Hotel Ambrose

Chapter 2.2

Sophie was behind the shed when I got there, just a shape in the dark. She was holding something in her arms. "Where've you been?" she whispered.

"Talking to Dirty Joe."

"What?"

"I'll tell you later. Is that your bag?" I meant the thing in her arms.

"Yeh," she said.

Her bag gurgled.

"What've you got that for?"

"He's not a that."

"Put it back! Now!"

"No! He's coming too."

"But we can't take a bloody baby! It's somebody's baby!"

"No he's not. He was banded."

I knew she meant abandoned. I was about to correct her, but then the baby started bawling.

"Great," I said.

Sophie cooed at the baby, but it sounded like it was just getting primed up. I couldn't believe how loud it was.

A light came on in the Whistlers' building.

I grabbed Sophie by the arm and led her down the side of the Whistlers' building to the gate. Past the gate the fence dropped to knee-height. We stepped over it into the big vacant lot next door to Crapper. The grass was tall here. We couldn't run because Sophie was holding the baby.

At the other end of the vacant lot I told Sophie to give me the baby, but she told me I'd probably drop it on purpose. Perhaps she was right. It was still bawling like anything. I looked back at Crapper and saw that there were more lights on.

"Come on," I said, moving along the fence to the back of the vacant lot, where there was a dark street. I knew we couldn't go back out onto the highway – we'd be caught for sure. I wondered how long it would take for the Whistlers to work out what had happened. Not long, I thought. They'd find the baby gone, then all hell would break loose. They'd call the police. Then they'd jump in their cars and start looking for us.

We hurried along the empty street. It came out onto a road where the shops and the railway station and everything was. I stopped near a streetlight and fished Dirty Joe's note out of my pocket.

"Ben!" Sophie said.

"Gimme a minute."

The baby had finally shut up. It had fucked up our escape nicely, and now I heard it chuckle.

This is what Dirty Joe's note said:

Hotel Ambrose

29 Nameless Lane

The Cripple with the Singing Dogs

The City

The City, I thought. It was a start. I put the directions back in my pocket.

I knew we'd be seen on the street, so I led Sophie into a lane that ran behind the shops. We were still moving fast and I could hear her panting behind me. The baby wasn't making any sound. Finally.

When we came out of the lane we were at the railway station. Lights flashed and bells rang at the crossing. We rushed up onto the platform just as a train lurched and squealed to a stop.

The carriage was full of people. There was a woman with three empty seats around her, and we sat down with her as the train heaved forward again, Sophie sat next to the woman and I sat across from them. The woman's eyes were red. She smiled at the baby and Sophie and me at first, but it was a distant smile, and after that she just gazed out the window. I don't know why she wasn't asking us a million questions. I would've been if I was her.