only child."

"I was."

Tintin paused. He couldn't make any sense of what she was saying at all. Her story was falling to bits in front of him. It kept changing, morphing, and shaping to whatever Rosa saw fit at that moment. It worried him. He looked her directly in the eyes. "You aren't making sense. You know you can tell me the truth, right?"

     Nope. Already had that conversation with myself. It only leads to shit. "Uh-huh." Rosa looked to the sky to see the sun setting behind a wall of skyscrapers. Her blood ran cold. She looked to the street corner to pinpoint where she was at. Only a few more blocks to Brownsville. Just take a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other. Stop shaking, you bitch! She told herself.

     "What's wrong?"

     Rosa took a deep inhale. "Tintin, you have to listen to me. We'll talk about this later, but it's getting dark now. People die in this city after dark, ok? I need you to do exactly what I say. Don't look at anyone. Don't talk to anyone. And for shit's sake, don't touch anything. Just look down at the ground and follow me... And take off that blazer. Take off anything that makes you look like you have money." She pulled off her jacket and put it over her shoulders as well as her head before pulling Tintin to her side and ruffling his hair. He nodded with understanding and they began walking quickly down the street. She tried to conceal the bag that contained her dress as much as she could by shoving it to her side.

     The lampposts began to flicker on with a faint buzz as darkness looked over the narrowing streets. Women flocked to street corners, lighting each other's cigarettes as they hiked up their blouses. Rosa grimaced at the sight as she pulled the jacket tighter over her head.

     Tintin looked around. The tone of the city completely shifted as the night grew darker. People no longer walked along the streets but seemed to stay in their spots waiting for others to come to them. It made him uneasy. He saw women on corners along with tables of men playing poker outside of bars with long cigars hanging out of their mouths. "Where are we?"

     "You know how rock bottom is the lowest place you can go? Well, this place is lower. Welcome to Skid Row, Tintin."

     They turned a corner and a woman grabbed Tintin's wrist. "Hello there, handsome." He looked at her confused as he began to walk backward.

     "Not interested, ladies!" Rosa yelled, continuing her pace. A few hundred more feet. Just a few hundred more feet.

     "Are we in a Red Light District?" Tintin asked as he looked back towards the women on the street corner.

     "It's not a pretty picture, I know," Rosa whispered as she pulled Tintin closer. "Just look down. I'm sorry you had to see this-" Rosa was cut off by a man yelling from across the dark road.

     "Hey, dolly! How 'bout wandering over here for some action!" His speech was slurred and was barely recognizable. Rosa tightened her grip and kept walking. "Come on, sweetie! Don't be a pill!"