Appointment in Samarra - John O'Hara [53]
Yes, sir, said the girl. I ll show you. I ll fix your feet for you, said the manager. Julian tried to reach in his pocket to get rid of the flashlight. Oh, no you don t, said Mr. Jewett. That flashlight stays right in your pocket till the policeman comes. I ll put a stop to this. Little highbrow, eh? Doctor English s son. Lantenengo Street boy. Well.
Quickly there was a crowd around, and some of the fellows were in the crowd. They were frightened, and a couple of them left, which gave Julian a sinking feeling but he did not blame them, and he was glad to see that Butch and Carter stayed. Go on away, you people, said Mr. Jewett. I ll settle this. The group slowly moved away, and that was the chance Butch had been waiting for. He moved closer to Jewett and said: What did he do, Mister?
Never you mind what he did. You known damn well what he did, said Jewett. Butch kicked Jewett square in the shin and ran, and so did Julian. They got out of the store and ran to the left, knowing that Leffler, the policeman, would be coming from the squire s office, at the right. They ran down one street, up another, down another, until they came to the railroad freight yards. Jesus, I never ran so much in all my life yet, said Butch. Me either, said Julian. It s good I gave him a kick, said Butch. You bet. If you didn’t I d be there yet. What would they do?
I do know. Send you to reformatory, I guess. I guess me too now maybe, said Butch. Gee, said Julian. What ll we do now? said Butch. Gee. I do know. What should we?
Well, if you go home they know who you are at the store so if you go home they ll have the cop, Leffler, he’ll wait there for you.
Do you think they will? said Julian. Sure. He’ll arrest you and the squire ll send you to reformatory till you’re eighteen years old yet.
Honest? said Julian. That s right, said Butch. I won’t go to any reformatory. I ll run away before I do that.
Me too, said Butch. I m instigated. Oh, said Julian. I m instigated because I kicked Jewett in the shins and that makes me instigated the same as you are.
Well, I won’t go to any reformatory. They won’t catch me and send me to any reformatory. I ll run away before I get put away, said Julian. Well, what will we do? said Butch. Julian thought a minute. He watched them making up a train; the shifting engine collecting cars from all over the yard and backing them into a track near where they were sitting. Let s hop the freight and run away? said Julian. Gee, said Butch. I don t know where they go. A coalie you know where it goes and you can get off down at the Haven, but a freight.
We gotta do something. We don t want to get sent away to reformatory, do we? said Julian. Yes, but who wants to hop a freight that they don t know where it s going. Philly, maybe, without stopping, said Butch. Philly without stopping! You’re crazy. You know more about trains than that. It ll stop all right. They have to put water in the engine tender, don t they? They have to put on more cars and take them off, don t they? Don t they? Anyhow, what do we care where it s going? It s better than the reformatory, isn’t it? Do you know what they do there?
No.
Sure you do. They have priests there, Catholics, and they beat you and make you go to church every morning at five o clock. That s what I hear.
From who did you hear that? Who from? said Butch. From oh, lots of fellows told me that. I know it for a fact. That came from somebody that knows all about it and I m not allowed to tell you his name. So will you go? We can sell papers in Philly. I was there often and they have fellows the same age as us selling papers there, so so can we. Younger than us. I ve seen little kids I bet they weren t more than about nine and a half years old, they were selling papers right in the Bellevue-Stratford.
Aw, said Butch. They were so, said Julian. I bet you don t even know what the Bellevue-Stratford is. Where is it?
In Philly. Anybody knows that.
But what is it?
Oh, I don t know. You don t know everything.
See? You don t know. Well, it s the hotel where we always stay Julian was brought up then to the fact that if he was going to Philadelphia, this time he was not going to stay at the Bellevue-Stratford. Well, are you going with me?