Nobody wants to do the Crazy Things We Used to do before
By SaL
Chapter 4: Can't stop Dreaming
The troubled family boarded the train in silence. Les threw their baggage above their seat while Eric took a seat near the aisle with Marina in his lap. Mathew climbed in on his right excitedly.
Les claimed the bench opposite them, leaning his head back on the maroon cushioned bench. The train lurched forward and Matt gave a squeal of glee, pressing his hands and forehead against the window. He wanted to be awake in order to see everything there was to be seen so he could explain every detail to Allison and his friends.
Les adverted his gaze from Matt to Eric, whose eyes had also been watching his son and began to grow cloudy. Reflecting on the man before him, Les fell into a daze.
Eric and his wife Holly were amazing people. They possessed two completely different personalities. As newsies in New York, they were tough and defensive, with hardened harts from living on the streets.
Spot had never before allowed himself to show any emotions or to get too close to anyone. He believed such things to be a weakness. Hope had once felt she couldn't trust anyone. She often cheated to get her way.
Santa Fe opened new possibilities for the couple. There life wasn't too bad, the land was cheep, and they were treated far better. In Santa Fe they were free to be themselves without having to uphold a reputation. Spot could go by his true name Eric, and Hope could once more be Holly. The two became more compassionate and had turned into wonderful parents. And Les, well he had changed too, perhaps not as dramatically but change is change. Les had had more time to reflect while tending the Conlon's ranch. In doing so he became a lost man. He was happy, very much so. He just always seemed to be searching for something; problem was he was never quite sure what it was.
The sky gradually grew dark as the clouds crammed together. Soon a great eruption of thunder sounded followed by a crack of lightning and the rains pored from the heavens. The teen sighed as he remembered how life had been when they'd first arrived in Santa Fe. It had been raining then too, the day they left New York. His parents had come to the station to see him off. They had been huddled under the dry platform with his mother crying hysterically as he struggled with all his will power against it.
…
"Oh Les dear, you'll write us every chance you get won't you?"
"Yes Mama"
"You'll be sure not to forget us?"
"No Mama"
"Must you really go so far? Can't you stay in the state at least?"
"Now Esther, we've discussed this thoroughly and came to agree that this is the best solution for everyone. This is our chance to finally give him a better life." Mayer spoke up.
"I know, its just… he's my baby! I've already lost two children, I don't want to loose you too Les."
"You won't Mama"
Esther held out her arms and embraced her youngest child. The approaching train sounded encouraging the mother to cling to her son one last time. "I… I have to go. The train… Mama, please" He pleaded refusing to let the tears fall. " I love you both, you know that, but I've… I have to leave now. Goodbye."
And with that Les joined his companions on the train. And as they slowly pulled away he hadn't looked back, he hadn't wanted to for her knew his mother was watching the locomotive chugging along in tears within his father's arms. He slouched in his seat between Spot and Hope glancing out at the storm, all the while thinking 'it wasn't supposed to happen this way. David should be here, Sarah should be here, Jack should be here and the newsies should have seen us off.' But it did no good to anyone to dwell in the past, as David had said once. Of course that had been under far different circumstances, but he felt that it applied here.
That had been the first time he'd ever been on a train. Now he rode them so often to neighboring towns and cities for supplies that it had become such a normalcy in his life. Yet still he was not able to board a train, even for a short while, without remembering that first time.
Suddenly the train jerked to a stop, drawing Les from his thoughts. Starring at the occupants of the bench opposite his own, Les noticed that Mathew had dozed off with his little chin still resting on the window, Marina too had fallen into a feverish sleep, and Eric's mind still appeared to be elsewhere as he continued his blind stare out the window. Quietly Les got to his feet and made his way to the dining car.
Upon entering he was greeted with the sounds and smells of the restaurants and canteens of the west. He ordered a ginger ale, a plate of eggs and slid into an isolated seat by the windows. Once again the train lurched forward and Les was lost in thoughts of the past…
When they had first arrived in Santa Fe they had stayed at a run down inn. The community grew suspicious of the teen couple who had arrived with a young boy. So the following morning Spot had set into town alone, to scrounge up some land. He met a bank holder who eventually sold him a decent piece of land for a negotiated price.
The bank holder was a fat rather stumpy looking man. He seemed to be a serious sort of person with fixed eyes, set above a knobby nose and keen smile.
"So you want to buy some land, eh?" the man sneered "for that wife and son of yours?"
"Brother" Spot corrected with a tone of warning in his voice. "And it ain't any of your business why I want land."
"I make it my business to know everything about everybody in this town before I go giving land away, boy." The man's lips curled up in a swindling way. He felt satisfied that he'd trapped this boy into a corner, Spot could tell. He knew the type, here was a man who knew everyone's dark secrets and used them to his advantage. Spot had half a mind to take the man out right there in the tavern to show the man just what he thought of him. Instead he restrained himself to only go as far as spitting on the man before leaving. He'd promised Holly a new life and he couldn't get that by starting a fight on their first day in what they hoped would become their new home.
"That's no way to get what you want boy! Just what the hell do you think your doing?" The bank holder called after Spot. He had never been so appalled in his life; no one had ever walked out on him before and he hated to loose business.
"You're not the only goddamned bank holder in the country!" Spot snapped over his shoulder.
True to his word, he'd found a second bank holder. A tall, thin, kindly old man called Mathew Wendell. He'd negotiated a nice plot of suitable ranching land. Mr. Wendell had taken an instant liking and respect toward Spot and recommended some carpenters to him in addition to a job offer, which Spot gladly took up.
They're lives in Santa Fe had started beautifully. While their home was being built the three worked long and hard to pay the hired help. Spot had been given a desk job in the bank after Mr. Wendell had given him a crash course in how it operated. Les became a ranch hand and even worked a couple of weekends in the mines. Holly found a seamstress and offered her assistance, which was gladly taken.
Since then their lives had carried on like a dream. Les had invested money in horses, becoming an excellent breeder. Their ranch was extremely successful in addition to Spot's job at the Wendell's small commerce bank.
Sighing Les wondered what had become of their dream life. Everything had been so perfect, before his insomnia had struck, before the news of his father's passing on and his mother moving to live with her sister in Pennsylvania, before Marina had taken ill. He drank a second ginger ale before paying his bill and slowly returned to his seat.
Les lay on his bench with the back of his head leaning against the window. Eric had finally fallen asleep; his face resting against the window just above his son's and little Marina snuggled in his arms.
Never had any of the Newsies imagined their lives would change so drastically. 'In fact,' Les mused, 'if anyone had suggested that I would move to Santa Fe with Spot and Hope because the Newsies would become a gang and David died in a rumble, I would have laughed.'
Chuckling lightly, Les pulled his cap over his face, closed his eyes, and dreamt of better days. 'Maybe' he thought, 'Maybe I'll wake up in New York and this would have all been a dream.'