The Artful Dodger

Chapter 10

The Dodger awoke early that morning, as the sun began to filter through the dusty windows. He lay quietly for a while listening to the sound of the boy's steady breathing.
Then some noises broke the silence- muffled, desperate sounds of despair.

Dodger sat bolt upright. It sounded like crying! Where was it coming from? He leaped out of his bunk to follow the noise and padded softly to Rose's bed which was separated from the boys behind a ragged curtain.

"Rose? Are you awake?" he whispered.

He heard muffled sobs in reply. The noises must have been her.

"Rose? Can I open the curtain?"

More sobs. He pulled the curtain aside. Rose was curled up, crying on the bed. The Artful Dodger knew that no one was watching so he pulled her onto his lap and held her until she calmed down, a few minutes later. She turned her head and looked up at him.

"Why do you care?" she said in a small voice.

"Rose! Of course I care. We're going to run away together tonight. I don't do that with people I don't care about." he replied in shock.

"You're so good to me, Dodger," she sniffed, "But I'm not sure about the escape. My father's dead because of that man Bill. What if it goes wrong? He might kill us!"

The Artful was also terrified of this possibility, but he concealed his feelings and shook his head- pretending to be scornful of the idea.

"Don't be silly! That won't happen, Rose, we won't get caught. We'll be awright , just the two of us."

She gave him a watery smile, which he returned. However, before either of them could say more, there was a loud noise and commotion outside the curtain.

"Listen, Rose, I've got to go!" Dodger said since he had to leave, as so not to arouse suspicion. However, Rose did not seem to want to let him go. When he stood up, she reached for him grabbed his face in her hands, and pecked him softly on the cheek.

Dodger froze.

What? Did she like him? A girl as pretty as that? He leaned back in a daze and left without a word, leaving a very confused girl behind. Rose combed through her messy hair with her fingers before emerging. Immediately she saw the Dodger bossing the boys around- he even clapped Charley Bates over the head when he complained about the sausages! Paul squealed in delight over the show, and Oliver simply sat munching with his blue cap in his hand.

Rose wondered how the Dodger played his part of loyal thief so well- she could never be so assertive. But the Dodger had a reason for this; he needed to keep Fagin in a good mood so he wouldn't disintegrate when his favourite boy disappeared.

After some aggressive herding, Davy, Oliver and Peter sat on one side of the table, and the Dodger, Charley, and Paul sat on the other. This meeting wasn't a normal occurrence, and the boys were curious when Fagin came out of his den to talk to them. Rose, feeling eyes on her, slid onto the end of the row next to her brother.

"Boys..." he began.

"Yes sir." they chorused.

"We've got a new boy, Peter, you've met him. Look after 'im yeah?"

"Sure thing, Fagin." replied Davy, who was partnered with him for the day.

"Good... good. Now to the point. Bill is gettin' rather protective of Nancy as of late. Paul, Oliver, I doubt you'll try anything, but you older boys... stay away, yeah? One wink and Mike Smith was dead. Be careful."

The boys nodded solemnly. The Dodger knew that this was mostly directed at him, but he didn't care. Rose was who he liked now. Fagin left the head of the table and the boys started their yelling once again.