Chapter 2

Chapter 2

David's eyes fluttered open as he awoke to a bright new day. It was cold out but it wasn't freezing and he was glad for that. He was surprised he slept all through the night and woke up so late. He heard the noise of bustling traffic on the street, faint voices of people nearby and various activities in the buildings around him. He got up fast determined to get out of here and get an early start on his day.

David looked up at the building across the alley, which was the only building with people in it that could possibly see him on the roof. He was hoping he wouldn't be seen coming off the building, but with all the activity going on around him he didn't know if that would be possible. He started to roll up his sleeping bag and kept an eye out for anyone at the same time. The lit up roof top and buildings were a lot less menacing in the illuminating day light.

His sleeping bag and backpack were attached now and ready to go. David scooped it up, rose from his knees and walked over to the ledge wasting no more time. He kept his eyes on the apartment windows while he lowered the rope to the ground below, hoping that he wouldn't see some face looking down on him ready to say; 'Hey, what are you doin!' He climbed down quickly and tucked the bundle of rope around the corner where it couldn't be seen. With his thumbs under the straps of his pack, he gave a pull jerking it up to make sure it was secure on his shoulders and gave one last look around for onlookers then walked out onto the street and out of the stagnant alley.

The side walk was bustling with people again David found himself dodging and weaving them once more. Today he wanted to go down to the water again and see if he could find a better place to sleep. He thought about trying to get outside the city limits or at least to where there might be some wooded areas around where he could burrow himself into and hide, but he didn't know where anyplace like that was or how he could get there. He had only been out of the city once in his life time. Once on a field trip with his school class. The field trip was to a dairy farm in a semi rural area from what David could remember. He did remember large fields but not a lot of wooded areas. The city was all he really knew and it would take a lot to get him to tred to far from this area where he had spent his whole life. He figured if he had to much trouble here, going outside the city limits would be his last resort.

The sky was overcast but the cold started to wear out of David as he built up some body heat from walking. He looked ahead of him at the un-ending blocks in front of him. Most of the people walking around had serious expressions on their faces. Most looked tempered but not evil or scary and David felt comfortable among them. He made his way back down to the sea port where he got the rope out of the old skiff. When he got there he found the place buzzing with the activity of sea men, all working on the docks and on their fishing boats. All the places he thought he might be able to sleep in this area looked too exposed. Maybe not exposed at night when all these men were gone, but he couldn't very well sleep easy knowing that the people working here would find him there early in the morning when they returned. David couldn't imagine what time they would come back here. Possibly at four or five in the mourning. That was to early for a rude awakening David thought.

A couple of the scruffy looking red faced men noticed David standing there looking at them and David turned and walked away discouraged and his hopes dashed of sleeping down here. He would have to find another spot. He walked back up into the buildings and scanned all the alley ways and possible places where he could stay hidden.

He spent most of the day looking and nothing looked better than the place he had already found on top of the old flower shop. He came back to that area beaten by the city for another day. It was getting late now and the sun was starting to set. There were much fewer people on the street now and he was almost back at the flower shop when out of the corner of his eye he noticed two men a block up the street. Two men that stuck out of the crowd of people like a sore thumb. He looked closer at one of the men's faces and it was a face that he instantly did not like and it gave him a chill when he saw it. Close to the next street intersection leaning against a doorway was a creepy looking man with an even creepier looking black man standing next to him. They were conversing with each other and David turned and stepped to the curb, getting ready to cross the street to try and avoid them. But when David turned his head back to them his blood ran cold when he saw that the creepy looking Caucasian man was staring hard right at him. His eyes were steely cold.

The man had a sinister smirk on his face. David held his gaze with the man with his mouth open a bit adding to his bewildered look. The man looked at his partner who was looking off at something else, whacked the black mans arm and gave a quick movement of his hand in David's direction. David saw his lips move as he put his hand back in his pocket, like he was saying 'hey, look at that guy'. The black man's eyes spotted David and now both of the men were looking at him. David turned away slowly back out at the cars going by. He saw an opening in the traffic and stepped forward into the street. He crossed at a fast pace, hoping he could cover a good distance of ground if those guys were thinking about following him. When David got to the other side of the street he became very un-nerved when he saw that the two men had also stepped to the curb waiting for the cars to go by so they could cross to David's side, their eyes were still fixed on the him. Both of their mouths were moving now and David assumed they were talking about him, or maybe they wanted to tell him something with harmless intentions, or maybe they weren't talking about him at all. These thoughts raced through David's head, but the ladder didn't seem likely to David and his fear from the un-known overpowered any other feeling he had at the moment. He just wanted to get away.

David walked hurriedly down the side walk. He got to the next street and turned the corner, glancing over his shoulder to see how far the men were behind him. They were a quarter of the way down the block, walking along with steadfast expressions on their faces. David started running when he surpassed the corner and was out of site, ran up to a glass door of the first building, and pushed to open it. It was locked. He looked up at some torn posters that were plastered up on the door and all over the storefront. David realized this place was out of business, he wasted no more time and moved further down the street trying to find a place to hide. The next building was a diner and David new right away that the door of that place would not be locked because of the people he saw sitting down inside through the glass door. He pushed the heavy door inward with a heave and the sound of door bells clambered above his head as he entered. The door eased shut behind him and the sound of the busy street was replaced by low playing music and the clanking of metal utensils against coffee cups and dinnerware. David quickly moved away from the door almost walking backward to look at it expecting those guys to come bursting through it after him. After a few minutes he started to calm down and felt that he was successful in getting those guys off his trail.

He looks around at the few people inside there dinning and walked over to a cushioned bench that was against the wall, sat down and looked at the window just in time to see the strangers face come into view, a face that made his heart jump back up into his chest. The grubby looking fellow walked across the window with the same eerily calm expression on his face as before and David could only see the mans profile because he didn't turn and look inside the restaurant like David was expecting him to. David felt like a deer caught in the headlights because there was nowhere to hide if he did look in.

The man walked almost all the way across the front of the building then stopped at the end as his partner came into view. The black man lifted a lighter to light his friend's cigarette that was teetering on his lips as he spoke. He tilted to the side a little bit and raised his hand to the side of his mouth to block the wind. After it was lit he took a couple puffs, took the cigarette out of his mouth and then both of the men turned and faced the street. Smoke billowed away from their head from their unseen mouths. David took this chance to duck down out of sight behind a stand that held coffee sugar and spoons. He was able to see the men with one eye as he peered around the side of the stand. They just stood there and David could see their mouths moving as they talked to each other. They stood there for about four or five minutes then the white man threw his cigarette on the ground and without stomping it out he pointed down the street and said something to his friend. Then both men started walking in that direction and away from the window and out of site. David was relieved that they were gone. He was surprised that neither men looked in threw the window even once.

David stepped out of his hiding spot and stood in the same spot he stood before. He started to observe the other people in the room. Across from him were five or six tables and only two were occupied by people. At one, an elderly couple eating soup, not talking to each other. At another table a young couple, bickering back and forth at each other in loud whispers trying to stay quiet.

Then David felt someone looking at him from the window table and he turned to see who it was. There sitting at the table was a woman looking back at him. Just as David made eye contact with her she smiled and then David quickly turned away timidly and looked straight down at the floor. He could still see her looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

Where did she come from? David thought 'I didn't see her there before'. David sat puzzled but captivated by her. Even with the short glimpse he was struck by her beauty, and he couldn't help but turn his head slowly back to get another look. When his eyes came back to her, the beauty of her face was even more evident to him and he stared hypnotized.

The woman was leaning over a cup of coffee with her arms out on the table and her head tilted back slightly with a relaxed look on her face. Her heavy dark eyelids were low and relaxed as if she was drugged up. Then she spoke.

"You come in her to get coffee?" she said with the smile still on her face.

David is unsure what to say, then answers. "No." The woman looks at him in curiosity and it is obvious she is going to ask him more questions despite his short answer to the first one.

"Your too cute!" The woman said with a smile while looking and reaching for her coffee cup and raised it to her lips for a drink. "Are you homeless?" she asked just before taking a sip.

David is hesitant to answer. "Yea." David said followed by another quit pause between them. He realized he looked more obvious than he thought.

"Well your not much of a talker are you." The woman assessed chuckling.

"I think your cute too." David blurts out forcing himself to talk. The woman giggled at his comment and was surprised. "I mean, I mean I think your pretty." David corrected himself.

"Oh!" The woman said while laughing. "Why thank you!" she said as she raised her hand to the back of her head pushing up her hair. She lowered her hand and laid both her arm back down on the table, one hand over the other. Now David notice the odd clothes she was wearing. She had an old cloche hat on that looked to be from the twenties or thirties. And she had a dress on that went all the way down to her ankles. She had a couple other vests on over her upper body, which were as elaborate has her hat and dress. She looked strait out of a thirties movie.

"Here, come sit and talk to me." The woman said as she patted the other side of the table directing him to sit across from her. David got up and walked over to the table without anymore hesitation. The woman's eye's followed him the whole way as he came over and sat down across from her. David
 settled into the seat feeling beside himself and out of his comfort zone.

"What's your name?" Graci asked.

"David"

"Nice to meet you David." The women extended her hand for David to shake. "My names Graci."

David sat there feeling like a little boy and he couldn't get himself to act like a young man of his age. All he could do is sit there with a dumbfounded look, un-experienced with a woman like this. Despite his child like demeanor, Graci didn't seem to care. She seemed just happy to have the company.

David reached out and grasped her hand. It felt, surprisingly, rough despite it's soft appearance.

"What's a guy like you doing homeless?" Graci asked in a sympathetic manner. David spoke up.

"I don't know" David said. He looked down at the table and thought about it for a minute. "I was living in a foster home a while back, I had to get out of that place."

"How come"?

David looked at her face. He was having a hard time comprehending how he got here talking to this lady. "The people that worked there were assholes."

Graci was put back and a little surprised by his response. They were? What did they do?"

"They tossed Me around a lot and hit me, most of the time I don't even know why."

"They hit you? Did they do any physical damage?" Graci asked examining his face as if they're might be some bruises or marks.

David looked down at the table with a beaten dog look on his face, At this point he was having a hard time meeting Graci's eyes. "No I don't think so."

"How long have you been on the street?" Graci asked.

"Not very long, I ran away from the orphanage yesterday."

"But where are you sleeping though?" Graci kept with her worried demeanor.

"I sleep on top of an old building a few blocks away." David said while he raised his hand, pointing in the direction of the flower shop as if it was visible from where they were sitting.

"Well that's not too bad." Graci reasoned.

David rubbed his nose a little. "No, I almost had to sleep in a dirty alleyway."

"Yeah sleeping on top of a building would be better than in an alley, I'm kind of relieved, I hate to think of you sleeping somewhere like that." Graci said with an effortfull smile. David could actually see the relief in her face and now he started to notice something else about her, something that made her seem vulnerable, kind of a desperation in her eyes, almost like she had just finished crying. She looked as if it was therapy for her just by talking to him.

"Have you ever seen- or, do you know your parents at all?" Graci stumbled over her words.

David looked to the side thinking about the question. "No I guess I don't." David continued to think.

"I was told I was given to the orphanage when I was born, I tried to ask about my parents when I got older but I didn't understand their explainations about my past."

"Hmmmm"? Graci said not really understanding herself.

David lifted his hand with an 'I don't know' gesture. "They said something like having to withhold information or something."

"That's weird." Graci said lowering her eye brows in confusion. "So your mother just gave you up to an orphanage then?"

"I don't really know."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

Graci stopped her pummeling of questions and leaned back in her seat, put her hands in her lap and took a deep breath. She blew the air out of her mouth like she had just got her second wind.

"Well you seem like a smart guy I have to say, I think you must be a lot smarter then the people who run that orphanage." Graci revealed letting him in on her observations.

"Really?" David now had a smile on his face, taking it as a compliment.

"Yes I do. You seem very wise for a seventeen year old."

David was now gazing up and down at Graci's clothes and she noticed him examining her.

"I know I must look a little crazy wearing these kind of clothes." Graci looked down at what she was wearing. "I just like this old time style. I guess I should get up to date on my fashion huh?"

David quickly looked back up at Graci's face, bothered that she would think that he thought she was crazy. "No I don't think your crazy." He said, even though he thought she might be a little bit messed up in the head, judging mainly by her appearance.

He started to become more comfortable with her presence. "Where are you from?" David asked her with enthusiasm.

"Now that I couldn't tell you, It's not that I don't want to tell you, I just don't know." Graci said. David now noticed that the frailness he saw in her earlier gave way to confidents, her demeanor seemed to shift back and forth.

"The truth is, I am a little crazy" Graci was unsure what David was thinking and didn't know if she should be telling him this. "I hope I'm not scaring you." she through in.

"No, not at all." David quickly through in to reassure her.

"I have this condition that makes me forget things, I have these black outs for long periods of time." Graci whirled her finger by the side of her head with the classic 'crazy' gesture. David was not put off by this fact of her saying she was crazy. In fact it made him more fascinated by her. He continued to listen to Graci talk about her unusual condition. She didn't really say anything about her past but just continued to talk about petty things like her clothes and such. But David didn't care, he just enjoyed looking at her.

"This dress doesn't fit my too well she said. Slapping her leg with a smile on her face. She seemed like she was trying to get david to look at her legs. "It's too tight and constricting at times." She looked back up a David who was now staring at her leg with a dumb smile on his face. Graci brightened up with the attention she was getting from him.

"Well guess what." she said with sexual cheer.

"What?"

"I am kind of homeless too."

"You are?"

"Mm hmm."

"Where do you stay at?" David wanted to know. He was somehow glad to know he wasn't the only one that was without a place to live.

"At a big abandon hotel that way." Graci raised her arm and pointed out the window.

"Guess what else."

"What." David said, anticipating the answer.

"I think you should come stay with me instead of living out hear by yourself."

David lit up at the idea and grew a big smile. "That sounds alright by me." David said in excitement.

 Graci was flattered by his reaction.

"How far....." David's was cut off by a loud voice coming from the back of the restaurant.

"Hey!" A dark skinned man came walking out of the kitchen, wearing and apron around his waist and drying off his hands with a towel. He was talking directly to David and his attitude didn't seem very pleasant. "Are you going to buy something"?

David realized the man was talking to him, he couldn't find the write answer. "I-I dont..."

"Well go ahead and get outa here then, I don't need any non-paying customers in here."

Graci gave the man a look that could cut through steel and he turned away like a dog who had just been scolded, cowering away from Graci's icy glare. The man stomped back into the kitchen without saying anything else. Graci turned her head back to David rolling her eyes in disgust. She quickly brushed off the man's attempt to cause trouble and her face suddenly brightened up.

"Come on lets get out of this dump!" She said the words at a raised voice high enough for the owner to hear. Graci looked back to the kitchen and saw his bald head appear in the doorway again, he met eyes with Graci and her intimidating smirk, then his shinny head bobbed out of sight for the last time.

Graci grabbed her purse, put her hand down on the cushion and pushed herself up off the seat. She threw her purse over her shoulder and grabbed David's hand. "Come on." She pulled him out of the seat and they both walked out of the door.

The air outside was a little brisker than it was before and it was nearing night fall. "I don't know if I
should come out here" David said in a worried voice as he looked around.

Graci saw him worryingly looking down the side walk and across the street. "Why not?"

"There were two guys following me earlier, that's why I went into the coffee shop to hide from them."

Graci looked around as if she might spot these men David warned about. There was no one else in site. "Why were they following you?"

"I don't know. That's why I came inside the diner. They looked like they wanted to rob me."

Graci continued to look around with wide open eyes like a confused animal. "I don't see anyone like that now." Graci stated.

David couldn't stand the thought of exposing her to the fear and danger of not only to those strangers but to the horror of his life. He just wanted to get off this street and her away from all that. "Where could we go?" David asked trying to draw her attention from looking around for these unseen strangers.

"Huh." She managed, then saw a bus pulling up to the curb. "OH there it is! Come on we have to get on there!"

David saw the doors of the bus open up to let on an old man that was standing at the bus stop that was about twenty yards away.

 "C'mon!" Graci said as she waived her hand in the direction of the bus stop. The driver kept the doors open waiting for David and Graci get there. They ran up to the doors as if they thought the bus driver would try and drive away without them and climbed up the bus stairs panting a little. "Thank you!" Graci said to the bus driver overly excited, almost insincerely and obnoxiously. She put in the fare for both her and David and pulled him into the seating area not waiting for any replies from the driver. She pulled David into a seat next to her then she started riffling through her purse for something. David just watched her going through her purse fascinated by everything she did with a blissfully dumb look on his face.

The bus started to move, move him away from a depressing existence he could have easily kept living. The thought of that sobered him up. He realized if those men hadn't scared him and forced him to take a different path of going into that coffee shop, he would have never met Graci and would not be here with her now. He was appreciative of his good luck and was looking forward to what might be ahead. But there was also this nagging ominess feeling with him like things could go horribly wrong at any minute. Little did David know that those are the feelings a man gets when he takes a chance on love. A gamble every man must take to have the girl he wants and a chance at happiness. David now felt the presence of the other guys around him by ten fold and he scooted closer to Graci putting his arm on the back rest behind her, coveting her like a dog with his bone.

Graci dug through her purse seemingly unaware of David's new found fear and new found joy. She pulled something out. "Ah! There's my lip stick!"


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