The freezing water slapped me in the face. Pins scratched all over my body, spreading from my toes to the head. But I kept kicking and pummeling the murky water with my small, stout hands. The deck on the other side seemed to be miles away. But it could't be.
Below me, a cold spirit pulled at me subtly, begging me to come to her. But I couldn't. Not without a fight. Papa once said that spirits could play tricks on desperate people and lure them to their doom. I wondered if one of those spirits was in the Hudson River.
My arms throbbed with soreness, and the bitter taste of the river water stings my throat. The deck seemed even farther away. I wanted to stop, to float on the river. But the Husdon never showed mercy. I had to keep swimming. Not just to get away from the water spirit, but the people on the side I jumped from. The people that had snatched up my siblings.
"Margaret, Anne," I croaked. I didn't deserve to go through this. It wasn't my fault Papa's job was rotton, with dirty bosses and blind cops. I didn't ask them evil bosses to break him until he could hardly speak, let alone sing. And I never, for one second, even considered him dropping dead on duty and getting tossed out into the street. So why was I getting punished for it?
Mama and Papa had always told us that doing good would bring good. But they were wrong. They did good all their lives, never failing to give to the poor, no matter how little they had. And look what happened. Papa tossed out like garbage and thrown into the street, where he was burned by a cooking fire gone wild the following day. And Mama...losing her husband, her home, and her money killed her in the form of a flu.
When I finally pulled myself up onto the dock, ice speared through my bones. The crisp, dry air only accentuated the bitterness. I glanced through the fog at what had once been home. There was nothing to see but the glow of a lamp. The orphanage ladies wouldn't be able to find me. They had gotten my sisters and brothers, but I wasn't gonna let them get me, even before I decided to jump into the river and swim away.
Aching and chilled, inside and out, I limped away. Maybe there would be a place with a nice fire that I could warm my feet by. But then again, there were stories even my parents couldn't shield me from. Stories about orphans who froze to death in winter when no one let them in. Orphans were children with no parents.
Both of my parents were dead. And ladies had come to take all eight of us to the oprhanage. That was a building where orphans lived. I stopped in my tracks. Both of my parents had died, and ladies had come to send us to the oprhans' home...did that make me an orphan?
No I stubbornly thought. Mama and Papa are alive and well and watching over us. That's what Belinda said, right? But if both your parents died, then you didn't have them anymore. That meant...
My whole being trembled from something besides the cold. I was nothing now. There would be no one to tuck me in, no one to make soup for me when I was sick, no one to bandage my cuts, no one... there would be no one. I could not survive. I was nothing.
No, I am something, I reminded myself. A short burst of relief washed over me. But that morphed into a pitless despair. Yes, I am something. I am an orphan, I realized. Reality ripped my heart in two, and I began to sob.
000
Years later, staring out one of the windows of the Refuge, I chewed my lip. That was my seven year old self. Young, innocent, safe child tossed onto the streets of New York. But I was older now. And I had grown stronger. And smarter.
A nice looking carriage was parked near the front door, which wasn't too far from the window. The stuffy room had become so hot that the window had been thrown open. No one would assume that a kid would have the guts to jump from four stories.
But Jack Kelly is not just a kid, I silently shouted at them. No, tying my clothes together to form a rope would not be enough. But the dirty sheets splattered with stains of brown and red...as worn as they were, they wouldn't do any good. But lucky for me, a dead cherry tree was a leg's reach away from the window. And I was good at climbing stuff.
Slowly, but surely, I eased my legs out of the window and onto the braches of the cherry tree. In a leap of faith, I shoved myself off the window ledge and grabbed wildly at the tree. Lucky for me, I managed to snatch a small branch. From there I eased my way down. All the while, the boys up in the window gawked at me while some in another cell busied the cop standing guard with their mouths.
Quiet as a shadow, I scurried over to the bigshot's carriage and got my butt onto the back. Peeking around for danger, I hurriedly flung the horsehair blanket over me and cocooned myself tightly. The heat was suffocating, but if I could get out of this dump, it would be something worthwhile.
After what seemed like forever, the carriage jolted, the wheels began to roll, and I was getting transported outta the Refuge back into New York City.
000
After the driver stopped the carriage for something, I automatically leapt out from under the blanket and into the air. Hastily tucking the blanket back onto the carriage's behind, I dashed into the nearest building I could see. Back against the wall and my chest puffing, I looked outside to see if anyone had noticed. The driver was totally unaware, but the guy's boss...oh lordy. He was looking right at me!
Top hat, nice suit, and big mustache, he stared at me. And a slow smile spread across his lips. And he winked at me. Minutes later, he was back in his carriage, which rolled away.
"Hey kid, what you doing here?" A white haired man with a bowler cap poked at me. "You need a job?"
"A job?" I stammered. Was I really that lucky?
"Selling papes. You can room here at night." He gestured toward the stairwell. "Bunks up there with lots of other boys." Too good to be true.
"Really? I'd love to!" I gushed. "But...I don't have any money."
"Well, then I spose..."
"Wait mister!" A boy with a crutch came hobbling in. under sandy bangs shone two blue pebbles. "He's with me. We wants to work for you. And we'll room together."
"You're with him? Well then, I spose you're gonna pay for this." He grinned, revealing his gold teeth.
"Yessir." The crip handed him some change and beckoned at me to follow to him. "Come on, buddy."
When we out of the guy's way, I demanded, "Why did you do that? We don't even know each other."
"Doing good brings good," he commented. "Anyway, I could use a friend any day."
Didn't my parents say that? Why was I being ungrateful? This kid had just saved my life.
"Well, thank you," I stuttered. "What's your name, by the way?"
"Call me Crutchie." He grinned real big. "And you?"
"Jack. Jack Kelly." I suddenly grinned real big myself. This kid was a rarity with his golden smile and heart. He'd be real nice to have for a best friend...or a brother. Maybe we would be that one day.