Ro and Jay stood in the middle of a small, dark room at Scythe’s for several minutes before they were attended to. Unfortunately, it was Suzanna who had greeted them instead of Nicholas.
“Hello, Jay. I see ya have a friend taday. Now, I know she can’t be yer goyl cuz who’d evah wanna date you?” She chuckled. Jay just grimaced a little. She began to speculate. “She ain’t woikin’ fer Remay cuz she don’t look like dat kind a goyl, ‘n’ I should know.” Jay smiled a bit. “She ain’t yer goyl eiddah. She looks too smawt fer any a dat. What could she be?” she contemplated for a moment.
“Look, am I going to be able to meet with Nicholas or not? I do have other things to be doing,” Ro interrupted, a slightly annoyed look on her face.
Suzanna looked over at her, very surprised. “Yer ‘is messengah!” she exclaimed, clearly stunned.
“I am. May I now speak with Nicholas Wakeford,” Ro enunciated. She was visibly becoming more than irritated with the mistress of the house.
“Jay, Suzanna, out,” a man ordered from the doorway.
“Yessah,” the two of them complied in unison. Suzanna left first, and Jay followed close on her heels. The door slammed shut behind them.
“I apologize fer Suzanna’s comments. She likes ta protect people. She didn’t know nothin’ eiddah.” He paused. “Besides, when’d Remay stawt employin’ goyls as messengahs?” he wondered.
“About the same time I asked for it,” Ro answered plainly.
Nicholas was quiet for a moment. “Nicholas Wakeford, but some a da guys call me Scythe. Ya kin call me dat er Nick,” he introduced, offering his hand to her.
“And you can call me Ro,” she replied, grasping his hand firmly.
Nicholas winced. “Quite a grip ya gots dere, Ro,” he pointed out, taking his hand away. Ro smirked a little, her eyes glistening in the lamplight. “Aw, now I know why Remay wanted ya in ‘is ranks.” He chuckled at his brilliance.
“Do you?” she inquired, looking for the doubt.
He just nodded with a wide grin on his face. “Business foist,” he decided.
Ro nodded and reached her hands behind her back, lifting the bottom of her shirt with one hand and pulling the envelope out from her back slowly. She presented the letter without another word.
Nicholas just looked at her with one eyebrow slightly higher than the other. He took the envelope and broke the seal easily. He opened the message and read it silently, chuckling a little at the end. He folded the letter and placed it down on the desk. He whipped out a clean sheet of paper and scribbled down a few words before folding it and sealing it into a new envelope. He handed it back to her.
Ro placed the letter where she’d taken the other from. “I should inform you of my specific duties,” she spoke up, squaring her shoulders and staring right into his green eyes.
“Ya can outline ‘em anytime ya want,” he smirked, clearly thinking of something improper.
“I am a messenger, nothing more, between you and Remay, Queens and Jersey City. I will run messages between the two of you and, occasionally, others if so required but only if asked to do so by either of you. I live in Jersey City, but I’ve acquaintances in both Brooklyn and Queens, so I may be around frequently. I will only run messages to Remay for you if I so happen to be in Queens when you need me. As I work for Remay, his compensation for my services is understood. If the message is from you to someone else, you’re expected to compensate for that. If you can agree to that, I will be very pleased to do what I’ve said. If not, I will deliver only pertinent messages to you personally. The rest I will send through Suzanna or whomever so happens to open the door. Can you agree to these terms, or shall I be on my way now?” she continued.
Nicholas just smirked, but he decided not to say what reflex would had meant him to say. “So long’s ya delivah what I ask ya ta, we gots ourselves a deal,” he agreed, offering a hand to her.
“Very well,” Ro replied, shaking his hand firmly.
“Good den. Say, if ya evah quit bein’ Remay’s messengah ‘n’ end up woikin’ fer ‘im like all da rest a da girls, drop by someday,” Nicholas grinned, his mind wandering back to the improper.
Ro gave him a slightly irritated look and just turned and walked out of the room. She left almost regally, holding her head high and her hands behind her back. She passed several men and women on her way out of the building. Many of the women were only half-dressed and sitting on the laps of many of the men. A few men were off in separate corners, all doing the same sort of thing. The man had his hands on the girl’s waist while the girl’s legs were wrapped around his body in return. All in all, everyone seemed to be having a good time. Ro just scoffed and headed out into the street by herself. Jay seemed to have become involved with one of the girls and didn’t appear to notice much of anything.
Ro found her way back to Brooklyn and Avery’s apartment easily. Avery wasn’t home, so she just left him a note:
Avery,
She slid the letter under the door and left the building. She had to get back to Remay’s before dark and deliver the message. She managed to get there just as the sun was setting, greeted with the same sort of scene she had left at Scythe’s, only Remay had rooms for them. She ignored the pleasure-filled cries from upstairs and just walked back to Remay’s office.
Remay must have been out somewhere because Ro was alone in his office. She placed the reply on the desk and wrote a short note to him in her elegant handwriting. She placed the note beside the letter and left. This time she didn’t reach the door before something happened. One of the men approached her in a very drunken state.
“Ya lukchin’ fer a kguhd tshiiiime, sssweet-faaaacse?” he slurred, taking hold of Ro’s waist and pulling her close to him.
Ro’s body stiffed, and she pushed him away forcefully. “I am not such an employee of Remay’s. Do not treat me as such,” she enunciated, her voice tense and angry. She didn’t wait for a response. She just left quickly, hurrying back to the lodging house.
Most everyone was assembled in the girls’ room when Ro returned. She greeted everyone with a smile and went over to her bunk. Unfortunately, Mockery had taken it upon himself to be laying on it. Ro raised an eyebrow and decided to have a little fun.
“Hello, Mockery,” she greeted with a soft smile.
Mockery glanced around at the others, wondering if he’d missed something. “Uh, heya, Ro,” he replied, sitting up on his elbows.
Ro climbed on top of Mockery, straddling his lap, her knees on the mattress, and leaned very close to his face. She said nothing for a moment, just looking at him with seductive eyes. “You’re sitting on my bed, you know,” she pointed out, her voice soft and as seductive as her eyes.
“Ummm,” Mockery managed to mumble.
She raised her fingers to the back of his neck slowly, brushing the tips over his skin lightly. “I don’t suppose you’d like to move so that I can sit on it,” she continued, her face close enough to kiss him.
Mockery was a little too distracted to think properly. “Ummm,” he said again, wondering what had happened for her to do such a thing. “Sure,” he finally squeaked.
“Thank you,” Ro replied and climbed back off of his lap. There was a soft rumble of laughter around the room. Mockery’s cheeks flushed, and he turned away from them.
“Why’d ya do that?” Brock wondered, looking at her oddly.
Ro smirked and sat down on her now vacant bunk. “It seemed appropriate,” she replied with a slight shrug.
Flicker burst out laughing. “Dat’s kinda funny, Ro,” she chuckled. The rest of the room laughed a little with her but then returned to their previous conversations, still in jovial moods.
Once the attention was drawn away from her, Ro leaned over to Mockery, who was now sitting on the floor next to her bunk. “I apologize for embarrassing you, Mockery. I didn’t mean to do such a good job of it, nor did I mean to hurt your feelings,” she mentioned, a minute smile on her lips.
Mockery shrugged. “It’s awright,” he mumbled. “If I was you, I’d pro’ally do da same thing.”
Ro laughed. “Would you now?” she mocked innocently, her eyebrows raised in a questioning manner.
He blushed a little. “Well, maybe not exactly da same thing, but somethin’ kinda funny anyway,” he answered, his voice becoming quieter near the end.
“Just the same,” Ro remarked, pulling her torso up so that she could stand. She said nothing more but just walked into the washroom. She splashed water on her face and wet her hair a little before returning to the bunkroom.
Before she could return to her bunk, one of the younger boys handed her a note. “Da guy said ta give it ta you ‘n’ not ta open it er read it. He said dat only ya was ta read it. He also said ta be careful in Brooklyn fer a while,” the boy rattled off quickly, taking a long breath once he was finished. He hadn’t wanted to breathe for fear of forgetting his message.
“Thank you, Rusty,” Ro answered as she took the sealed envelope. She sat down on her bunk, facing away from the room, and opened the letter. Mockery stepped up behind her and tried to read the letter over her shoulder without her noticing. She didn’t, nor did anyone else.
Raleigh,
Ro smiled and stuffed the letter back into the envelope carefully. She put the envelope between her shirt and her back and then looked across the room at the poker game in progress. She stood and walked around Mockery, who was now watching something else in the room, and over to the table on the far side of the room. “Do you mind if I join in on the next hand?” she inquired, standing between two of the players.
“Shoah, have a seat, Ro,” Lady Luck grinned, glad to have another player in the game. The only people playing were herself, Mario, Troubleshooter, and Brock. She needed another girl to even the odds.
“Thanks,” Ro replied and took the seat next to Troubleshooter. She looked over at him. He was fairly good looking, but she thought that he had a thing for one of the other girls. “What game is it?” she asked him, he being the only one not currently playing.
“Seven Cawd Draw,” he answered, looking over at her. “Ya know how ta play?”
“Certainly do, thank you,” she replied with a smile.
Troubleshooter grinned back and turned to watch the rest of the game. Ro watched until Brock won the hand. Apparently, Brock had been winning nearly all of them. Lady Luck grumbled and shuffled the cards, dealing them out to everyone at the table in turn.
In a building across the street, a man was watching the lodging houses in silence. His face was shrouded in shadows. There was only a single candle burning in the room, and it was over by the door, several feet from the man. His face illuminated for a second as he lit his cigarette. His chair creaked as he leaned back in it, his eyes fixed on the window to the girls’ lodging house, the one he had a perfect view of.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” the man asked slowly, seeing Ro’s characteristic near-black hair swing about her pretty face. “Said we’d find ya, Miss O’Rourke.” He chuckled almost sadistically. He took a short puff on his cigarette and continued to watch silently.
You weren’t home when I came through, and I’d very much like to speak with you. Please stop by the lodging house when you have a chance. The address is 233 Fairmount Avenue. I’ll see you in a few days. I love you.
Raleigh
I got your letter. I was at work when you came by. I’m sorry, but I haven’t the time to stop by and visit you tonight, so I’ll be giving this to a messenger. I found a job as a secretary at an insurance firm on Atlantic. It’s fairly small, but it’s a good place to start. Next time you come to Brooklyn, I’ll show it to you. I promise I’ll stop by in the next few days. I don’t work on the weekends, so it’ll probably be Saturday. We’ll discuss more about my job when I visit you.
I have one last thing to tell you. I’ve been listening to the gossip of the newsboys and girls around my apartment. The girls seem to like you, but the boys don’t, well, most of them. Be careful when you come through Brooklyn. That Conlon fellow has a grudge against you. He would turn you into Stefano at the first available opportunity. He may have that opportunity soon. There are rumors about one of his “messengers” in the city, mainly Brooklyn. Be careful.
I love you, too.
Avery
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