July 19, 1924
Jimmy had turned 10 a few days ago. On that day he still had to go to work and the only one who even remembered his birthday was Linny.
Well maybe Oscar remembered, because there was now a new bruise on Jimmy's face.
Jimmy stood behind the fish booth selling the fish to customers.
He absentmindly rubbed his now black eye. Oscar had never givin him so many bruises and cuts. Usually it was just the occasional slap. Not since his mother died had he been this afraid of him.
What had he ever done to make this man hate him so much? He was almost afraid of the answer. The other day he found his mother's first wedding ring, the one his father gave her, in the trashcan. He took it.
It now hung from a string around his neck, tucked into his shirt. He couldn't risk Oscar seeing it.
Picking at a scab on his left hand he stared into space. He almost missed school. He was barely able to get the price for the fish right most days. He watched as some fancy ladies walked by. He wished his mother might have had a chance to have lived like that.
As a customer came up and bought something he saw Linny coming towards the booth. She came everyday after school and all day on Saturday. She hated going home in the evenings. Ever since her mother left two years ago her father had decided alcohol was his new best friend.
"Hi Jimmy." Linny said sitting down on the bench next to him.
He turned his head away trying to keep the bruises hidden. "What's wrong?" she asked trying to move his face so she could see it. He winced. He turned slowly towards her.
She gasped. "Are there any others?"
He nodded slowly and gravely, rolling up the sleeves on his threadbare shirt. Bruises and a few cuts ran along the insides of his arms.
"He's gonna kill you if you don't get out of there." She said panicky.
"I can't leave. I don't have money, or anywhere to go." He said kicking at some dirt.
"You have a job. How can you not have money?"
"Oscar keeps all of it." He mumbeled.
She sighed. "I'll think of something."
October 02, 1924
And she did. She got a job at a small bakery near the outskirts of the fish market. She only worked there after school and on weekends since Jimmy refused to let her quit school. She'd saved every penny she got and hid it in a safe place far from where her father usually went.
They still hadn't thought of somewhere to go.
They wanted somewhere near the ocean, but not a place where it was hot. They finally found a place. The big city. It was big enough for no one to find them, near the ocean, and it was only a state over. Their main problem now, was how to get there.
"I say we take a train." Linny said, singing her legs back and forth as she sat on the small bench.
"To much money. Its not to far, we could walk." Jimmy argued.
"With winter coming! We'd freeze!"
"Then we'll wait for summer. A few months more won't hurt."
They agreed to save as much money as they could, and in 6 months, they'd be long gone.
hopefully this chapter probably explained to you all why he wasn't really scared of Oscar. He is now. But before he only hit him once and awhile.
Pyra250- i'm glad you like it.And i'll try to remember detail.
elvespiratesandcowboysohmy-glad you like it. And you'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Stroppy-teenager- I love that word. It sounds so funny. And yes i'm from America. And yes we have terrible twos. Glad you like it. But the main change was in this chapter.