One week later, the circus finally arrived at its' destination in New York City. The sun rose above the skyscrapers, giving the sky with lights of orange and red, that will soon turn into a beautiful blue. Casey Jr. decided to park at a nearby train station and they began the set up. Sandy, Paige, and Rosie decided to explore the city and do some sightseeing. Dumbo and Timothy decided to go for a fly to see how their first destination looked from a bird's eye view.
The girls continued their stroll around the city, and all were amazed at the skyscraper buildings that towered over them, like giants and the numerous shops and restaurants that very enticing to enter. The blonde felt the adrenaline rush through her veins with excitement.
"Wow, this is amazing!" Rosie said, she took out her camera and snapped a few pictures.
"I can't believe we're really here," Paige added.
"No wonder they call it the greatest city in the world," Sandy said.
They came over to an alleyway, and heard some yelling and fighting down there. Two were male and one was a female. The rough voices of the men made the girls stand up frozen in fear.
"What's going on down there?" the brunette asked, feeling nervous.
"I don't know Paige," frowned Rosie. "But let's check it out."
They went through to investigate and saw the two men harassing someone. The two men appeared to be muggers, one was tall and skinny, and the other was short and fat.
"Come on reddie," the beanpole demanded, "give us your money, and we'll be on our merry way!"
"For yer information, it's mine and I've earned it!" the voice was of a young woman with a hint of European.
"Immigrants don't earn money!" the short man snapped. "You probably stole it!"
"You know a lot about stealin'!" the victim was a young woman in her early twenties with a muscular build, pale skin, freckles, and green eyes. Her long wavy red hair was pulled back in a white ribbon. She wore a dark green vest, a light green shirt underneath with rolled up sleeves, a long black skirt, and dark green flats, along with a green beaded necklace wounding around her graceful neck.
As the first man attempted to stroke her pale cheek, the redhead grew angry and she bit his hand very hard with her teeth! She sunk them in as hard as she could into his flesh!
"Y'OOOOOWWWW!" the man screamed out loud in pain as he fell back, with his hand covered in blood. The girls winced as the sight.
"She bit me!"
The redhead gave him a glare, "That's for tryin' to mess with me!"
The second man gave a glare and struck the redhead in the face, causing her to fall on the ground. Paige brought her hands to her mouth, gasping in shock! Both Sandy and Rosie grew enraged to see a poor soul getting cruel treatment.
"What do you bozos think you're doing?" Rosie yelled, as she clutched her fists into balls.
"You stay out of the way lady snake!" the second man yelled.
The ravened hair girl, offended by being called a 'snake' went up to the second man and punched him straight in the jaw. The first mugger went up to Rosie, and shoved her against the wall. The blonde gasped and went up to the beanpole, giving him a sharp glare.
"No one says anything hurtful to my friends," Sandy snapped. In return, she gave the first man a hard kick below the belt. The man yelled out in pain and placed his hands on his vulnerable area. The second man went up to his friend and helped him up.
"Leave this area, or we'll contact the police for assault!" Rosie added. "And I have my friends to confirm this story true!"
Then, the two men left the alleyway and disappeared. Sandy gave a sigh of relief, glad that the muggers were gone. She and her friends turned their attention to the redhead as she was recovering from the attack.
"Are you all right there?" Sandy asked.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," the girl said curtly. She got up by herself and she spat on the pavement. "Serves 'em right for tryin' ta hurt me!"
Paige noticed that there was papers scattered all over the place. She bent over to pick them up and placed them in order. "Here, I think these belong to you," the brunette said.
"Gimme those!" the redhead said snatching the papers away, causing the petite girl to step back in fright. "You came here to steal my papers eh?"
"I beg your pardon?" the blonde gasped.
"Why would you think such of a thing?" Rosie asked glaring at the redhead.
"That's none of your business! Even the little shrimp shouldn't have touched those!"
Paige gasped and flinched back from her comment, she hid behind Rosie as she slowly started to cry. Sandy glared at the redhead, having enough of her fiery temper.
"Listen here, miss," Sandy said sternly. "We thought we'd help you out and this is how you thank us? There's no need to be rude!"
"Well, I'd say you could've done a lot better!" the redhead snapped.
"Well, fine!" Rosie snapped. "We hope you're happy!"
"Look, just leave me alone!"
Sandy, Rosie, and Paige watched as the redhead ran away. Once she turned to the corner, she disappeared not to be seen from the girls. The blonde took a deep breath; she had never met someone that acted impolite to her and her friends. She turned back to head over to her other friends as Rosie hugged a crying Paige.
"Paige, are you okay?" Sandy asked the sobbing brunette.
"No," she replied, wiping her eyes, "how could that redhead be so impolite?"
The raven-haired woman huffed in frustration, "Yeesh, what a grouch."
"No kidding," the blonde said. "Let's just walk around more, and forget that this ever happened."
Paige and Rosie agreed and began their walk around more of the city forgetting the commotion that happened with the redhead. Although, they were pretty upset abut the fiasco with the girl, they felt sympathy for her and wanted to help her.
They continued to make their way around the city. Soon it was mid-afternoon and the girls decided to head back, as they walked back to the circus, they heard a familiar voice from behind them.
"Excuse me," the girls turned around to the redhead catching up to them. She took deep breaths as her large green eyes were filled with regret. "I'm really sorry about what happened in the alleyway, I didn't mean to act harsh. It's just that no one's ever stood up for me before."
"No one's stood up for you?" Sandy asked raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah, no one's ever been nice to me before I came to the United States and I just did not trust myself to trust you after you defended me. I know it's my own fault, and I was hopin' to start over in America, but it came at the wrong time. Although we came to a bad start, but why don't we try again?"
"What's your name?" Paige asked working up the courage to ask the woman.
"I'm Aileen," the redhead said. "Aileen Walsh. I'm from Dublin, Ireland; those papers were my proof of my citizenship, and they almost took my green visa."
"Oh, no wonder you didn't trust us," the blonde said. "I guess you thought that we wanted to steal your papers."
"Aye, I'm a bit wary and I have a nasty habit of bitin' and snappin'. Only if anyone threatens to hurt me. But I'm tryin' to reduce the habit and learn to control my temper."
"I see," the blonde nodded. "Well, I'm Sandy and these are my friends, Paige and Rosie. We were touring around the city to see the sights. It's our first time here too."
Sandy and Rose each gave Aileen a gentle handshake. As the redhead looked at Paige, the brunette flinched back. She was afraid that she would get verbally hurt again.
"I think I owe ye an apology Paige," Aileen said, gently. "I know what I've said was no excuse. I'm sorry."
Paige's hazel irises traveled down to the ground, and she was unsure if she could trust the fiery-tempered redhead. Then, she looked up back at Aileen, giving her a nod.
"Aileen, do you have a place to go?" Rosie asked.
The redhead looked down sadly and shook her head, "I'm afraid not. I've been searchin' for work, but for some reason, they wouldn't accept me, since I'm Irish. I've been livin' on the streets for two months, and I'm currently in an alleyway with other homeless people. I had some money to scrap by for food and keep on a careful budget until I found a proper job to give me a roof over my head. I wish there was a different and better way to start my life all over again."
The three girls felt bad for the poor Irish girl, and wanted to do something for her. After a brief discussion, an idea then popped up in Sandy's head, and she turned back to the redhead.
"Aileen I know this may sound sudden, but have you ever been in a circus or other entertainment?"
"I did perform in a theatre company back in Ireland, but why do you ask?" Aileen shrugged.
"Well, Paige, Rosie, and I are part of Dumbo's Flying Circus as performers and we arrived this morning. We thought about it for a moment, but why don't you come with us? This could be a good way to get back on your feet. You'll have a place to sleep and three meals a day."
Aileen's eyes widened in surprise and she nervously pushed back the loose strands of her hair.
"Well, are you sure? I don't mean to be a bother," she said. "What if they don't accept me?"
"Don't worry, my uncle's the ringmaster, and I'm sure he'll find a position for you. We'll help you find a place to sleep, you could sleep in my tent."
"Will you come with us?" the brunette asked. "You'll be safe with us."
"Well, I'm honored you'd asked me that, but…." The redhead hesitated for a moment and slowly smiled. "Okay, I'll join ya."
"Well then, welcome to the group, Aileen," Rosie said.
Sandy pulled out her clock, realizing it was late in the afternoon.
"My goodness," she said. "It's already pass noon, we could stop by somewhere and pick up a little lunch. Then we can head back to the big top and help you find some work."
"Sounds great," the redhead said, for the first time, giving a full smile. "But first, I need to get me things."
The girls came to a place where Aileen lived where there were shabby buildings and rundown houses. Aileen entered one rundown tent, and she gathered up her clothes, personal items, and photographs in an old suitcase. She took one last look of the rundown area and gave a sigh of relief that she was starting her life all over again.
"Well, that's everythin'," she said putting on a coat, and gripped her suitcase. "I can't wait to see what's comin'."
The trio of girls, now a quartet, led their new friend back to the big top and looked forward to showing her around. Every once in a while, Sandy would peer up in the sky to see if Dumbo and Timothy were flying above.
