"Where have you been?" Mush shrieked, noticing Anne saunter through the front door of the lodging house, wide grin spread from ear to ear. Her steps were considerably lighter from the wonderful surprise she had received minuets earlier.
"I met up wid Conlon and he said dat da maximum punishment you all are gunna receive is perhaps a good soakin' for lettin' me leave," she smiled.
All of the guys lounging around the room, through up their hands in disbelief. "Thanks a lot, Anne." Blink groaned sarcastically.
"You guys need ta loosin' up a bit. I was only foolin'!" Anne laughed, setting Tommy down from his piggyback ride.
"Who's da pip squeak?" Skittery chuckled from across the room at the usual poker game being held.
"Race, wouldja' mind poppin' Skit for me?" Anne yelled. Race smiled widely, "It'd be a pleasure." Race reached over from across the poker table and hit Skittery a little harder than Anne intended, allowing her to receive a scowl.
"Everyone," she paused, motioning them to pay attention as she made an effort to usher Tommy out from his hiding place. "May I introduce...? Tommy...me baby brother." she sank down nervously as the room grew deathly quiet.
Race stood up quickly, tossing his cards around in disbelief, "Ya mean....dat dis be your kin?"
All of the other guys began to gain their composure from the shock and ran over to have a look at the family of their best friend. Tommy grew shakier as a pile of strange guys began to crowd around him and his sister.
Race kneeled down to the little boy's level and gently tapped him on the shoulder. Two gigantic blue eyes, an exact match for Anne's, peaked out from behind her black skirt.
"Hey buddy. Me name's Racetrack, but da fellas call me Race," he said, extending a hand. Tommy gladly shook it and began to ease out from his hiding place. "Oh, your hands are so cold!" Race shuddered, ushering the child over to the sofa that sat opposite to the fireplace.
"Spot'll be gettin' in soon and-" Anne began to say before Tommy interrupted her, his voice filled with excitement, "You mean that we have a dog!" All of the guys chuckled at the thought of what Spot would have done if he had heard what he had been called.
"No, Tommy. Spot isn't a dog. He's a guy. Jist all a da odder people dat live here wid me," Anne explained.
"Is Spot mean like those other people who took you away from me?" he asked, terror edging to his voice.
"I'm sure he'll love ya jist as much as we do," Race smiled.
"He doesn't like me," Tommy whined, extending a finger a Skittery.
"Don't pay no attention to Skit. He's jist a bum." Race laughed, receiving another scowl from Skittery, who was growing more and more irritated from all of the criticism he had been receiving.
The minuets that followed that followed were full of questions and introductions from all of the boys.
"Like I started ta say earlier; I think dat we should get you washed up before Spot gets in. I was hoping we could surprise him." Anne explained, trying to smudge away some of the grime that stood on his dirty face.
"Mush, Blink, Race. Yall wouldn't mind showing Tommy to the washroom? Wouldja'?"
"Shoir," Blink smiled, taking Tommy's hand.
"Uh, Anne..." Mush whispered, not making a move to go upstairs as he stared blankly past Anne and out the window to Duane Street.