About twenty minutes later Magic joined me in the loft. Gladly she didn't seem to be injured until she turned her face toward me. She had a red spot the size of a hand on her cheek!
"Magic what happened? Are you okay? Does it hurt? Did Spot do it?" My words seemed to tumble out my mouth faster than I could think.
"Just a little bruise. Nothing else happened, so I'll be fine." Looking up she saw I was still worried so she continued, "Look, I'm betting you've seen Sleepy like this before. Or even Alley Cat from Midtown or anyone from anywhere. Calm down."
"If you say so."
"Yes, indeed I say so. Now I am going to work. You should probably go to sleep. You look tired." Magic ordered me, pushing me onto my mattress.
The next I knew it was twilight and Spot was yelling from downstairs. Why was he shouting at me? We don't even get along. Shaking my head I remembered the events of the past night and day. I really kissed him? Like I made a choice to kiss him? The Traveler does not get close to people. That gets people hurt. What the hell was I thinking? I went downstairs to try and let him down easily.
"Hey Tee," he greeted me and pulled me into a kiss.
"Look, Spot." I paused. Why couldn't I get the rest of my speech out? Why should he be any different from any other leader I kissed to make my life easier? Besides the fact that he was cute and smart and caring and I actually liked kissing him.
"Look at what? What's going on Tee?" Spot asked looking rather wary.
"Nothing. What's up?" I asked. God, I am such a coward. I'm going to have to break it off. But tomorrow. Tomorrow. I promise.
"I'm heading to Manhattan to go to Medda's with Jack. You want to come with?"
"Umm, no. I think I'll just go back to sleep." If I went to Medda's I might run into Racetrack. Can't risk that happening.
"Okay, then goodnight. Look, don't go anywhere without me. Brooklyn's dangerous at night."
I headed back upstairs and tried to go to sleep. After about a half-hour of tossing and turning I decided I had to get out. I opened up the window and looked down. Heights have always made my heads spin but I really don't want someone reporting to Spot that I've left. Imagine the nerve about that man! Telling me that I couldn't go anywhere at night. I know that Brooklyn is dangerous. But I've been on my own in New York for four years. I've gotten away from muggers and rapists and… and Snyder! And before that Race and I were practically on our own in New Jersey. Heck, I've spent more time on the streets than anywhere else. Now how does Magic do this? I stick my head and shoulders out the window and look to the left, then right. Aha! Magic's nailed pieces of board to step on all the way down. I ease out of the window until I can grab on and start climbing down. Just keep looking straight ahead. This is entirely safe. La dee da. Nice wood this warehouse is made out of. Very woodlike. Oh, thank God! Ground!
I jump off the wall and start walking to Queens. I need to gamble and the best place in all of New York is Detroit's. Anything you want but especially craps. I'd better hurry. It's going to be a long night.
I get to Detroit's at about ten. Ahh, its just the way I remember. Small, smoky, loud and hot.
"Hey there, little girl. We've missed you around here." A voice came out of the smoke to my left.
"Nathan, look I need to talk to you about a loan. You know I'm good for it." I told him quietly.
A large, muscular man (Nathan) emerged and led me to a room behind the bar. On the way I took another look around. Yessir. The dregs of society congregated in one place. I can never decide whether I fit in or whether I want to run screaming from this place and never come back. Usually, I decide I fit in. Tonight I definitely do.
"Nathan, I just need a little money. Say ten bucks." I plead with him, knowing it's either a loan or my belongings if I want to gamble tonight. And my stuff isn't worth a lot.
"All right kid. I'll give you five bucks. I want it back by the end of the night or I'm going to start taking other things. I know plenty of people who'd be happy to meet a pretty little girl.
"Thanks Nathan. You'll get your money." I gulp.
Well, I guess the fact that I didn't pay him back for two weeks last time I took a loan has really made an impression. I've got to pay, but I don't do well under pressure. Shit!
Gotta do well. That's the phrase that runs through my head all night. I start with craps and do well for a while. But then I lose money. I try poker but I lose money. Before I know it I'm broke and Detroit's is shutting down.
"Little girl, I know you've been one of my best customers since you were only eleven, but business is business and unless you come up with five dollars and fifteen cents interest within two minutes I believe you're going to start working for me." Nathan tells me menacingly.
"I've got the money. I'll pay for her."
I look to the table to my left. Sitting there is a boy about fifteen years old, babyface, black hair; he's as familiar to me as my own face.
"Thanks" I mumble as he hands over the money. I turn and start heading for the door.
I'm heading down the street at a dead run until I hear feet pounding the pavement and yelling.
"Anna-Maria Genevieve Higgins! Wait up! I just saved your butt in there! The least you can do is talk to me."
I sigh and think, "Well, it is true." I stop and sit on a stoop in front of a door. Racetrack joins me there.
"Well, twin sister. You tired of running yet?" my brother asks me gravely.
"Tony, I mean Racetrack. You don't know why I'm the way I am. It's just the way things are and they will always have to be." I tell him quietly and I get up to leave.
He grabs my arm and says, "All right. But just for right now tell me about yourself and the past four years. Then after tonight you can pretend it never happened and never visit Manhattan or anything." He stopped talking and looked at me.
I think for a second. I really did miss my brother. My twin. For the first eleven years of my life he was my only constant and when I lost him I lost all sense of place and belonging.
"Yeah. As long as you do the same for me."
"Okay. You go first and let's not use our newsie names. Let's pretend we've been together all this time."
The pre-dawn hours passed so fast. It was like a missing piece of myself had been replaced and I know that Tony felt the same way. You can get other friends but no one ever replaces your twin. I learned about Race's gambling, his friends, his first love, and everything. I told him everything. Things I'd never thought about revealing to anyone else in the entire world.
Finally I looked up when I heard a noise. Spot was standing there with a look on his face like he'd been utterly betrayed. I glanced at Tony and he nodded and was gone. Spot grabbed my arm and started dragging me a long, not talking at all.
Finally he started talking or I should say yelling. "I thought we had something going! I respected your wishes and didn't call you by name and then he does! I tell you not to leave Brooklyn and you go to a cheap gambling and opium den! I swear that if you don't get your stuff out of my warehouse in ten minutes after we get back I won't be responsible for my actions."
"Spot, no. It's not like that. It's not what you think." I pull away from him and whimper. I am so disgusted with myself. I've never whimpered before in my life not even at the scariest moments possible. I am strong, The Traveler.
"Oh, yeah? Well, you cheap slut what is it like?" He screams into my face.
I blush and look down knowing I look extremely guilty, "I can't tell you."
Spot just shakes his head and commences dragging me down the street.
"Get out. Get out of Brooklyn." He says outside the warehouse.
I walk in proudly. I am The Traveler. I am capable of taking care of myself. Getting kicked out of Brooklyn is just like getting kicked out of Midtown or Little Italy or Harlem.
I am greeted at the top of our ladder by Magic who hands me the bundle of my things.
"I'm sorry. I told him you were gone." Then she turns and vaults out of the window.
I walk out of the warehouse ignoring the stares of all the newsies getting ready to go to work. The ones who were my friends turn away. Sleepy, Pegs, Roast Beef, goodbye. I don't think I'll be coming back. I'm sorry. I wish I could whisper that to them but I know Spot is watching.
As I march out the door I turn and look at Spot standing in the doorway of his office. For a second his angry mask slips and I see hurt and bewilderment on his face. But only for a second.
This time I end up in Midtown. Smash welcomes me with open arms. And I'm dead inside. I go through the motions. I play cards, shoot craps, and one night I even get drunk. A night when I don't have any money I kiss up to Smash (pun intended). Nothing has changed. I'm still alone. Spot and Tony are just memories, hell probably just figments of my overactive, lonely imagination. Weeks go by.
Then today the worst thing happens. I've hit rock bottom. You see, I needed a cigar, but I was broke. Very broke. I'd only eaten because I left a café without paying yesterday. So I took one and someone's hand closed around my wrist. I look up and who do I see? None other than any newsies' worst nightmare, Snyder.
"Hmm. Dare I think that I've finally captured The Traveler? As you know my colleague from the Newark Home for Wayward Children has been looking for you and your brother for a long time." His smile is feral as he looks down at me.
Oh, God. Not again. Before I think twice I'm thrown into the Refuge. I scrub floors and wash clothes that aren't even dirty because idle hands are the devil's workshop are they not girls? All this while waiting for my court date.
The night before my court appearance I decide I have to do something. I pick up a piece of sharp stone that has somehow escaped the matron's razor sharp eyes and start scratching on the wall. I somehow manage to print "MAGIC. T.T. IN NEWARK." I know that if anyone can help it'll be Magic. I know she's not mad at me. For all I know she know the truth about me and Racetrack. Probably. When I was in Midtown she came to see me once in a while.
Court goes as I'd suspected. Warden Harper and Matron Smith from Newark are there and they testify. Matron Smith calls me "a poor unfortunate girl who never had any opportunities being the child of a prostitute."
Warden Harper gets a bit more technical, "I discovered poor Anna-Maria and her twin brother Anthony Louis when they were only ten gambling and living on the streets. I took them into the Newark Home for Wayward Children and they lived there quite happily…"
Happily? I doubt that. We had barely enough to eat and we were worked hard. Every day we had to pray for our souls because we were wicked, wicked sinners. Warden Jonathon Harper scared me the most though. One day I was cleaning his office and he found me. He told me that I was going to become a servant out West somewhere and that Tony was going to be kept at the Home. He said that if I ran and they caught Tony they'd hurt him. Hurt him bad. I couldn't go be a servant to be worked until I died. I'd heard the stories of the girls who came back. Some were beaten and starved. One even was expecting a baby. But I couldn't leave Tony. So we left together. But I made him split up. That way if they found me he'd be safe. I have to keep him safe.
"I rule that this girl be taken back to The Newark Home For Wayward Children until she becomes an adult. Namely, twenty-one or married." That was the judge talking.
So I go back. I'll find a way to escape. That or Magic'll find me. Either way I've just got to keep moving. After all, I've got to try to get Spot back. And I want to really get to know my brother again. Just keep moving.
Thanks to Rayne, Derby and Moody for your kind reviews. I hope you liked this chapter. If people want a sequel to this please tell me. I'll probably write one but I'd like to know if people will read it.