Chapter 11

"Move out of the way, you stupid girl!"

I barely managed to register what was going on before I felt a hand clamp on the back of my collar and pull me swiftly and painfully to the side. I fell to the ground hard. The rain that had started early that afternoon made the stones of the road slick, and finding my balance was impossible when I could not even tell what direction was right or left. I heard muffled screaming and a crash.

I took a moment to compose myself, and was about to get up when I felt a hand – I could not tell if it belonged to the same person – pull me harshly to my feet. It was Javert, and his eyes were fire.

"What on earth are you doing lying down? Help out, you incompetent child!"

My eyes felt like a coating of fuzz was covering them, and it took a good few moments for me to regain my proper vision. I blinked rapidly.

The scene before me was a flurry of movement. I watched as people hurried back and forth, helping each other from the cold, wet ground, and gathering fallen red and ginger stones.

No, not stones. Apples and oranges littered the ground.

I realized I was just standing numbly, and shook myself awake.

"Javert?" I called. He had left me by the side of the road, and I lost sight of him.

"I told you, you will call me either sir or Inspector. I won't handle insubordination."

I suppressed a sigh of relief, and turned around to see him standing there, with a bag filled to the brim with bruised apples. He shoved the bag in my arms. "Make yourself useful," he said.

"Wait a –" I started, but he had already gone. I watched as he helped the elderly men and women struggling to pick up the fruit, and yelled at anyone being lazy or just dawdling. I stared down at the bag then, anger stirring inside me, put it to the side of the road and ran to aid everyone else. I wasn't going to let Javert believe I was idiotic or useless.

"What are you doing, Lieutenant?" he said. He stared at me coldly as I began tearing at pieces of wood – the two broken wheels and part of the cart – and throwing them to the side. "We're not trying to take the cart apart!"

"I know that, sir! This happened to my uncle; I know what to do. These pieces of wood are flimsy, and they'll just pose a danger! We can reattach them later!"

"We don't have the tools!" It was becoming necessary to scream now; the rain was pelting down on us. I was jealous of Javert for owning a hat, though it looked like it didn't help much.

A middle-aged man with thick arms and a scraggly beard said his shop was three houses down, and they could wait for the rain to let up before doing anything. It seemed, whether I would be doing this or not, we'd have to wait out the rain before the man who owned the cart could do anything. I looked up and saw him, hiding from the rain in a doorway, with a woman's arm wrapped around his shoulders. He looked so upset, I felt my strength grow, and worked faster. I was still much slower than Javert; I am nimble and flexible but not very strong. The heavy pieces of wood were taking a lot of energy out of me.

Javert seemed to notice this. "Stop pushing yourself – you'll become useless."

Another spark of rage, and power returned, if only momentarily, to my limbs. "Not a damn chance, sir."

Javert's eyebrow twitched. "Have it your way, girl," he said, continuing his work.

When we finished cleaning the area, there was some clapping and back-patting. A man in a loose cotton shirt and dark blue vest came over to me, patting me good-naturedly on the shoulder. "You did a fine job there," he said, his gruff voice kind and his gap-toothed smile genuine.

"T-thanks," I said, and he moved on.

Javert walked over to me. "You seemed rather intent on proving your worth to me."

"Did I succeed?"

That single eyebrow raise was really starting to get on my nerves. "Perhaps," he said. He looked down, and his eyelids flickered. He grabbed at my hands suddenly before I had a chance to realize he was moving.

"For the sake of whatever deity you hold sacred, child, can't you even attempt to be careful?"

I stared at him stupidly for a moment, before looking down at my hands. Scratched and cracked, thin trails of blood snaked down my arms and dripped on the cobblestone. My palms glistened with red. Some tiny pieces of wood jutted out of the flesh.

"Oh…" I murmured.

Javert gave a heaving sigh, muttered something about how I'm more trouble than I'm worth, and then began using his teeth to take out the splinters. It made my stomach twist to see his mouth coated with my blood.

"Stop," I said softly, although he was helping immensely. My clumsy fingers would've just shoved the splinters in deeper, causing a serious infection.

He spit the last one out. "I believe that I just saved you from months of torment, so if I were you I would be expressing my gratitude." He wiped his mouth, and his glove changed from white to red. His upper lip curled back, and he spit again. I couldn't tell if it was necessary or not.

"Listen, I –!" But I cut myself off when I saw a flash in the corner of my eye. A small boy was running hurriedly from the scene of the crash, and just before he turned the corner, I managed to catch a glimpse of orange in his pocket.

I sighed, and with a mutter of "Shit!" turned on my heels and chased after him. I knew that if I cried 'Stop, thief!' a mob might start up from the men and women around the cart, and I couldn't have that for two reasons:

1. I have no idea how to calm down an angry mob, and

2. I think I can handle a young boy by myself.

I ran after the runt, but he was eerily fast, and I had to put most of my remaining strength pumping my legs to catch up to him.

"Goddamn it, kid," I cursed under my breath, "why couldn't you just be honest?"

At this point, he noticed I was racing after him, and bolted into a narrow, curving alleyway. Luckily, I knew exactly where that alleyway led to, and furiously sprinted forward. Kid, I know these streets better than you; I grew up on 'em. Don't think for one second you can trump me there. I finally found myself on the top of the arch bridge crossing over the street – an area where one route intersects the other. Luckily it was low, and I jumped off just as the boy came out from under (secretly very glad for the medical wraps around my chest), and I took hold of his collar as I fell and brought him to the ground with me (never said I was graceful).

"Stop – no, stupid, I said – goddamn it!" Struggling with the lanky boy proved harder than I initially thought. He was like wet soap; slippery and hard to keep hold on.

"Let go of me, you—" with one strong push meant, in all likeness, to shove me off but only proved to twist my head upward in an awkward position, "—FREAK!"

I managed at that point to grab hold of his thin wrist, and twisted him around so his back faced me, and I pulled his arm up slightly, until he gasped and his knees fell in surrender.

"Shut up, you little twerp! You are in no position to speak to me like that! I am an officer of the law! Treat me with respect!" God, I was beginning to sound like a bad imitation of Javert. "You should know at your age that it is wrong to steal. I saw you take those oranges." I turned him around, holding him by the shoulders, and stared him down intently.

"Listen," I said, more calmly, seeing his face twisted in childlike indignation. "If you want the fruit that badly, earn it if you can't pay for it. Yes, I know hard work is aggravating sometimes, but –" he turned away, so I gave him a soft shake, alerting him to look into my eyes again, "– listen. But you can't steal. It's wrong. You're costing that poor man money, and that's money he needs, considering what happened to him just now. Do you understand?"

"Yes," said the boy gloomily.

"Now you will walk back with me and return the fruit you took. I will let you go with a warning this time, but I don't know if I can help you again if you continue to do this. Do you promise me you'll stop stealing?"

The boy mumbled something incoherently and looked down at his shoes, shuffling away from my grasp but not running away.

"What?"

"I said yes."

"Good," I said, triumphant at my small victory. "Now," I began, lifting myself up and brushing off my knees – which helped for naught, considering how wet and dirty I had become, not to mention I now had blood on my clothes… as well as on the boy's, "come with me and we'll negotiate with the grocer."

"Not so fast." I turned around and shuddered – just as I had feared, it was Javert. There was no telling what he might do to the boy. I had a suspicion that the crime he hated worst of all was theft.

"Sir, please, listen to me," I said.

"No need to explain, I've seen it all," replied Javert icily. "Come, boy, with me. We'll talk to the grocer, you and I. Lieutenant, you go back to the station. I'll expect you in my office when I return."

I stared blankly at him until he disappeared from view. My mind sparked back to life at the same time I noticed the rain had let up, and one word formed in my mind.

Shit!