THUGLIT Issue Two by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Thuglit Publishing
Published: 2012-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

The Carriage Thieves

by Justin Porter

A shabby apparition wearing a shabby hat popped up in front of the carriage and the driver near inhaled the stub of his cigar in surprise.

"Hello!" The shabby apparition grinned and waved like an idiot while the man coughed.

Spitting out the cigar and the taste of burned tongue and ashes, the carriage driver struggled to respond when something cracked against his skull, saving him the trouble.

The horses did not seem bothered by any of it.

"You do idiot really well, Cap," the man wielding the blackjack said.

"Yeah, well ya taught me everything I know, Red."

There were no shouts of "stop thief," as they laid the driver on the street, his head pillowed by a handy pile of old horseshit.

“Let’s go before whoever he was waiting for comes back.” Red cracked the reins, setting the two handsome geldings to a trot. The driver snoozed, dreaming of the well-fertilized fields back home in Pennsylvania while Cap and Red drove a twisting route through the Lower West Side and made for the harbor. Down-at-the-heels whores shuffled in front of the tenements, sagging and exposed tits swaying. Driving into a low building, they struck fire to lanterns and four men emerged from the shadows.

"Abel, William, take the horses for a pretty ride, eh lads?" Red said to a pair of teenagers with eyes that looked stolen. After they’d left Cap, Red and the two others dismantled the carriage. Silver fittings were removed and piled on a table, the wooden pieces were discarded and the iron was piled up.

"Nice haul, this," Cap said.

Red grunted. "We'll take the silver to the Jew straight away."

Cap was already wrapping them up into a kerchief.

The boys returned, complaining of tired feet.

"Where did you leave the horses?" Cap asked.

"Took them to our guy what supplies the Army."

"They gonna be okay? He didn’t have no questions?"

One of the twins shook his head. "Just paddocked 'em with the others."

"How much?"

"Ten apiece."

"Try again," Red said.

The lad rolled his eyes. "Fifteen." Then he turned to his brother and muttered, "I fuckin' told you."

Red took the bag from them and held it open. Abel and William dug in their pockets.

"Make it eight dollars each,” Red said. “Save me paying you later. Now get the fuck out of here."

Coins clinked; Red turned to Cap.

"What do you think?" he asked Cap, who was staring at the scrap iron.

"I think they sold the horses for seventeen apiece," Cap replied.

"Of course they did. S'fine. I paid 'em less."

Cap nodded. "What do you think to do with the rest?"

"It's good iron."

"It is."

"I know a smith. Above Bleecker on the east side."

"We'll go tomorrow then."

Cap turned around to the rest of the crew.

"Alright. Job's done. Come here and settle up."

Paid off out of the horse money, the group left Cap and Red alone with the bones of the carriage and the bag of silver fittings. Cap and Red locked up the warehouse and went to their one-bedroom tenement off Pike Slip down by the Harbor. Once the toothless

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