Gents & Dames
Seven: Guys and Dolls
Dawn found Jack sitting on the stoop of a red brick building, which he hoped contained David's apartment. Nick hadn't been positive of the address, when Jack had wheedled it out of him; he'd just had the block and said it was about halfway down.
It was a nice morning, slightly chilly in the dim sunlight. Jack lit up a cigarette and inhaled; the smoke tasted better than the city air. He'd forgotten how foul it could be. But then, he didn't remember these still moments too well, either. Moments when the night faded into day, and the streets were nearly empty. He could practically hear birdsong.
What split the quiet was a newsboy. He turned onto the road, hollering, hawking the Journal. "Standard Oil out of business - Rockefeller tried to off himself!" A few doors opened, and sleepy businessmen stepped out to buy papers. Some of them walked back inside after, some of them down the road and off to work. Jack stood and met the kid in the middle of the road.
"What'd old John D. do, anyhow?" he asked.
"Tried to hang himself. But the rope snapped and he broke a leg. His butler found him."
"Where's that story?" Jack asked, scanning the headlines. Standard Oil was indeed above the fold, but the headline was about the settlement that was being finalized with the new subsidiaries.
"Second page," the kid answered innocently, tracing Jack's gaze.
"You'd think it would be on the front. Above the fold."
"Hey, I don't write the damn thing, I just sell it. You want a pape or not, mister?"
"Yeah, sure, of course." He pulled out his wallet, then asked, "You sell around here a lot?"
"Every morning." The kid held out a paper, and eyed Jack as he pulled out a dollar bill.
"You know if a guy named Jacobs lives around here?"
"Yeah, maybe I do. I ain't got change for that," he said.
"Didn't ask for change. I asked a question." Jack didn't reach for the paper yet.
"Yeah, okay. Mr. Jacobs lives in that one." He pointed to the building across the street from where Jack had been sitting. "Leaves at 8:15 on the dot every morning. Sometimes his sister comes out with him. She's getting married soon."
Jack blinked. That was news to him. He folded the dollar between his fingers. "Oh...yeah?"
"Yeah." The kid looked at the dollar again. "Sometimes - sometimes her fiance, he spends the night. I seen him leaving in the morning."
"Interesting." Jack held out the dollar and took the paper. "Thanks, kid. Get yourself a good meal."
"Sure will," he said, and tipped his hat. He pocketed the dollar and added, "Thanks, mister."
Jack smiled a little and crossed the road to the other stoop and sat. He thumbed through the paper and finally checked his pocket watch. The minutes ticked by. He'd arrived much earlier than he needed to, and he knew that, but he also didn't want to risk missing David.
Slowly, the street came to life. The newsboy looped back down it a few times, catching more people as they left each time. He gave Jack an apprehensive look like he might try to take the dollar back, but Jack only smiled a little. Some windows opened, and Jack could hear muted voices and smell breakfasts cooking—bacon, fresh bread, eggs. And several people left David's building. He jumped each time, but was disappointed, until his watch finally told him it was 8:10. He stood and stepped to the side of the door, waiting. And the newsboy turned out to be right. The door swung open at a quarter after, and David stepped out, glancing down the road to see the newsboy just starting again.
Jack cleared his throat, held out the barely-read paper, and said, "Buy a pape, mister? I hear Rockefeller tried to off himself."
David glanced at him, but seemed less startled than he had the previous night. He barely hesitated before declaring, "Go to hell, Jack." He began to walk away briskly, as though if he weren't so dignified in his suit and tie he'd run. But Jack kept pace with him easily.
"I just want to talk. Dave—"
"Go. To. Hell." David stopped in front of the newsboy and held out a quarter. The newsboy glanced at them nervously, and Jack could only assume he could feel the tension.
"I ain't got change for that, Mr. Jacobs," the kid said, though Jack was certain it was a lie this time.
"Keep it, then." David took his paper and started to walk again, but Jack grabbed his arm.
"David, I just want to talk."
He pulled his arm away and balled a fist. Jack winced, not sure if David would actually hit him, though he was sure he deserved it. But David finally unclenched his hand. "Leave me alone."
"Not going to happen." Jack tucked his paper under his arm. "Not until you let me explain."
"Explain?" David repeated incredulously, his voice rising in both pitch and in volume. "Explain what - how you stole our money or how you broke my sister's heart?"
"David, if you could keep your voice down..." Jack mumbled nervously. He glanced around and saw they were attracting some strange looks. The newsboy was staring at them, and so were a few men in suits, probably stopping to gawk as they headed off for work. And Jack could see curtains twitching, doubtlessly curious people wondering what the racket from outside was.
"No, I will not keep my voice down!" David yelled, apparently not caring about the glances. But he sobered up a moment later, his gaze abruptly fixing on one of the windows behind Jack. Jack hesitated, not sure he wanted to look, but finally glanced over his shoulder in the direction David was staring. Just in time to see Sarah disappear from a second-story window.
"Get out of here," David hissed. Now his voice was quiet. "She doesn't deserve this."
Jack's first instinct was to agree, if only because he wasn't sure he could face Sarah. But he shook his head. "I'm only leaving if you come with me. I'm gonna explain—"
A door slammed shut and Jack didn't need to look to know Sarah was storming towards them, but he turned and faced her anyway. And he tensed up, waiting, and she stopped right in front of him.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded.
"Sarah, I—"
She didn't give him a chance to finish. Instead, she reached up and slapped him, putting the whole weight of her arm behind it, and her open palm collided with his already-bruised cheek. He was still reeling, the previous night's ache in his face having returned, when she demanded, "Where the hell is my money?"
"Uhm," Jack mumbled, and tried to take a breath. David crossed to stand next to Sarah protectively. Not that she needed it, judging by the throbbing in his cheek. "I have it," he added.
She held out her hand.
"Not on me," he added quickly. "In the bank."
"Yeah," David mumbled. "Sure."
"I do!" He took another deep breath. "I do. Sarah, I...I'm sorry. I—"
"I don't care, Jack." She glared at him in a way that suggested she probably did care. "I don't want anything from you but the money you stole."
Jack nodded. "I have business at the bank this morning anyway," he said. "I can get it for you then. We can meet for lunch."
"I'm not meeting you anywhere," Sarah said firmly, crossing her arms.
"Please," Jack said. "Don't you even want to know what happened?"
"So you can lie to us?" David put in.
"I don't want to lie, I—"
"You have never in your life told the truth. Not to either one of us. Not since the minute we met," David continued.
"I'm done with that," Jack said, and added in response to identical skeptical looks, "I am." Neither sibling spoke. "Look, please. Meet me for lunch, give me fifteen minutes to explain over cheesecake, and I'll give you the money. If you don't want to, you never have to see me again." Jack stared at them plaintively.
Sarah scowled, then said, "No."
"What?" He was actually startled by that.
"No. I don't want to see you; I don't want to hear anything you have to say," she said. "David—"
"I don't want to!" David interrupted.
"David, please," Sarah said. "I need—I need my head together for the wedding." She stared him down, and he sighed. Jack tried not to smile.
"Twelve-fifteen," he finally said. "Until twelve-thirty. And then you hand over our money, and you crawl back under your rock."
Jack nodded. "Nick showed me a place called Mindy's."
"Yeah. Cheesecake." David didn't look amused. "Sarah, you should go back inside. I have to get to work."
Sarah nodded. She glanced at Jack one last time, her expression disgusted, and then turned without saying another word. David pushed past Jack again, moving quickly. Jack didn't go after him. Now he had a few hours to figure out how to explain things, and he knew he'd have a chance. That was more than he'd hoped for.
He checked his pocket watch again and decided that he'd better get to work himself. The morning's appointments were more important than he'd wanted to let on.
*
Jack slid into a booth at Mindy's nervously. He'd told the waiter who he was expecting, and had still, even years after he'd been pardoned, found himself selecting a table as close to out of sight as possible - a sour-faced cop had been standing near the door, glaring at everyone who walked in. As Jack waited, he reached into his suit jacket's pocket and ran a finger over the envelope that held the money he owed the Jacobs family, and then some. Then he lit a cigarette nervously and waited, checking his pocket watch almost once a minute.
David was punctual. Jack put out the cigarette and dropped his watch back into his pocket when, at exactly 12:15, David appeared. He exchanged wary glances with the officer, then looked around. Jack stood and waved, and David hurried over to him.
"I just want it to be clear," David hissed, "I don't want to see you. I'm not here for you. I'm here as a favor to Sarah."
Jack nodded. "I understand that, David." He motioned over the waiter and ordered his cheesecake, then glanced at David.
"Struedel," David muttered.
"Sure thing, Mr. Jacobs," the waiter answered.
"Seems like everyone knows you," Jack said.
David shrugged.
Jack took a deep breath. "I didn't take off for no reason, David. I - I panicked."
David rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.
"And right when I started to panic, the morning before the wedding, I got a letter. Do you remember that? It came to the lodging house. Kloppman had one of the new kids take it to me.
"It was...It was from my grandfather."
"Your grandfather." David sounded skeptical. "Sure."
"It was," Jack insisted. "I didn't know I had a grandfather, I didn't know I had any family - except my dad, and you know where he was." David didn't respond, so he pressed on. "My mom - she died when I was a kid. I didn't know anything about her, except her name was Kelly."
Jack had never told him David part of it before, but got only a raised eyebrow in response.
"But, uh, I guess...it turns out, her parents were alive and well. She'd run off - eloped. They didn't approve of my dad, which I guess makes sense, since he was scum and all, so they never...she never contacted them again. But, uh, well, they were starting to get old, my grandmother was getting sick. They decided to find her.
"Of course, she was dead by then. Instead they found out my dad was in jail...and they found my record. Everything from the first time they threw me in the Refuge to the pardon. They sent the letter to the lodging house, Kloppman sent it to me.
"They invited me to come out and live with them, Dave."
"You were supposed to get married."
Jack sighed. "I don't expect you to understand," he finally mumbled. "You have family - flesh and blood family. You always have. For me, though...Even when your parents called me 'son,' and even when the newsies felt like brothers...it's not the same. It's always...You're always afraid, if you do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, it can all vanish. It's like people are letting you sit at the table, but you don't really belong there. You can't know what that feels like."
David said nothing, but he stared down at the table, his brow furrowed. Jack tried not to get his hopes up, but he could tell by the look on David's face that something he'd said had sunk in.
"This was my chance, Dave. My chance to finally have something you always had. And I was afraid if I didn't go, it would be my only chance, and I'd lose it."
"But you were creating a family," David said, sounding frustrated. "With Sarah."
"I know. I just...At first I figured I'd write to her, tell her where I'd gone, ask her to come and join me...her, and you, too."
David's face went blank. Jack cleared his throat.
"But, well...I guess I just realized, I'd done you wrong, both of you. Especially when I took the money. I shouldn't have done that."
"No kidding."
"But I didn't know what I was getting into," Jack continued. "I - I was wrong, I admit that, but I was also thinking...what if it didn't work out, what if I needed to get away from my family? I didn't know who they were, except my mom's folks, I figured having some cash on me would...would make it so I could come back. So I couldn't be trapped."
David shrugged.
"But I shouldn't have done it," Jack said again. "And part of the reason I didn't write, didn't try and get in touch with you before, I was ashamed of what I'd done. But I had to come here for business, and hoped to see you...and when I saw Nick yesterday, I knew it was fate. So that even if you won't accept my apology, at least I can give you your money back."
David regarded him for a long moment, then held out his hand, palm open. Jack sighed, reached into his inner pocket for the envelope, and handed it over. David glanced in it, then gawked.
"Where exactly did you get this money?" David asked.
"Honest work." Jack shrugged.
"No, Jack, I do honest work. It doesn't pay like that." David laid the envelope on the table, then slid it across the table, back to Jack. "Don't lie."
"I'm not." Jack slid the envelope back. "My grandparents...they owned land. A lot of it."
"In New Mexico, right?"
"Actually, yeah. The land...Well, land is money, you know?"
"So now you're wealthy." David rolled his eyes. "So what, you're trying to buy us off?"
"No!" Jack said quickly. "No, I just - I figure, the money I took, it was your family's, but it was borrowed from the guys, and...I figure, I can pay you back, and I can pay them back." He nodded at the envelope, still sitting on the table between them. David's finger twitched, brushing the envelope, then pulling back. "Look, David..."
"Oh, damn," David mumbled. Jack blinked, but David wasn't looking at him. He had twisted to look out the window. Jack followed his gaze and saw what he was referring to; some guy, probably around their age, was being hassled just outside the restaurant. He had dark brown red hair, almost brown, freckles across his face, and thin glasses. Jack didn't recognize him, but obviously David did.
The guy who was harassing him was much larger with a neck like a tree trunk. He kept shoving the redhead's shoulder, just hard enough to be menacing, not hard enough to knock him down.
"Excuse me," David said, standing up. He turned to walk towards the door, leaving the money on the table.
"Who's that?" Jack asked, standing too. He picked up the envelope; though he hoped they'd be coming back for the food they'd ordered, it was too much money to leave sitting around.
David sighed as he started walking, and didn't look surprised when Jack dogged his steps. "Sarah's fiance," he answered.