by Spitfire
Crutchy sat on the lodging house doorstep and leaned back, looking up at the
stars. Mush and Kid Blink turned the corner near by and came rushing up the
street, laughing and teasing each other. They stopped when they saw him.
"Heya, Crutchy!"
"Heya, Crutchy. Seen any fallin' stars yet?"
Crutchy shooked his head and dredged up a cheerful reply. "Heya,
fellas! Naw, Blink, dey's stuck like glue tanight. How's da sellin'?"
Both groaned. "What more can we say? Ya'd t'ink dat at da harbor,
too-" Despite his words, Blink would have said more, had Mush not
pulled him away to talk about the beautiful girl he'd met.
Crutchy was glad they left him. It gave him time to think. Time ta brood,
ya mean. he scolded himself, but acknowledging what he was doing didn't
stop him from doing it.
"Crutchy?" said a soft voice hesitantly. His heart skipped a beat
and he turned toward the sound. A slim, blond girl - "Like a rose."
he'd once said. - slipped out of the shadows.
"'Liza, what're ya doin' heah? Ya parents know yer out?"
She shook her head sitting behind him on the step. "Pop's still at da
factory, an' ma's cookin' supper. I snuck down da fire escape. I wanted ta see
if ya's okay."
She looked at him anxiously, and he looked back at the stars. "Why
shouldn't I be?" he asked, his voice rough.
"Crutchy," she said. "I'se sorry."
"Ya din't do anyt'ing. It's me." I shoulda known better.
That made her feel even guiltier. "I like ya a lot. Yer da best poison
I'se evah knowed. Ya smart, an' funny, an' kind, an' sweet, an' gentle-"
"But." said Crutchy. A statement, not a question.
Not knowing what to say at first, she was quiet. They sat in silence; the
stars were silent; even the city - New York City - the city that never sleeps -
was silent. "I'se sorry." Liza said again.
"If ya'd jist told me-" he said, more to the stars than to
her.
"I din't know how."
"-'Stead a lettin' me heah ya tawkin' ta Carrie - Carrie!"
"I know." Silence. "I din't mean ta hoit ya."
"Ya ma's gonna be lookin' for ya, Eliza. Go on home." He said it
gently, but when he called her Eliza, instead of by his nickname for her, she
knew to go.
"Ya gonna find somebody for ya." she promised, getting up.
"Better den me. Believe me."
He didn't answer, and she left him. "Liza Rose." he whispered.
"Crutchy." said Kloppman's voice from behind him. Crutchy wondered
how long the man had been standing there.
"I ain't ready yet.." he answered, without taking his eyes from
the sky. He heard a sigh, heard the door close behind him.
"An dat's Orion." he heard himself saying. "An'
next ta him is 'is two dogs. See, dere's da little one, and lower, dere's da
big one. Dey make a triangle. Betelgeuse - dat's the red one in Orion, an' Procyon,
in da little dog, an' Sirius, in da big dog. Sirius is called da Dog
Star."
"Seriously?" she teased.
Heartbreak at any age is never easy. And at fourteen - "Liza
Rose." he said aloud.
"In da song it's Lida."
He woke out of his reverie and looked around in startlement. "Who's
dere?"
"Nobody." said a shadow nearby. His ears caught the sound of wry
laughter in the voice. He heard a shout and a shrill whistle. The shadow
jumped. "Sorry, gotta run." he just glimpsed a girl his own age with
something slung over her back as she fled. Two minutes later three uniformed
police came rushing by. Crutchy helpfully pointed them in the wrong direction,
and they also ran off, leaving him alone with the stars once more.
He wondered for a few moments who the girl was and where she'd gone, but
Betelgeuse was just peeking over the roof of the store across the street, and
he could see Procyon already aloft. He waited for Sirius. "Seriously?"
"Liza Rose." he said again. But, come to think of it, it was
Lida in the song. And as for Liza - Well, heartbreak is never easy,
particularly not the first time, but suddenly it wasn't quite as hard as it had
been a few minutes ago.
The stranger had brought the world back with her somehow. The city was no longer
sleeping, or silent.
A falling star sailed past Betelgeuse, and he made a wish as Tom had taught
him. "Ya gonna find somebody." she'd said.
He believed her.
"Lida Rose, I'm home again, Rose. Ta get da sun back in da sky. .
." The boy had gotten the song stuck in her head. Porter hefted the
sack on her back and froze in the shadows once again, holding her breath as a
policeman ran past. She didn't know where her father was. Caught? I ain't so
lucky! She berated herself for the thought. He was her father, after all. Even
if he don't like admittin' it.
"Lida Rose, I'm home again, Rose. About a thousand kisses shy."
She'd learned to steal to please her father. It hadn't worked, but he kept her
at it, anyway. It was profitable. She climbed a fire escape, ran across several
roofs and down another fire escape. When she reached the Brooklyn Bridge, she
stopped and sighed. Dere's gotta be somet'in better den dis! Somet'in better
den runnin' all da time. Some'tin better den Pop an' his beatins. She
stopped and looked up at the sky.
A falling star dove into the river. "Lida Rose, oh, won't you be
mine . . ."
Somet'in better den dis. She shrugged the sack onto her shoulders
once more. Maybe dere is.