Chapter Two
The next day, the Delanceys were walking around Manhattan. They escaped from jail the night before and were all too ready to do it again if need be. When they saw a newsie, they got up in their face. It didn't threaten any of the newsies because we won.
-
A man stepped off a train with a flask in one hand and a photo in the other. He walked away from the train station and into Manhattan. He wandered around for a while, drinking from his flask the whole way. Soon after, he ran into the Delanceys, literally. They threatened him and started back on their way, but the man stopped them.
"Have you two respectable gents ever seen this girl?" he showed them the photo.
"Respectable? Gents? What're you tryin' to pull, mister?" Oscar asked.
"I need to find this girl. Look at the picture!" the man exclaimed.
"That's Archer!" Morris growled.
"Archer?" the man asked.
"That's her. Why do you need to know?" Oscar said.
"I just do. Can I trust you two to find her?"
"For a price." they both said.
"I'll pay you whatever you want, just get me this girl." the man settled.
"We'll bring her to the abandoned warehouse over there in two days, morning. Have our payment of $100 ready by then." Oscar ordered. They both shook hands with the man.
"What're your names?" the man asked.
"Oscar."
"Morris."
"Now who are you?" Oscar asked.
"Burke. Charles Burke."
"Good doing business with you, Mr. Burke." Morris smirked as he and Oscar walked away.
"I'll have you back, Juliana..." Burke said, walking to a hotel.
-
Spot and I were walking together back and forth on the bridge, talking about the strike at length. Before we knew it, the sun was setting. We had even forgotten about lunch. We bought two apples and ate them on the crate tower. We had taken the day off from selling and Spot was going to show me the best selling spots the next day. It had only been two days since I'd seen them, but I missed my "brothers" in Manhattan.
"Spot, can we go pay a visit?" I asked.
"Yeah, nothin better to do." he replied. We jumped off the tower and headed to Manhattan.
-
"Arch!" Mush exclaimed when he saw us heading to the Lodging House.
"Mush!" I exclaimed.
"Hey fellas! Guess who's here!" Mush said.
"Is it the milkman?" Race joked.
"Do I look like the milkman?" I asked.
"Depends on the angle." Blink replied.
"Shut up!" I laughed.
"Why you here, Arch?" Skits asked.
"I can't just come by for a visit? Cause that's all I'm doing." I responded.
"I guess so." he droned.
"Where's Jack?"
"He should be back soon. He ate at Dave's house." Blink said.
"Ah." Spot said as he sat down at a table. "The walkin' mouth."
"Poker, anyone?" Race asked.
"Deal me in." Spot and I said in unison.
"Us too." Mush said as he and Blink sat down.
We played for a while, usually me or Race won. We played 4 or 5 games. After an hour or two we said goodbye and headed back to Brooklyn. We went to bed soon after. I was ready to learn the ropes of Brooklyn life.
-
"That guy was Archer's father!" Morris finally realized the next day.
"Really? I didn't realize!" Oscar said sarcastically. "Now we need to plan how and when."
"We need to grab her when it's dark." Morris added.
"I know that, dumbass! A specific time, though. Let's do 1 a.m. We'll get Uncle Weas's wagon behind the Brooklyn Lodging House. We'll make some noise outside. Being leader and second, she and Spot will get up and see what's wrong. If and when they split up, we'll grab her. If we absolutely HAVE to, we'll grab Conlon too. We'll tie her/them up and take them to the warehouse in the wagon and get the money from her old man."
"That's a great plan, Oscar!"
"Don't ya think I know that?" Oscar said sarcastically again. "Let's go to Tibby's."
-
Spot was showing me around Brooklyn and all the good selling spots, and late afternoon, we ran into Checkers. He asked us to join him for a soda. We did. It was at a place called McGarrity's Diner. It reminded me a lot of Tibby's. As a matter of fact, a lot of stuff in Brooklyn reminded me of Manhattan. Even some of the guys.
After we left McGarrity's, we headed back to the Lodging House and played poker until we went to bed. I felt safer in Brooklyn than I thought I'd be. Maybe because I was always with Spot.
Little did I know that I was a lot less safe than I thought I'd be.
