Ravenna awoke again in a cold sweat, yet this morning there was not a gypsy to yell at to diminish the feelings that the dream left her with. Rolling onto her left side she was greeted by the smell of kitty breath as Ferocious yawned in an attempt to wake up. Coughing softly she grinned slightly at her newest companion.
"Thanks Ferocious. I love you too."
Ferocious merely looked up at her with her green gaze and meowed, causing Ravenna to shake her head, her smile still upon her lips.
Throwing the covers off of her she shuffled to the dresser on the other side of the tiny room and proceeded to dress herself. She was just about to try and tame her unruly ebony curls as a soft knock broke the silence.
"Ravenna, are you awake?"
A smile lit her lips as she heard the Italian accent. Letting her curls fall down her back for the moment she opened the door just as Elena was about to knock again.
"Buona Mattina Elena."
Elena shook her head, a smile upon her lips as well.
"Buona Mattina to you too Ravenna. I did not expect you up so early though; it is nearly 5 o'clock, which is when the boys wake up so you have about half an hour before you need to be at the Lodging house. I have some eggs and toast downstairs ready for you; I hope you do not mind that I made it without asking you...'
Ravenna smiled. She knew she would get along fine with the woman in front of her. Shaking her head her smile remained on her tiers.
"No, I do not mind in the least. Thank you for thinking of me. I usually rise at this time of day, I seem to have some sort of biological timer which wakes me." Her smile seemed somewhat strained to her and she hoped Elena did not notice. "I will be down as soon as I am able to tame the beast which I call my hair."
A chuckle arouse from Elena as she moved behind Ravenna and managed to twist her hair up into a fashionable knot at the back of her head in record time.
"Do you have any pins that I can use to hold this?"
Ravenna blinked. Never in her life had her hair been so cooperative. Dazed, she handed Elena the pins she was had been holding in her right hand.
"How did you do that?"
Elena merely laughed.
"My hair is not as tame as it appears; you simply have to let it know who is boss and it will cooperate. Come, food awaits."
The two trudged downstairs where Ravenna settled herself into the nearest table to the kitchen. Elena disappeared into the kitchen only to appear minuets later, food in hand.
"I hope you do not mind, I did not know whether you like butter or jam so I brought both, oh and I scrambled you eggs because I did not know how else you liked them."
It was Ravenna's turn to laugh.
"I like my eggs scrambled and as for toast I do not care whether it is jam or butter, but at the moment jam seems to sound better."
Elena settled herself in the chair opposite Ravenna and grinned.
"That is my mother's famous blackberry jam. Every first Sunday of the month Mama would go to the market in Venice and buy blackberries when they were in season. Then she would return home and make jam, that is one of the reasons why we managed to save enough money to come to America, Mama's jam."
Ravenna spread some of the dark purple substance upon her toast and took a bite. Her lips curved upwards and she nodded in agreement. Once she had swallowed she voiced her opinion.
"This is the best jam."
Elena gave a knowing smile before her face became extremely excited.
"I forgot to tell Mush last night that The Dancing Bear is throwing its first annual Masquerade in celebration of Carnival that happens in Venice before Martedì Grasso. The celebration lasts for weeks; there are parades and many parties and all of Italy celebrates its last few weeks of freedom before Lent. However, Venice is the main city to be in during Carnival, which happens to be my home town." Elena smirked with pride as she stated that bit of information. "So I wanted to bring a bit of home to Manhattan and I thought that perhaps the party would be good for business. What do you think?"
Ravenna smiled in delight.
"That sounds wonderful Elena! I'm sure it will draw a huge crowd."
"Do you think so? I had suggested that idea to Papa many times but he was so stubborn." She gave a slight shrug. "Now I think it is my chance to make this place into what it could be. Would you come?"
"To the Masquerade?"
"No, to the Brooklyn Bridge. Yes to the Masquerade. Everyone dresses in a costume and must wear a mask. It truly is a spectacular thing to see. I cannot lend you a costume but I do have a mask that would look wonderful on you."
"Oh I would love to come. When is it?"
"It will be in three weeks. I certainly hope that all the boys will be able to come."
Ravenna's face dropped at the reminder that Elena was rather attached to the newsies. Sighing inwardly, she admitted to herself that her morning had been going too well and she should have expected some slight bump in the road.
"I'm sure they will. Speaking of boys I should be going to Les. I will be back whenever the 'boys' as you called them, arrive back at the Lodging house."
She quickly scooted her chair away from the table and stood causing Elena's cattish eyes to glance at her curiously.
"You don't like the newsies do you?"
Surprised at her direct question, Ravenna could not help but stammer. She honestly didn't know how she felt about the newsies. She had just gotten used to not liking them and with the way Les had acted yesterday she was not sure what she thought
With a wave of her hand Elena removed Ravenna's requirement to answer the question.
"It does not matter what you think now, that will all change once you get to know them. They may seem a bit odd and brash at first, but once you get to know them they truly are wonderful people; loyal to a fault and willing to give the shirt off their own back to a friend. Watch them, and you'll see."
Ravenna snorted slightly and muttered to herself
"I doubt liars would care for someone else more than themselves."
Elena's brow rose and her eyes narrowed.
"I'll have you know that those boys are as honest as they come. They might have to rearrange the headlines every now and then in order to make a living, but if they didn't they would starve. Some other newsies in different cities might be the type to be slight of hand, yet Jack makes sure that if any of his boys does pick a pocket or two that they be pockets of people who will surely not hurt from the absence of a few dollars; not the pockets of just any person they come in contact with. They are good boys, better than most you would come in contact with and I won't have anyone disrespecting them in my establishment."
Elena's eyes had turned to a rather dark jade as her voice had picked up more and more passion along the lines of her speech causing Ravenna to inwardly wince. She knew she had crossed a line and now felt her need to somewhat explain herself and make amends to the comment she had uttered.
"I guess I jumped to the conclusion that newsies were like gypsies yesterday when I bought a newspaper off of a false headline. Perhaps they will change my mind once I am around them more, but I don't think anyone can change my mind about Mush. He is a gypsy and I have personal reasons not to like them."
Elena didn't seem too pleased with Ravenna's statement, yet she didn't seem to be as upset as she was earlier.
"I'm not going to push that issue with you Ravenna, we are all entitled to our own secrets, yet I must tell you that if you shut Mush out you are closing a door to a wonderful friendship. But that is your choice."
Her eyes were back to their normal cattish hues as she glanced towards the window and saw the first rays of the sun lighting the sky. Scooting her chair back she took Ravenna's plate in her hand.
"You best be going. The boys will be wondering where you are. Oh, and don't worry about your cat, I'll take good care of her. I'm sure she won't mind attacking whatever mice are trying to live in the kitchen."
Ravenna winced at the idea of her innocent little kitty eating a mouse. Mentally shaking her head to ward of the mental image she nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I do need to be off. I will see you later then?"
Elena smiled.
"Yes, I will see you later this evening. Simply come to the kitchen and I will have Mama fix you something for super."
"Mmm. Home made Italian food. How can I pass up that offer?"
Elena laughed.
"You can't now go. I have work to do."
It was Ravenna's turn to laugh as she wandered out the door and down the block towards her new place of work. Upon entering the Lodging house she noticed that it was quiet all except for the two hushed voices coming from the quarantined room.
"Mush, shouldn't you be off selling your papes?"
A deep chuckle could be heard in reply.
"I will as son as Nettle, your nurse gets here."
"Nettle?" As Ravenna neared the room she could see the little boy's confused expression. "Is that her name?"
A smile seemed to be upon Mush's lips for his voice carried his amusement.
"No Les, Nettle is not her name; I don't even think I know what her real name is. Jack gave her the title Nettle because the word means to vex or irritate, and well, that's what Jack thought of her when he met her. I think it fits, don't you?"
The little boy shook his head vehemently.
"No, I don't think so at all. I think she is really sweet. And she is a good cook too. Her stew was even better than Mama's." The kid quickly clamped a hand over his mouth as if he had committed the biggest sin in the world.
Mush merely hugged the boy close to him.
"It's all right Les, it's ok. Everyone knows what a wonderful woman your Mama was, how wonderful your entire family was. It's all right for you to think that someone does some things better than your Mama or the rest of your family did from time to time. It doesn't take away from the special places they hold in your heart."
Les's face seemed to flood with relief; he even offered a slight smile.
"Thanks Mush."
"Your welcome Les."
Ravenna hated to interrupt such a tender moment yet she did not want to be responsible for Mush's lack of lunch again. Knocking on the door she announced her presence.
"You can go now, I'm here to look after Les."
She hadn't meant for her words to sound as if she was brushing away his presence, yet by the look in his eyes she knew she had.
"I watched him during the night; I thought it best that none of the other boys get what he has."
"That was probably best."
An awkward silence settled on the room for a few minuets before Mush headed towards the door.
"Right. I best be going."
With that he strolled from the door leaving Ravenna alone with Les.
A/N: Ok, I'm going to quit telling you when I update bacuse apparently I lie. I didn't think this would be coming out tonight but apparently my Muses thought otherwise AGAIN. You can blame this update on Raeghann and JP though. They both know why. Oh, I don't know if Italian merchants sold Blackberries in Venice in the 1800s so don't eat me alive if its not true. Thanks :o) And as Mondie so delicately put I forgot to tell you guys what the Italian meant! Hehe. Oops! Sorry. So the translations for the last chapter and this one are at the end of this A/N.
caro = dear
coppie belle = beautiful couple
Ché gatto prezioso = What a precious cat
È quando desidera essere = It (she) is when it (she) wishes to be…meaning the cat
Buona Mattina = Good Morning
Martedì Grasso = Fat Tuesday
I believe that covers them all. I will try my hardest not to make that mistake again hehe. But I make no promises because I am only human. :o)
OK, as for SOs…I'm so sorry but I was in such a rush to post this before I ran off to my Eng. 1A class that I couldn't do them. They will be in the next chapter which will be soon because I have a friend who is really sick and said more of my story would help. I highly doubt it, but I'm going to comply with her wishes anyway. Who am I to argue? So more than likely there will be another chapter up tonight or tomorrow with SOs.