Dandy Delivers by M. Louisa Locke

Author:M. Louisa Locke [Locke, M. Louisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: M. Louisa Locke

Kathleen and he stood before a three-storied residence that leaned tiredly against its neighbor. What had started out as a clear night with stars was now a cloudy early morning, with a chill wind hinting at rain later in the day.

They had been able to catch a car going south as soon as they got to Market and Fourth by foot, and the car was only half full, so were able to get seats. Jamie figured most of the people who worked in the warehouses and factories in this part of town lived nearby, so they didn’t need to waste ten cents a day on transportation to and from work.

As soon as the car took off, Kathleen had turned to him and said, “I can tell you are holding something back. I want you to tell me everything. I need to know what’s been going on.”

So Jamie told her about how her Uncle Frank had been taking pretty much everything Ian earned and that his falling out with his friend had been over Ian’s decision first to stay late on Sunday to sell extra papers and then to skip school on Monday to sell the morning Chronicle. He told her he had the impression his uncle had started to push Ian to make more money.

When he apologized for keeping all this from her before, Kathleen had shaken her head and said, “It’s Uncle Frank who’s to blame. Not you or Ian. But if I find out either of my other brothers knew what was going on, they’re going to be mighty sorry.”

This block of Harrison, three blocks west of Fourth Street, was made up mostly of cheap, wooden three-story houses that had been thrown up quickly, with an occasional grimy plate glass window on the first floor that proclaimed some sort of commercial enterprise. The streets were narrower south of Market, with fewer gas lamps to penetrate the darkness. Since it had been a little after six when they left the boardinghouse, dawn was still at least an hour away. Yet many of the upper floors showed the glimmer of lights behind ratty, old curtains, including a window on the second floor of this building.

“This where your Uncle Frank lives?” Jamie whispered, not hiding the surprise in his voice. Even in the half-light of the nearby street lamp, he could see that the gray paint was peeling in strips, the steps were cracked and dirty, and the front door was so warped it didn’t close completely.

“Yes, my family moved into three rooms on the second floor in sixty-nine, right before my brother was born and about four years before my mother died. When my father passed on, his younger brother Frank moved in with his family. I thought at the time it would be good for Ian to stay with Uncle Frank because he was only four and at least the place would be familiar. Colin and Aiden moved out to live with my two other Hennessey uncles, Uncle George and Uncle Sean, and I went into service.

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