Of Saints and Sinners

Prologue, part 1

"Young, wild American."

{1883}

"Charlie, can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" Charlotte asked, tightening her boots.

"Can you run the stand for me? George is out sick, so I gotta go out and do the fishing," said Scott as he loaded the wagon with his fishing supplies.

"Why can't you just close the stand for the day? I'd rather be doing something else."

"I'd rather have you watch the stand and be bored all day than stealing from the drunks at the bar, which I assumed you were going to do anyway?" Scott pressed. Although Charlotte was the older twin by two minutes, Scott cared deeply about the safety of his twin.

Charlotte was always the trouble maker between the two siblings, but Charlotte would insist that she was just the more fun twin. By fun, she meant stealing, scamming, and running away from people she pissed off.

"Fine," Charlotte groaned, "I'll run the stand, but it's gonna be so boring!"

"That's the spirit!" Scott gave Charlotte his apron before climbing onto the wagon, "I only have a few fish left to sell, and I'll take over once I come back with more. Promise me you'll stay out of trouble today?" He held his pinky out to Charlotte, and she intertwined hers with his.

"I promise..." Charlotte hesitated, and gave a quick hug before ruffling Scott's messy, dirty blonde hair.

Scott swatted Charlotte's hand away, hating how she always did that, "I don't believe you at all, but I'll see you in a few hours. I love you." 

"Love you too Scottie," Charlotte waved. She tied her brother's apron around her waist and proceeded to walk toward the fish stand.

***

"Fresh fish for sale over here!" Charlotte exclaimed to passerbys, who seemed to be ignoring her. After the regulars came by and bought a couple of fish, she was left with three large bass. And boy, was she bored.

A young man, who looked to be in his early 20s,  passed by the fish stand. To be honest, Charlotte wanted to just give the remaining bass to him, head to the saloon to pickpocket a drunk, and pay back Scott for the bass she'd give away. The man was looking at the fish, and after careful (careful) thought, Charlotte decided to go for it.

"Hey mister!" Charlotte spoke, which seemed to break the man from what looked like a deep thought, "Do you want the rest of these fish? I'm bored, and I wanna head over to the bar."

He paused for a moment, slightly taken aback. He wasn't expecting to hear a femminine voice; he assumed he was in the company of a smaller boy because of her short hair. Charlotte's baggy clothes, borrowed from Scott of course, covered her figure, and her habit of binding her chest (cause they get in the way) didn't help either.

The man hesitated a bit, and adjusted his black hat, "Sure."

Delighted, Charlotte wrapped the remaiming bass in paper before handing them over to him. Because the bass were so big, Charlotte felt like he would need help bringing them to his horse.

"Would you like some help bringing these to your horse, Mr...?"

"Just call me Arthur, Miss...?

"Charlotte, but call me Charlie." The young woman smiled, throwing a bass over her shoulder and proceeded to walk with Arthur to his horse. It was a short walk, down the street. Charlotte had pickpocketed or scammed a lot of people in this town, but she had never seen Arthur around before.