I hope this reaches you! I think I got the address right, but I'm not sure. I was tempted to only put your name on the envelope and hope it got to you, but there are a thousand Nancys in London, and I don't know your last name. Besides, you and Bill aren't properly married, so I don't know how he'd react to me putting his last name as yours. I know you've given his last name on occasion, but...
I bet your surprised to be getting a letter from me, The Artful Dodger! Bet you didn't know I could read or write, huh? Well, I can't, but I did find a lovely gent here on the boat who was more than happy to help me write you a letter. He's an officer, and a downright good chap. He said he'd sneak this letter into the next shipment and pass me any returns.
I hope you're well. I hope Bill is well, and Charley, and Fagin and everyone. Even Oliver. He was a good boy, for all the trouble he caused. Had the makings of becoming the next me!
All joking aside, I really hope everyone is alright. You, especially. Things were rough, weren't they? I bet you've all managed to wait it out and that Oliver's with you good and proper, or out of the way or even dead. Now, don't get me wrong, I liked the little bugger just fine. It was I who brought him in, wasn't it? Suppose it's all my fault, then...
Or maybe it's your fault for listening to Fagin in the first place and bringing him back. Or Bill's for taking him on a robbery instead of one of us more seasoned boys. I'd've loved to have gone in his place, that's for sure! You wouldn't have caught me getting shot, never! Did you know how long I wanted to do that? Go with Bill on a robbery? Making wipes and wallets didn't have enough to it anymore. I guess you could say I got soft, getting caught like I did. But I would have gotten out of it, mind you!
Oh, now Officer Hope he said his name was is laughing at me. I told him my story and he took pity on me, being so young and alone in the world. Said he'd been jailed for a time when he was younger for picking pockets, too, but reformed and became a good person. He's a friend. Even likes my hat.
Nance? You remember that day when you came over and I'd gotten hurt what in that bar fight at Cripples? I asked you something. And you didn't answer. Now, Dodger doesn't need an answer because he thinks he's got it all figured out, he does. You, love Bill because you have to. But you love him anyways, even if you didn't have to. What I means is, a girl like you, who does what you does and have done and still do when the occasion calls for it, well your trapped, aren't you? You've got no where to go and you need something to hold on to. I know how you drink, and how you've always drunk, since I can remember. And I was young when I met you, and you'd been drinking then. But things got worse after that dinner. You remember. How Bill got angry and we didn't do nothing to stop anything from happening and the boys and the old one and I all just watched and didn't help you when you needed it. That's when it got worse.
You're a good girl, Nancy. Don't let anyone tell you different, never! Not even Bill. You're the best there's ever been and a good one what's been there when she's been needed and even when she wasn't.
I should've helped you then, though I was young. What was I, 9, 10? We all should've helped each other out. We've suffered in our line of work, all of us, you especially when you lived with us. I know, don't try to hide it. I know what both of them did to you and how you didn't deserve it. None of us did, but you especially. If there's one thing that living with Fagin and the rest has taught me, it's that there's a price for everything. Something you think'll be good and fine, room and board and food and friends in exchange for what you make in the day, isn't as free as it sounds. He's hurt us all, Nance. Especially you. You don't owe him nothing, nothing at all.
Tell everyone I send my best from abroad! And that you can bet that I'll be back before you know it, out on good behavior if they do that type of thing. Officer Hope says he doesn't know if they do or don't. But I'll be back and things will go back to the way they was! Prolly even better! I am, after all, only a few years younger than me and don't have the gallows in my immediate future! Only the wide open sea and the continent. Perhaps I could become a pirate... Captain Dodger, I like the sound of it. And Officer Hope can be my first mate. I'll come back for the rest of you lot, too. And together we'll sail the 7 seas doing what we do best- only on a broader scale, of course.
So don't fret your eyelids on me not being alright, 'cause you know your Artful alright and you know I'm good for my word. As good as any of us can be. I'll be back before you know it!
Nance, take care of yourself. And the others. But yourself, mostly.
All my best from the open seas!
Dodger
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The letter was crinkled into a ball by the fist of the only one to read it. He wasn't supposed to have read it- he wasn't the addressee. But the addressee was gone, long gone, as were most of the others that had been mentioned. Dodger wasn't coming back, and he knew that, and it was folly to think so. His world was better without Jack Dawkins in it, though it lacked the excitement it once had. He had gone to the funerals, and watched everything from the shadows, modest though they had been. He'd gone down to Newgate and seen the old man swing, careful not to make eye contact, and not be recognized. If they did, his number would have been up for sure.
He shouldn't have even found the letter. But curiosity got the best of him, and when asked to bring some letters to the post office for mailing, he looked at the addressees. A name and an address stuck out and knowing that the girl would never receive the letter, he tore into it and read it ferosicously.
They were selfish. All of them. In all they had ever done. A few acts, however, were done in pure selflessness. Though those acts were gone, as those who had committed them were gone and those who knew of the acts wouldn't ever want to speak to him to give him the true story.
Charley Bates uncurled his fist and pitched the balled up letter into the river, making his way towards his new life.