I had no reviews for this story except from Shrieksy, so thank you, and happy Canadian thanks giving.

13. Proposition

A few days later, in the newspaper it announced that Mr. Arnold Straus was going to jail. He had to sell his house, most of his possessions and dismiss his servants in order to pay back the debt he now had.

Mrs. Straus ran off with another man, wanting nothing to do with her husband. This left the Straus' only child, Madeline, alone in a cruddy apartment with practically nothing, including money.

I felt guilty but I told myself that it wasn't my fault that Madeline's father has stolen thousands of dollars from the bank. I still was honestly worried for Madeline

. She had grown up with everything, never having to do something for herself. Now that she had to fend for her self, she would barley last a week.

Jim could probably guess what I was thinking, so he pulled me aside one morning.

" Look Loki, I know that Madeline is yoah friend an' all, and we could always use another woman on the team. We got our money back yesterday and we are ready tah move on. Go ask Madeline if she wants to come along."

"Do you really mean it?" I asked, unsure if this was some sort of trick.

"Of course I really mean it!"

"Thanks you!" I jumped up and hugged Jim.

As an after though, I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. After all, he really didn't look like he'd enjoy Madeline's company particularly, so he deserved more than a hug.

I grabbed my coat and went flying out the door. It wasn't to hard to find Madeline's place, the newspaper had mentioned what building she was in, and it wouldn't be hard from there, all I had to do was ask one of the tenants.

The building wasn't that nice, and it reminded me of the old apartment back in New York that my family had lived in.

I knocked on the door and it quickly flew open, revealing a very flustered Madeline. Her sandy blonde hair was a mess as was her dress, she had a streak of dirt on her face and her eyes were red as if she had been crying.

When she saw me she gasped and tried to shut the door. I quickly stood forward and stuck my foot in the door and stepped in.

"Loraine please leave, I don't want you to see me this way." She cried running farther into her two-room apartment.

" Like I care Maddy!" I called. "I have a proposition for you." Madeline pulled her face out of her handkerchief and looked at me.

"What kind of proposition."

"Well it's a hard one to explain so you better sit down." I said.

Madeline sat down on a chair, and I leaned against the wall since there was nowhere else to sit.

" Lets put it this way Maddy, I ain't who I am." Madeline looked confused. "What I mean is that my name isn't Loraine Farthing and I am not married to any James Farthing, besides his name isn't James, its Jim."

"What? I don't understand."

"Well you see Jim, he ain't exactly the most law abiding citizen. He is hired to con people or break people out of jail and such. My brothers Karl and Anders worked for him.

But Karl was careless and had to leave New York, fast. The police were also hot on Jim's heal so he had to leave as well. He asked me to pretend to be his wife so he and Drake wouldn't be caught."

"Your not Loraine?" asked Madeline stupidly. I made an aggravated noise. Boy was this girl slow.

"No girl! I ain't! This isn't even the way I speak! I'se speak like dis, an' I will nevah be any udda way!"

"I don't get it, why are you telling me this?" asked Madeline.

"Cause a few months ago I'se was stuck in a cruddy apartment wit two bruddas who ignored me an' had no money. Jim says its ok foah you to come wit us, you know, join dah team."

"Are you out of your mind!" screamed Madeline jumping up. "You want me to join a band of low down crooks!"

" We ain't low down! We'ze got lots of money."

"But it was stolen!"

"So was yoah fadda's! Face it Maddy, you've lived yoah entire life off of stolen money. And besides we don't steal any money, we ah paid to do what we do." I said sticking my nose in the air.

I would have walked off; Madeline was definitely going to turn me down. But on second thought, she was my friend and I should try at least one more time.

"Madeline if ya come wit us you'll be fed, given clothin and a great life. Non of the guys would pull anythin on ya." It looked like I had gotten Madeline's attention so I took one more stab at it. "Look around you Maddy, see what a fix yoah fadda has put you in? All this happened not only cause he was a thief, but because he wasn't good enough not tah get caught. When I woik foah Jim all I do is pretend to be different people, I don't actually steal or con , you wouldn't 'ave to either."

Madeline was looking down at her hands, not saying anything.

" We are goin this aftahnoon, if yoah comin get to me house at 1 or you ain't comin."

I put a hand light on Madelines shoulder, before walking out of the apartment. I was about to step out the door when Madeline ran out of her room.

"Loki wait!" she called over the railing. I quickly turned and looked up at her.

"I'm coming with you!" She ran back into the house and came back out with a coat on. I smiled and took her hand as we rushed back home to prepare for departure.

When we arrived back at the house, all of the stuff was being loaded into a carriage. Jim saw us and walked up.

"Loki, yoah gonna be me step sistah and Madeline is yoah servant, Drake is mine got it?"

"Got it."

I could see Madeline open her mouth to speak. I don't think she wanted to be the servant, but the way she was dressed, it would be hard for her to be anybody else.

We were hustled into a second carriage before she had a chance to say anything. It was silent all the way to the train station.

Once we were on the train and moving away from Washington, the men went off to speak somewhere leaving us women sitting silently in our compartment.

"So where are we going?" asked Maddy.

"Don't knows. I'll ask Jim when he gets back."

"You mean you weren't told?" asked Madeline, a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Nope. Jim does all the planning an' stuff. We work when we are needed, but until then all you gotta do is sit back and enjoy the ride."

I spoke as if it was normal, but for me it was, for Madeline, it was the complete opposite of the way she had been brought up.

A man walked past our room and then stepped back and looked into the window. He straightened his bow tie and sat next to Madeline and gazed at me.

I'm sure that if Maddy had been sitting next to me, he would have sucked us both in with his hungry eyes.

"I'm Paul McKleesh, and you ladies are?"

"I'm Mona St. John, and that is my servant Lucy Morrison." I said, looking at the man with cold eyes. If he were paying attention to my signals he would have realized he was unwelcome, but he just continued to smile and stare.

"My!" he exclaimed. Madeline was very nervous that she jumped at his sudden noise. "My!" he repeated again. "Isn't it nice to be sitting with the most beautiful women who ever walked this earth."

I wanted to hurl. What kind of idiot would ever make a speech like that? I noticed that Jim was standing in the door and looking down on the unsuspecting Paul.

"My! You better leave, before I hurt you for sitting with the most beautiful women who walked this earth," said Jim. Paul looked up nervously and wiped his brow.

"Oh...um...I was just...um...I have to go." Paul jumped up and hurried passed Jim and Drake and into some other area of the train.

I began laughing at Jims show, and he wagged he eyebrows and swaggered over to the seat next to me.

Jim and I began to laugh and chat about poor Paul, and Drake sat down next to Madeline. "Do they always act that way?" I heard her whisper to Drake.

"Them? You ain't seen nothing yet." He replied loud enough for us to hear. Jim and I sat up straight and rolled our eyes. Soon Jim had picked up his paper and began to read.

I remembered that on my first train ride Jim had read the paper and ignored me for a while.

"So wheah we goin Jim?"

"Now why would I tell ya that." Asked Jim. I made a face at him and he looked back at his paper.

"Drake wheah we goin?" I asked.

"Pennsylvania."

With that sorted out, we all sat quietly for about 20 minutes. Jim set down his paper and looked over at Madeline who was staring out the window.

"Hey Madeline, I thought you was supposed to be quite the chatter box. Why ain't you talkin then?" Madeline looked across at Jim coldly, but he kept going. "Now Loki heah, she may act all tough and mean but she can get as quiet as a rock."

"And yoah as noisy as a pig being slaughtered," I snapped back at him.

"Don't be ashamed because yoah quiet," soothed Jim.

" Its not that I'se quiet. Its that I know how to put a cork in it, unlike some people," I replied, glaring at him.

" Well if you wern't so annoying, I wouldn't have to talk to you so much."

"So suddenly I'm annoying, look who's talking. Why-"

I stopped and looked up at Madeline who was giggling. Jim grinned and puffed out his chest.

"You see, I made her smile, my plan has worked."

"You didn't have a plan you retard." I grumbled.

Madeline's small giggles turned into laughter. I couldn't quite figure out what was so funny about me and Jim arguing. Rich girls were so strange.

I think that all of us were in a better mood once Madeline loosened up a bit.

Jim told me that he wouldn't talk to me until I apologized for calling him names, but that was short lived. When Jim was in a talkative mood he couldn't keep quite for more than five minutes.

The train ride was long and tiring and soon I just dosed off. I was awoken later with Madeline shoving me, telling me we were in Pennsylvania.

Getting off the train was the same routine as is had been in Washington. We were hustled into a carriage and set up in a hotel.

This time, however, I got to share my bed with Madeline instead of Jim. Non-the less, I still set up a water pitcher beside my bed before I went to sleep.

Madeline asked me why I had put that there and I just shrugged and smiled, I didn't want to scare her with the real truth.

....another chapter yay i'm excited. Now i have to plan what happens in Pennsylvania! I just thought i'd say that i know that retard probably isn't a word used in 1900 but i stuck it in there anyway because ....because...i got to go. ;) I love Paul McKleesh...a character of my own making.