CHAPTER 5
“Jesus Frankie, what the hell are you doin’ here?” a seedy looking guy, hair greased and parted down the middle, said. “There’s cops all over the place. Did you hear they swarmed The Roxy?”
“Uh yeah, Joe, that’s where we came from,” he said, like it should be obvious.
Joe’s eyes got wide. “You came all the way from over there? Man oh man, that musta been a scene.”
“Anybody get nabbed?” Frankie asked.
Joe shrugged. “Dunno yet. You see anyone else in the tunnels?”
Frankie shook his head, giving Joe an ‘it don’t look good’ expression.
“Well, at least the Boss is snug as a bug in a rug. Just saw him a little while ago, headin’ back to his place. Sure wasn’t a happy camper though.”
Frankie nodded. “I bet.”
It was around this time that Joe seemed to notice me standing there. “Well hey-a little lady. What’s a dame like you doin’ in a place like that?” he asked, nodding toward the wall that, if you hadn’t known any better, you’d never know was a hidden door.
I must have shrunk in close to Frankie because the guy put up both hands. “Sorry, ma’am didn’t mean nothin’ by it.” He squinted at me, leaning in close. “You sure do look familiar. Have you been in here before?”
I shook my head, squeezing in even closer to Frankie.
“Well, we’d better get moving along,” Frankie said to me. “I’m sure you’re anxious to be gettin’ home.”
I nodded, though I wasn’t quite as anxious about getting home as I was about getting out of that place. The few stragglers in the room looked like they weren’t really there for the establishment’s finest ale. More like they were just looking for a place to get out of the wind and the chill of the night. I wondered if these joints ever closed or if these transients just hung around and slept there too.
Luckily, Frankie whisked me out pretty quickly. Honestly, even if he would have said we had to go back into those creepy old tunnels I’d have happily followed, even though a few minutes ago, I’d never felt so trapped in my life. But instead we exited through the door to the street.
A rainstorm had come and gone and the air never smelled so free. The mud wasn’t so great for my new dancing shoes, but they had already been half trashed down in the tunnels anyway, especially after my fall. Still, I tried to avoid the puddles as best I could, but Frankie just kept walking along like he didn’t even notice the muck.
“So, are you sure everything’s okay?” he kept asking over and over.
“Yes,” I said for about the hundredth time. “I just wish I knew what happened to Annie. I’m sure she made it out of there okay. If you knew Annie, you’d probably think so too, but I just wish I knew for sure. She’s probably worried sick about me too.”
Frankie nodded and was even kind enough not to argue with me when I said Annie was most likely okay. He was probably thinking it didn’t look good, like he was saying to Joe back there, but if he was, he kept it to himself. I was thankful for it since I would have completely lost it if he would have said anything to the contrary.
We walked for what seemed like forever. My shoes were wet and rubbing the backs of my heels. I’d had no idea where the heck we were when we first came out of Joe’s place, but Frankie somehow knew to lead me back to a place where I could find my way home. I suppose he just figured everyone knew where they were once they found the town square, which is where we ended up.
“Okay, well thanks,” I said. “You know, for saving me from the cops and then well… putting up with me.”
He chuckled a little. “We may be out of the worst part of town, but there’s no way I’m going to let you walk alone the rest of the way.”
“Really Frankie, it’s fine. It’s not that far,” I said, already on my way.
“It’s okay if you don’t want me to walk with you, but if it’s all the same, I’ll just follow behind to make sure you get home safe.”
I smiled, looking at the ground. “Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t have to walk behind me.”
He caught up to me in the blink of an eye and even offered me his arm. I’d never really walked on the arm of a gentleman before-- well, other than my little cousin at Aunt Millie’s wedding, which definitely did not count in my books--and I had to admit, it was rather nice, even if it was on the arm of a potentially dangerous man. Funny thing was though: Frankie made me feel more safe, not less.
The walk home suddenly seemed way too short and I even contemplated taking a longer route to drag it out a bit, you know, because the night was so nice and all, but I realized Frankie might figure it out, and then I’d really look like an idiot, as if I didn’t look bad enough already.
Once I got home I was horrified to realize I would never have been able to get back in my window if Frankie had actually left me at the town square. Yes, my room was on the ground floor, but there was no way I would have been able to climb back into my window by myself. I’d agonized for so long about how to sneak out, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of the sneaking back in part. Luckily, Frankie was quite tall and was able to boost me up. It might have been quite romantic if I hadn’t been so worried about accidentally showing too much leg, not to mention trying not to get my behind in his face. How very embarrassing that would be.
Finally, I was in and Frankie stood under my window for a minute, making sure I was settled. I waved one last time. He gave me sort of a salute back and I was sad to see him wander off. I was pretty tired though and barely got into my pajamas before I flopped on my bed.
I suppose I should have been a lot more worried about what had become of Annie, and probably should have lost some sleep over it, but honestly, since I made it out of there okay—even though the circumstances were fairly adventurous—I was sure that Annie had to have made it. She was far more worldly than I was. So I drifted off, knowing she’d be okay.
“Sadie! Sadie, wake up already!” The shrill screaming was my unfortunate wake up call the next morning, which, as I knew it would, came way too soon.
“Emily, what in the devil are you doing?” I tried to yell, but it came out more like a muffled groan.
“What?” my sister said, blinking innocently. “Mother told me to come and wake you up. What are you still doing in bed anyway?”
I wondered if I had actually died in my sleep and gone directly to the depths of hell, but since I was disturbingly awake, and quite annoyed with my sister, I supposed I was just sick or something. Come to think of it, I believe I had overheard adults talking once or twice about how sometimes the day after you’ve had liquor, you can feel a bit sick. But this was more than just a little sick. Surely it must have been a weird coincidence because I’d heard about headaches after imbibing too much, but my head felt okay, a little dizzy maybe, but no, it was my stomach that felt like it would never settle down, even after I’d emptied the entire contents of it into my waste bin.
“Mom, Sadie’s sick!” Emily yelled down the hall, at a volume sure to rouse the dead, as she left my room.
I couldn’t imagine how on earth I was supposed to go to school in such a state, so I climbed straight back into bed. My mother came in and took one look at me, knowing immediately I had the flu.
I slept most of the day away, unable to even get up and eat.
I slept for a while, but woke to muffled shouting, getting louder by the second. I couldn’t stop myself from sneaking down the hallway, carefully, silently.
The scene unfolded in front of me in pieces. My mother first, scrubbing the carpet with vigor, head down, focused intently on the floor, the mud in front of her, in small footprints, forcing my eyes toward the once white shoes. Next was Emily, clutching tightly to a red ribbon, trying hard not to break down, but failing miserably as the hiccupped sobs forced their way out.
And then my father. “What on earth were you thinking?”
“But I just,” gasp, “…wanted to…” hiccup “…show you my…” Emily bowed her head,
trying to stop the crying, and limply lifting the little ribbon toward him. “I won the…” gasp “…singing competition.” Her arm dropped to her side, heavy, the ribbon nearly falling from her defeated grasp.
“Can you imagine what the neighbors think? I saw you running Emily. Running! In our own neighborhood! This is a proper household, how many times have I told you? Girls do not run! You are wearing a dress!” He was getting more worked up by the second.
Emily wept, quieter now, knowing she’d been beat.
Mother scrubbed even harder.
“And my God, look at you! What a disaster.”
It was then that he seemed to notice I was standing there. “And what do you think you’re doing?”
“I… I…”
His eyes got wide as he took in my appearance. “You are in your nightgown? Wandering around the house in your nightgown?”
“I… I’m not feeling well,” I squeaked.
“Get back to your room immediately!”
“But Emily just wanted to show you…”
“Now!” he boomed.
So many words were sitting impatiently on my tongue wanting so badly to be released, but I couldn’t seem to make my mind slow down enough to function properly. My lips were pinched together, pressure building behind them, so angry I could almost spit, but unable to find anything to say.
So I did the only thing I could muster. I walked straight to my sister and crouched, gently pulled off the soiled shoes and took her hand, leading her quietly down the hall, away from my father. The scrubbing, faster and faster, was the only sound behind us.
I couldn’t find the words I’d wanted to so badly, but at least I’d shocked my father into losing his too.
And that is something for a politician.
I tried to get more rest, but after that encounter, my mind was racing. I couldn’t fathom what on earth had gotten into my father. Sure, he was known for his rants and rages, but I had never seen him go off on his precious Emily before. Something big had to be going on.
My door burst open and for a moment I held my breath, wondering if my father was still on his rage, this time to take it out on me.
Thank goodness it was Annie who walked through the door.
“You hussy! I cannot believe you didn’t drag yourself out of bed for school this morning. If I had to endure the torture, you most definitely should have too!”
Ha--I knew Annie would be okay.
“Shhh… my mother will hear you!”
“Oh please, she’s all the way in the kitchen.”
I groaned and flipped over, my back to her.
“Oh no you don’t,” she said, tugging my arm and pulling me to my back. “Details girl! What in the name of all that is good and evil happened to you? One second I saw you bootin’ it across the room with that tall drink of water, and the next you were gone. I went to grab you and you’d just… vanished,” she said, her eyes growing wide for extra effect.
I nodded. “I know. I wish I would have seen you. I’ve been worried sick all day.”
“I don’t think it was the worry that got you sick like this,” she said with a wink.
“So it was the liquor…” I whispered the word with a quick glance at the door, “…that did this to me? Did I really have that much?”
“Good heavens girl, I’ve never seen anyone so zozzled in my life! I mean, you even talked to that guy! Never in a million years would I have thought I’d see Sadie McKay actually find the nerve to go up and talk to an actual boy, let alone one like that. Mmm… that man was positively hard boiled.”
“Hey,” I said. Not that I could really argue.
“I’m not saying it’s bad. You were on fire! It was a sight to behold!” she said. “So did you get his name, anyway?”
“Um… yes?”
“Well, aren’t you little Miss Hotsy-Totsy. So how’d you do it? I never did see him without a gaggle of hens stuck to his side all night.”
I didn’t want to tell her that I’d plowed right into the back of him stumbling out of the bathroom, but she’d never believe I’d actually had the nerve to approach him under normal circumstances, especially with all those fancy ladies hanging around, so finally I just ‘fessed up.
“I knew it!”
I guess I must have looked disappointed because she started talking really fast. “Not that I don’t think you’ll ever come around. You know, I just thought it would be pretty brash of you to just waltz right up there. Besides, it doesn’t matter does it? The point is you got to talk to him, right?”
“Well yeah,” I shrugged. “And I got to dance with him.”
“Hold up a second!” she said, holding up her forefinger. “I swear, if you are feeding me a line, I will never forgive you.”
“No really, we danced, and then the raid broke out. He even got me out of there safely,” I said, not knowing how much of the night I should reveal.
It wasn’t that I was worried she wouldn’t approve - just the opposite, in fact. I was worried she would make a huge deal out of it, which, I guess it was, but talking too much about it would make it less… real or something.
“So, how’d he get you out of there? I swear it really was like you disappeared into thin air.”
I shrugged. “We sort of went into this secret door.”
“What?” Her eyes were really wide now.
I couldn’t help but break out in a little giggle. “It was like a hatch in the floor behind the bar.”
Annie was looking a bit confused, but I’d never had her attention so focused on me in my life. It was kind of nice for once. “So you just had to sit down there until the whole thing was over? My God, how late were you out?”
“It wasn’t like that exactly,” I said, talking a little slower than usual, drawing my words out for effect. “Once we got down there, it… opened up into this tunnel. We walked underground for what seemed like miles.”
I was afraid her eyes might actually pop out of their sockets. “Okay, now you really are feeding me a line. You’re telling me there are secret tunnels underground? In this town?” she said, her voice rising up at the end like there was no way in you-know-where that she would believe me.
“I swear,” I said. “Do you think I could even make something like that up?”
She tilted her head. “You’ve got a point there,” she said.
“Gee thanks.”
She tried to shake the disbelief off her face. “Tell me everything!”
I opened my mouth to start in on the story, but she just couldn’t stop herself from interrupting. “So, it was Frankie that you were in the tunnels with?”
“Uh huh.”
“He knew about the tunnels before last night?”
“Yeah,” I said, slowly.
“So…” There was a long pause. She was finally working it all out. It had taken her a while, what with us talkin’ about it just last night, but the thing you gotta know about Annie is that she usually doesn’t give all that much thought to what’s going on with other people. Not that she’s completely self-centered or anything, she just doesn’t take much of an interest in other people. Her life is way more interesting than the average person. If I were her, I’d probably spend all my time thinking about my own life too. “…oh my God!” she finally exclaimed. “He’s one of them!”
I hung my head, nodding.
Her eyes were so wide. “You are so lucky!”
“Lucky?”
“Oh my gosh, can you even imagine anything more exciting than discovering your guy is a real-life gangster?”
“Um, yes,” I said, not quite believing she couldn’t see the complete horror of the situation, “besides, he’s not my guy.”
She waved her hand dismissing my comment. “Of course he is. What about all the girls hanging around him all night. Did he choose to save any of them from getting caught? No. Don’t you think it’s a little odd that he only bothered to protect you?”
“Not really, we were dancing togethe
r at the time.”
“So what? I’m pretty sure there must be some gangster code or something that says you can’t just take any old person down to the secret lair.”
“It’s not a secret lair.”
“Oh horsefeathers! Anyway, I’m pretty sure those guys don’t go bragging all over town about their hideaways. I mean, we didn’t even know about those tunnels and this town has more gossip than a New York City newspaper!”
“I guess,” I said, but I was still having a hard time believing I was let into something special that others weren’t privy to. It just didn’t add up.
“I’m serious, Sadie. You are his chosen one.”
Now don’t get me wrong. I know I’m not hideous or anything, I just never saw anything all that special in myself, and now to imagine I was being let in on this secret society was just too unimaginable. Too foreign. “That can’t be right. It’s too weird.”
“What’s so weird about it? You’ve got that brooding, mysterious look about you.”
“I do?”
“Sure, you know, you’re always inside your own head puzzling things through, it can be pretty intriguing, even for me. And I know you’re probably just thinking about last night’s pot roast or something, but I still find myself wanting to know what you’re thinking.”
Well that was unexpected, to say the least. Never had I imagined anyone would care about what little old me was thinking, especially someone as exciting as Annie with her risqué dresses and even wilder sister.
But I didn’t get much of a chance to revel in it because a moment later there was a tiny knock on my door.