CHAPTER TWO
The summer had dimmed, as did the scorching heat. There was no need to find refuge every hour of the day under the elm in The Park just to feel the refreshing coolness of a zephyr.
Luxy Listin inhaled deeply on one such breeze that found its way through the open bedroom window, dancing on her face for a few minutes. She was ever so thankful for the drop in temperature. She had spent too many precious summer days sprawled out at Benji's feet, like a caged animal under the shade of the sentinel.
But this, now, was a different story. The days following the dog days where fall is right on summer's heels, there is just the perfect balance of hot and cold. Children could once more populate The Park, their screams of joy blending in with the yells of the adults coming from the apartments.
A small smile found its way to her face, but soon dropped as a sudden, horrid thought dawned on her. Her last summer. This would be her last summer as a child. Lynn had turned thirteen late this winter, and that meant that she had to go to work at the factory, like Mama and Julie and Annie. Just like Antonio had to go this year to work with Papa and Peter and Philip. And Meg, poor Meg. All Meg had wanted to rise to in live was to stay home for her husband while he went away to work. Unfortunately, she had perished last year in the factory when the hem of her dress got caught in one of the machines and it pulled her in. Julie had said that it took them forever to clean up the blood.
Luxy immediately sat up in bed. She felt like her throat was constricting, like she was suffocating. Her breathing because loud and heavy and her heart raced. Quietly, as not to wake up the others, she twisted out of the covers and tiptoed over their legs, jumping off the edge of the bed and flying to the window where she thrust her head out inhaled the luke-warm night air.
Her chest still heaving, she clambered onto the window ledge and sat, like a cat might sit, watchfully staring out the window. Only, she stared at the apartments across from hers. Benji's was right across from hers and she could also hear the yells. They might have been from downstairs, Mr. Pepper yelling at Mrs. Pepper and calling her a bitch again or it could have been from across, Mr. Conlon yelling at Mrs. Conlon again.
Her question was answered when she saw a dark silhouette emerge from the window that led to Benji's room. He then proceeded to scale across to her on the dirty, white cord that served for hanging the cloths out to dry. He always did this, but it never ceased to amaze her, granted he was a good three stories up. Yet, there was something different about this night trip, he had a knapsack full of something tied by a cord that dangled from his leg.
This struck Luxy's interest, and when he reached her side, she swung her legs outward and watched as he hoisted himself up onto the window ledge.
"Benji," she asked in a hushed whisper, grabbing onto his upper arm, "what are you…OH!"
She couldn't help but gasp. He had turned his face to her, and in the glare of the moon, she saw his face. It looked as though he had gotten stuck in one of the factory machines. Both his eyes had black as pitch circles around them, his left one not even being able to open. His left cheek looked like it had been shattered, it was so horrific, as the left side of his mouth was split. The same side of his nose was concave, and dried blood hung from the lower part of his face, giving him the almost comical appearance of a burnt red beard.
She drew a hand to her mouth in a gasp. "Benji…what…"
Yet, Benji was swinging his legs over the other side of the ledge, doing so with much pain. He dropped to the ground and let out a clenched groan.
"Benji, what happened?" she asked in a hushed voice, thrusting the pack into the room.
He stood up and turned to her. "I'm leaving, Luxy," he said in a low voice that cracked, trying to hold back the tears.
He had already started across the bedroom and to the door when Luxy jumped off the ledge and dashed over to him. "Benji, please, what happened?" she asked again, her voice faltering with tears.
Benji reached the knob and turned it, but recoiled with a low howl of agony. Her hand immediately darted out and grabbed his hand, her eyes falling to his fingers and knuckles. She let out a gasp. They were bloody and black from being hit so many times. Her other hand grabbed his other one. The same. She let them drop and she stared hard at him, through his mangled face, the tears finding their way down her face. "Jesus Christ, Ben, what happened?"
"Open the goddamn door, Lux," he said in a low voice, a voice that was desperately trying to hold back tears.
She did as she was told, and Benji hobbled out into the kitchen, the pack still connected to his right ankle, dragging on the floor behind him.
"Benji, wait!" she hissed, stooping down and grabbing his leg, freeing the pack from his leg.
She thought this was the hindrance to his walking, yet, he still stumbled with buckling knees. She rushed over to him, the pack under one arm, and slung his arm around her shoulder while she wrapped her free one round his back. "Benji, lean on me."
And he did so. They made their way down the steps and out of the apartment, every single step pure agony for Benji.
Luxy stopped when they reached outside. "Where do ya want to go?"
"The Park," he replied weakly, his forehead collapsing against her shoulder.
When she finally saw the dark shape of the elm in the night, she burst out into tears of happiness that they had finally reached it. She placed him against the trunk of the tree, his head lolling forward, as she fell beside him.
"Benji, what happened?" she asked through tears, placing her palm under his chin and picking his head up. Her tears got even bitter when she saw the wounds in the pale moonlight.
He averted his eyes to the ground as his cheek fell against her palm.
"Benji, what in God's name happened to you?" she cried.
He raised his head and locked his one good eye with her tear-filled ones. "My pa, that's what," he said in a hard, spiritless voice.
"Oh my God." Luxy felt the tears come to her eyes with even more passion.
"I just wanted to see his cane, that's all. The cane that his dad gave him and his dad before him. The cane that is his little baby. The cane that he loves even more than his goddamn family!" he hollered, his voice quaking.
Luxy looked down and indeed saw the cane poking through a belt loop in his pants.
"I'd saw it before. It was real pretty. I asked if I could hold it and he said no. That I wasn't good enough. He said that he wasn't gonna give it to me when he dies. The old bastard said he was gonna be buried with it in his goddamn grave. That I was a sissy boy and no macho boy. But its gonna be my thirteenth birthday soon, ya know? That's when I'll finally be a man and have to work in the damn factory. He was out today and I just had an itch to go look at it. So, I jimmied open the box he keeps it in and I did. I looked at it. It was so pretty that I picked the bitch up and just started caressin' the smooth wood. Lux, the wood was so damn smooth." Here was when his voice faltered and the tears came. "But he came home early from the bar. I could here him in the kitchen screamin' at my ma and callin' her a bitch and I could here her screamin' and him yellin' and he was hittin' on her and she was sobbing…And then he came into the room and found me with his cane."
He paused, wavering. She wondered if he would go one. He did, the moonlight reflecting off the tears in his eyes. "He saw me and looked at me as if I was a goddamn rat. He said, 'Boy, what the hell you doin' with my cane.' And I said, 'Pa, I jist wanted to look at it.' And he came over and snatched it from me. 'Boy, you know you ain't nothin' but a pile of shit. You ain't never gonna git this cane. I'm gonna be buried with it because its mine. You can't never have it.' And then he looked at it and he got all red and he looked at me and yelled, 'Boy, I jist polished this cane and you come and git your fuckin' fingerprints on it and smudge it right the fuck up.' And I crawled back and said it wasn't me. But he raised that cane up and smashed it right across my face…"
He was sobbing in hysterics now. "And I fell back, but he brought it down again and again. And I got up and try to run, but he smashed behind my legs and I couldn't walk. And I tried the handle and he smashed my fingers and I lay there sobbin' and he jist kept hittin' me and hittin' me and then it went all black…"
Benji threw his hands to his face, but let out a howl of pain. "My fingers. My goddamn fingers. They hurt so much."
Luxy felt revulsion and pain surge through her at the same time. "Oh my God."
He fell against her, burying his head into her chest, and she wrapped her arms around his quaking shoulders, pulling him close.
"I can't go back! I can't go back!" he sobbed into her. "I can't! They'll have to kill me first before I go back there!'
"Benji, where will you go?" she asked through tears.
He pulled away from her and sat up. A new fire flashed in his eye. "I don't know, Luxy, I don't know," he replied in a low, harsh voice, stopping the tears. "I got my stuff and I'm goin' somewhere. Jist not back there. Are you comin' with me?"
Luxy looked him straight in the eyes. "Where will we go, Benj. Tell me, where will we go?" she asked bitterly.
He shrugged, grasping onto his pack. "I don't know and I don't care. Anywhere. I just can't live with that son of a bitch no more."
Luxy let out a bitter laugh. "Anywhere, really Benji?"
"Yeah," he replied harshly, his eye glinting.
"Anywhere? Say we leave tonight? Where will we go? You can't even walk and I can't carry you far. We'll have to stay the night or maybe longer in some dark, dirty alley. The police will probably find us and return us to our parents. Your father will just get madder and will beat you even more. But say we do escape. We are only twelve. Where will we work? Some sweatshop? Some factory? Benji, in a place where we will slave all day and get absolutely nothing in return? But say we escape but we get caught further down the road. They'll put us in an orphanage and who knows what the hell can happen to us there. We will probably be separated and may you may be adopted by people who are even worse than your father. We…"
"Oh, Luxy!" he interrupted her, in a soft quivering voice, falling against her once more.
"Benj," Luxy replied, feeling the tears coming once again.
She didn't know when sleep found her that horrible night, or if sleep even found her at all.
The summer had dimmed, as did the scorching heat. There was no need to find refuge every hour of the day under the elm in The Park just to feel the refreshing coolness of a zephyr.
Luxy Listin inhaled deeply on one such breeze that found its way through the open bedroom window, dancing on her face for a few minutes. She was ever so thankful for the drop in temperature. She had spent too many precious summer days sprawled out at Benji's feet, like a caged animal under the shade of the sentinel.
But this, now, was a different story. The days following the dog days where fall is right on summer's heels, there is just the perfect balance of hot and cold. Children could once more populate The Park, their screams of joy blending in with the yells of the adults coming from the apartments.
A small smile found its way to her face, but soon dropped as a sudden, horrid thought dawned on her. Her last summer. This would be her last summer as a child. Lynn had turned thirteen late this winter, and that meant that she had to go to work at the factory, like Mama and Julie and Annie. Just like Antonio had to go this year to work with Papa and Peter and Philip. And Meg, poor Meg. All Meg had wanted to rise to in live was to stay home for her husband while he went away to work. Unfortunately, she had perished last year in the factory when the hem of her dress got caught in one of the machines and it pulled her in. Julie had said that it took them forever to clean up the blood.
Luxy immediately sat up in bed. She felt like her throat was constricting, like she was suffocating. Her breathing because loud and heavy and her heart raced. Quietly, as not to wake up the others, she twisted out of the covers and tiptoed over their legs, jumping off the edge of the bed and flying to the window where she thrust her head out inhaled the luke-warm night air.
Her chest still heaving, she clambered onto the window ledge and sat, like a cat might sit, watchfully staring out the window. Only, she stared at the apartments across from hers. Benji's was right across from hers and she could also hear the yells. They might have been from downstairs, Mr. Pepper yelling at Mrs. Pepper and calling her a bitch again or it could have been from across, Mr. Conlon yelling at Mrs. Conlon again.
Her question was answered when she saw a dark silhouette emerge from the window that led to Benji's room. He then proceeded to scale across to her on the dirty, white cord that served for hanging the cloths out to dry. He always did this, but it never ceased to amaze her, granted he was a good three stories up. Yet, there was something different about this night trip, he had a knapsack full of something tied by a cord that dangled from his leg.
This struck Luxy's interest, and when he reached her side, she swung her legs outward and watched as he hoisted himself up onto the window ledge.
"Benji," she asked in a hushed whisper, grabbing onto his upper arm, "what are you…OH!"
She couldn't help but gasp. He had turned his face to her, and in the glare of the moon, she saw his face. It looked as though he had gotten stuck in one of the factory machines. Both his eyes had black as pitch circles around them, his left one not even being able to open. His left cheek looked like it had been shattered, it was so horrific, as the left side of his mouth was split. The same side of his nose was concave, and dried blood hung from the lower part of his face, giving him the almost comical appearance of a burnt red beard.
She drew a hand to her mouth in a gasp. "Benji…what…"
Yet, Benji was swinging his legs over the other side of the ledge, doing so with much pain. He dropped to the ground and let out a clenched groan.
"Benji, what happened?" she asked in a hushed voice, thrusting the pack into the room.
He stood up and turned to her. "I'm leaving, Luxy," he said in a low voice that cracked, trying to hold back the tears.
He had already started across the bedroom and to the door when Luxy jumped off the ledge and dashed over to him. "Benji, please, what happened?" she asked again, her voice faltering with tears.
Benji reached the knob and turned it, but recoiled with a low howl of agony. Her hand immediately darted out and grabbed his hand, her eyes falling to his fingers and knuckles. She let out a gasp. They were bloody and black from being hit so many times. Her other hand grabbed his other one. The same. She let them drop and she stared hard at him, through his mangled face, the tears finding their way down her face. "Jesus Christ, Ben, what happened?"
"Open the goddamn door, Lux," he said in a low voice, a voice that was desperately trying to hold back tears.
She did as she was told, and Benji hobbled out into the kitchen, the pack still connected to his right ankle, dragging on the floor behind him.
"Benji, wait!" she hissed, stooping down and grabbing his leg, freeing the pack from his leg.
She thought this was the hindrance to his walking, yet, he still stumbled with buckling knees. She rushed over to him, the pack under one arm, and slung his arm around her shoulder while she wrapped her free one round his back. "Benji, lean on me."
And he did so. They made their way down the steps and out of the apartment, every single step pure agony for Benji.
Luxy stopped when they reached outside. "Where do ya want to go?"
"The Park," he replied weakly, his forehead collapsing against her shoulder.
When she finally saw the dark shape of the elm in the night, she burst out into tears of happiness that they had finally reached it. She placed him against the trunk of the tree, his head lolling forward, as she fell beside him.
"Benji, what happened?" she asked through tears, placing her palm under his chin and picking his head up. Her tears got even bitter when she saw the wounds in the pale moonlight.
He averted his eyes to the ground as his cheek fell against her palm.
"Benji, what in God's name happened to you?" she cried.
He raised his head and locked his one good eye with her tear-filled ones. "My pa, that's what," he said in a hard, spiritless voice.
"Oh my God." Luxy felt the tears come to her eyes with even more passion.
"I just wanted to see his cane, that's all. The cane that his dad gave him and his dad before him. The cane that is his little baby. The cane that he loves even more than his goddamn family!" he hollered, his voice quaking.
Luxy looked down and indeed saw the cane poking through a belt loop in his pants.
"I'd saw it before. It was real pretty. I asked if I could hold it and he said no. That I wasn't good enough. He said that he wasn't gonna give it to me when he dies. The old bastard said he was gonna be buried with it in his goddamn grave. That I was a sissy boy and no macho boy. But its gonna be my thirteenth birthday soon, ya know? That's when I'll finally be a man and have to work in the damn factory. He was out today and I just had an itch to go look at it. So, I jimmied open the box he keeps it in and I did. I looked at it. It was so pretty that I picked the bitch up and just started caressin' the smooth wood. Lux, the wood was so damn smooth." Here was when his voice faltered and the tears came. "But he came home early from the bar. I could here him in the kitchen screamin' at my ma and callin' her a bitch and I could here her screamin' and him yellin' and he was hittin' on her and she was sobbing…And then he came into the room and found me with his cane."
He paused, wavering. She wondered if he would go one. He did, the moonlight reflecting off the tears in his eyes. "He saw me and looked at me as if I was a goddamn rat. He said, 'Boy, what the hell you doin' with my cane.' And I said, 'Pa, I jist wanted to look at it.' And he came over and snatched it from me. 'Boy, you know you ain't nothin' but a pile of shit. You ain't never gonna git this cane. I'm gonna be buried with it because its mine. You can't never have it.' And then he looked at it and he got all red and he looked at me and yelled, 'Boy, I jist polished this cane and you come and git your fuckin' fingerprints on it and smudge it right the fuck up.' And I crawled back and said it wasn't me. But he raised that cane up and smashed it right across my face…"
He was sobbing in hysterics now. "And I fell back, but he brought it down again and again. And I got up and try to run, but he smashed behind my legs and I couldn't walk. And I tried the handle and he smashed my fingers and I lay there sobbin' and he jist kept hittin' me and hittin' me and then it went all black…"
Benji threw his hands to his face, but let out a howl of pain. "My fingers. My goddamn fingers. They hurt so much."
Luxy felt revulsion and pain surge through her at the same time. "Oh my God."
He fell against her, burying his head into her chest, and she wrapped her arms around his quaking shoulders, pulling him close.
"I can't go back! I can't go back!" he sobbed into her. "I can't! They'll have to kill me first before I go back there!'
"Benji, where will you go?" she asked through tears.
He pulled away from her and sat up. A new fire flashed in his eye. "I don't know, Luxy, I don't know," he replied in a low, harsh voice, stopping the tears. "I got my stuff and I'm goin' somewhere. Jist not back there. Are you comin' with me?"
Luxy looked him straight in the eyes. "Where will we go, Benj. Tell me, where will we go?" she asked bitterly.
He shrugged, grasping onto his pack. "I don't know and I don't care. Anywhere. I just can't live with that son of a bitch no more."
Luxy let out a bitter laugh. "Anywhere, really Benji?"
"Yeah," he replied harshly, his eye glinting.
"Anywhere? Say we leave tonight? Where will we go? You can't even walk and I can't carry you far. We'll have to stay the night or maybe longer in some dark, dirty alley. The police will probably find us and return us to our parents. Your father will just get madder and will beat you even more. But say we do escape. We are only twelve. Where will we work? Some sweatshop? Some factory? Benji, in a place where we will slave all day and get absolutely nothing in return? But say we escape but we get caught further down the road. They'll put us in an orphanage and who knows what the hell can happen to us there. We will probably be separated and may you may be adopted by people who are even worse than your father. We…"
"Oh, Luxy!" he interrupted her, in a soft quivering voice, falling against her once more.
"Benj," Luxy replied, feeling the tears coming once again.
She didn't know when sleep found her that horrible night, or if sleep even found her at all.