Chapter Two

The backroom was starting to get hot and Molly opened up the window that faced into the alleyway. The door through to the store was open so she could hear the bells on the front door if anyone stopped in. Molly had returned in time to open the store and sent a new set of candles off with the new delivery boy. She realized quickly that she had never even asked his name, nor did she know anything about him. She was starting to worry about the wisdom of her decision.

She kept checking the clock to estimate what time he would return. What if he had just run off with her candles? She had started making more, but they wouldn't be ready for hours. And then she would have to close the shop to deliver them herself. "Idiot!" she said under her breath, "Trusting some strange boy just because you're desperate." She wiped the sweat off her forehead with a handkerchief and felt like crying.

The bell on the door jingled and she snapped out of her self-pity for the moment. She took off the stained work apron and went to greet whoever walked in. "Good morning, how may I help you?" There was an older woman looking at her with a critical eye.

"I have heard that you turn out a most effective product. I am looking for something quite unique. My daughter is getting married and would like to have something special for the day."

"Of course, let my show you some samples." She pulled out the sample book she had prepared with drawings of centerpieces with candles. Then she pulled out the candles they made for special orders. The woman was very particular, but Molly could tell she had money and she was more than willing to bend over backwards for this woman. The woman placed a small down payment to have Molly make a sample and then scheduled an appointment to see it with her daughter. As she left, Molly examined the drawing she had made and started thinking about cost.

She drifted to the backroom to start drawing up a more refined sketch and to examine her materials. A man cleared his throat and Molly jumped in surprise. She looked up to see the young man had returned. He stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. She blushed when she caught his eye. "Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to scare you." He shuffled his feet and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "I had that guy sign the slip. And here's the money."

She walked over and took it from him. "Mr. Hendricks," she replied as she examined the slip and looked at the coins. It was indeed his signature and she felt a huge wave of relief.

"He said he would be coming by on Thursday. That Mrs...what's her name had a special order." Blink brought his hand up to scratch the skin under his eye patch and shoved his hand in his pocket.

"Mrs. Thompson," she said absently. "Is that uncomfortable?" She gestured towards his patch.

"Sometimes, when its hot out…" Blink picked at the lint in his pockets. He noticed her green eyes and the freckles across her nose and cheeks, and the way she blushed easily. He wondered if she wanted him to leave. "Uh, if that's all for today…"

"What's your name?" she asked, cutting him off.

"Everyone knows me as Kid Blink. Usually they just call me Blink."

"Blink?" she smiled.

"Yeah, 'cause of the patch." He smiled crookedly and shuffled his feet.

"I'm Molly O'Malley. You can call me Molly." She bit her lip and decided to get on with it. "I'm sorry about the way I spoke to you today."

He shrugged, "Forget about it." She nodded and tucked the receipt and money into her skirt pocket. "Do you, uh, need anything else today?" he asked.

"Um, well…" She examined the fire in the stove and shoved in some more kindling. "I suppose not." She said slowly as she dipped the candles that were waiting on the wood racks over the stove. "Would you come back tomorrow?" she hoped she didn't sound too desperate.

"I'll come as soon as I sell all my papes," he said casually.

"You're a newsboy?"

"Yea."

The papers in the street made sense to her now. She felt like asking about the fight, but the work she had to do kept pressing on her mind. There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask him. "Okay." She said awkwardly, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you later," he replied. They nodded to each other and he let himself out the back door that led into the alley. Molly went to the window and quickly glanced at him as he walked away. She stepped away from the window and stood for a moment, her cheeks turning bright red. She shook her head and leaped back into her work, so embarrassed she couldn't even think about anything else all day.

"You didn't have to hit me so hard, Blink!" Mush was harboring a black eye and a bruised ego.

"You wouldn't let up! What was I supposed to do?" He yelled back. They were hanging out with the rest of the boys. The second Blink walked up Mush started laying into him. "We're lucky that girl didn't have us arrested."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Racetrack shouted. "What girl?" All the boys gathered round to listen in on the new turn in the story.

"I let Mush up and then he tackled me anyway. And he sent us crashing into this girl." Blink explained.

Mush looked at him triumphantly, "You should have heard the mouth on her too! She let Blink have it! Nice Irish mouth." The boys all laughed along with Mush.

"She couldn't yell at you very well from where you were curled up on the ground, could she?" Mush glared at Blink and soon the boys were laughing at him too.

Skittery, a tall and lean man, jumped in, "Was she a looker too?"

Mush nodded and grinned, "I would take her out in a second, if you get what I'm sayin'." The boys whooped in response and Blink frowned. Mush continued, "Blink ran after her." He elbowed him in the side, "So where you been all day?"

"Ooooh!" the boys called. "Did you give it to her?" They all called out wisecracks and made insinuations about what he "did" to her. Blink felt his face getting hot and tried to think of a way out of this.

"All I did was give her a piece of my mind. That's all." The jeers continued in spite of his being adamant that nothing happened. For some reason, he didn't feel right about the guys making jokes at Molly's expense. "Ah, screw you all! I'm hitting the hay." He started walking up the stairs.

"I'm sorry, what exactly is it that you're hitting?" Skittery called.

Blink just stomped up the stairs and chose not to respond. The bedroom was empty and he started stripping down to his underwear. He walked into the bathroom and poured some cold water onto a towel. He pulled off the patch and put the dripping cloth over his face. He was fuming from the onslaught of questions he'd had to wade through.

All of their jeers made him think of her. He closed his eyes and imagined going to see her tomorrow. He thought about kissing her, or even better, making love to her. It was talked about enough in the lodging house. He knew what to do even though he'd never gotten that far with a girl. He immediately regretted thinking about her that way. He tried sending the thoughts away and knew he would be having a very uncomfortable night.

Molly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The shutters were closed, the doors were locked, all the fires were out, the lamps were off, and she could finally turn in for the evening. She climbed up the stairs to the apartment above the store. Her father's dishes were sitting empty on the table. She looked into his room; it was empty, as she knew it would be. It would be all too soon that he would come crashing home in the early hours of the morning.

Her room was hot and she opened the window to let in what little breeze there was. She decided to cool down and poured a little water into her washstand. She stepped out of her sticky dress and laid it over a chair. Standing naked by the washbasin, she dipped in a washcloth and put the cool water to the back of her neck. The water dripped down over her shoulders and ran smoothly over her chest. She shivered a little and continued to wash the sweat off her body.

She closed her eyes and relaxed as her body started cooling down. Almost immediately Blink's face came to her. She could feel her face grow hot as she thought about his lips and his hands. A warm tingling feeling was growing between her legs and she pressed her thighs together. She shook her head and put the washcloth down. She quickly threw a nightgown over her head and settled into bed, trying her hardest to not to think about Blink in any way.