Young Love in Old Chicago Read online

  Chapter Two

  It was hard to pay attention in school the next day. Between daydreaming about the day before and Emmaline whispering every question about Mason she could think of to me, I just couldn’t keep my mind on what Mr. Web was saying. A couple of times he called on me to answer a question and I didn’t even hear him. Emmaline had to kick me under the table to get my attention. Then I had no answer to give.

  “Are you all right?” Hayden asked me later as we all walked outside with our lunches in our hands. He fell in step with Emmaline and me.

  “I’m fine. I’m just having a hard time focusing.”

  “I assume you didn’t make it to the shops before that downpour yesterday. You didn’t get caught in it, did you?”

  We stepped outside and the cold wind began whipping against me, stinging my cheeks. “I wish we were eating inside today,” I complained, wanting to avoid the subject of Mason with Hayden.

  “Alexandra got caught in the rain all right, but I wouldn’t say she got any window shopping done. More like boy shopping,” Emmaline said.

  I tried to turn my head to her and shake it inconspicuously to let her know not to say anything else.

  “Boy shopping?” Hayden asked.

  “I wasn’t really boy shopping, but I did get caught in the rain while I was trying to window shop. Someone just happened to get caught in it with me.”

  “Does he attend our school?”

  “I don’t think he attends any school. He’s a mechanic.”

  Someone bumped into me from behind, causing me to drop my lunch pail. The latch came open and my thermos fell out and began rolling down the sidewalk. “Why don’t you pay a-ttention, Miss Alexandra?” Marcy said, imitating the way Mr. Web had said it to me several times that day, as she walked around Emmaline and looked back at me.

  “Why don’t you look where you’re going, you twit?” Emmaline snapped at her.

  Marcy and I had attended the same K—twelve school since Kindergarten and I still didn’t know why she hated me so much, but she had always singled me out that way. Her ugly, thick glasses caught a glint of sunlight as she laughed and ran over to eat with her friends.

  “Are you all right?” Hayden asked, bending down to pick up my lunch.

  “I’m fine.”

  We went to sit in one of the few dry spots on the pavement. Even though it was mostly sunny, everything was still pretty wet.

  As I bit into my apple, I felt grateful for Marcy’s cruelty for the first time. At least Mason was forgotten.

  After we finished eating, Emmaline and I began making plans to go window shopping after school since we didn’t get to do it the day before. Hayden left about halfway through the lunch hour to talk with his other friends.

  When the bell rang, everyone was happy to be going back into school for once, just because it meant getting out of the bitter cold. For some reason it was easier for me to stay focused after that.

  Katy was waiting for me in the hallway when the final school bell rang. Being in the ninth grade, her classroom was right beside ours. “Hey, Alexandra,” she said as soon I walked out of my classroom.

  “Hey, Katy.”

  “We’re going window shopping. Do you want to come?” Emmaline asked her. I knew she was just being nice because Katy’s my little sister, and we both knew what her answer would be.

  Katy made a face. “No way. I just wanted to tell you that Mother told me to watch you so I could see this Mason character and tell her everything about him since you’re keeping your mouth shut so tight. I don’t really want to follow you around all day, though, so maybe I could just get a good look at him and then I’ll leave you alone.”

  I wasn’t surprised. “That’s okay. I don’t think I’ll be seeing him again.”

  “Good. See you later then.” Katy turned and hurried out the door.

  Emmaline started to laugh. “You’re mother’s a hoot, having your sister spy on you like that.”

  “I know. She just wants to have something new to talk to her friends about. I’m glad Katy told me, though.”

  We started to walk outside when Hayden caught up to us. “I won’t ask about today, but maybe I could walk you home tomorrow, Alexandra,” he said. “We could work on our homework together.”

  “Sure.”

  I looked at the end of the walkway leading away from our school and froze. There he was, standing on the sidewalk with two pairs of skates thrown over his shoulder. “Emmaline,” I whispered.

  She stopped and looked back me. Hayden did the same. They both gave me peculiar looks. “What?” Emmaline asked.

  “That’s him. That’s Mason.”

  Emmaline followed my gaze until she saw him. He stood out against the kids milling their way around him in their nice school clothes with his messy, permanently grease-stained shirt on. He looked cleaner, though. “Wow, you weren’t lying when you said he was a looker,” Emmaline said.

  “Shh, and stop staring at him. Maybe he’s not even here to see me.”

  Marcy and a couple of her friends walked past him. They were all staring at Mason and whispering, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “Who?” Hayden asked. “That street urchin? What does he have to do with you?”

  Mason saw me just then and smiled broadly. He began walking up the walkway. My heart hammered and my legs became shaky. Did he really come to see me? “Hey, Alexandra. If your knee’s not bothering you, I thought I’d take you skating since you’ve never done it before,” he said.

  Joy pulsed through my veins. He was there for me. “Really? I would love that. And my knee’s fine.” It was sore, but not too sore to keep me away from Mason. “But how did you know where to find me?”

  “Yesterday you said you went to school in this neighborhood. It wasn’t hard to find.”

  “Yesterday? So he’s the one you got caught in the rain with?” Hayden asked me.

  “Yes.”

  He stared at Mason for a minute, giving nothing away in his expression.

  “Oh yeah, Mason, this is Emmaline and Hayden. And this is Mason,” I said, trying to break some of the tension.

  “Nice to meet you,” Mason said.

  “You too.” Emmaline beamed at him.

  “Aren’t you two supposed to go shopping?” Hayden asked me. My heart fell.

  “That’s all right,” Emmaline said. “We can do it tomorrow.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked her.

  “Absolutely. You go have fun with Mason and I’ll see you in the morning. I can take your books too. You don’t want to have to worry about those if you’re going to be skating.” She winked at me as she took my books and turned to walk away.

  “I guess I’ll see you later then,” Hayden said roughly before he turned to go the other way.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered you,” Mason said a little dejectedly.

  “No. I’m glad you came.” That was an understatement. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to skate.”

  “Good. I was thinking we could go to the park east of here. It’s a good place to skate.” We walked across the street and turned left. The park wasn’t far.

  “So is that Hayden guy your boyfriend or something?” Mason asked.

  “No. He’s more like a brother. He’s a little dull, though.” He would have never taken me skating.

  Mason nodded as we turned to our right. I could see the park just ahead. Pavement wrapped all around and crossed here and there. People were out for walks or sitting under shade trees. A few kids from school were there already.

  Katy was standing with a group of boys at one corner. One held a baseball bat and several were already wearing mitts. “That’s my sister over there,” I said, pointing her out to Mason. Then I remembered that she was supposed to be keeping watch on me. That didn’t worry me, though. If she tore herself away from the game long enough to notice that I was there, she would do exactly as she said, take a quick mental picture of him and then ignore us the rest of the time.r />
  “She—looks nothing like you.”

  “We’re really nothing alike.”

  “Is her name Katy?”

  “Yes. Do you know her?”

  “I’ve never met her, but I’ve heard guys at the shop talking about her. They say she’s the best player in the park and that it’s too bad she’s a girl.”

  Of course they did. “What do you think?”

  “I think it’s too bad she’ll have trouble getting into the major leagues just because of that.”

  We stopped beside an empty bench. “Why don’t you sit down and I’ll lace you up?” Mason said as he squatted down and pulled the skates off of his shoulder to untie the laces. I sat down and kicked off my boots. A minute later, he slipped one skate on and then pulled the laces way too tight before he began to tie them.

  I couldn’t believe I was there with him. He found my school so he could see me. Maybe he would come again, and again. That sort of ‘in a dream’ feeling began to well up inside of me, just like the day before.

  “How did you get a pair in my size?” I asked him.

  “Benny said his sister wore about a size seven, so he borrowed them from her.” He slipped the other skate on my foot and tied it just as tightly. Then he put his pair on.

  “All right, so you start slowly,” he said as he stood up. “You’ll be fine, I’m sure, but you have to learn to keep your balance before you can move.”

  I tried to stand, but the wheels began turning and I let out a little scream as I fell forward helplessly, right into Mason. I expected him to fall over backwards and break his neck, but he grabbed my arms and helped me to stand, hardly moving back at all. “Sorry,” I said.

  “That’s okay. It’s always like that at first. Just try to stand steady.” He kept hold on me until it seemed like I could stand up on my own. “Now just try to walk in them. Once you’ve got that, you can try to skate.” He reached out and took my hand, keeping me steady as I shook and nearly fell this way and that.

  His hand holding mine was helping and hurting the situation. It helped, because I couldn’t have stayed up for more than a few seconds without it. But at the same time, he was making me extremely nervous in a wonderful way, which wasn’t helping me stay steady at all.

  I felt embarrassed flailing all over the place, like everyone in the park must have been staring and thinking how ridiculous I looked. But for some reason Mason wanted to skate with me. So I was going to skate.

  I did eventually get it. I wasn’t skating backwards and in circles or anything, but I could move forward okay. Mason kept hold on my hand, though, which I was pretty happy about.

  He made sure to ask if my leg was hurting every so often. It was tender, but not anymore than when I was sitting down in class.

  Mason talked about his parents as we skated. It sounded like his father was a good businessman and his mother was the best at everything she did, but still very humble. Her name was Anna Bell, and ravaging brain cancer was what took her in the end. I tried to paint the picture of my unusually good-natured gossip of a mother and my very serious but loving father.

  An hour may have passed before I heard someone say my name and then felt her grab my arm. “What are you doing here?” Katy asked me as I fought to regain my balance and Mason let go of my hand to grab my arm and steady me.

  “I’m learning how to skate,” I said.

  “I can see that. But who’s this?” She looked up at Mason.

  “This is Mason.”

  “The rain guy?”

  “Yes.” I could feel myself blush. I didn’t want him to know I’d told everyone about him.

  “Hmm.” Katy looked him up and down. “Got it.” Then she ran off back to the crowd of boys that were walking away from the park.

  “That was strange,” Mason said as he let go of me.

  “Sorry about her. My mother asked her to keep an eye on you and tell her everything she found out. She’s just nosy.”

  “So you told your parents about me?” He smiled.

  “Yes. I didn’t tell them everything, though. Don’t worry about—you know.”

  “I’m not. I trust you.” His words filled me with a kind of warm feeling. He had only just met me the day before and he seemed to trust me completely. I felt as if I could trust him in the same way, and I’m not someone who trusts easily.

  “I bet you’re hungry,” Mason said.

  I realized I was. It was hard to think about food or anything else when I was with him, so I hadn’t noticed before that. “A little.”

  “I know it’s cold, but maybe you could go for ice cream.”

  “That sounds great.” Ice cream was something I rarely ate, but it was my favorite dessert.

  “Let’s get out of these skates.” Mason held my hand as we skated back to the bench. Then he helped me get my skates off before I slid my feet into my boots. Mason tied the shoelaces together and threw both pairs over his shoulder. Once we were both standing in our own shoes again, he glanced at my hand. I wondered if he would take it, hoped he would take it. But he didn’t. He started walking, so I walked along beside him.

  “How about that ice cream parlor, Lotsa Sprinkles? It’s not too far from here,” Mason said.

  “Okay.” As we walked he talked about the ice cream served at the only restaurant in Shilling, a little burger joint. I could tell he missed his hometown and I wondered if he would ever be able to go back.

  At Lotsa Sprinkles, Mason bought us each a banana split. We carried them over to a booth beside a window where we could watch people walking by on the busy street outside. I doubted I would be able to pay attention to anyone outside, though.

  After I slid into one side, Mason dropped the skates on the floor and sat down right beside me, leaving the seat across from us empty. I looked over at him in surprise. Was it possible he had some fraction of the interest I had in him, for me? “Would you rather I sat over there?” he asked when he saw the look on my face.

  “No.” Of course not! I smiled over at him and took a bite of strawberry ice cream. Mason kind of leaned over as he rested his arms on the table and scooped out an enormous spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

  I noticed the way his shirt kind of hung forward in the front due to the way he leaned over. He shook his hair away from his eyes. He seemed so perfect.

  A rowdy group of boys walked in. One said something and they all laughed.

  Mason just kept shoveling his ice cream into his mouth.

  “So when exactly did you move up here?” I asked Mason.

  “End of October. I got the job with Benny pretty fast, so I’m saving up every penny I can for a down payment on a house. Hopefully I can get into one soon. It’ll have to be small, but I can build on. I plan on getting out of, uh…where I’m staying now as soon as I can.”

  He was saving up money for a house? I kind of figured he was staying in a vacant building to save up to get to New York. “Have you thought about going to New York to look for your father?” I asked. I was a little nervous about asking him, but I wondered how he could do nothing, knowing where his father was and that he’d been sighted with gangsters, especially since he knew his father wasn’t one of them. It sounded like he could be in real danger.

  Mason set down his spoon, leaving half a scoop of ice cream in his bowl. He looked over at me sadly.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, wishing I hadn’t said anything. “It’s none of my business.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t mind telling you about it. It’s just hard to think about my dad without worrying.” Mason glanced at the noisy bunch of kids sitting in barstools in front of the counter. “For weeks, I woke up every morning thinking he would just show up. When I decided he wasn’t going to, I took a train to New York. That was about the same time he was sighted with members of the mob. I talked to the police and asked around on the streets, but nobody knew anything. New York is a rough place after dark…Two weeks after I got there I took a train home. I was running out of money and getting n
owhere. I’ve called the New York City police station every week since that day. Still nothing. Once in a while there’s a new reported sighting or charge against him, but they haven’t found him yet.”

  Mason stopped and stared out of the window at someone. When I turned my head I saw Hayden standing on the other side of the glass, staring at Mason. “Should you go say hi to your friend?” Mason asked.

  I waved to Hayden. He waved back and gave me a very forced smile before he walked away. “It’s okay,” I said, looking back at Mason. “I would rather hear about your father.”

  Mason smiled and turned his body so that it was facing me. For a second I really just wanted to lean into it, and rest my head on his shoulder. “There’s nothing else to tell. It’s a relief, I guess, every time he’s sighted or accused of anything. At least that way I know he’s still alive. When the cash my dad left behind and the money I made at my job before I was fired started running out, I packed up my stuff and came here. My dad has a bank account, but no one can withdraw from it except for him. And I figure he’ll need it more than me anyway if he ever comes back.”

  “So you don’t have any other family, no grandparents or anything?”

  He shook his head. “Dad grew up in an orphanage. Mom’s parents had her late in life and died before I was born. So I’m it.”

  I wanted to hold his hand or comfort him some way, but I was just too shy. Too afraid of rejection.

  “Your ice cream’s melting,” Mason said. I looked back at the long bowl in front of me and realized he was right. So I finished eating it quickly as he picked up his bowl and shoved the rest of his ice cream into his mouth.

  As I ate, I thought about how lonely Mason must feel, being all alone like that. I had both sets of grandparents still alive, one pair only an hour’s drive away. My Aunt Lucy and Uncle Mark had moved to the other side of Chicago two years before and I had lots of other relatives in Missouri. Most importantly, I had my parents and Katy to go home to. “Maybe you would like to come over for dinner tonight,” I said as the thought came to me.

  “Really? You mean meet your parents?” Mason sat up straight as his eyebrows bent down.

  “Um, well yeah, if you want to. I know my mother would love to meet you. She’ll probably ask you a hundred questions, though, so you don’t have to. I just—”

  “I would love to come over for dinner.” The corner of his mouth rose up. “I’ll have to change, though. Maybe we could run by my place on the way. When do you usually eat?”

  “Six or six thirty.” We both looked at the giant round clock hanging on the wall across the room. Five fifteen.

  “We better go,” he said. So he picked up the skates and we walked several blocks over to the old staircase that led up to where he was living. I waited at the bottom for him while he went upstairs to change.

  When he came back out he looked completely different. He was wearing a black suit with a clean, white shirt underneath. The only clear evidence of what he had just looked like were the grease stains on his fingers that refused to be washed away and the bits of black hair falling into his eyes. “How do I look?” he asked me as we started walking to my house.

  “Great.”

  I tried to tell him what he could expect as we walked, like how blunt my sister can be and how my father always talks about sports over dessert.

  When we walked into the foyer at home at five till six, my mother came to meet us as we hung our coats on the coat rack beside the door. She looked really excited when she saw Mason. “And who is this striking young man?” she asked as she kept her blue eyes locked on Mason’s face.

  “This is Mason, Mother.”

  She let out a little gasp and then smiled even wider. “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you, dear. I’m Mrs. Roomer, Alexandra’s mother. I’m so glad you’re here. You will stay for dinner, won’t you?”

  “Yes ma’am, if it’s all right with you.”

  “Of course. Alexandra mentioned you’re a mechanic. Tell me what that’s like.” My mother took Mason by the arm and led him to the pink flowery wallpapered kitchen, where she questioned him about everything she could think of as she cooked and then did the same in the dining room while we ate.

  My father questioned him about his education, which is always a top priority in his eyes. I could tell he wasn’t very impressed with Mason’s highest grade level of completion being the eighth grade or with his chosen line of work, but eighth grade was higher than a lot of people finished, and he did seem to enjoy talking to Mason about football.

  I mostly stayed quiet and let my family get to know Mason, hoping that he would feel comfortable. He did an excellent job of talking about his family, his hometown, and why he was there without saying anything I knew he wouldn’t want them to know.

  My mother kept giving me and Mason approving smiles whenever I looked over at her. Mason was the center of her attention. He didn’t seem to mind this or the never-ending questions. I didn’t know if he was really enjoying it, though, or if he was just being polite while he quietly counted down the minutes until he could escape.

  When everyone was finished eating, my mother stood up and began stacking everyone’s plates to take to the kitchen. “It was so nice to have you over for dinner, Mason. I do hope you’ll come by again sometime,” she said as she reached out for his plate, politely letting him know that it was time for him to leave so we could get ready for bed. Everyone had so much fun talking to him that two hours had flown by and it was nearly eight o’clock.

  “I would love to come by again, but we’ve got a few big jobs coming in tomorrow,” Mason said. “I’m afraid I’ll be tied up with work for a few days. Thank you for dinner, though, Mrs. Roomer. You’re a wonderful cook.”

  “Thank you, dear.”

  He stood up to shake my father’s hand and wish him and Katy a good night before he turned to me.

  “I’ll walk you to the door,” I said.

  Mason lifted his coat from the rack in the foyer. “Thanks for inviting me over, Alexandra.”

  “I hope my family didn’t embarrass you too much. I’ve never brought a boy over before.” I stopped and bit my tongue, wishing I hadn’t said it.

  He looked pleased with this. “Really?” I nodded my head. “I liked your family. They’re all really nice. I wish I could come see you after school tomorrow, but I’ll be working late, probably for the next four days at least.”

  I felt excitement rush through me at what he said. I wish I could come see you after school tomorrow… Nothing would have made me happier. “So you’ll be working all weekend?” I asked. The next day was Thursday.

  “Unfortunately. I’ll come meet you after school as soon as I can, though, if you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t mind.” It was hard to keep the excitement out of my voice.

  “I’ll see you later then.” He reached out and wrapped both arms around my back, pulling me close. This surprised me more than anything else had. It was more than I’d hoped for. I rested my arms on his back and laid my head against his chest. Bliss. Then he was pulling away and opening the door, and I was screaming inside my head for him to stay.

  “Good night, Alexandra,” he said as he stepped outside.

  “Good night.”