Elaine looked at the city that lay before her, and narrowed her eyes at it, frowning. She had no idea where she was, really. Most of the children that got out of the House of Refuge the legal way were apt to be totally lost when they did finally get out. She half turned, about to ask if there was any way she could stay, when the guard rolled his eyes and pushed her forward.
“Elaine Gardener, if ya don’t get movin now, they’re gonna take ya back and put ya in a jail for adults, and ya get yaself killed. Move along, then, like the good lass I know ya are. An’ stay away from pickin pockets. Ya too good for that, girl.”
“If ya say so, then, Mr. Webber. Say hello to the wife and kids for me. And tell Mrs. Webber thanks for the cookies she had you sneak in for us. The little’uns loved ‘em.” Elaine whispered to the guard with a grin, turning back to the city, her face falling. Wrapping her thin jacket around her shoulders, she marched herself forward, whichever direction forward was. She’d figure out soon enough where she was, and is she was lucky, could make it all the way to one of her old haunts, to sleep for the night. The prospect of again being on the streets was not a pleasant one for her.
Elaine had, by no means, ever been rich, or even middle class. When her was born, her mother, a child of 16 herself, dumped her baby on her parents and went about her way, totally ignoring the child she’s mothered. Elaine didn’t know who her father was, and neither did her mother, it seemed. If she had, she’d taken the information with her when she left. Elaine’s grandparents had died when she was 7, and her mother kept her till she was 13, a fact that Elaine found somewhat amazing. Or not so amazing, since all Elaine was to her mother was a maid and a cook. In Elaine’s own words, her mother was “A tramp of the worst sort. She didn’t even bother to collect money for her services. Sure, she was beautiful, and charming, and smoked a cigarette like she was holdin it a golden cigarette-holder-thingy, she was still a tramp.” And, after that being said, nothing else could ever be dragged from Elaine about her mother. And Elaine didn’t take after her mother at all, it seemed. She was short, slim and klutzy, where her mother had been tall and graceful, Elaine had thick auburn hair and hazel eyes, her mother had flowing blonde curls and bright blue eyes. Elaine was a motherly, but somewhat standoffish, and forever wishing she was more cheerful and bright and giddy like her mother always seemed in public. If only she could be...
Her thought was cut short by the realization that she’d arrived. She quickly glanced around, not quite sure where she’d arrived at. Elaine sighed as she remembered. An old building, condemned, always on the verge of being torn down. Street kids in the area lived there, if they were lucky enough to win the favor of the “owner.” Miles “Speedy” Smithson was a crime lord among street kids, the fastest, best, most awe-inspiring pickpocket around. Although his age was beginning to hinder his craft, he’d already set up a network of kids working under him, and the old building was where he worked from, and housed his “kids.” 19 years old, tall, lean, tan, jet black hair slicked back under his cap, his black eyes catching everything around him that moved, or even THOUGHT about moving. The street girls swooned over him, the boys wished they were him, and the rich folks wished they knew who the heck he was so they could arrest and kill him. Elaine had been no exception to the swooning part. Before she was arrested, she’d been madly in love with him.
As if he knew someone was thinking about him, a voice came from behind her.
“Elaine Marie Rose Gardener.” Speedy whispered in her ear, scaring Elaine half to death.
“Oh my GOD, Speedy, don’t DO that!” she snapped, swirling around, face flaming.
“You finally out of the slammer? If you’d just asked, we woulda broken ya out.” Speedy slouched against a wall, shadows playing on his face.
“Hey, I just felt like a vacation. And they feed ya and give ya a bed. It ain’t half bad.” she quipped.
“They don’t feed ya next to nothin, ya lucky if ya don’t get knifed in ya sleep for ya bed, and they work ya till ya near dead. Some vacation ya got there. I hope ya didn’t pay for it.” Speedy shook his head and laughed, harshly.
“I didn’t. How’d you know I was out, anyway?” Elaine tried to grin.
“I have my ways and purposes. Ya didn’t snitch on us either. Very good,” he added, almost as an afterthought.
“Who’s there to snitch on? I don’t know a Speedy Smithson, sorry,” Elaine muttered, halfway at her shoes.
“Too bad. I hear he’s a pretty decent guy.” Speedy paused before nodding his head at her. “Whateva they did to ya in there, ya lookin real nice.”
Elaine frowned. “Sweet talk doesn’t work on me, Smithson.”
“Nah, I’m serious. You’re a real looker.” Speedy smiled.
Elaine narrowed her eyes. “Ya a pickpocket, Speedy, but I thought ya had morals. You’re beginin to sound like ya doin a bit of “sellin” on the side. Tell me I’m gettin the wrong impression.”
Speedy burst into laughter. “Nah, ya right. I do got some morals left. ‘Sides, pushing women around ain’t my style. I like to keep ‘em for myself.”
“Sure ya do. You could have ‘em all too. Just ask nicely, and they’ll all come beggin. Don’t even bother to ask, they’ll come on their own.” Elaine laughed as well, but she didn’t find any of it funny.
“Don’t I know it. But not you, huh? Ya too good for me?” Speedy smirked, then looked at her again. “Ya comin back to join us again? It’ll be like old times.”
“I dunno why I came here. Maybe I ought to stay away for awhile.” Elaine scuffed her shoe in the dirt and thought awhile before looking up to find Speedy studying her. She blushed again under his gaze. “Got any ideas for me?”
“Yeah. There’s a Lodgin House for girls here. I’ll pull strings if I hafta, I’ll get ya a bunk there, loan ya some startin out money.” Speedy’s face was unreadable.
“A whole Lodgin House? In Harlem? I heard some of the kids in the Refuge talk about a bunkroom in Jack Kelly’s Lodgin House down in the Wall Street district, but not of a whole Lodgin House for girls.” Elaine frowned.
“You have been away a long time, my rovin gypsy girl, there are newsgirls lodgin houses poppin up all over.” Speedy jokingly called her the nickname he’d pinned on her when she’d first arrived. She’d been wandering around, looking like a ragged Gypsy, and the name, sadly, had stuck. Most of the kids in the area called her Gypsy.
“Oh, well, then. Just gimme directions, I’m sure I can find my way.” Elaine’s mind was racing. A chance at a honest living?
“I’ll walk ya. It ain’t that far.” Speedy stuck his hands in his pocket, and nodded in the direction to walk. Elaine fell in step next to him, and felt the old fluttering of her heart. A year or so ago, she’d’ve nearly passed out by now, and she was close to it now as well. For someone as anti-social as Elaine tried to be, her crush on Speedy made matters worse, and they didn’t say a word to each other the whole trip.
Upon arriving at the steps under a sign that proclaimed it to be the “Harlem Newsgirls Lodging House”, Elaine glanced at Speedy from under her lashes.
“Um....Thanks for walking me,” she finally said.
“No problem.” Speedy smiled, then suddenly went for his pockets, “Oh! Here’s some money. Don’t worry about payin me back.”
“Thanks.” Elaine was wide eyed at the money in her hand. He’d given her a good 5 dollars in change. “I’ll pay ya back, though. As soon as I can.”
“It’s ok! I’m just takin care of my own.” Speedy held up his hands, and laughed at Elaine’s frown.
“Be good, huh?” He leaned in, and kissed her cheek, “And I’ll be by to check on you.” He started to walk away.
“Why?” Elaine asked, to his back.
“Why what?” Speedy turned around.
“Why are you helping me? You don’t throw money around, or do people favors.”
“For a girl who’s supposed to be smart, you sure are dense sometimes.” Speedy shook his head, and Elaine thought she caught a hint of a blush.
“Huh?” Elaine looked totally confused.
“My rovin gypsy girl, you are so blind.” He walked back to her and shook her shoulders. “I had people watching you from the second you were in the Refuge. You refused to ask anyone for help, but they were there, makin sure you were ok. And before that, no other girl that works for me had a nickname that included “my” in it. You were MY rovin gypsy girl. All that. All that and you still don’t get it.”
“Huh?” she asked again, her eyebrows furrowed.
Speedy sighed, shook his head, gently lifted up her face and kissed her before walking away without a word.
Elaine stood there for a second, totally shocked. Could it be? He was implying that he liked her...
Telling herself to get over it, she walked in the door, and asked the lady behind the desk if she could stay.
“Yes, you can, dear. Just sign here.” The woman pushed a book towards her, and Elaine picked up the pen and began to write an E. Halfway through, she stopped, scratched it out, and wrote “Gypsy Gardener” and handed the pen back, smiling. She’d be Gypsy now, not Elaine, the scared girl in the Refuge who dreamed of being more like her mother. She had someone who liked her the way she was, and if Speedy liked her that way, others would too, probably. So, she told herself as she walked up the stairs, the name’s Gypsy now.
