Chapter 4

All That Jazz

The next morning Oliver woke up hanging half off of the bunk with Mush's arm wrapped around his waist. He got up quickly and fled to the bathroom.

This woke Mush up. He hazily watched Oliver run to the bathroom. After about fifteen minutes, he wondered what the heck that kid was doing in there. He jumped down quietly and pulled his cut-offs on, putting one suspender on his bare shoulder. He tiptoed past his sleeping friends and peered into the bathroom. Oliver was all the way at the end, looking into a mirror. At least, it sort of looked like Oliver. But this time, Oliver didn't have his cap on. Mush's eyes widened as he watched Oliver brushing shoulder length, wavy brown hair. Mush couldn't move. Oliver held the brush in front of his mouth and started singing into it quietly as though it were a microphone. He shimmied as he looked into the mirror, amusement evident on his face.

"Come on babe Why don't we paint the town?

And all that jazz

I'm gonna rouge my knees

And roll my stockings down,

And all that jazz"

"Oliver --" Mush whispered, feeling faint.

Oliver shrieked, not realizing that Mush had been standing there. "Jesus!" Oliver's voice was -- high, and distinctly female.

"Oliver, you'se -- you'se a goil!" Mush exclaimed. He nearly wet his pants.
Oliver touched her hair. "Uh -- yeah, I am," she said, composing herself. "You -- ya won't tell anyone will ya?"

He walked towards her slowly, as though she was a ghost. "Why in the world would I not tell anyone!?"

"Cuz I can't get kicked outa here, I ain't got no place else to go!" she exclaimed.
Mush was in a daze. "You'se a goil, a goil shouldn't be sleepin in a newsboy lodgin house!"

"Where ya want me ta go then?!" she asked him. "Dere ain't no news goils lodgin house round here, and apartments is too expensive! I'll be out on da streets!" she hissed at him quietly.

"Oh," Mush replied. "Dere must be some place --" he said, just realizing that he had slept with a girl in his bed the night before. He started to blush.

She shook her head. He now noticed how pretty she really was. She was pretty as a boy, and she was gorgeous as a girl. She had wavy brown hair that fell just to her shoulders, fair skin, and big blue eyes. She was very thin, but now that she wasn't all bundled up he could see that she did have a chest -- in the female sense. Mush tried not to stare, but he had never seen a girl in pajamas in the bathroom before.

He suddenly realized that he had been lied to. And no one ever lied to Mush -- ever. "So -- so all dat stuff you told us was a lie, wasn't it?" he said, getting upset.

"No!" she exclaimed. She gasped and looked into the bedroom quickly to make sure that she hadn't awakened anyone. She grabbed his arm and pulled him into one of the small lavatories and closed the rickety wooden door behind her quickly. Now she looked at him directly. He looked down, embarrassed at their close proximity. "The only thing I ever lied about was me name. Me real name is Olivia."

Mush sighed, taking it all in. "Olivia," his tongue rolled over the name easily.

"Yeah Olivia, what's it to ya?" she asked defensively.

"Nuttin, it's just -- that was me baby sista's name -- cept we used ta call her Olive," he said wistfully. A somber look washed over his face.

Her eyes softened. "What happened to her?" she asked him gently.

He sighed. "She got pneumonia when she was six and died pretty soon afta. That's when I ran away from the orphanage. She was the only reason I was stayin for."

"I'm sorry," she said. "Ya know, me mudda used to call me Olive. I was real little but I remember it clear as if it was yesterday."

Mush smiled half-heartedly. "So, uh -- what am I supposed to do, not tell anyone at all 'boutcha?" She could tell that he was trying to push his sister out of his thoughts.

"Yeah," she shrugged. "I'll try and find some udder place to live, but until then, I hafta stay here and I can't risk anyone else knowin and tattlin."

Mush nodded slowly. "Ok," he said. "Uh -- I'm sorry about last night --" he apologized, realizing that he'd had his arms around a girl all night.

She waved it off. "If you woulda let go of me, I woulda fallen off."

He chuckled. "If you eva got to share a bunk, you can bunk wid me," he said shyly.

"Thanks, Mush," she smiled. And she meant it. At least bunking with Mush would mean she wouldn't have to worry about any male hands touching her in places she didn't want to be touched. She trusted Mush with all her heart.

He smiled back. "No problem, Olive."