A PARTNER’S PROMISE
By Fran Shaff
A Fran Shaff Family Novel
Award-Winning Historical Fiction
A Partner’s Promise by Fran Shaff
All Rights Reserved
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2010 by Fran Shaff
Characters, names and incidents used in this book are products of the imagination of the author and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author.
Discover Fran Shaff Books and short stories available in e-format, paperback and hardcover by visiting her website at: http://sites.google.com/site/fshaff
E-mail Fran Shaff at: WriterFran@gmail.com
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A Partner’s Promise has received the following honors:
RECOMMENDED READ AWARD from Fallen Angel Reviews
EPPIE AWARD nomination for Excellence in Young Peoples’ Literature.
REVIEWS
5 CUPS. Astounding! Extraordinarily written…heartwarmingly beautiful…an absolute must read. Coffee Time Reviews
5 ANGELS. A PARTNER’S PROMISE…truly special in every way, a true masterpiece.
5 ORPHAN TRAINS. A PARTNER’S PROMISE is a masterpiece, not only for young adults, but for everyone…I can’t praise Ms. Shaff’s work highly enough. A PARTNER’S PROMISE is a gem. Read it! Gotta Write network
DEDICATION
For Middle School and High School students all across the USA
INTRODUCTION
Thousands of homeless and abandoned or orphaned children lived on the streets of New York City in the late eighteen-hundreds and early nineteen-hundreds. Living conditions for these poor children were horrible. Homeless children were hungry, cold and sick. Some were able to earn money to care for themselves; others stole what they needed.
Charles Loring Brace observed the plight of New York’s suffering children and did something about it. He began the Children’s Aid Society of New York to help the homeless. The Society provided places for the children to receive shelter and food. These orphanages also provided education and training for jobs. Since some of the children had jobs, classes were often held at night when their day’s work was finished.
The homes were quickly filled, yet the streets still held many homeless children. It was then that Brace decided to try a program called placing out. Placing out meant that children would be taken from the streets and orphanages in New York and placed with families in rural America. This would give the hopeless of the city a fresh start in their lives. Some of these placements were quite successful. Others were terrible failures.
From the eighteen-fifties to 1929 it is estimated that one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand or more children were sent on these orphan trains by the Children’s Aid Society and other organizations. This is a chapter of American history written just about children.
A Partner’s Promise is a story about a boy unwillingly caught up in the orphan train placements.
CHAPTER ONE
“Read all about it! Man with two heads! Get your paper here!” Axel O’Grady knew how to sell newspapers on New York street corners better than just about any other newsie in the city. “Man with two heads,” Axel repeated as he took coins from a man in a dark suit and handed him a paper.
“Indeed,” the man said in a disapproving tone. “This is the eighteen-eighties, boy. Don’t you think it’s time you newsies showed respect for the modern reader of newspapers?” He tucked his paper under his arm. “Two heads, indeed.”
Axel grinned and pushed back the worn brown cap resting on top of his carrot-colored curls. He watched his customer take a few steps away. The man leaned into the corner of one of New York’s tall buildings and opened his paper.
A moment later the scowling fellow glanced back at Axel and jerked his chin.
Axel’s grin broadened. He knew in an instant his customer must have looked for the story of the man with two heads and found the headline: Joseph Mann Appoints Two Presidents to Head Up Company. Axel shrugged his shoulders at the man and turned back to bark out the headline which had earned him a good day’s wages. “Read all about it! Man with two heads!”
The bustle of activity along the streets of the large city made the warm, sunny day seem even more alive with the hope of a fresh spring season. The coins jingling in Axel’s pockets made the April afternoon brighter than any he’d known in a long time.
Once he’d sold all his papers, he shifted his gaze from passing potential customers to his partner, Nate Greenleaf. The lanky friend, whom Axel considered more brother than anything else, had a stack of unsold newspapers sitting next to him.
Axel walked over to his dark-haired partner. “Why don’t I take a dozen of those papes back to my side of our corner? I got lucky and sold all of mine.” He stuck his hands inside his pockets and jingled his coins.
Nate scratched his light brown cheek, narrowed his dark eyes, and grinned at Axel. “Got lucky?” He cocked an eyebrow. “I can tell from those twinkling sky-blue eyes, O’Grady, that you lied your way through your sales again. Which headline did you modify to suit your purposes today? The mayor’s party? The governor’s taxes? Or maybe you dug into the obituaries and took advantage of some poor soul.”
A sly smile slid over Axel’s freckle-covered face. He shrugged his shoulders and jostled the coins in his pockets again. “What’s the difference? We’ve got enough money from our sales to keep us fed for days.”
Nate playfully knocked Axel’s wool cap off of his head. “Why bother to sell anymore papers then? Let’s go eat.”
“Now you’re talking!” Axel bent to pick up his cap. As he placed it on his head, he said, “You know, since I turned eleven last week, I think I’ve been hungrier than I was before. Now I know why you’ve been eating like a starved dog these last two months. It’s the age, right, Nate?”
Nate tried again to knock Axel’s cap off his head, but Axel ducked. “Quit thinking so much. Pick up those papers so we can get some of the food you were talking about before we both turn twelve.”
Axel smoothed his cap over his head. He bent to grasp the stack of unsold papers. When he stood up again, he looked straight into the eyes of Johnny Miller.
The nasty fourteen-year-old boy towered over him.
Axel firmed his jaw and slammed Johnny with a deadly stare. “Get off our corner, Miller.”
Johnny, who was two heads taller than Axel, one taller than Nate, lifted a side of his mouth as he shoved long fingers through his tousled, thick waves of brown hair. “I told you before, I want this corner.” He grabbed Axel by the collar, causing him to drop his papers, and dragged him next to the building. “This corner is mine from now on,” he said through gritted teeth.
Nate quickly picked up the papers Axel had dropped and rushed to his partner’s side. “Miller, let go of him.”
Johnny glanced at Nate. He jerked hard on Axel’s collar and lifted him off the ground. He pointed at Axel with his other hand, keeping his eyes on Nate. “This?” he said. “You want me to let go of this?”
Nate dropped the papers he was holding. He stiffened his spine and folded his arms. “I told you to put him down. Axel told you to get off our corner.” He took two steps closer to Miller. “You’d better start doing what you’re told, or you’ll regret it.”
“Why, you little…” Johnny quickly dropped Axel. He pulled back his arm and rammed his fist into Nate’s face.
Axel fell on his backside when Miller released him, crunching his bones. Stunned from his fall, he could only watch as Johnny hit Nate in the eye, then the midsection, and again in the eye.
When he was finally able to move, he attacked Johnny from behind. He planted himself on Miller’s back and tightened his arms around the big boy’s throat.
Johnny yanked Axel’s arms away and threw him to the ground.
Pain crashed through Axel’s body as the bully’s fists pummeled him. The taste of blood mingled with his dazed senses, and Axel struggled to stay alert. He tried to throw his arms against Johnny, who hovered above him, but he couldn’t move.
Johnny’s blurred image sneered down at him. Words echoed through a tunnel. “Now whose corner is it?”
Axel tried again to move, but he couldn’t. He could barely see Johnny, but he knew what the big bully was doing.
Large hands found their way into Axel’s pockets. Johnny quickly removed every coin Axel had.
When he’d robbed Axel, Miller went to Nate’s unmoving body and stole his money too.
The thief stood over his victims and spat on each of them. He jingled the coins in his pockets. “Get off of my corner, boys, and stay off it, or you’ll get more of the same.”
Fire burned inside Axel’s belly. He tried with all of his might to move, but he could do no more than lift his head. He drew in a painful breath and looked at his partner.
Nate’s eye was bleeding badly, and he wasn’t moving at all.
“Nate.” Axel tried to shout, but his word was barely a whisper. Panic set in. He had to move. He had to get to Nate. He closed his eyes and prayed for strength.
He managed to sit up and drag himself to Nate. He rubbed his hand over the boy’s bloody hair. “Nate, wake up.”
He still didn’t move.
Axel looked around. Dozens of people were on the street, but no one stopped to help. He looked at Nate once more.
Why would anyone help? Axel thought scornfully. He and Nate were just a couple of homeless kids. The city was full of them, and no one cared about them.
It didn’t matter. He didn’t need anyone. He and Nate had been on their own for years. He’d always taken care of his partner, and Nate took care of him.
“Nate! Nate, wake up!”
The boy remained motionless.
A tear rose in Axel’s eye. Feeling ashamed of his show of weakness, he quickly wiped the offending tear away. “Nate, you nasty old bum, you wake up right now!”
“Young man!”
Axel looked up and saw a regal-looking older woman dressed in satin finery. Her hand was over her heart. “Just what is this world coming to?” she asked, shaking her head. “Mind your tongue, child. We’ll have no nasty language on the streets of New York!” She shook her head again and stalked away.
Axel looked from the woman to his bleeding, beaten brother. He whispered a response to the uncaring woman’s comment. “I guess New York doesn’t need any good Samaritans either.” It must have been the thought of losing his friend, his only remaining family, that brought his mother’s Bible teachings to his mind, but he didn’t have time to think about that now. He had to get help for Nate.
Bolting to his feet, Axel tottered a moment before he fell back to the ground. Everything went black, then light. “Help,” he said weakly, and blackness surrounded him once again.
Some time later, Axel gazed up through a haze of dizziness. A police officer stood over him, nudging him with his foot. “I said wake up, boy.”
He opened his eyes in time to see a wagon taking Nate away.
“You’d better go home, boy, if you have one. You can’t lay about anywhere you please. Not in my city. Not in New York. No, sir!”
Axel sat up and looked at the tall police officer above him. “Where are they taking my friend?”
“The boy in the ambulance?”
“Yes.”
“They’re hauling him away. I told you, you can’t lay about anywhere you please in New York.” The dark-haired, pink-skinned officer who spoke with a German accent reached for Axel’s hand and helped him stand up. “You all right, boy? Want to tell me what happened?”
“We had a fight,” Axel said, trying to right his messed-up clothes.
The policeman pointed a thumb over his shoulder toward the wagon taking Nate away. “You and him? Looks like you both got in some powerful licks.”
“Us two and another boy,” Axel said, nodding. “Nate’s my friend. It was a much bigger boy who attacked us.”
The officer looked Axel over carefully. He gave his head a slight shake. “Humph, so someone else started the fight, huh?” He gave him a familiar disbelieving look. “Red hair, fair skin, blue eyes and freckles. You’re Irish, ain’t you, boy?”
Axel nodded.
“I figured as much. You Irish are always causing trouble, and you street Irish are the worst.”
Axel opened his mouth to say something vicious in reply to the officer’s nasty remarks, but he didn’t have time to make matters worse. He needed to get to Nate.
The constable took another look at him. “You’re pretty bruised up, but you’ll be all right if you get home and take care of yourself.” He glanced over his shoulder, then back at Axel. “I’m not so sure about the dark-skinned kid. The doctors’ll have to figure that one out.”
“Where will they take Nate?”
“He’ll go to the hospital over that way,” the officer said, pointing, “the one a couple of blocks from here.
“Thanks.” Axel started to walk in the direction the policeman had indicated.
The officer grabbed his shoulder. “If you’re thinking of following your friend to the hospital, forget it. Hospitals don’t let kids in unless they’re patients, and they don’t take patients who can’t pay unless they’re as bad off as your friend is. You’d better take care of yourself so you can help your friend when the hospital lets him out.”
Every inch of Axel’s body ached. What the officer said made sense. If he wanted to help Nate, he’d have to heal a little himself. Nate would be taken care of in the hospital. He looked up at the policeman. “Thanks, you’re right. I’ll go home.”
“See that you do,” the officer said as Axel walked away.
As he walked along the street, pain surged through his body. He could feel his eye swelling shut. He’d have a big enough job now taking care of himself. It was good Nate had nurses and doctors to help him. And he’d have food to eat in the hospital too.
The image of Nate’s beaten body formed in Axel’s mind, and a tear slid down his cheek. “God,” he whispered, “You’ve just got to take care of Nate for me.” He drew in a strengthening breath. “Please, God. Nate’s all I have.”
CHAPTER TWO
Axel woke the morning after the Miller fight inside the furniture crate he called home. He rolled to his side and tried to get up, but he couldn’t.
His cheeks throbbed with pain. When he touched them, he found them puffy and swollen. He blinked his eyes and realized his injured eye was no longer sealed shut.
His midsection started to ache as soon as he moved. He lifted his worn, gray shirt and saw purple where white skin should be.
Very carefully, Axel drew himself up into a sitting position. He looked around the four-foot by six-foot crate where he and Nate lived. They had no food left. A small bucket of water sat in the corner next to two blue metal cups.
He dragged himself to the cups, dipped one into the bucket, and drank long and slow.
He would have nothing to eat until he could sell papers again. The way he felt at that moment, he feared it would be days until he’d be able to leave his crate.
Yet he had no choice but to leave it because of the agreement he’d made with Mr. Stevenson. He and Nate had arranged to clean Stevenson’s furniture store in exchange for Stevenson allowing them to use the crate near his loading dock for their home. If Axel didn’t clean the furniture store as promised, he’d lose his and Nate’s home.
For three days he struggled to keep his bargain with Mr. Stevenson. During that time he had nothing to eat. After cleaning Stevenson’s store each day, he was always too weak and exhausted to be able to earn money to buy food.
He was desperately hungry.
In the hospital Nate was surely being fed well, but if Axel wanted to eat, he had only one choice.
He’d vowed three years before, just after his parents died, he’d never steal.
Now it was time to either break his promise or starve.
Axel dragged his bruised body out of the crate and walked to the nearest bakery. He looked right and left, ahead of him and behind him to see if anyone was watching.
An old woman glanced his way and sent him a look of disgust.
A man in a brown suit inspected a basket of rolls, which drew the shopkeeper’s attention.
The sight and smell of the fresh-baked bread made Axel hungrier than ever. His mouth began to water. His stomach gurgled. He no longer cared whether someone witnessed his theft or not. He grabbed a loaf of bread and bolted from the shop.
He was feeding his wild hunger with the fifth piece from the stolen loaf when a short, stocky police officer came upon him. Axel clutched his bread tight against his body.
“You’re the one who stole a loaf of bread from the baker in the next block, aren’t you, boy?”
Axel ignored him, took no time to reply. He shoved bread into his mouth before the constable could pry the remainder of the loaf from his hand.
“The baker told me what the thief looked like,” the officer said. “Red curly hair, blue eyes, in need of a bath. That fits you to perfection, boy.”
Axel paid him no heed. He could think of nothing but satisfying his hunger before the bread was taken from him.
The officer waited a moment before he spoke again. “I’m afraid, you little scoundrel, you are under arrest. I’m going to cart you off to jail.”
Axel shoved one more piece of bread into his mouth before the black-haired, young policeman with the stern face took his loaf. He offered no resistance when the constable grabbed his arm. He knew children over the age of seven who were caught stealing were treated as criminals the same as adults. He knew he would go to jail if he were caught stealing.
But he had to eat. His hunger had far surpassed his fear of going to jail.