Home to Avonlea

32. Tales from New York

"I gotta start by saying that if there had been a chance to push Joseph Bines right off the deck of the steamer into the deep depths of the ocean I'd have done it in a second." James said bluntly.

Gilbert and Diana were listening raptly as James began to speak, eager not to miss a word. As soon as Joseph had been mentioned, James' bright smile faded and his eyes were haunted. His voice had lowered and he sighed, taking a sip of his drink before spilling his knowledge of the highly disliked boy.

"Unfortunately neither of our tickets ranked high enough to tread the top deck. I doubt Bines even had a ticket. Nearly everything I know is gathered from some lads I knew from New York that spent time him. I only met Joseph several times but that was enough to see what kind of a person he is. If I hadn't known what I had when I first met him I'd have thought different of him - he can turn on the charm when he needs to and that's for sure." James' soft Irish accent was thicker when he spoke low.

"I heard he'd snuck on board." Gilbert nodded. "I heard a lot about him."

"He does a lot of sneaking, that boy. I'm telling you, he's rotten to the core. It's a wonder he snuck off the steamer and into Avonlea without anyone noticing..." James paused, a small smile tugging his lips. "I remember we stepped off the boat and we could barely walk. Bash was alright, he was used to sea legs."

Gilbert smiled too, thinking back. He was full of so much hope and nervousness to be home again at last and to see Anne. He had no idea at the time all of the trouble that was headed his way. He felt a rush of sad nostalgia of the time before Joseph took over their lives. His smiled slipped away. He looked at James and his friend's smile had gone too. Joseph had a way of sucking out all the happiness from somebody's life.

"I heard that he was with a man named Redmond Bines the whole journey here. Mr Bines had taken Joseph under his wing in New York and raised him to be a criminal just as himself." James explained. "I guess most good Christian folks would say it wasn't Joseph's fault he turned out the way he did. I suppose I'd be inclined to believe that too if I didn't know some of the things he did."

James gazed slowly around the churning, noisy inn and sighed heavily before turning his starry eyes back to his companions.

"Some things you don't learn, some things come straight from the heart." James said quietly, a serious expression laid on his face. "Good and bad."

"What did Joseph do? Before he came to Avonlea, I mean." Diana couldn't help but ask, although she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

James hesitated. There was one thing he couldn't bring himself to say out loud. It sat burning him at the pit of his stomach for many years. It was too terrible and it hurt too much to talk about it, not after it being buried deep down for so long. He bit his tongue and told them instead of the other numerous terrible things he knew about Joseph.

"The boys from New York heard that Joseph pushed a kid in front of a cart. It was his friend, though what kinda friends criminals have I don't know..."

"He pushed a child beneath a cart?" Diana was shocked.

"Doll, it wasn't recent. This was when he was a kid too. Not that it excuses his actions." James said. "They were only ten and his friend saw him steal from a rich gentleman. I'd say this was just after Joseph had fallen in with Bines, so he still had friends but he'd started to be influenced by criminals."

"That's so sad." Diana said quietly. "That poor child..."

"His friend was going to tell somebody. Word is a fight broke out between them, you know how kids get when they're mad - like wild animals--" James was speaking quickly up to that point before he stopped and met Diana's eyes. "In the blink of an eye, perhaps one badly timed push and the other boy ended up under the wheels of a speeding cart."