Chapter 4 - An Angel and an Urchin
David and Tom were waiting for Elizabeth and Hannibal beside the wagon. David was talking to his new son, trying to get to know him a little better.
Elizabeth thought that Tom looked even better in the daylight, his golden hair shining in the sunshine. By contrast, now that she could see him in better light, Hannibal looked every inch the urchin he was. He felt her scrutiny and seemed to wilt under her gaze.
Something suddenly occurred to her. "Hannibal, what about your things? Don't you have a suitcase, like Tom?"
"No, ma'am. I didn't have anythin' from before."
She made a sudden decision. Walking down the steps to the wagon, she spoke to her husband. "David, you brought a little extra money, didn't you?"
"Yes," he tried not to look at Hannibal as he spoke. The boy was trying hard to look the picture of innocence.
"Good. I want you to go and buy some new clothes for our boys." She smiled as she said the words. Our boys.
Hannibal's eyes widened as she said that. He couldn't seem to believe this was real and his smile kept switching from hopeful, to uncertain, to worried.
"I'm going to take them to the bathhouse and get them cleaned up. We'll meet you there."
In truth, Tom didn't need a bath, he could have waited until they got home. But she wasn't going to drive home with one child looking like an angel from Heaven and the other one looking like an urchin they found in the gutter.
They started to move away and she noticed that Hannibal was still barefoot, his boots tied by their laces and swinging from his hand.
She stopped. "Hannibal, you should put on your boots."
He sat down to pull on his boots. When she saw the effort it took to pull them on, she guessed why he hadn't been wearing them.
Kneeling down, she took the remaining boot from his hands and examined it for a moment, then lifted up his foot. It was dotted with uncomfortable looking blisters. She held the boot against the foot and determined that it must be about a size too small. The only reason he was able to put them on at all was because the stitching across the front had come apart, so the boots were open at the toe.
She picked up his other foot and pulled off the remaining boot with difficulty. She placed it and its partner on the boards that made up the sidewalk, and stood up.
Once again, she reached for his hand. "Come along, Hannibal."
He looked nervous. "My boots?"
"Can stay there. Perhaps someone else will want them. Now be careful on these cobblestones, they can be sharp."
She held out her other hand to Tom and led her new family to the bathhouse.
When she got them to the filled tubs, Tom happily climbed into the water. He was used to his mother being around and seemed to feel no embarrassment about being seen by Elizabeth.
In contrast, Hannibal was mortified. He tried his best to cover himself and quickly climbed in, giving himself the most cursory of washes.
While Tom assiduously scrubbed his neck and behind his ears, Hannibal seemed to just move the dirt around until even the soap was black. It wasn't hard to do, since the water had changed color the minute he had stepped into the tub.
"Hannibal, scrub your neck as Tom is doing! Didn't your mother ever teach you to wash behind your ears?"
Hannibal blushed and proceeded to halfheartedly clean behind his ears. Elizabeth walked over to the tub and he quickly put out his hands to cover himself.
"Hannibal, don't be silly." She knelt beside him. "When was the last time you took a bath?"
He shrugged.
"Well?"
"We took showers in the orphanage."
"What about when you were at home with your mother?"
His voice faltered. "Yeah… but I don't remember much about it."
He remembered being in a bathtub before, long ago, but he couldn't remember anyone telling him to scrub his ears or neck.
Elizabeth wondered how long he had been on his own.
"Well, then I'm going to show you how to scrub that neck clean once and for all!" She smiled to take the sting out of her words. "If it was any dirtier, we could grow potatoes in you!"
He smiled back, and she washed his hair and scrubbed his neck until he looked like a completely different child. She'd originally thought his hair was darker, but now it had washed to a soft brown.
David returned with the new clothes. Tom's things were all fairly new and in good condition, but David picked up a shirt for him so he wouldn't feel left out. Hannibal needed everything new, everything he had was old and threadbare.
They smiled at the boy's transformation as Elizabeth stepped back. At least now Hannibal didn't seem such a contrast, standing next to Tom.
"Well, what good-looking boys I have!" she said.
Tom and Hannibal grinned at each other.
David clapped his hands together. "Well, what next? Are we ready to go? I'm getting hungry, is anyone else ready to eat?"
They all looked hopefully at Elizabeth. "Not quite yet, I'm afraid."
She saw three disappointed faces and laughed. "Ten more minutes won't kill anyone! Hannibal is going to visit the barber and I'm going to buy him a pair of boots. We shouldn't be too long. Tom, how are your boots?"
Tom lifted up his foot to show her. "I've got good boots, ma'am. They're pretty new."
"Good! Off you go then. We'll meet you in the restaurant across the street in a few minutes."