His arms were wrapped around my waist. My lips were exploring his neck, just below his ear. His hands moved lower and I felt his fingers gripping my backside. His head was resting in the crook of my shoulder. I began grinding my hips into his as he nibbled at my neck. I rolled him over, straddling him as I opened my eyes to view the beautiful for that was My Doug.

Instead, I awoke to the blinding light glaring in through the window and straight into my eyes. After blinking hard a few times I was able to focus on the room around me. Sister Katherine was seated in the chair beside Doug. Train and Kelly were near the door talking and Jumper sat, reading a book a near my bed. The quiet in the room was unnerving. I looked down and found myself covered with a gray blanket. I dared a quick glance underneath, and was relieved to see my pants had been pulled back up. Jumper was the first to notice I was awake, and he scooted closer, watching me intently.

Train, alerted by Jumper's movements, came over and crouched at the end of my bed, retrieving my cane from its resting place on the floor. If his frown grew any larger it would swallow his face. "Dock" he said, lightly kicking Jumper's foot. The boy quickly sprang to his feet and the two helped me stand. I leaned on my cane, my other arm slung over Jumper's shoulder, and hobbled out after Train. Kelly's eyes were glued on Sister Katherine, and Doug was still sound asleep. So despite the lump in my throat, I let Jumper help me down the stairs.

The bunk room was deserted as we made our way outside; most of the boys were be out selling their last few papes or cooling off in the river. My knee was screaming by the time we approached the end of the dock. Topper was already sitting on a ledge smoking and Train grabbed a match to light his own. Jumper took off his shoes and shirt and, after giving Topper a wink, dove into the river. I hobbled over to a crate and sat down.

There were several moments of silence as Train stared back at the lodging house. Topper gazed out at the water toward Jumper.

"Two weeks Spot, that's all we has. Just two damn weeks. Then Train and I, we're both out of here. Jumper's train leaves in 8 days. We can't have this happening, not now. This is not the god damn time for this. We've fought so hard to keep everything in order, and now to have it blow up in our faces?" He took a couple paces forward, stopping beside me, but facing the opposite direction, looking out over the dock. He handed me his cig and I gladly took a drag.

He took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair. He began unbuttoning his shirt and taking off his shoes and trousers. "You gotta keep it together. They boys need you. They need you to keep yourself together, to take charge. You revealed your weakness, and they'll be watching. The other boroughs will be watching. They will be ready to chop heads off of Brooklyn, first chance they get."With a final glance at me, he dove in by Jumper.

Train still hadn't taken his eyes off the building. The boys had started drifting in for the evening, and more had begun to appear on the docks to swim.

A large boat began to float by across the river, and blew it's horn loudly. He startled a bit and finally looked over towards me. I sat there expecting another lecture from him as well. "Kelly agreed that it was best to keep him here til he's better. Mush will be staying here as well. Topper and Jumper. . . they . . . deserve to get what time they have left." He walked off down the dock, but rather than going into the lodge, he turned and headed towards the center of the city.

I spent a few minutes watching Topper and Jumper splashing and grinning, and my heart sank. I needed to get back up to Train's side. I thought about limping back to the room, but after only a step or two, I decided against it. Looking around I spotted three boys on the ground shooting marbles. I tried whistling, but it wasn't loud enough to hear from the far end of the docks. Out of other options, I took out my sling shot and shot a penny at a crate above their heads. All three of them jumped back and started looking around. When they saw me, one quickly ran over. He was a little negro boy, maybe 10 years old.

"Help me back to the house, would ya?" He quickly nodded and stepped in close to me. Odd kid, seemed eager to help but wouldn't even look me in the eyes. When we got to the door I turned to him again, "You can have that penny I shot if you find it."

He finally looked up at me and smiled. He ran back over to where the boys were still playing, picked up a bag and returned to my side. After dumping the bag into his hand he picked a few marbles out and handed them to me. "Shooters", he said. He turned and left as I rolled them around in my hand and pocketed them.

I slowly hobbled my way up the stairs, leaning on whatever was in reach. When I got to the room, the door was open. I saw Kelly with a piece of paper and a pencil. It looked like he was drawing a picture of a lady. When he saw me looking at it he quickly shifted and stuffed the paper under his leg where he sat. His ears and cheeks began turning red.

Sister Katherine stood over the bed examining Doug's feet. She poked them with something and he jerked his foot away, letting out a groan at the sudden movement. I stood at the end of the bed, leaning on the metal frame watching him. He was laying on his back, his head was wrapped in white linens. His patch was removed, but they had been sure to wrap his head to cover the whole area. The swelling in his right eye had gone down and the bruise was already fading to a greenish-yellow tint.

Sister Katherine looked up at me, "I need to be getting back. I'm going to trust you with this." She handed me 3 small envelopes of powder, each with a large 'M' on the front label. "If he awakens and is in too much pain, mix half the packet in water and get him to drink it. Be careful, that is a very potent medicine." I took it from her and slid it between the mattress and the frame of the bed. She looked down at Jack, busy again with paper and pencil in hand, on the floor. When he noticed the silence he glanced up and seeing us both staring he shoved them in his pocket and stood up.

As she gathered up her bags, I saw her glance up at Kelly a few times. He was staring intently at her. When she finally stopped to look at him he dove in and picked up her bags himself. "I, umm, I'se can escort ya back Ma'am, I mean Sista."

She nodded and smiled at him, "I would be grateful to have someone to carry my bags child, it has been a long day."

They left the room and I locked the door as soon as they had reached the bottom of the stairs. I hobbled back to the bed and sat beside him. I held his right hand up to my cheek and turned my head to kiss his palm.

I sat there listening to him breathe for a long time til I heard footsteps on the stairs. There was tapping on the door. "Yeah?" was the only response I had energy for at that point.

I heard a key slide into the door and knew it had to be Topper. His face appeared in the door way, "We're heading to the bread line, do you want to pitch in for some cheese and we can all share tonight?"

I pulled a small leather pouch out of my pocket and grabbed out a dime and tossed it to him. "Try and find someone with some milk or an apple for Blink" He nodded and closed the door again, I heard the click of the lock behind him.

I must have drifted off for a time, and was awoken by a groan coming from Doug. He started drawing his legs up off the bed and lifted his hands to his face. I stood up from the chair and sat beside him, grabbing hold of his hands. "Shhh, don't touch your head Doug, you need to lay still."

He groaned again, and breathed deeply before squinting and blinking his eye a few times. He took a moment before he finally focused and looked towards me. I saw a slight smile on his face and my heart skipped a beat. He moved one hand slowly to his head and felt the linen wrap. I explained everything that had happened, and that Mush was going to stay here until he was ready to go back to Manhattan. The thought had me worried, him leaving me again, But he seemed to understand what was happening.

He made an odd face and wouldn't look at me again. I told him about the food the others would bring back soon, and he bit his lip. I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't sure what to do, so I kept rambling about our local breadline's food. He finally closed his eye tightly. I stood to my feet quickly and bent over him worried. "Sista' Katherine left some medicine, are you hurting? I can get you some, it will only take a second." I hobbled to the end of the bed and reached for where it was hiding.

"No, no, Kyndall, it's not that. It's just that…"

I moved back towards him and looked at him, waiting for some kind of answer as to how I could help. He opened his eye again and grimaced, his face turning bright red. "I haven't gotten to use the privy in almost a day, and all that booze we drank…" I could feel my own face heating up.

"I don't think they would want you standing." I replied staring at the floor.

"I don't think I could if I wanted to."

I glanced around the room and saw an old water bucket on the floor by the window. I reached for it and held it up to show him. "It ain't a chamber pot, but it will have to do."

He struggled to roll on to his side, so I reached over to help him. I wrapped my arm behind his knees to help pull him to the edge of the bed.

I could see my own feelings of embarrassment mirrored in his face as he looked up at me. "If you can hold the bucket, I think I can do it like this."

I nodded in agreement and looked towards the wall behind him as he reached down to undo the buttons of his trousers.