Chapter two
Oliver had run on ahead of Alice and in her daydream she hadn't noticed until now. Hitching her skirts up a little she ran into the square where Oliver stood staring at the hustle and bustle of the morning summer fair.
"Oliver I told you not to run off and stay close to me." Alice reprimanded her younger brother. Oliver looked up at her and his perplexed face made her smile.
"It's not like you haven't seen people before!" Alice laughed.
"I know but I never noticed how happy and bright everything is!" Oliver exclaimed staring after a flower seller with multi-coloured flowers in her basket and a young girl skipping down the path because she had just brought a plush pink rose from the flower seller.
Alice steered Oliver in the direction of all the other stalls. There were plenty, ranging from homemade garments to fruits and sweets.
Oliver was now staring at the sweets. His mouth watering at the sight of so many different types of sugary delights, his eye was drawn to the mix of colourful boiled sweets; he just knew they must be delicious what couldn't when it was such lovely colours?!
Alice caught him staring, she realised this must be a massive new thing for Oliver and although she had seen many a summer fair she understood how it felt for it was a different experience for her being able to browse the stalls leisurely rather than being hurried along by some suspicious stallholder. Despite this Alice often found herself scanning the crowd for good possible victims, the wealthy who would keep a good deal of money in their wallets.
"Oliver, do you want some?" Alice asked him.
His face lit up but then it faded, Alice knew why he had temporarily forgotten their new fortune.
"You can have what you like. We have money." Alice reminded him.
So Oliver brought a packet of boiled sweets and had just popped a blue one in his mouth when Alice tapped him on the shoulder.
Keeping her eyes sharp and her wits aware Alice had noticed a familiar character pickpocketing a young rich gentleman looking at the fine collection of watches and wallet in the shop window.
"I should look long and hard if I were you mate, you're going to need a new wallet soon." Alice remarked.
Oliver looked at his sister, he was only marginally shocked at her remark but in a way he was more disappointed. He could tell from the glowing and the slight glisten in her eyes, the light-hearted joking way that she spoke that Alice was happier in the old pickpocket life then she would be in any other lifestyle. It would take some convincing to change that.
"Can we go and say hello?" Oliver said pretending not to have heard what Alice had last said.
"Wait 'til he's finished the job." Alice told him.
The siblings watched him as he slid in his hand carefully into the pocket and pulled out a slick hanky and a bulging wallet. Alice noticed he was getting a little careless with his skills and made a mental note to reprimand him on the matter.
"Can we go now?" Oliver asked getting rather impatient. Alice nodded and they made their way over to him.
After relieving the gentleman of his valuables and pocketing the wallet, the boy felt two hands fall on his shoulders. His initial fear was that a policeman had finally caught him in the act. So he turned slowly round expecting the worst. It confused him when he found himself face to face with a young rich lady, slightly relieved but still apprehensive he began stuttering.
"I'll give it back Miss, I…I… I will, I'll give it back."
The young lady put an arm around his shoulders and guided him away from the scene of the crime.
"Oh no you won't, Charlie Bates."
Charlie looked up at the girl in shock. How did she know his name?
"Don't yer recognise who it is?" the girl laughed. He recognised that voice and that laugh and if he looked hard enough behind all the fancy garments he recognised the face too.
"Alice?" Charlie half asked half laughed.
"Of course!" Alice replied.
Charlie looked overwhelmed at the sight of Alice and hadn't noticed poor Oliver standing next to her, well at least he hadn't till now.
"Oliver? You look mighty fine in that fancy stuff, expensive I bet!" Charlie commented testing out the fabric quality with his fingertips. Alice slapped his hand away.
"You leave his clothes alone, otherwise I'll have to do this!" Alice snatched the hanky from Charlie's hand.
"Oi!" Charlie screeched trying to snatch it back, only to find Alice had moved it further away from his reach. High enough for Charlie to be unable to reach, Alice examined the hanky, true to Charlie's style it had an ever so slight rip in the corner.
"You know Charlie, you've really gotta stop ripping them when ya pull 'em out, it could cause problems." Alice advised, she knew it wouldn't go in but at least she tried. It reminded her of all the slightly ripped handkerchiefs that Alice had ended up having to sew up due to Charlie's signature trademark.
"Yeah well it don't cause much harm." Charlie dismissed the advice, grabbing the hanky back and was about to stuff it into his pocket when he caught Alice's glare and so folded it neatly before placing it nicely in his pocket.
"That reminds me, Charlie your get slack with the job, just 'cause you can do it well don't mean you lose your ability to be careful." Alice reprimanded Charlie with a line that had been drummed into their heads on the first day of the job.
"That's what Dodger told me." Oliver piped up. He had been quiet for a while but he felt proud to add that little bit of information into the conversation.
Closing her eyes briefly Alice remembered the first time Jack had told her that sentence. It had been a long time since she had seen Jack or anyone from her pickpocketing days and there was a question that she had been dying to asked as soon as she spotted Charlie.
"Is Jack still with you and Fagin?"
"Yeah of course he is, I mean I'm not anymore but ya can't get rid of Dodger!"
"Wait, you're no longer with them?" Alice asked wanting to confirmed she had heard correctly.
"Well, you know, I tried to get myself a decent honest job but well still looking ain't i!"
"You get a job, I'd liked to see that happen! Anyway can you tell me where Jack is?" Alice brought the conversation back to her original question.
"I can do better than that! I'll take you there myself!" Charlie exclaimed. He took hold of Oliver's hand and broke into a run with Alice following close behind.
Charlie stopped outside a rotting wooden door that didn't look as though it would hold at the slight movement of the wind. Immediately Alice knew that this was the new hideout, it was perfect. No one in their right mind would suspect that this flimsy door could hide several young pickpockets and their gang leader; it would be easily missed in a search of the area.
Charlie knocked five times and they could all hear the scurry of footsteps as the boy assigned on door duty came down the stairs and unhooked the door. He wasn't cautious or the least bit suspicious, they had been expecting Charlie and so Charlie it had to be. He didn't even register that Alice and Oliver where standing next to him, strangers but with Charlie, so friends.
Alice noted that Charlie's status within the gang had raised, a few years ago that would have caused interrogations to the extreme at the sight of two strangers next to him before he would have been allowed.
The boy led them up a narrow staircase, it wasn't overly long which was just as well for too much longer it could have become very claustrophobic. When they reached the top of the stairs and entered the room the boy returned to his friends. Charlie headed for the table, emptying his pockets ready for Fagin's inspection.
Oliver found himself whisked away from some of the older boys who recognised and (by the looks of the line of boys each holding a bowl) had already had their dinner.
For Alice the whole world had paused. Directly in front of her was Jack. He looked exactly as she remembered, brown wavy hair, bright blue eyes that glimmered brighter when he saw her and the hat of course she couldn't forget the top hat that he adored so much. He was serving the boys dinner and had taken the next boy's bowl to fill when he saw Alice. Shoving the bowl back in the boy's hand, his feet followed his gaze towards Alice. Alice in turn walked towards Jack.
The whole room had stopped whatever they were doing to watch the scene. Charlie was watching on from the comfort of his chair, feeling a pang of jealousy wash over him.
Alice slung her arms around Jack's neck and Jack slinked his arms round her waist, lifted her up spinning her around as he did so. It didn't matter to them that the whole room was watching them only that they were together.
Fagin emerged from his hide-out while this was taking place, it took a moment for his blurred eyesight to work out who it was in the middle of the room but when he realised he smiled. He had always known there was something special about the Artful Dodger and Alice and now seeing them like that just seemed to prove the point. He felt that the room had never felt so happy and joyful then when they were in the room, it warmed Fagin's tainted heart and the hearts of those watching too, except one.
Charlie looked away. He didn't know how to react. His best friend had the girl he loved and he knew full well that he never had a chance.
Jack had put Alice down on the ground still holding on to each other. It was like they were making up for all those months of not seeing anything of each other at all.
"I thought I'd never find you!" Alice exclaimed. This was the first thing that either hd said since setting eyes on each other.
"And I thought I'd never see you again. That you'd be enjoying life as a lady."
Alice laughed.
"Me, a lady?!"
"That's true, you couldn't be a lady if you tried!" Jack chuckled.
When their laughter died down, they lowered their heads so their foreheads were touching and they looked into the others eyes.
"I've missed you," Alice whispered.
"I've missed you too, more than I could say." Jack whispered back.
The rest of the room had gone back to what they were doing and Charlie had taken over Jack's post at the dinner queue. The only two watching them now were Fagin and Oliver. They were still watching as Jack led Alice to the window seat in the corner of the room and as they sat down, Fagin and Oliver quickly busied themselves: Fagin sorted out the loot that Charlie had brought and Oliver become suddenly engrossed in what the other boys were doing. A game of cards by the looks of it although they insisted it was 'spreading the broads'.
"Jack, why didn't you try and find me? You know where I live now." Alice asked.
"I wanted to let you have a new life. So I left you. I was tempted many a time to try and find you but I kept tellin' myself it was for the best." Jack said at such a fast pace that it was a job to unscramble everything he had said.
"Oh come on Jack Dawkins, you know I'd never be able to live like a rich lady! You knew all along but you never came." Alice exclaimed the hurt showing trough her voice.
Jack hung his head in guilty. He should have realised that Alice would want to see him just as much as he had wanted to see her yet he had done nothing about it.
Alice delicately placed her hands on his shoulders and slowly Jack raised his head.
"Now you know will you come?" she asked softly.
"yes, yes, of course I will." Jack replied relieved that he could finally give in to temptation and visit Alice.
"If you come to the house you'd better come after dark, I don't think my uncle would be bang-up with me seeing you. If you get what I mean." Alice advised.
Jack nodded that having been the plan all along anyway.
"Good, then we can talk more privately." She said leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek. Jack's mind registered what Alice was doing and took quicker action moving first and kissing her on the lips.
Catching this out of the corner of his eye Oliver was taken aback he had known his sister was very close to Dodger but it never crossed his mind that it was any closer than just best friends. Even then, he knew, it would be considered wrong in the eyes of his uncle and the rest of the richer class that they now belonged to. Nevertheless he couldn't help but think they made a prefect pair, if only they were of the same status, things would be much simpler.
"I'll be seeing you soon then?" Alice said standing up.
"Definitely!" Jack replied standing up with her. He didn't want her to go, it had been so long since they had been this close that he didn't want her to go again. He wanted to keep her within his view but he knew she had to go and he would see her more now anyway.
Jack shadowed Alice as she strolled across the room towards her brother. Alice could sense that Jack was following her but said nothing for she quite liked the feel of somebody behind her, watching her back, so to speak.
"Oliver, I think we ought ter get going." Alice told Oliver. Obediently Oliver left the other boys and joined his sister.
"Take care both of yer." Jack said ruffling Oliver's previously neatly kept hair. As Oliver attempted to smooth down his hair, Jack laughed.
"Sorry mate, didn't realise I was messing up your new hairdo!" Jack joked.
"It's alright Dodger, it only needs a little smooth down." Oliver replied innocently.
Jack had to stifle another laugh as Oliver went down the stairs still smoothing his hair down. Alice slapped Jack lightly on the arm as punishment for mocking her younger brother, but quickly changed it to a hug to make up for it before descending the stairs behind Oliver.
Rooted to the spot, Jack gazed after Alice as she disappeared round the slight bend and then out the door. Then, dreamily, he made his way to the table.
All eyes followed him as he moved in such a slow paced way looking completely at ease with everything. Not the usual way Jack would walk across the room. While everyone else was watching Jack in awe, Charlie was doing his best to avert his eyes from Jack, clearly head over heels in love, he wasn't finding it the least bit amusing or funny in fact it was rather painful for him to watch.
Jack lowered himself into a chair, placing his feet one by one on the table crossing them over and gently tipping the chair as he leant back. Interlocking his hands over his stomach he closed his eyes as a wide grin crept across his face.
Counting the last of the handkerchiefs that the boys had collected in the day, Fagin raised his eyes at Jack. Opening his eyes Jack caught Fagin staring at him.
"What?" he asked not sounding at all as threatening as he would have liked.
"My dear, we'll all watching you with some admiration, you seem positively happier then you've ever been." Fagin replied momentarily losing count of the handkerchiefs.
"Yes I am happy, what's wrong with being happy?" Jack asked folding his arms to try and maintain his dignity.
"My dear have you ever considered you're in love?" Fagin said not believing that those words had uttered from his lips.
There was a loud thump as Jack's chair returned to all four legs. His grin faded. Love? The thought had never even crossed his mind. He knew his feelings for Alice were stronger the just best friends, it just seem so odd to put one simple word to such a complex mix of emotions. Love.
Jack looked Fagin in the eye.
"I am in love. I'm in love with Alice." There it was finally put into words, said out loud for the whole world to know.
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