Chapter 3

As Bumlets walked through the lodging house he whistled 'carrying the banner',
"Awww…shut ya noise" said Race
"Excuse me, you are incredibly lucky, I'm gunna be da next big thing in the theatres wid my talent, you're lucky to hear me without paying…" Bumlets said confidently, with a sweep of his hand, in response to this Race burst into fits of laughter
"Yeah, whatever…In ya dreams," he said, Bumlets turned around and walked out of the door so the others couldn't see how much this upset him. Why did no one have any faith in him? Well No one except Gina, she'd always believed in him, she told him so all the time, he really needed her…He didn't know what he'd do if she wasn't there. But she was wrong, he couldn't make a career with one person supporting him. Besides, he had to believe in himself, he tried to be confident but inside he was falling apart. Well, he'd show them all, one day he was going to be big, bigger than they'd believe!
"Hey Bumlets…" he heard a quiet, familiar voice behind him…it was Gina, he didn't really feel like talking, he could tell that she'd know he was upset without asking, she could always tell things like that. He just looked at the floor and waited for her to say something, he could feel her eyes focusing on him, she was wondering what to say…She sat down next to him and just gave him a hug, that was all he needed.
Several days later everyone in the lodging house got together for a poker game, it was their only source of entertainment, there was nothing else to do. Bumlets lost every game, he wasn't concentrating, he never did nowadays. Half way through the evening he muttered an excuse and left as quietly as he could, he wanted to be alone. He walked across Manhattan, without looking at where he was going, then he broke out into a run, the sharp air rushed against his warm, soft cheeks as he picked up speed, still not caring where he was going, until he was exhausted and stopped running. He stood perfectly still and looked around, he realised that he was in a park of some sort, there was a lake in the middle of it, he walked over to sit down by the waters edge and stared at his reflection. His skin was flushed with red and his hair was loosely strewn across his face, casting long, linear shadows across his features. He looked around him quickly, almost immediately he saw what he was looking for, he ran quickly across to a tall tree and fumbled, clumsily on the ground, and in the quickly closing darkness he found a leaf. He gasped air into his lungs slowly and the panic passed over him and the creases passed from his face into a relaxed smile as it all came back to him. He enclosed the small, tattered leaf in both his hands and walked back over to the smooth lake. He clapsed on his knees on the ground and made a silent wish, then he plunged the fragile leaf into the freezing water and released his fingers, one by one, from around it. He focused on it, through the dark water, it's shape became less contorted as it rose to the surface and then the current carried it across, away from him, he watched it until it was out of sight, lying on his front on the damp grass. Before he knew what was happening he was woken by sunlight creeping through the shadows of the trees and the footsteps of people, taking early morning strolls and staring at him, disapprovingly, as he lay on the ground trying to catch some more sleep before he had to go back. Their eyes were cold, and they looked down at him as they would at a rat, his last thought before he stood up to return to reality was 'I'm gunna show them all some day soon.'