15
“Nick, let’s go.” I moved quickly, too afraid that if I stopped,
Da would order me back upstairs again.
We pulled Paddy out the door and down Geary Street. As we
moved along the uneven sidewalks, the ding of the streetcar filled
the air as the evening sounds of the Richmond District came to
life. A misty sheen clung to my skin. 2ctober was usually a warm
month, but today the temperature dipped lower than normal. The
fog began its slow stroll toward the city. Its thick tendrils swooped
in like an apparition and quickly swallowed the sky.
At one point along the sidewalk, Nick had to stop and slap
Paddy’s face to keep him from passing out.
“Can’t walk anymore,” Paddy protested.
“We’re almost there,” I reassured him.
I reminded Paddy to hold pressure on the cloth that was now
close to the color of cooked beets. Every time Nick looked down,
he took a deep swallow. The last thing we needed was him losing
his lunch here on the sidewalk.
ȊWe should hurry,ȋ I said. ȊThose fingers need to be cleaned
and stitched up before he loses any more blood.”
“You learn that from that block of a book you’re poring over
every night while Mam and Da think you’re saying your prayers?”
“That book is called
Gray’s Anatomy
for your information. It’s
full of all sorts of interesting facts about the body,” I said ignoring
Nick’s prickly tone.
“Whatever you’re reading, it won’t matter once you’re at the
convent,” Nick grumbled. “Can’t see the nuns taking kindly to you
hiding that tome under your postulant skirts.”
“I bet you don’t even know about half the wonders of the
human body,” I shot back not wanting to talk about the turn my
life would take in five short months.
