Elizabeth glanced at herself in the mirror as Torn gave her brown curly a bounce with the palm of her hands.
" There, looking any better?" Torn asked as Elizabeth tried to give her a reassuring smile in the mirror.
" Yeah," she shrugged, wishing that she was back at home, safe and sound getting ready for a party instead of stuck in some prostitute driven theater getting ready to go out with a boy she barely knew.
" You an' Dave should have a good time. He's a smart guy, went to school," Torn smiled as Bailey stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her.
" Just to let you know, the boys finished their meeting in the balcony." Bailey informed striding over to Elizabeth and pulling a navy blue ribbon from the vanity that was in front of them.
" Here, for good luck," she said smiling and tying half of Elizabeth's hair back in it.
" What would I need good luck for?" Elizabeth questioned as Bailey stepped back. " Just an' _expression," she shrugged as Torn gave Bailey a half smile which Bailey took as an expression for "nice try, but she won't get it." Elizabeth turned and headed out the door, ignoring Torn and Bailey's whispers from behind her.
" Your going to David's?" Rain asked rushing over quietly.
" Yes," Elizabeth answered. " I know several goals data would kill at be yaw," Rain winked as Elizabeth blushed and headed out towards the front.
" Ready?" David's voice called as Elizabeth spun to gaze into baby blue eyes. He smiled warmly, dimples forming around his small mole. His brown newsier cap was folded up in his hand, which was nervously clenching it. " Yeah, sure," Elizabeth replied as David stuck out his right hand which was clenching his cap, letting Elizabeth walk first in that direction. " It's not much, but it's home," David smiled as they headed down the street. Elizabeth gave a heavy sigh as she looked around. It was very late she could tell, the night sky had a grayish tint to it, more light than dark. Home. She wished more than anything she was back home, save in sound in bed, getting a good nights sleep for the busy day of piano lessons, parties and reading.
" You miss it, don't you?" David suddenly burst into her thoughts as she looked over at him in a shock.
" Miss what?" she asked, pretending she had no idea what he meant. But she knew he knew. She had been thinking for about a block.
" Home." he simply replied. Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment and gave a weak nod.
" Yeah. I don't know how some of the boys do it. They just up and leave. I could never do that. Home is every thing to me," David replied as Elizabeth gave a kind smiled at him. Torn was right. He was smart, smarter than most of the street rats. He understood the meaning of home, or at least appeared to. He understood that living on the streets was dangerous, and not the brightest thing to do if you had a family around.
When they got to David's apartment building Elizabeth couldn't help but feel a tingle of sympathy travel through her body. It was small dirty building, which as she climbed up the black fire escaped, she realized was jammed back with families, some having to double up. She had heard some of her father's friends talking about places like this, but she have always thought it to be a joke, and that only street rats lived like that. But she as she looked at David, she knew he couldn't be a street rat. He was educated, more than most of the kids living on the streets. He had a large family....he didn't have to run away.
" This is it," David smiled as he opened the window into a small apartment. He climbed in helping Elizabeth get through without ripping her dress more than it already was from the street. He put his finger to his lips, motioning for Elizabeth to be quiet. She followed him into the small kitchen area, which smaller than Elizabeth's bathroom. She looked at David who gave a large grin at her, and she couldn't but smile. " I know it's small," David whispered, "but it's still home." He walked up to the cupboard and pulled out what was left of a tiny cake. "Looks like Les had some before bed," he said grabbing two forks and heading back to the window. "We can just eat this on the roof," he said handing it to Elizabeth as he climbed out of the window. Elizabeth heard humming and turned startled, to see little Les asleep in his parents bed which was right next to the window...beside the kitchen table? Elizabeth couldn't believe her eyes. She had no idea that apartments in the city could be that bad. She couldn't even imagine what it was like for five people to live in that small a space, and to think of larger families, Elizabeth shuttered.
When they got to the roof Elizabeth couldn't get over the site. There were a few plants sitting in buckets along the rooftop, and a large close line, which still had a few sheets, skirts, stocking and long underwear clipped to it. She followed David to a small table by the edge of the roof and sat down.
" I like to come up here a lot. It's quieter than in the apartment. It must be really late, because you usually hear some really weird noises in there," David said as Elizabeth smiled, not knowing really what to say.

" What's it like to have money?" David suddenly asked handing Elizabeth a fork.
" Well..." Elizabeth thought, sitting there thinking for a moment before she answered. " Well, it's nice. You don't have to worry about things you do now, here on the street. Like, You know you'll always have a meal to eat, that you'll always be taken care of," Elizabeth said seeing David nod.

" I guess it's really none different than my life. Sure we worry about paying the bills, but, I'm rich you know? I have good education, I have a family. I never have to worry about not being taken care of," he replied as Elizabeth took in his words. Suddenly really realized something that had never crossed her mind before. She was now poor. She was poor just like the kids on the street. And David was rich. Not because he had more money than she did at the time, not because she didn't have her big house, or the fancy parties to go to, but because she didn't have anyone to take care of her. She was without a family.
"Maybe I am like those street kids," she thought frantically as she stared into David's blue eyes. He was lucky. He had a family, he had a job, he had a home, he had an education, and he had friends. Most of the kids only had two of those, which didn't make them rich at all. Elizabeth suddenly began to realize the true meaning of being rich. She used to think that you needed money to be rich. You needed a big house and a good respectful job in order to be rich. Money paid for everything. But here she was, in the middle of all the street rats realizing that they did have some money, not a lot, but they weren't rich. They had a home, but they weren't rich. They didn't have a family...they weren't rich. But the poor people, like David, were rich. They didn't have a lot of money, but they were still rich. They didn't have a big home, or a respectful job, but they were still rich. They had each other. That was rich enough. To know that they would be taken care of by one another for life...that's what made them rich.
" Are you okay?" David ask as Elizabeth finished chewing her piece of cake, now realizing that she had been zoning out for a few minutes.
" Wh--yea. I'm fine. I just, I'm just tired," she replied as David nodded.
" It is pretty late," he agreed as he finished the last piece of cake. Elizabeth yawned and he walked over to the close line, pulling a sheet off the line and placing it down on the ground. Elizabeth smiled as she walked over and took a seat on the sheet. David picked up a back of seeds and laid it at the head of the sheet, giving them a pillow. He lie down next to her and fell asleep. Elizabeth couldn't help but feel somewhat different by the discovery she had made that night. She rolled over and kissed David on the cheek and fell asleep next to him.