Charles straightened the blanket and smoothed it out over Alonna’s shoulders. She murmured softly, then settled back into a deeper sleep. A full stomach probably helped.
"Gunn," Charles heard the whisper, and covered his eyes as he looked towards the speaker.
"Jay, man, put that down, you’re gonna wake Alonna."
"Sorry, man," JayJay said and lowered the flashlight. Charles crept over to JayJay’s pallet.
"What’s up?"
"Your sister did good today. She distracted old man Lee so good he never noticed we were even there. Tomorrow I bet-"
"She ain’t goin’ tomorrow," Charles spat, trying to make his point without raising his voice. "I don’t want Alonna involved in that. We do what we gotta do, but she ain’t gonna be a part of it."
"She’s perfect," JayJay persisted, "She looks sweet, she asks for some candy or some change, talks in that girly voice, and they never know we’re there. We got at least twenty bucks worth and when was the last time we ate so good?"
Charles couldn’t remember. He’d managed to hit the refrigerator case, and walked out with a quart of milk tucked in his jacket pocket and a pack of liverwurst in his jeans. The liverwurst was kind of funky, but it was meat, he was pretty sure, and they hadn’t had meat in weeks.
Charles crawled back to his sleeping pad without saying anything else to his friend. They’d had this argument before, him and the other guys they shared this place with. Most of the others wanted Alonna to help with the food. She was young and sweet enough looking to be a good distraction. Jorge, the oldest one in their group, thought Charles should tell Alonna everything. How they got food, how they got money, why they only went out at night in big groups, and why every last one of them wore a cross around their neck, even Kev, who Gunn was pretty sure looked Jewish.
He wriggled into the makeshift sleeping bag he used for a bed. It was a combination of stuff they’d salvaged from the curbs or gotten from the stores, using what Mike called "the five-finger discount". It was held together with silver tape he’d gotten from the hardware store. Ever since Charles and Alonna had left the shelter and taken up with this crew in the warehouse, they’d had to beg for or steal almost everything they had. Everything but his sister’s blanket, left over from some apartment where they’d lived mother he hardly remembered.
Alonna didn’t remember that at all. She didn’t remember living in a regular apartment, or having any other family but Charles, or eating meals while sitting in a chair at a table. But she didn’t remember the other stuff either. Their momma flying into rages when she was high or needed to get high. The strange men that showed up at night and stayed for days, sometimes staying in their mother’s smoke hazed room and sometimes yelling so loud Charles would grab his baby sister and hide in a closet. He was glad Alonna didn’t remember that.
He wanted to protect her from those things, from their past with a momma who was a druggie and their present where they had to steal food to eat. Those were the least of the things he needed to protect her from. He hated to think about the other ones.
The next night was a full moon; it was clear and a breeze eased the stifling heat a little. They had all gone out for a walk to enjoy it, and more truthfully, for Mike and Jorge to pick the pockets of the others out for a stroll. Charles walked along with Kev and JayJay, a few steps behind Alonna and Jorge’s girlfriend Linda. JayJay was going on about how if things were different, he’d be a forward for the Lakers and he’d have so much money and so many girls, he’d share with Charles and Kev both. As JayJay went on about his would-be NBA career, Gunn watched his sister and the older girl. He didn’t like Alonna hanging out with Linda who he thought was a bad influence. She wore spike heels, tight jeans, bright red lipstick and the cross around her neck hung from a thick fake gold chain. She was the only other girl in their group, though, and Alonna gravitated towards Linda. His thoughts on Linda and how he might get Alonna to hang around her a little less were interrupted by a shout from down the street.
Mike or Jorge had screwed up because some guy was shouting "Thief!" and "Police!" and some things about kicking their sorry asses as the group scattered. JayJay clambered up a fire escape and Mike came running past him like a bat out of hell, clutching a purse that was spilling a trail of loose change on the sidewalk. Kev ducked away somewhere and Charles didn’t see what happened to Jorge.
Charles sprinted forward and grabbed Alonna, pulling her along. "Come on, come on!" he shouted, "Let’s go!" Linda could fend for herself, he thought, he couldn’t wait for her to teeter along behind them on those shoes. Jorge would probably get her anyway.
He half dragged her back to their place; her shorter legs struggled to keep up with his longer ones. She kept asking "What’s wrong? Why’re we running? Where is everybody? You left Linda!"
Charles didn’t waste the breath to answer, he just kept running until they got back to the warehouse and slammed the steel door behind them.
"We’re okay, now, honey" he said, "We’re home and they can’t come in here."
"Who can’t?" asked Alonna.
Charles sighed and reached out to pull his sister into a hug. He was going to have to tell her this, too. Keeping her innocent of this could kill her, and he’d have to tell her this too, just not tonight.
"The bad men, baby, just the bad men."
The End