Johanna discreetly led Ichabod into the ship, hiding him from the fellow sailors who bade her hello. Ichabod felt his heart thumping wildly against his chest, wondering vaguely if Johanna could feel it against her back. What if this was all a ploy? What if she really knew the truth, and was going to murder him when they were alone?
He timidly climbed down into the area below deck. The dark and dingy room was hot and damp. The air was thick and stifling with the stench of sweat and rotten fish. Ichabod swallowed, the sour air leaving a disgusting taste in his mouth. He awkwardly sat down on a chair, resting his hands on the rickety table. Johanna lit a lantern, her fingers fumbling with the matches.
"When was the last time you saw your brother?" she asked.
Is she testing me? Ichabod thought nervously. He cleared his throat, searching for the appropriate answer in his mind.
"Twelve years ago," he said gravelly, his voice low with 'hidden melancholy'.
"How were you separated from him?"
"We were on a ship, heading from Sweden to Southampton, England. But suddenly, our ship was caught in a terrible storm and it got in a wreck. I was lucky; another boat who survived the storm managed to pull me out of the water, but I lost my brother and everyone else in the ship. I thought him dead for a long time, until I found out that he had been in London ten years ago, and that a certain Johanna knew what happened to him."
Johanna bit her lip as she sat next to him, her eyes locked onto her hands. "What did he look like back then?"
"Well, I'm not sure if he would look the same by the time he met you but..." Ichabod wracked his brain to remember the photograph of the corpses that Mr. Samuels showed him. It was rather hard to give a description of someone who you saw drenched in blood. "He was pale...and had dark untamed hair. Rather tall, too, and dark eyes. Is that how he looked when you saw him?"
Johanna nodded, playing with her fingers absentmindedly. "Were you very close to him?"
"Yes, indeed," Ichabod fibbed. "He was the only family I knew."
Johanna looked downcast, her brown eyes gauzed with sadness. "I'm afraid that you won't see your brother again."
Ichabod deliberately stiffened and clenched the table, his eyes widening in feigned shock. "What do you mean? Tell me everything."
Johanna's eyes flickered towards his. They welled with tears of sorrow and regret. "I saw him dead...in the bakehouse in London."
"Please tell me the whole story," pleaded Ichabod. "What happened? Why?"
"I was in his shop one night...he wasn't there when I was. I was alone, Anthony was fetching a carriage so we could run-I mean, go to Brighton. But then I saw a stranger come, a beggar woman. I was afraid that she might harm me, so I hid in a trunk. She said something about...a beadle, and a devil baker, or something like that. I couldn't hear it very quickly, and she mumbled it. But then...the door opened again, and I heard Mr. Todd's voice.
"He demanded why she was here, and she started shouting about the devil's wife and the sign of the devil. Then she said something like..."Don't I know you mister?" Before I knew it, I heard dreadful gurgling!" Johanna wrung her hands, her face paling considerably. "It was so awful, like she was choking. And then there was silence. I was so scared, I wasn't sure what to do. B-but...then the door opened again and I heard my adopted father...Judge Turpin. They started to talk about something, but I couldn't understand. Suddenly, Mr. Todd...he shouted a name that Judge Turpin said earlier..."
"What name?" asked Ichabod quietly.
"I...I can't quite remember," murmured Johanna apologetically. "It started with a "B", I know that...ended with an 'er' sound. But then I heard that awful gurgling again, and splattering of liquid! I was so terribly frightened, I didn't know what was going on out there. I gently opened the lid of the trunk to see the w-whole room splattered with...blood..." At that, Johanna was deathly ashen and her eyes were wide with fear, as if the haunting memory replayed before her. "Then...I saw Mr. Todd, completely soaked in blood. He was holding a razor, and it was c-covered with blood. He pulled me out of the trunk and put me in the bloody chair." She shook her head, covering her face with her white hands. "H-he was about to kill me. He had his razor high in the air and everything! I was frozen, I couldn't move or even breath. I was so certain I was going to die right then and there..."
"But you didn't," added Ichabod. Johanna shook her head, her delicate body trembling.
"Someone...a woman...screamed somewhere downstairs. He froze and then lowered his razor. He...he told me to forget his face and he disappeared. I don't know how long I was sitting there, frozen like a statue but...I finally ran out, determined to get the police and find out what was going on. Anthony had come back with a carriage, and I told him everything that happened. He didn't believe me at first, but I showed him the barber shop covered in blood. We both ran to the police, but at first they didn't believe us. Finally they came and went inside the bakehouse..." Crystal tears gushed out of Johanna's eyes, streaming down her finely chiseled cheeks. Ichabod immediately regretted digging the horrid memories out of the poor girl.
"There were dead people everywhere...and a meat grinder with corpses in it. Judge Turpin, the Beadle Bamford...Mr. Todd. They were all dead, their throats slit and in a pool of blood. Mr. Todd was cradling a beggar woman, whose throat was also slit. The sewer grate was open too...so the police went in t-to find the murderer, but they didn't find anyone. It was so horrible, to see all those people dead..." Johanna, covered her eyes with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Ichabod's heart was clenched with sympathy and sorrow as he rubbed her small back, brushing the tears off of her smooth cheek.
"Johanna, I'm sorry I'm late, but Thomas needed to do some private business, when I was running to get some bread I tripped and found out I stepped on a cat and-"A young man with light hair flew into the room, carrying a loaf of bread in his arms. His eyes widened at the sight of his weeping lover and Ichabod. In a swift motion, the lad pinned Ichabod to the wall, his face contorted with fury.
"Who are you? What have you done to Johanna?"
"I-" Ichabod choked out, struggling to uncurl the man's fingers from his neck. Anthony threw him against the opposite wall before rushing to Johanna. Ichabod's head banged onto the wall and he saw a hundred stars.
"Johanna, are you all right? Are you hurt? What has this stranger done to you?" The words flew clumsily out of the boy's mouth as he hugged Johanna. "Stay back!" he snarled to Ichabod as he dizzily clambered up on unsteady feet.
"No, no, Anthony, it's all right," insisted Johanna, wiping tears from her eyes. "I was being a crybaby as always..."
"What happened, Johanna? Who is he, why is he here?"
"He means no harm, Anthony, it's quite fine. I was only crying because I was...remembering things," Johanna assured him. "He's Ichabod Todd, the...well, the brother of Sweeney Todd..."
Anthony froze, his eyes wide with disbelief. "How do you know he's the brother of Mr. Todd?"
"He looks like him, and the information he gave me sounded accurate..." Johanna said meekly, bowing her head low in shame.
"But what's he doing here?" Anthony asked.
Ichabod rubbed the swelling lump on his head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Anthony, for intruding and worrying you. I was here to find out what happened to Mr...my brother. I thought he was dead for so long, but now that I found out he's alive-well, was, I was desperate for his whereabouts."
"He's dead now," Anthony said rather regretfully. "He's gone. I'm sorry, Mr. Todd, but I think that your searching was in vain."
Ichabod nodded solemnly, glancing apologetically at Anthony. Suddenly, at the sight of the young boy, he remembered a very important detail that Mr. Samuels had gave him so long ago...
"Well, the girl is Johanna, Turpin's adopted daughter, as I already told you," Mr. Samuels admitted. "But the boy was a sailor that had arrived in London recently with Mr. Todd."
...a sailor that had arrived in London with Mr. Todd...
...arrived in London with Mr. Todd...
ARRIVED IN LONDON WITH MR. TODD...
Ichabod suddenly yelped, frightening the skin off of Anthony and Johanna. Of course! Why didn't he realize it? Anthony was the one who brought Mr. Todd to England!
"You're the one who brought my brother to London!" Ichabod exclaimed. "Weren't you the one? The sailor?"
Anthony had a bewildered expression on his face, standing protectively in front of Johanna. "Yes..." he answered slowly. "How did you know?"
"A police told me when I was searching for my brother," Ichabod said feverishly. "Please, tell me what happened! How did you find him? Where was he?"
"What difference does it make?" frowned Anthony, warily studying Ichabod from afar. "He's dead."
"Yes, but I am absolutely desperate to find out what happened to him and how he survived. Even if he is dead now," Ichabod lowered his eyes in pain on cue. "I want to know what had happened to him and how he survived."
Anthony licked his lips nervously, his eyes darting to Johanna for aid. "Why should I tell you?"
"Please, Anthony?" Johanna implored, her heart fraught with sorrow for the lonesome constable. "His brother was all he had..."
Anthony gazed in Johanna's grief-stricken eyes and felt sympathy and compassion flood him. Anthony swallowed and sighed before finally stepping towards Ichabod, sitting on a stool and beckoning Johanna and Ichabod to do the same. Ichabod cautiously seated himself on a splintery chair as Johanna gracefully sat down next to him.
"I can't tell you how much I'm grateful-"
"You don't need to. It's all right," sighed Anthony, peeling stringy splinters off the rough stool.
"How much do you want to know?" he asked.
"Everything."
Did you know that every time you don't review, a pussycat gets baked in a pie?
T'is true.
But if you review, you get a dessert!
Now adding French pastries to the menu! After all, we're in Le Havre...
The menu is: treacle tart, pound cake, sponge cake, knickerbocker glory, sticky toffee pudding, Eton Mess, bread pudding, bananoffee pie, arctic roll, trifle, deep-fried Mars Bars, Toby's loaf of bread, tiramisu, zabaglione, cannoli, Génoise Cake, semifreddo, pignolata, crepe, Ichabod's pain au chocolat, French silk pie, lemon millefeuille, Gateau roll, eclair, macaron, canelé, tarte tatin, peach melba, Oeufs a la neige, and floating island!
WHO WATCHED THE OSCARS?! I was happy that Sweeney Todd won art direction, though rather disappointed they didn't win costume or Best Leading Actor. I thought Johnny Depp did an astounding job, but I can't say much because I never watched Daniel Day-Lewis perform...