Chapter 3: A Bird Off Course
I hate the summer sun. In spring it's great. You enjoy waking up to it and soaking it in throughout the day, but summer sun isn't like that. Not in New York anyway. It's hot, it's muggy, and it's impossible to escape. I was currently trying to achieve that very thing and found the only real escape from the sun came from slouching against an old building where there're a couple inches of shade.
There were only a couple of papes left in my hand, but it felt like a hundred after the morning I'd had. I had thoughts of giving up when I saw Zig approaching me from a couple blocks away. I made silent bets with myself about what he would want with me; Spot breaking off our date being the most likely. As he walked up I forced a casual smile on my face, though I was sure he'd see right through it.
"You holdin up in dis heat?" He asked as he joined me in the tiny shade.
I took off my hat and wiped my forehead. "Every summer I tell myself to find a different job that doesn't take standing in this humidity and every summer I don't do it. I'm too lazy and I blame the heat."
Zig laughed, "A merciless cycle."
I lightly joined in then fanned myself with my hat. "I guess I stay for the perks."
"I need ta ask youse a favah."
I raised my eyebrows at his sudden change in subject, but listened all the same.
"Clover's in 'Hattan and she's supposed to be in Queens. Spot is clampin down on her and wants me ta let him know if she's, ya know, slackin on the job."
"Okay…" I waited for him to elaborate because so far, I had no idea what this had to do with me.
"I don't mind handlin Spot, he's easy." I smirked at his confidence.
"But Clover ain't listenin ta me and if she keeps this up, she ain't gonna be a boid much longah."
"Since when do you care about Clover being a bird? I thought you considered her to be a nuisance?" I asked curiously.
It was true. Ever since Spot had allowed her to be a Brooklyn bird last year, Zig had complained about his job being reduced to a child's game. Even though Spot still considered Zig to be his most efficient and reliable bird, Clover was obviously a close second. Now, that's tough for a boy to understand--especially a proud Brooklyn boy.
Zig sighed. Then, after a moment's pause, pointed down the block to where Spot was. He had just finished selling and was on his way over to pick me up for lunch. Taking advantage of our last minute alone, Zig turned slightly toward me. "It's all she's got."
The sincerity in his voice almost caused heartache. Clover was the youngest Brooklyn newsie (Spot never allowed anyone too young because of safety, sending them to the other boroughs instead) and had thus gained the status of little sister to everyone. There was never a day she went without a meal or abed to sleep in and I was sure that if she was still around when she was sixteen, no boyfriend would survive the onslaught of Brooklyn newsies.
Spot came up and greeted me with a quick kiss on the lips. "It's too damn hot out heah. I say we break for lunch." Since it was too hot for any physical contact, he placed his hand beside me on the wall and leaned against it in a way that clearly showed to any passerby that I was unavailable. I didn't mind this in the slightest.
"Ain't youse back a bit early?" Spot asked Zig.
"Uh-"
I turned to Spot with some quick thinking. "I left my necklace in Manhattan yesterday. The clasp must have broken and he recognized it as mine."
Spot glanced between the two of us suspiciously. "You weren't wearing your necklace yesterday. You never wear that necklace."
"Yes, I do. And I did yesterday. I just tucked it under my shirt." Hewas completely right.
"And you recognized it?" Spot turned to Zig, who smiled casually and nodded.
"Anyway," I planted my hat back on and stepped out into the sun. "I have to go to Manhattan to pick it up, so I can't do lunch."
"Wait, why didn't you bring it back with you?" Again, Zig kept astraight face under Spot's watchful eye, showing why he was such a successful bird.
"I gotta connection wit a guy ovah dere. He said the clasp on the necklace was easy enough and is fixin it up as a favah." I smiled at Zig.
"And you have ta pick it up now?" Spot turned back to me.
"You know how important that necklace is, Spot. I've had it since…before I can remember. There's no way I'm leaving it in Manhattan." I turned to leave, but Spot spoke before I could walk.
"Den I'll come wit youse."
"Uh, no. I believe you have some selling to do. Remember? I'm cleaning out your pockets tonight." I went back to plant a kiss on his cheek and smiled. "I'll be back in a couple hours."
I took off quickly, not wanting to face any more questions, and missed the small exchange between Spot and Zig.
"Zig," Spot clapped a hand on his bird's shoulder. "Da next time youse go behind my back wit my goil, make suah youse gotta bettah story den dat, cause I don't wanna know bout it."
Zig froze and watched in humiliation as Spot walked away towards Gideon's. ------------------------------------------------The only problem with Spot's interruption was that I had no idea where to look for Clover. Most likely, none of the other boys had noticed her. Without any idea of her whereabouts, finding her in Manhattan would be nearly impossible. Luckily, I knew Zig's rounds as if I took them myself and decided that walking them would be a good place to start. The unlucky part of it was that it was noon and the streets were busting with people and I was starting to get hungry. Though, my stomach is used to being empty for long periods of time, it was making me cranky and bitter. Being hot and hungry has never been a good combination for me.
After what felt like an eternity of searching the streets, I heard a scramble in an alley nearby and anall-too-familiar voice. Oscar.
I cautiously walked down the alley to find the Delancy brothers closing in on a defiant Clover and another boy her age. As if hunger, heat, and lying to Spot wasn't enough…now I had to deal with these two idiots.
"Don't you maggots have somethin bettah ta do then harass a couple a kids?" I stood at the end of the alley with my hands on my hips. My sour mood clouded my otherwise very alert and sensible judgment.
"Now that you're here, we do," Oscar answered with a growing smirk.
"Cute." I glared and pushed past them to Clover, who now looked caught between excitement and fear. "You've got some explaining ta do, kiddo."
"Sorry, Remy-" Clover started, but stopped when a hand landed on my waist.
I whirled around and pushed Oscar at the chest. "Look, Oscar, I'm hot, tired, hungry, and not very happy right now, so do yourself and your dumb ox of a brother a favor and-hey!"
Hands grabbed my upper arms and Morris easily lifted me off the ground, pinning me to his body. My hat fell to the ground causing my long blonde hair to topple down. The boy with Clover ran at Oscar and began beating his fists at him, but Oscar easily held him off, laughing.
"Hey!" A new voice entered the fray at the alley opening. "Hey, let them go!"
The brothers looked down the alley at the figure, but only laughed again. I, however, took that moment to swiftly kick Morris's shin and plunge my elbow into his gut, causing him to release me and hunch over. After straightening my shirt and tossing my hair to the side, I sent a glare to Oscar. The figure had started running towards us so Oscar did the math and decided to take off in the opposite direction, dragging his brother with him.
"What a dunce." I scoffed, shaking my head after the two.
"Wow! That was so cool!" The boy stood next to me, smiling.
"Did you see that, David? She just took down a guy twice her size!" He turned to the newcomer in excitement.
Even in my anger I couldn't help but chuckle a little. It was Clover's laughter next to me that reminded me why I had come and brought back my black mood. "Clover, you wanna explain yourself?" I asked with my arms crossed.
The boy piped up in her defense. "It's not her fault. I asked her-"
"And she made the decision for herself." I shot back at the kid without thought and kept my gaze on Clover instead. "What were you thinking, coming to Manhattan when you were specifically told to go to Queens?"
"I told you, I asked her to come." The boy stepped in between us and looked up at me defiantly.
Furrowing my eyebrows, I asked, "And who are you, exactly?" I found his chivalry to be quite cute and felt my anger ebbing, just looking at him.
"I'm Les. And that's my brother David." He pointed over my shoulder at the older boy.
I finally turned and took in the fourth person. He was a little taller than me, with curly brown hair and nice clothing. Or, at least, nicer than mine.
He came, put a hand on his younger brother's shoulder, and looked at me.
"Sorry if he caused any trouble."
"Well, I'm sure he didn't ask the Delancy brothers to harass them. But they should know better than to mess with those two, even if they are complete trolls."
I looked down at Clover who looked back at me with a guilty smile.
David asked, "Are you Clover's sister?"
I tilted my head in confusion because of the way he emphasized 'you'. Had Clover talked about having an older sister? The sudden drop of Clover's head and shuffling of feet told me she must have.
"I don't know what Clover's told you but-"
Clover quickly stepped between us and piped up. "This is Remy. She's a newsy too." I rolled my eyes at Clover's obvious attempt to cover something up.
"It's nice to meet you." David held out his hand for me to shake, but I didn't oblige. Maybe I should have but I was in way too big of a hurry to be nice.
"Uh-huh." I turned away to search for my hat and found it a couple feet away. Shaking it and slapping it on my pants, I got rid of the dust and hastily pulled back my hair and tucked it under the hat.
"Are you okay?" David asked hesitantly.
"Oh sure," I waved my hand at him. "It's nothin I haven't dealt with before."
"Do you know those two?" He pointed down the alley where Oscar and Morris had disappeared.
I nodded distractedly and whipped my brow. "Do you know what time it is?" I asked.
David looked down at his watch and answered, "It's 1:45."
"Great." Without another glance to David and Les, I grabbed Clover's arm and pulled her down the alley to the street. "Common."
"Wait," David followed with his brother in toe. "Don't you want to report this or something?"
"Not really." We reached the end of the alley where I tugged Clover to the right. I was relieved to find we still had time to get back to Brooklyn before it was too late.
"But what they did…that isn't right!" He stepped in front of me to stop us from going any further.
"Look," I did my best to keep my voice calm and my temper in check. Even if David was trying to help, he was standing between me and a long awaited date with Spot. "I appreciate your concern but we don't have time and the bulls wouldn't give a damn anyway. It's not that big of a deal."
I pushed pass him and continued down the street but he wasn't convinced. "Are you sure you're okay?" He called after us.
Not wanting to delay our journey any more, I waved my hand in the air to say goodbye without turning around. Clover followed, waving over her shoulder and calling back to the boys. "See you later, Les! Bye, David!"
Just to make sure she didn't run off, I held Clover's hand as we pushed through the crowds toward the Brooklyn Bridge. When we finally got out of the thick of it, she looked cautiously up at me.
"Am I in trouble?"
"Not yet, but we all are if we don't get back soon." I dodged between two moving carriages and received an angry look from the driver. "Both Zig and I covered for you, so I hope you enjoyed yourself today."
"You did?" I refused to look at her, knowing she was wearing a guilty expression, but nodded. With one pout, she could melt me into submission.
"I guess I won't be coming back to Manhattan for a while…" She sighed, depressed. "Well, at least I was able to help Les one last time."
"What do you mean?"
"His dad got hurt and is out of work, so they needed money."
"Clover, are you telling me that you gave all your money to a complete stranger?!"
"He's not a stranger, Remy. Les is my friend and his family is nice." She lowered her voice so I was barely able to hear her. "And I didn't give him just my money."
I froze at her words, turned her around, and knelt down so we were eye toeye. "Whose money did you give him?"
She didn't answer, but avoided eye contact.
"Clover," I closed my eyes in exasperation and slight fear. "Please, please, please…" I opened myeyes again to look at her. "Tell me you didn't take the money from the lodging house jar."
"They're in trouble, Remy! Les says he might have to stop going to school!" Clover was desperate, but I was on the verge of hysteria. I sat frozen for a minute; my mind going a mile a minute in attempt to find a solution. Spot wouldn't overlook this, no matter what face Clover gave him.
"Let's go." I grabbed her hand again and started dragging her back through Manhattan.
"Where-"
"We're not going back to Brooklyn without every penny you stole. I can't believe you, Clover. How much was it?"
There was no response and when I finally stopped to look at her, I noticed she was crying. I mentally slapped myself for being so harsh and knelt down again.
"Look, what you did wasn't right and I doubt Spot's gonna just let it go, but I'll do everything I can to help." I wiped one of her tears off her cheek and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, kiddo. We'll figuresomething out, okay?"
She gave a sniffle and nodded her answer.
"Now, I need to know how much you took so we can give it all back. Do you know?"
"Yeah, it was five dollars and 15 cents. A dollar of it was mine. I'd been saving up."
"Okay, we'll have to sell this afternoon just in case and then go ask Les for the rest of the money back. Do you know where he lives?"
Again, Clover nodded and began leading the way through the streets, her shoulders sagging in resignation.------------------------------------------------------------------The Jacobs family lived in a small building only a couple blocks from Central Park. I wasn't looking forward to going in there, but knew we couldn't return without trying. And any sensible family wouldn't accept money that wasn't rightfully earned. In fact, I doubted that Les had even told his parents about the money yet. I sighed. It had to be almost five o'clock and even if we ran back to Brooklyn, there was no way I would make it back in time for dinner with Spot.
Running my hand over my face, I thought of the millions of places I would rather be at that moment, and then knocked on the door three times.
"Have I already told you how much you owe me for this?" I asked Clover as the door opened.
The young man from earlier opened it and greeted us with a surprised smile. "Oh…Hi."
"Hi," I smiled and pushed Clover in front of me. "Clover has something she needs to say to Les."
"Oh, sure." He opened the door wider in order to allow us to see Les sitting inside. With a gentle nudge from me, Clover crossed the threshold and approached Les.
"Do you want to come in?" David asked politely.
"No, that's okay. I'll wait out here."
He nodded and so we both stood there waiting…in complete silence. "So, you're a newsy?" David asked conversationally.
"Yup."
"For how long?"
"About eight years, I think."
David stood awkwardly in the doorway, his hands restlessly hanging at his sides, while I casually stood with my hands in my pockets.
"Do you like it?"
I shrugged, "It puts food in my stomach and a roof over my head."He nodded politely and then we fell into silence again. I looked over his shoulder for Clover, but couldn't see her in the room. What was taking her so long?
There was another awkward moment of silence in which I played unconsciously with my grandmother's necklace.
My grandmother's necklace.
"Oh…shit." I mumbled to myself. There, hanging around my neck was the small opal I had inherited from my mother as a child. When had I put it on? Had Spot noticed it? I looked back up to see concern on David's face and cringed.
"Sorry. It's…" I sighed and ran a frustrated hand through my hair. He had no idea what was going on and why should he care? "I'm not having a very good day."
David had no chance to respond as Clover and Les finally came out into the hallway. I tore my eyes away from David and addressed Clover, "We all set?"
Clover pulled a handful of change out of her pocket and handed it to me.
"Good." I said and pocketed the change. "Now we have to go home."
"Isn't it getting a little late to be walking all the way back to Brooklyn?"
Against my better judgment, I laughed. "Do you always worry this much?"
David opened his mouth to respond but seemed too shocked to find the words he wanted. Seeing as he wasn't going to say anything, I looked down at Les. "Don't worry. I'll make sure Clover is able to come back and visit every once in a while. Though," I eyed Clover standing next to me. "I wouldn't count on anything too soon."
Clover frowned and mumbled a goodbye as I lead the way down the hallway. I exchanged one last goodbye and then Clover and I were down the stairs and back on the streets. Seeing as it was late and we were both hungry, I made the suggestion of eating dinner in Manhattan and Clover agreed.
The day had not gone how I had originally planned, but even with missing dinner, I found myself in a slightly better mood. Clover may have caused a lot of trouble, but like I said, it's not easy staying mad at her for long. Plus, I figured Spot would be plenty mad for the both of us.
"I like David." Clover stated rather matter-of-factly. "He's nice."
I nodded, but had my mind on someone else. Tomorrow was Monday, and Spot usually handled the next week's business with Flash and Zig over dinner. Tuesdays were set aside for Manhattan and Wednesday was poker night. Who knew when we would have a chance for a date.
"And he's cute too. I bet he's smart. Don't you think so?" She flashed a smile that grabbed my attention and made me narrow my eyes.
"Just what are you playing at?" I eyed her carefully.
"Nothing…" She answered and I playfully pushed her with my hip.
"Clover, you are dangerously close to being kicked out of Brooklyn." I playfully slapped her with my hat. "If only Spot knew his bird was working against him."
Knowing better then to take what Clover mentioned seriously, I opened the door to Tibby's and laughed in good humor. "David wouldn't last one second in Brooklyn, let alone being a newsy…."
