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Michael was assigned the Cat Rack booth again. He finds he actually liked working at the carnival. He was good at the banter and getting people to take extra throws at the stuffed cats. He was also getting better at enticing strangers to try for the first time. He knew a lot of the crowd from the mill, school, and the neighborhood. Starting up a good chat usually got them to try. A few times he let someone win so they will have a prize to carry around. He felt that it was good advertising, and it created repeat business. When things were quiet, he hunted for the handkerchief he lost, but he didn’t find it.
Michael watched Hugo coming his way. He walked like a man with a purpose, and the scowl on his face was not a good sign.
“Michael, we have a problem. Lieutenant Gillespie said we can’t leave until Saturday. We can only run the carnival in the evenings because the kids are in school now. Can you work the next few nights until they let us leave?”
“I can do it,” Michael said. He needed the money, but he also wanted the chance to stay close to Dania. Michael’s thoughts were racing. I don’t want the carnival to leave. After talking to her . . . I need to ask her out. Would she go? I’ll never see her again if she leaves.
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Time seemed to drag. Michael watched for Dania all day, but he didn’t see her. There were a lot of people who came to play, and he tried to stay focused. His thoughts
kept returning to Dania, and her last words to him: Michael! Thank you.
Finally, the crowd thined out, and the carnies prepared to close for the night. Michael tallied the take and headed to turn his money in.
“How’d you do?” Hugo asked companionably.
“Eight dollars and thirty cents—my best yet,” Michael said.
“Good. Holidays are the best.” Hugo took the pouch from Michael, counting out dollar bills, some change, and handed it to Michael. “Here is your pay for the evening and the two days you worked.”
“Thank you,” Michael said, stuffing the money in his pocket, “I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon.” Hugo was already working with the next vendor.
“How’d ya’ do?” asked Tony, as they meet at the gate.
“Not bad. How about you?” Michael said jingling his pocket.
“I made $5.26. It’d have been more, but the cops being there loused up the Sunday sales.”
“I’m happy with what I got. I wasn’t expecting a windfall, but it’s still good. They’ve asked me to come back tomorrow and work ’til they leave.”
“How can ya’?”
“What? Work two jobs?” Michael took a deep breath. “It’s only evenings ’til the end of the week. I can handle it.” He didn’t tell Tony that the real reason is Dania. He’s not really sure how he feels about her yet or what he’s going to do about it.
“I wonder if I should try to do that, too. I could use the extra money.” Tony clapped Michael on the shoulder, said good night and ran back to the Dart and Balloon booth to speak to Hugo.
In spite of his fatigue, Michael’s thoughts kept him awake for a while. But eventually sleep came, and all too soon it is time to get up for his shift at the mill. Today will be the first of his double-shift venture. The thought of seeing Dania dragged him out of bed, and he dressed quickly.
He was coming down the stairs when Christopher and Frank burst in the backdoor and bustled in to the kitchen.
“They found . . . a dead body . . . down by the lake.” Christopher said. The boys have run all the way and gasping for breath.
“Who’s dead?” Moira asked, refilling Donal’s coffee cup.
“We don’t know yet,” Christopher said still trying to catch his breath.
“We saw a commotion . . . and went to see what was going on.” Frank bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing hard.
“Danny Fitzsimmons was there,” Christopher said. “He said they had found a dead body. . . floating in the lake.
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He said the hands were tied up with a handkerchief. The person was killed and dumped there.”
“Never mind dead bodies.” Moira gave them a stern look. “And why in the name of all that’s holy aren’t you on your way to school?”
“But Ma . . .,” Frank began. A dead body was a lot more exciting to a youngster than school.
“You will find out more about it later—after school.” She called up the stairs, “Ellen! Get a move on! No point being late on your first day back.”
The boys grumbled but turn to go back the way they came. Frank snatched a piece of toast as he passed the table.
Ellen came down the stairs wearing her new dress. “What do you think? Do I look like a real working girl?” She did a quick twirl to demonstrate. “I’m so excited; I couldn’t eat a bite, Ma.”
“No, you don’t, young lady. You cannot go to school without some breakfast.” Moira gestured to her seat at the table. Ellen took a gulp of her coffee, grabbed the last piece of toast, giving Ma a quick kiss, she danced out the door.
Michael wasn’t listening. He was thinking about the news they just heard. “They didn’t say whether the body is a man or a woman.”
“No,” Donal said taking a sip of coffee. “It’s probably some hobo.”
“Or maybe one of those hooligans with that carnival,” Moira added.
Michael was worried by this remark, and suddenly he has to get out of there. “I’ll be late for work.” He took his dishes to the sink, kissed Ma, and left.
“First, it’s Ellen, then Michael. Whatever happened to eating breakfast together?” Moira complained.
“They’re growing up, that’s all,” Donal shruged. He took another sip of coffee and glanced at Moira over his cup. “She was pretty in her new dress, wasn’t she? She’ll be driving all the boys mad this year. When did she get so pretty, and so grown up?” Donal wondered
“As they grow older, so do we. It’s all God’s plan, whether we like it or not. It’s such a nice day, would you want to try walking a bit? The doctor comes this afternoon, and you can tell him how well you’re doing. Maybe we’ll pick up some news of that dead body.”
It was the idea of a dead body that got Donal moving. The young kids left for school leaving their parents to get all the gruesome details. Donal was not too steady on his feet, so he holds onto Mrs. Fitzsimmon’s fence with one hand and uses his good hand to manage his cane.
Mrs. Fitzsimmons called to them from her porch, “Moira, why don’t you and Donal come and rest a minute on the porch?”
“Why, thank you, Callie.” Donal’s said. His breathing was labored, but he managed to push himself to climb the four steps up to the porch.
“It’s usually so quiet since my husband died. It helps me fill the time to chat with whoever passes.”
“We appreciate your offer. Donal is building his strength. The bit of rest will do him good. We’ll just stay a minute and then be off,” said Moira as she helped him take a seat and sat beside him.
Callie Fitzsimmons leaned forward excitedly in her chair. “I get all the gossip going on around the lake. I have a good view being on the corner like this. Usually it’s just a bunch of noisy kids that bring the police, but, oh my, all this excitement!” She moved to the edge of her seat.
“It started during the night, or maybe just before dawn. At any rate, when I woke this morning, it was still dark, and there were flashing lights everywhere. They lit up the whole neighborhood: police cars, ambulance, fire trucks. Apparently, someone was walking by . . . I can’t imagine who would be strolling at that hour, but, you know, as we get older we don’t sleep as well. Well, whoever it was saw something floating near the bank. They started to pull it out and, oh Lordy, realized what it was and called the police. “I wouldn’t go over there. I didn’t want to be in the way, but Mrs. Jarvis said it was a body. Boy or girl, she didn't know, but she said the hands were tied, so you know that wasn’t any accident. Later, I heard it was the body of a local boy.”
“Do they know who it is yet?” asked Donal. He knows all the families and knows it will be hard for them no matter who it turns out to be.
“They think it was Johnny Russo. The police went to get his mother to identify him. I can’t believe they’d bring that poor woman all the way down here ’til they are sure it’s him.” She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and blew her nose. Callie was a caring person even with her ear for gossip.
“They brought the body up from the lake. Onlookers were all standing around craning their necks to get a look, but they parted to let them through. Johnny Russo’s mother walked with her head down beside the stretcher. I saw the neighbors pat her on the shoulder as she passed and expressed their condolences, but I don’t think she heard any of them.” She sniffled and blew again. “That poor woman.”
“We’d better go. Thank you, Callie.” Donal struggled to his feet, and Moira helped him down the steps to the walk.
“Yes, thank you, Callie,” Moira said as she turned to Donal. “You doing ok, Donal?”
“I’m fine. It’s just all this excitement, dear. I couldn’t stay any longer,” Donal said to Moira. “That Russo boy went to school with our children for a while I think.”
They made their way slowly. Moira had her arm around Donal’s waist to support him as he managed his cane.
When they got home, Donal collapsed on a kitchen chair.
“I’ll fix some hot tea with some bread and jam while you get your strength back,” Moira said “Later we’ll go to
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the front room where you can rest until the doctor gets here.”
“I did it, Moira,” Donal said.
“Did what? Kill Johnny Russo?” Moira asked, confused. She has her back to him, filling the tea kettle at the sink.
“No, you silly goose, I walked to the corner and back. I used to think I’d never walk again. But I did, and I feel great! Well, my back hurts, and I’m exhausted, but I really feel good about today!”
Moira put the kettle on the stove to heat and went to Donal, kissing him on the top of the head. “You did wonderful today, and I’m so glad you didn’t kill Johnny Russo,” she giggled.