Chapter Four: Ginger
When Kathryn woke, she did not remember where she was. Sitting up, she looked around and suddenly recalled the events of the past evening. She was a bit tired because she had stayed up so late telling Dodger her history. Looking over at him, she saw he was still asleep.
Carefully, Kathryn pulled her legs out of the blankets and stood up. She tugged the top blanket up to make it look as nice as she could. Walking out into the main section of the room, Kathryn found she was the only one awake. She nervously sat down on a stool by the table to wait for someone to wake up.
About ten minutes later, Dodger walked in looking very rested. He saw Kathryn sitting at the table and said, "Good mornin' me mate!"
"Good morning, Dodger," Kathryn replied politely. She stood up as he walked over to the fire and took a pan of of rather burnt and moldy sausages.
"'ave some breakfast, mate," he said as he dove into the sausages.
Kathryn said a quick prayer before starting to eat her sausages. As there was no silverware, she had to eat with her fingers. Daintily picking up a sausage, she realized that she had never eaten with her fingers before. This is definitely a change from the workhouse. I will have to get used to the way of life here, she thought.
Soon Dodger and Kathryn were joined by Fagin and one of the boys. Since Kathryn had not been introduced to everyone the previous night, she was introduced to the rest of the gang as the woke. The first to be introduced to her was the boy who had entered with Fagin.
"'ello, Alexander," he said, "I am Charley Bates. I go by Charley. I usually 'ang around Dodger but sometimes I go off on my own."
"Pleased to meet you, Charley," said Kathryn. Fagin and Charley sat down and began to eat their sausages when two other boys walked in.
They were brothers and their names were William and Benjamin Davis. They both tried to shake Kathryn's hand at the same time and ended up getting in a fight over who got to do it first. Kathryn found this very flattering but didn't want them to fight. She put out both her hands so that they could shake them at the same time.
Soon they were joined by several other boys: David Fletcher, Carl Lawson, James Rowan, Oscar Alden, and John Watson. Kathryn had now been introduced to the entirety of Fagin's gang.
"Now my dears," said Fagin, "you all need to ge' to work pret'y soon so you can bring home plen'y o' pocket 'andkerchiefs and watches and wallets, me dears." A groan erupted from every boy in the room. Kathryn was silent because she didn't want to be disrespectful.
Soon everyone was bundled up and ready to go. Kathryn was a little nervous since this was her first job. Fagin had said she would do fine on her own and didn't need Dodger. She was pleased that Fagin thought that she was skilled enough to go on her first job without a helper, but she was more nervous because she didn't have a leader. Dodger was to go with Charley Bates and David Fletcher who needed help more than she did.
Kathryn was the last one out of the door as everyone was singing a song called 'Be Back Soon.' The tune was catchy and soon she was singing along with everyone else.
They split up in the nearest alley to their home. Everyone was alone except Dodger, Charley, and David. Kathryn was assigned to go towards the middle of London.
As she walked along, she looked at all of the Londoners: some were wealthy and wore rich suits and dresses. Others were very poor and wore dirty rags and no shoes. Then there was the middle class: they did not wear fancy clothes like the rich, and they did not wear rags like the poor; they wore plain, clean clothes. Kathryn decided she liked the middle class people best.
By now she was nearly to the very center of London and started looking for people to pickpocket. She really didn't know any better; when she was in the workhouse they had taught her to praise God and pray before mealtime, but they had not taught her that stealing was a bad thing.
As she was looking for people with handkerchiefs and pocket watches, she noticed a cart and horse over on the side of the road. She noticed this particular cart and horse because the driver of the cart was beating his horse for seemingly no reason!
Running over to where the horse was tied, Kathryn shouted to the man, "Please sir, why are you beating your poor horse?"
"Get out of the way, you little rat! This horse has been a horse and that in itself is enough reason to beat her," the cart driver replied angrily.
"Please sir, don't beat her so! She can't help being a horse! Have you given her a name?"
"Horses and other animals don't deserve names. They deserve to be beaten and worked. Now if you don't go away, I will beat you too!"
Kathryn was scared when he said this and ran away. If he isn't kind enough to give her a name, she thought, I will! I have always loved the name Ginger and this horse fits the name. She is a pretty reddish color with a black mane and tail. Yes, I think I'll call her Ginger.
Kathryn went back to the center of London and resumed looking for rich people who she could steal from. Soon she found a rather fat man wearing a bowler hat and a black suit. He had a gold pocket watch sticking out of his suit pocket.
Perfect! thought Kathryn as she walked slowly up to the man. She knew she had to go slow and like she was just walking along otherwise the man would be suspicious. She followed close behind him for about five minutes before making her move. Grabbing the watch, she took off at dead run to an alley where she could regroup.
Looking up into the sky, she saw it was only about ten o'clock in the morning. I need to work until noon at least, she thought. Walking back to the center of London, she saw a man with a pocket handkerchief sticking out of his pants pocket. She walked calmly over to him and snagged the handkerchief.
Try as she might, she couldn't find anyone else to pickpocket that day. Finally, she walked back to Fagin.
When she arrived, Kathryn found that she was the first one back. Fagin was sitting at the table counting money made from selling the things his gang had stolen.
He was so absorbed in his work that he didn't hear Kathryn enter. "Sir," she said, "I've a pocket watch and a handkerchief for you." Fagin jumped and looked up to see who it was back so early.
"Ah, my dear! I am very proud of you. Now, if you will come sit by the fire I will teach to pick the initials out of handkerchiefs," he said, walking over to her. Kathryn followed him to the two stools set by the fireplace and sat down. From his many pockets he pulled out dozens of handkerchiefs. They were all different colors and each had initials sewn neatly in one corner.
Fagin showed her how to use a needle to carefully pick out each stitch until she was left with a plain handkerchief. When she had been shown enough, Fagin handed her the needle and handkerchiefs and went back to his counting.
Since Kathryn was really a girl, she didn't mind the needlework a bit. She was very good at her job and soon finished with the handkerchiefs allotted to her. Folding them neatly, she picked them up and took them to Fagin.
"Very good, my dear," he said when she held them out for his inspection. He carefully examined the corners of one and couldn't find where the stitches had been. "Since you have done so much 'ard work 'oday, my dear, I will le' you 'ave the res' o' the day off. You 'ave done a very good job for your firs' day."
Kathryn was very grateful since she had not slept well the night before. She said a quick "thank you" to Fagin and went off to her bed to think about her first day of work.