A Fatal Finale by Kathleen Marple Kalb

Author:Kathleen Marple Kalb [Kalb, Kathleen Marple]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781496727237
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2020-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

In Which We Pass a Pleasing Night at Home

The Giants had no trouble with the Spiders. One could not say the same for Hetty and the Baseball Writers. It turns out that one must be a member of the Baseball Writers to sit in the press box, and to be a Baseball Writer, one must be a man. This injustice did not sit well, even though she no doubt wrote a far better story because she circulated in the crowd and talked to female fans rather than lolling about the press box.

Either way, Tommy and I were just glad to see the game end without a rhubarb. Not on the field, but between Hetty and Yardley.

At a convenient corner, we paid off our driver and turned gratefully for home, leaving them to walk on to the news office, barely noticing our farewells as they sniped about whether Hetty’s story belonged on the sports or the women’s page. As for dinner, Father Michael wasn’t in evidence; he’d apparently been invited to sup at some other parishioner’s home. From the way Tommy told it, I suspected he’d be very grateful to return to us, indeed, and to Mrs. G’s efforts.

But Louis and Anna were in the neighborhood, and likely to come over after sundown, formally ending the Jewish Sabbath with a family meal. It would probably be Tommy and me for dinner, and then the Abramovitzes—and maybe the adorable Morsel—for coffee a bit later.

That was as happy a plan as we could wish for, since Toms and I always enjoy our time together, with or without the supporting cast. Tommy and I were always close. He was my protector from the time Aunt Ellen took me in, a shy and scared little creature, nearly starved from the poverty of the last days of my mother’s illness, and terrified of everyone. Aunt Ellen and Uncle Fred weren’t well-off by any means, but no one went hungry in their home, and Tommy always hated seeing anyone upset, so he took it upon himself to make me smile that first night, pulling a silly face and sneaking an extra cookie for me. After that, I stuck to him like a limpet whenever he was within range, and God love him, he didn’t shoo me away, as almost any other twelve-year-old boy would have done.

Soon enough, I was there when some of the neighborhood boys picked fights with him because he wasn’t the kind of brute they were, and I started throwing in on his side. I figured his tolerance for me was part of the reason they thought he was soft, so it was the least I could do. There’s more than one future Five Points gangster who lost a handful of hair when I jumped on his back and started doing my worst to help Toms.

Things were much quieter on this particular evening. As we waited for Mrs. G to do her magic, I was on my chaise with the library book on

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