Spot made a trip across the Brooklyn Bridge. When he walked into Tibby's around lunchtime, the entire restaurant fell silent. Ralphie called the shots; Spot sent out the troops; the newsies did the dirty work. Having Spot visit was akin to having Ralphie come himself.
"Heya Spot," said Jack.
"Hey Cowboy," he said, nodding to Jack.
"Um, Ralphie ain't here," said Jack.
"I ain't here lookin' for him," said Spot. "In fact, don't even tell him I was here."
"What brings you to our side of the bridge?" asked Jack.
Spot surveyed the room and furrowed his brow. "Where's Skittery?"
"In the Refuge," said Specs, from the next table.
"What?"
Specs sighed. "He punched a reformer when they came to take away Tumbler."
Spot shook his head quickly, trying to make sense of it all. "You better start at the beginning." He sat down across from Specs.
"You know how the reformers come around every so often to take kids on the orphan trains?"
Spot shrugged. No reformers ever came to their neighborhood in Brooklyn.
"Well, they do. They came looking for Boots, Snipeshooter, and Tumbler. Boots was out, Snipes is in Brooklyn, but Tumbler was sitting there with us. They tried to take him away, but Skittery was having none of it. He told Tumbler to run, but one of the reformers was too quick and grabbed Tumbler. Skittery punched him, and the lady with them ran into the street callin' for the bulls." Specs sighed. "In the end, Tumbler got put on their wagon, and Skittery got arrested."
Spot sighed. "Fuck."
"Is everything okay with Aide?" Itey asked.
"Don't matter now," said Spot.
"What do you mean?" Jack frowned.
"I came over here to tell you that you guys gotta find a way to get Aide out of Brooklyn, but now…maybe she's better off over there."
"What happened?" asked Specs.
Spot hesitated. "Not sure it's my place to tell you. But it ain't good."
"You askin' for our help?" asked Jack.
"No," said Spot. "I can't stick my neck out for her any more than I am right now, unless I want to sleep at the bottom of the East River. But she's my friend, and I don't want her with Ralphie anymore than you do. But…" Spot sighed, "When's Skittery gettin' out of the Refuge?"
"Three months, if he's good," said Jack.
"Kloppman is working on finding out where they sent Tumbler," said Specs. "Not sure what good that'll do, but at least it'll give Skittery and Aide somewhere to go."
"So where do they send the kids?" asked Spot.
Jack shrugged. "To families out west."
Spot raised an eyebrow. "And you haven't volunteered?"
Jack rolled his eyes.
"So what's gonna happen to him?" asked Spot.
"He'll be adopted by some family. They'll send him to school, he'll get three meals a day…not a bad deal, really."
"Maybe not if he didn't have a sister here in town," said Spot. He stood up and headed toward the door.
"You think we should still try to get her outta Brooklyn?" asked Specs, standing up.
Spot didn't turn around. He just walked out the door.
Spot crossed back over into Brooklyn and walked down Flatbush toward the neighborhood where Ralphie usually had Adelaide pickpocketing. He saw Fire leaning against a corner, watching something down the street.
"Hey," said Spot, walking up next to him. Fire just glanced at him and nodded. "Aide around?"
Fire jutted his chin down a couple storefronts where Snipeshooter stood yelling the headlines. As a customer walked up to buy a paper, Adelaide passed by them, "accidentally" knocking into them on her way past.
"They've got quite the partnership going," said Fire. "They're barely been apart since she pulled him out of that house."
"Good," said Spot. "They're gonna need each other."
Fire looked over at him. "Why?"
Spot shook his head. "Never mind. You can take off. I got 'em."
Fire nodded and turned, walking away from the street. Spot walked down the street toward Adelaide and Snipeshooter, just as Snipeshooter sold his last page.
"Impressive," said Spot, after the last customer walked away.
"We've made quite a haul," said Adelaide.
"I can tell," said Spot. "Listen, why don't we go drop off your collection with Ralphie and get something to eat. I gotta talk to you two."
Snipeshooter and Adelaide shared a glance. "Why?" asked Snipeshooter.
Spot didn't say anything. He just turned around and they followed him back to the tenement basement.
Ralphie was out front, talking to some men. Spot slowed Adelaide and Snipeshooter down as they walked down the alley. As soon as the men wandered away and Ralphie stuffed something into his coat pocket, Adelaide walked over to Ralphie.
"Hey, kitten," said Ralphie, a cigar sticking out of his mouth.
Adelaide handed him a small bag full of billfolds and pocket watches.
"Very good," Ralphie grinned, looking in the bag. He looked at Snipeshooter. "And you?"
Snipeshooter handed Ralphie a portion of his earnings.
"It's too bad about your brother and your fella, huh?" said Ralphie.
"What?" Adelaide furrowed her brow.
"Yeah," Ralphie nodded. "Your brother got shipped out west and your fella got arrested."
"What?" Adelaide breathed.
Ralphie pocketed Snipeshooter's money and closed the bag. "Good work you two." He checked the time on his watch and pushed himself off the wall. "I got business." With that, he walked down and out of the alley.
Adelaide slowly turned to Spot. "What was that about Tumbler and Skittery?"
Spot sighed. "That's what I was gonna talk to you about."
"Tumbler's gone?" Adelaide's voice cracked.
Spot nodded. "I guess the reformers came to the lodging house to take some of the boys, Skittery punched one of the reformers…" Spot shook his head. "It was a mess."
Aide slowly walked over to the porch of the first-floor tenement and sat down, staring ahead into space. "He's gone," she whispered. She slowly shook her head, feeling her throat get tight. "I'm never gonna see him again." She sniffed as the tears fell onto her cheeks. "I didn't even get to say goodbye."
Snipeshooter walked over and sat down next to her, putting his arm around her.
Spot watched them. "Skittery tried to stop them," he said. "Kloppman is trying to figure out where they sent him."
Adelaide gasped as the sobs came. "I think I'm…" She rushed over to a trash barrel and threw up her breakfast into the alley.
Snipeshooter rushed over and held her hair back as she spit the rest out of her mouth.
"You okay?"
"I just can't shake this flu, I guess."
