One week earlier
"Let me have that," Blink tapped Race lightly with his shoe to get his attention.
Not looking up from his paper, Race took a quick puff from the cigarette and handed it over his shoulder up to Blink. Blink took it, inhaling as he leaned back into the shade of the alley.
It was a hot day in the middle of a seemingly endless stretch of summer. The sun was nearly overhead, beating down relentlessly on those unfortunate enough to be outside. The day was creeping by slowly, outmatched only by how slow business was. It was amazing how many people would rather suffocate inside than face the sun.
But then again, lack of business might be due to the lousy headlines that always seemed to make themselves feel right at home during the summer months. Somehow a headline with the words "insufferable heat" did little more than state the obvious and, if anything, seemed to drive away potential customers. You had to work harder to get less. And that wasn't much of an incentive to do anything but roll over and hope the morning passed you by.
What was usually a large lunchtime crowd at Tibby's had been reduced to a lucky few. Most were still trying to make up for the morning's losses, some just wanted to save themselves the money and go for a swim instead. Race was definitely of the second mindset, but he knew that the minute he got in the water was the last he would be working. It was too easy to let the day slip away when you weren't suffering through it.
Blink passed the stub to Jack, who lay stretched out over several steps in preparation to take a nap.
"Nah, I'm set," Jack waved it off as he turned his hat down over his face.
Blink returned it to his mouth and settled back.
"Hey, while we're young," Race snapped his fingers a few times, trying to remind Blink whose cigarette it was that he was smoking. Blink handed it down to Race a moment later, sensing his patience was a bit thin today.
Jack had met up with Race and Blink while searching for a shady spot out of sight from the bulls. Taking a break wasn't as easy as it seemed. If you weren't buying, shopkeepers didn't want you cluttering up their storefronts and restaurants. If you happened to stand for too long in front of house or apartment building, you'd have the residents yelling from the windows. If you didn't want to get hassled by the bulls for any of a thousand reasons they could come up with, you had to know where they patrolled and where they got enough kickback not to. But after years of circulating in the same few streets, knowing where you could rest for a few minutes in peace became as second nature to someone as knowing where to sell.
They hadn't searched for long, tired feet were notorious for not being picky and had lead them to the nearest vacant set of back stairs. It would be a good half-hour before the afternoon foot traffic would return to the streets and they would compel themselves into the congestion again to try and earn back a few cents.
Blink took off his hat and combed his soaked hair away from his forehead. He peeled his equally drenched shirt away from his skin with a slight frown. He hated summer.
"Has it ever been this hot?" he asked, fanning himself with his cap.
"Yeah, yesterday," Race responded with little energy. Sometimes he and Blink could go back and forth for hours, but today he didn't feel like concentrating that much. He brushed a drop of sweat away from his eye and continued reading. Burglaries, lost kid, something about France... it was the same thing everyday. Of course, they wrote it a bit differently and changed the names, but that was just to make you believe you were reading it for the first time. He didn't know why he read the damn thing anymore. Well, actually he did: the sports page. It had all the listings for the week's races. But at the rate business was going he wouldn't be able to eat with a clear conscience, let alone do any betting.
He felt a tap on his elbow and handed back the cigarette. As it left his fingertips, he held his hand there, indicating he wanted it back sometime in the near future.
"Thanks, Race," Blink exhaled as he handed it back.
"Yeah, yeah," Race put it back in his mouth, "Why don't you just smoke your own? I swear, people might start thinkin' I was generous or somethin'."
Blink laughed. It was one of life's little battles: bumming other people's smokes without getting called on it. But Race knew him too well and wasn't afraid to remind him of it every now and then.
"Like I said, thanks Race, you're a real pal."
"I'm surprised I ain't the only one you got."
"Well, I just tell 'em I'm friends with you n' they feel sorry for me," Blink said, moving his leg just in time to avoid a whack from Race's hat.
"You think you're real funny, huh?" Race pulled his hat back on, not bothering to try again.
"One of us has gotta be," Blink said as he stood up and stretched. Race just shook his head as he continued to read, a smile forming despite himself. He couldn't think of anything to comeback with. He blamed the heat, of course. On a normal day, Blink would have to try much harder than that to best him.
Seeing he got in the last word, Blink smiled to himself in satisfaction as he bent down and scooped up his stack of papers. Roused by the movement, Jack lifted the corner of his hat to see what was going on before letting it drop again.
"Seeya, Blink," he mumbled sleepily.
Race looked up from his paper briefly. "What, yous goin' already? It ain't even been fifteen minutes."
"I wanna get out now, see if I can make up for the day. Otherwise I'll lose a bit." Blink shrugged.
"Yeah, well it happens to the best of us. Take a load off, a half hour ain't gonna make no difference," Race said as he turned the page.
"Nah, I can't afford to lose no more," he said off-handedly, pulling his hat on.
"And how's that?" Race closed his paper and looked up at Blink. It had been him that suggested they take the break in the first place and now he was getting antsy about going back to work? Unflagging dedication wasn't exactly one of Blink's more noticeable traits and he was the last person to be concerned with money or the lack of it. He spent it when he had it and made due when he didn't. He didn't try to save it up like some did under mattresses or behind loose bricks. As long as he had enough left over for food and smokes he didn't complain.
But maybe things had gotten bad and Race just hadn't noticed. No, that couldn't be it, Race assured himself. The past few weeks might have been slow, but even some of the newer kids with little experience had been making out all right.
"It's nothin', forget it." Blink shrugged it off under Race's sudden attention. "I just ain't in no hurry to get no poorer, that's all."
"You need a bit to finish the week?" Jack asked from under his hat.
"No, it's nothin' like that," Blink refused quickly. He didn't want anyone to think he couldn't take care of himself. "Look, forget I said it."
Looking back down at his paper, Race took a casual drag on his cigarette, "Yeah, well, tell us when business picks up, huh?"
He opened the front page and pretended to read. Blink obviously wanted a graceful out from the conversation, so he was giving it to him. Besides, he wanted to think that he and Blink were good enough friends that if there was any trouble, money or otherwise, Blink wouldn't bother with the song and dance.
"Yeah, sure thing." Blink nodded in the way of goodbye as he stepped down onto the street.
Jack picked up the edge of his hat and watched with a half-opened eye as Blink walked toward the mouth of the alley.
"What was that about?" he asked Race as soon as Blink was out of earshot, "He been havin' trouble or somethin'?" Jack let his hat fall back down and made himself comfortable again, putting his arms under his head as a cushion against the cement.
"Dunno. First I heard 'bout it," Race shrugged as he turned from his paper to the street.
As Blink reached the corner, another figure caught his attention and that of Blink's as well. Leaning against the brick just inside the alley, the other kid was little more than a silhouette, though he wouldn't be surprised if it was Mush wondering why they hadn't gone swimming. After exchanging brief words, the kid took a step toward the street, the sunlight illuminating quite clearly that it wasn't Mush or anyone else Race knew. Blink quickly looked over his shoulder toward Jack and Race.
Race looked down to his paper, avoiding any eye contact. Blink's business was his own and he didn't want to be caught prying into it. But there was something in his expression Race noticed that seemed ...uneasy. He glanced back to the alley to see if the kid might be giving Blink trouble, but both were gone.
"He been eatin'?" Jack asked as he continued to shift into a more comfortable position.
"From what I've seen," he answered slowly, his mind preoccupied as he contemplated the empty mouth of the alley. He didn't recognize the boy Blink was with, though it was clear they knew each other.
"Well, see if you can get him to eat with us tonight, might as well get one good square."
"Yeah, alright." Race drew in a breath of smoke. He wouldn't be giving it a second thought except-
"Say, can yous wake me in twenty or so?" Jack asked with a yawn.
"Yeah, sure," Race responded, only half listening as he tried to maintain his train of thought.
-Except for that hint of uneasiness. Maybe he owed the kid money, Race concluded to his satisfaction. Something like that could be taken care of easily enough. He knew most of the major players in the city and wouldn't mind calling in a few favors, that is if Blink wanted him to. Some things needed to be taken care of without other people sticking their noses in and complicating matters. That was something he could respect.
He tossed the cigarette butt across the alleyway, watching where it fell absently. The ashes scattered with a few lingering sparks before being lifted into the air by a small breeze...the first hint there was anything beyond the stagnant thickness the city had become accustomed to.
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! They have really meant a lot to me and have been very encouraging.
Thanks especially to Anjeline, Studentnumber24601, Raeghann, Mondie, and SportyChik425