Chapter Two
Meg: (storming in) That's it! Which one of you jerks did it?
JWJ: What did we do?
Emma: Yeah, we're just sitting here-
Luke: Pretending to be doing something constructive-
JWJ: And generally trying to ignore you.
Lizz: I thought JWJ was kicked out.
Meg: (glares at him) He is. GET OUT OF HERE!
JWJ: No.
Meg: Why? You hate my stories.
JWJ: I take pity on the readers.
Meg: Fine, stay. See if I care.
JWJ: Reverse psychology doesn't work on me!
Meg: You egged my car, didn't you!
Everyone: WHAT?
Meg: Someone egged my car! There are runny, disgusting egg yolks and egg shells all over my car! Now who did it!
Luke: Oh, you mean the drunk people.
Meg: (raises eyebrow) What drunk people?
Luke: The people who drove past an hour ago screaming something incoherent out the window.
Meg: And you didn't tell anyone until now? LUKE! Why do I even have you around?
It was around eight o'clock, and already some of the ladies of the evening had started to come out. They stalked the street corners and hung around the pubs, always on the search for the customers that only came at night.
Scarlet Jones, dressed in a gaudy red second-hand evening dress, was conversing with another woman dressed in a similarly styled dress by The Rat Trap that evening. The bar was alive with the noise of a few crews of searats and mice as they drank and gambled and booed at the entertainment inside. They would soon be bored and come looking for other ways to fulfill their need for pleasure.
Another woman by the name of Mary Connors joined the two women. "Scarlet, Nanny, youse two seen the liddle bit o' work 'iding in those ropes o'er there?" she said in a half-cackling way, pointing to some rope, lazily thrown in a pile nearby.
"What are ye talkin' about, Mary Connors?" Scarlet asked.
Mary gave another witch-like laugh. "A liddle girl, by the looks of it. Probably runaway, judging from 'er genteel clothes an' look. Tried to get 'er to come out, but she refused."
"No wonder, ye probably scared 'er," Nanny said, laughing.
Scarlet looked towards the ropes. She did not see anyone. "I'm goin' to take a look-see."
"Don't waste time wid that'un. She'll end up takin' yer business in a couple o' weeks anyways."
"It don't 'urt to look now, don't it?" Scarlet shot back.
She approached the ropes. She could see the girl plainly now, shivering and scared underneath her inadequate shelter. She could not have been more than sixteen; the same age Scarlet had been when she had been kicked out of her father's flat. A wave of compassion for this poor girl swept through her. She was only a child.
"Come out, love. Mary's gone now."
The girl closed her eyes and shook her head.
"No? Why not?"
"I'd… rather not. It's raining."
"Well, it can't be much worse out 'ere than it is in there. Beggin' yer pardon, but ropes ain't exactly the best cover from the rain."
The girl appeared to think that over for a bit. Finally she grabbed her bag, climbed out of the ropes, and slowly approached Scarlet.
"So ye are a runaway," she said, satisfied.
The girl winced. "Is it that obvious?"
"Well… let's just say if ye was anywheres but 'ere, it wouldn't be. But look at ye, yer chilled to the bone! Come on, let's get ye out o' this rain before ye catch somethin'. Doctahs are mightly expensive these days."
The girl allowed this disreputable woman to lead her by the arm to a back door of the pub and take her inside, trying to appear disconcerted.
The cook, a big, hardened woman by the name of Millie, ladled out some soup for Rose as she explained her story to Scarlet. The woman was kind to the girl and tried to comfort her.
"Well, that wasn't very nice o' yer mum to be talkin' about dead folks like that'un."
"No…"
"But what are ye goin' to do, honey?"
"Miss Scarlet, I don't know what to do. I want to go home-"
"Then ye run along home, where ye belong!"
"But that would only be telling my mother that she is right. And she's not right! She'd only tell me that I am weak, a disgrace of a daughter… oh, it would be so much worse if I did go back!"
"Well, ye can't stay 'ere, that's certain."
Rose was silent. Finally she said, "I just need a place to stay, at least for a week. Then maybe I'll go home."
"A week? 'Ow much money do ye got?"
Rose looked in her purse. "A little less than seven pounds."
Millie scoffed. "T'won't last ye more than two days anywhere."
Rose cast down her eyes. "Well, maybe if I did some jobs, like cleaning or something, maybe they'd be easier on my rent."
Scarlet slapped the table with her hand. "That's it!"
"What? You know of a place who would-"
"Millie," she interrupted Rose, "don't Gio need a washer woman? Since Aggie passed on?"
Millie shrugged. "Yes, but he ain't too keen on taking another girl on his payroll. She would need some skills."
"Like what?" Rose asked eagerly.
"Well… do you sing, love? Like Miss Kitty?"
Rose did not know who Miss Kitty was, but the way her name had been mentioned, she sounded like someone very important. "I can't sing very well."
"Dance? Perform, then?"
"Well… I could probably dance if asked too… but I'm not very good at it. But I can play the piano tolerably well."
"We've already got a piano player, and he plays what the customers want to here."
"Oh." Rose was disappointed.
"Well, come on 'ere! Can't there be two piano playahs?"
"No."
"Millie-"
"I said no!"
"Ain't there anything the girl could do?"
"Not much that we can't handle already." Millie stirred a pot of soup in a thoughtful manner. "I do know of a man looking for someone though… Aggie used to make his dinners for him and do his laundry and cleaning…"
"NO!" Scarlet snapped. "Don't even think about it, Millie!"
"Why not? He needs someone dependable, and if she's desperate-"
"And I am!" Rose cut in.
"-then why not give her the chance?"
"Because she's only stayin' a week, and ye know 'e'd never let 'er get away, where she could go to those damn Yardies and give the whole ops away! It's foolish to think o' such a thing in the first place!"
Rose was confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, t'was only a thought, Scarlet Jones!" Millie said huffily.
"So t'was," Scarlet said quietly. "Don't go gettin' those 'oo don't need to be gettin' involved, involved!"
It was at that moment that the owner of The Rat Trap, a sly-looking fellow with black hair and dark fur ran into the kitchen.
"Millie, where the hell is that broom?"
"In the closet, where it always is," she said without even looking at him. "Someone break something?"
"Two rogues broke only about two tables and half a dozen bottles and chairs! And it's only half past eight! I'm getting too old for this."
"You always say that."
"It's going to be a long night." He pulled out the dustpan and broom. "Lizzie's told me that Ester's got whooping cough and won't be able to make it, Jess disappeared with one of those searats about five minutes ago. Terribly understaffed, crews of sailors in there, and you-know-who's decided to bring some rich saps down here tonight, of all nights! You're going to have to come out some time and help us!" he barked, leaving the room.
"My job's back here, not out there with those sluts and pigs!" Millie yelled after him.
"Do it or you're fired!"
"One of these days, Giovanni… one of these days…" Millie said darkly.
Scarlet was beaming. She nudged Rose. "'Ere's yer chance, love. Go ask 'im if ye can 'elp for a place to stay."
Rose gave the woman a bewildered look. "What? Me? Serve people in a pub?"
'Well, yeah."
Rose gulped. She was afraid to talk to that man, but what choice did she have?
She walked out into the pub, and found it humming with activity. It was packed with all types of low-life bums; sailors and dockworkers, and the scum of the streets. She took a deep breath, and then approached Giovanni, who was busy sweeping up glass and broken bits of wood off the floor.
"Excuse me, sir?" Rose said timidly.
He did not hear me.
"Sir?" she said, tapping him on the back.
"What do you want?" he snarled, not even looking at her.
"Sir, I heard you were understaffed, and I was wondering if you could give me a job."
Giovanni turned around, studying her for a few seconds. "No."
"But I am an extremely good worker! I will do whatever you ask me to do. I don't have much experience, but I can help sweep up things and serve customers. It wouldn't be hard."
He snorted. "Runaway, right?"
She blushed. It really was apparent around here. "Well… yes."
"No money, no place to go, so someone sends you down here, telling you that you can get lodgings cheap… at least until you get back home."
"Yes… but I'm not going back home."
"And I'm the Queen." Giovanni finished sweeping up the mess. "Listen, I need someone with experience, someone who's very livelihood depends on this job. See, if it didn't, then they'd get careless… start dropping things, costing me money. You want a job, you prove to me that you're here to stay."
"How?"
"You've got some possessions?"
"A small bag," she said slowly.
"Give it to me. I'll keep it safe. If you're here for one month, I'll give it back to you."
Rose paused. It sounded like a shaky deal.
"My wages?"
"You've got a place to stay?"
"Well… no."
"You'll get a place here. That'll be your wages."
"Room and board?"
"Oh, no. Just the room."
"Then how do I eat?"
"I don't care. You figure that out."
"But… that's not fair!"
"Take it or leave it. The bag in exchange for a job, the room in exchange for pay. Or the streets. Your pick."
Rose knew in her heart that it was a bad deal, but she held out her hand anyway. "Done."
Meg: I can't stand drunk people. Especially when they egg people's cars. I mean, who eggs a car anyway? You've just wasted a dozen eggs trying to do the trick, and then the owner comes out an hour later and scrubs the car clean. So hah! No paint peeled off this time, LOSERS!
RAEB: (entering) Now before you spaz, just listen. JWJ swears he didn't do it. Leigh swears that she didn't do it. Luke swore he didn't do it before he even found out what 'it' was.
Meg: (raises eyebrow) RAEB? What the heck are you talking about?
RAEB: Well… someone scratched in "Fear Me, You Sorry Excuse for a Writer" on your car. We think they must have done it with keys.
Meg: WHAT?
RAEB: Oh yeah, they left this- (holds up a white glove)
Meg: That looks familiar…