A Friendly Date (Closed for Now)

[Racetrack]

Excellent. He was falling for a heartbroken girl who could never love again. Well, he always had liked the longshots.

"California, huh?" Race raised an eyebrow. "Never left New York myself. Cowboy's always talking about going out west, though. Says everything's bigger." Race was from Brooklyn and, like most Brooklynites past or present, was firmly convinced it didn't get any bigger, but he was too diplomatic to say so. "Have you ever been out there?"

[Sapphy]

She got a little nervous that he skated over Matthew, but at the same time relieved. If she talked any further, she's start talking about all her scars. Alan, David, her ex-friends Ann, Cathryn and Janet who refuse to speak to her because she "changed" too much... They all broke her heart. Matthew just happened to be the icing on the cake.

"No. But I will be," she said firmly. "I'm just waiting on word from my family... They're already heading out there."

[Racetrack]

Race had heard this story before, but he assumed Sapphy was telling the truth, rather than covering up a dead mother and incarcerated father. He found himself at a bit of a loss, though. He didn't know a thing about California, and as for heartbreak...

He'd been with a few girls, of course. A kiddie romance in Brooklyn with one of those crazy young newsgirls who could throw a punch and hold her liquor better than he could, and then a couple of short-lived flings here in Manhattan with the kind of women you met at casinos and racetracks. Actually, most of them came with their boyfriends, an added complication that helped explain why these flings were short-lived; they generally ended in black eyes and a cloud of regrets. Flick was probably the most serious of the bunch--a fiery redhead who could strategize the hell out of a deck of cards and never had to cheat--but in the end, they'd always been no more than friends playing at lovers. No heartbreak involved.

But he remembered what Sapphy had said about going to school, and moving west, and rich folks with French cologne. "Are your folks pretty well-off?" he asked, piecing together an explanation for why she seemed to come from such a different world.

[Sapphy]

"No, we really weren't. My Da and Ma worked their asses off so my brother Kevin and I would get an education -- something they never had. Sometimes we wouldn't see them for days... All for a rotten, overcrowded school. It was cheap and not the best, but it was still ours. Then it wasn't enough... Da wanted to get us out of the city. We sold everything that they couldn't carry and the three of them left. I stayed behind... In case it didn't work out, we'd still have the apartment. Then that fell through. Sold the rest of my things that I couldn't carry, and now I'm at the lodge." Sapphy hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on them.

[Racetrack]

"They left you alone in the city? Sounds rough." Worse than rough, actually, once he thought about it. "I've always kinda had family around me...first my actual family, then this guy at the orphanage who looked out for me, then the Brooklyn newsies, and now the Duane Street ones. You didn't have any friends to help you out?"

[Sapphy]

"I had friends... They didn't," she said simply. She started to to flick her pinky finger, it made a snapping sound. It was one of her more distracting quirks.

[Racetrack]

Race smiled optimistically. "Well, you've got the newsies now. We might be, as David says, a bunch of angry kids with no money, but at least we're loyal. Mostly. I do always kinda wonder if Skittery's planning to kill us all in our sleep."

[Sapphy]

"...I need a full description of Skittery so I know who to avoid, please." She didn't trust these fellow kids with no money, however, she didn't really trust anyone. She was an open (yet emotionally unavailable) book, or a brick wall.

[Racetrack]

He chuckled. "Tall, thin, brown hair, often seen a pink shirt, full of mischief on a good day and gloom and doom on a bad one." He glanced at the darkening sky. "We can head back if you want. Don't want Kloppman closing the doors on us."

[Sapphy]

"Won't miss the pink, got it," Sapphy said, looking up at the sky. "Yeah, I suppose we should..." she looked over at Race for a while. "...Do I annoy you with all that talk?" she asked. "Be honest."

[Racetrack]

"Not at all," he said honestly, adjusting his hat and tossing away his cigar stub. "I've been trying to get a life story outta you since we met. If you've got more, I'd be glad to listen. It's a long walk back."

[Sapphy]

Sapphy was... honestly surprised by that response. She was waiting for something to indicate Race would rather not be around her anymore.

"Oh. Well... I'd also like to hear anything you have to say," she responded. "Fair is fair, and I'm a good listener."

[Racetrack]

"Hmm. Well." He walked away from the tracks with her, feeling like he was back in a Catholic confessional at the age of six, admitting to eating his brother's biscotti. "Sometimes I miss Brooklyn, even now. Sometimes I miss Spot, but don't let that get around, 'cause we're mortal enemies now or something. On odd-numbered days, at least." He glanced around in a slightly paranoid manner. "There's trouble in Brooklyn, actually. One of Spot's boys betrayed him. Sammy. I actually knew the guy...never would've guessed it." The rumors about Sammy and Spot's revenge schemes made him nervous. He had a nagging, irrational feeling that he was going to get mixed up in it. ((heh heh))

[Sapphy]

"Hey, I can relate to betrayal. Spot'll be okay." Sapphy, obviously didn't get it.

[Racetrack]

"Spot'll be okay when he beats the guy to death," Race explained. "And takes down everyone who's joined up with him, which could pull in Brooklyn's allies, which includes a good chunk of Manhattan, which could mean war and...that's what's got people so concerned."

He paused, realizing he couldn't very well ignore that remark about betrayal. "Sorry about that guy of yours," he said. "He clearly wasn't worth it."