Wally - @Short Story

Wally - 2

Wally  -  2

by sloanranger

The population here was not as dense so they sold fewer papers than those at the heart of the city. But even at a nickel apiece the boys managed to get rid of stock and clear money.

Levy always made at least a buck fifty and Wally closer to two. Both were small for their age and both cute kids but Wally had a blue-eyed innocent look. Levy bore the Levantine features of his race and in 1933 he was still called Hebe, more often than not.

By eight o'clock their papers were gone.

"Race you to Gish's," Levy took off in a sprint, Wally coming on fast.

Two and a half blocks north was an establishment called Little Gish's Saloon & Eatery, a neighborhood gathering place.

As inducement to whetting thirst Little Gish offered all the beans, bread and coffee you could eat for a dime. Legally, Levy and Wally were too young to frequent the place but several neighborhood kids got their daily nourishment there.

Most law enforcement types looked the other way so long as the kids didn't hang around the bar.

They served two kinds of beans: brown pinto beans that Wally had eaten at home and white ones that Gish called Navy beans. Wally had never had them before he tried them at Gish's. He liked them. He thought if they had beans like that in the Navy maybe he'd join up one day.

The bar was on the extreme right and ran from the front to back of the room. The boys laid their dimes on the bar and grabbed a booth along the windows on the far left.

At the table set up in the middle of the room was a large pot of beans with a ladle. It shared space with piles of sliced white bread, bowls, spoons, a stack of small plates and a big pot of coffee.

The proprietor also set out a plate of cold cuts but these weren't included in the deal. Wally and Levy didn't mind foregoing them too much because occasionally they saw flies circling the meat.

Once in a while Gish'd put out carrot sticks and green onions in a glass of water. Wally or Levy would look up and if the bar-keep nodded, they'd take a couple - mostly onions, hardly ever the carrots. Stacks of mugs stood beside the coffee pot and sometimes there was milk, often not. But Gish always kept a full sugar bowl and the two boys spooned in lots of it.

"You wanna go to the movies Saturday?" Levy said, looking at Wally over his bowl.

"Nah, just Shirley Temple."

"Yeah, but second feature is Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper."

Wally tried to look disinterested, but he liked that a movie actor had his name even if the actor was old and fat.

"Yeah, all right... maybe."

Wally sopped up the brown bean juice with his bread and got up for another helping. Levy went with him and filled his mug with coffee and sugar, brought it back then took his bowl up for more food.

(To be continued).