All My Tomorrows (8 page)

Letitia felt the trembling in the twins’ bodies. She gently patted their backs, trying to soothe them.

Darold turned and frowned at Brace. “Why should I calm down? This is our corner, and when I told those intruders I wanted the money they had collected, they refused to give it to me. They said they had as much right to beg on this corner as we do.”

Deena Mitchell met Darold’s gaze. “We didn’t think we were doing anything wrong, and we still don’t.” She turned to the lady who had an arm around her. “We were just begging like thousands of other children do here so we can stay alive. Then all of a sudden these boys and girls came at us, screaming at us, saying we were in their territory.”

“Yeah,” spoke up Donna, “they threatened to beat us up if we didn’t give them the money we got this morning and leave the corner.”

“Beat you up?” Letitia said, acting as if the threat surprised her.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Donna.

Letitia set her jaw and looked at the group. “Well, that’s not going to happen.”

The attention of Charles Brace and the angry group went to Letitia and the twins.

Looking from one twin to the other as she kept her arms around them, Letitia asked, “What are your names?”

“Our last name is Mitchell,” said the girl in Letitia’s right arm.

“My name is Donna and my sister’s name is Deena.”

“Are you orphans?”

“No, ma’am. Our parents sent us away from home because they can no longer afford to keep us.”

Letitia’s features pinched. “Oh.”

“We’ve tried to find jobs,” said Deena, “but so far we haven’t been able to find any. So we turned to begging. We’ve been sleeping in an alley near here. We didn’t know somebody owned this corner.”

Darold scowled at her. “Well, we do! You go find another corner to do your beggin’! This one belongs to me and my friends. And before you go, we want the money that belongs to us. You got it on this corner, and that makes it ours!”

Charles Brace shook his head. “No, Darold, it doesn’t make the money yours. I’m sorry you have to live on the streets, but you do not own this corner. Nor do you have any right to take the money from Deena and Donna that they begged for and received.”

Darold glowered crossly at Brace. His dark curly hair dangled
on his forehead. “I know who you are! You’re that Charles Brace guy who heads up the Children’s Aid Society. I’ve seen your picture in the newspapers. I’m right, ain’t I? You’re Charles Loring Brace, ain’tcha?”

“Yes, I am.”

Darold sneered. “Well, since you’re sendin’ so many street kids out West on your orphan trains, how come you don’t offer to send any of us?”

“Let me explain something, son. The Society is only allowed to send two coaches of orphans on each train. This limits us on how many children we can send.”

Darold pulled his lips tight and made a grunting sound.

Brace fixed him with steady eyes. “When I find street children with a bad attitude like yours and that of your friends, I’m slow to take them in because they usually turn out to be troublemakers while staying at the Society’s headquarters or when they’re on a train heading west.”

Brace felt the heat from all eyes in the group. “Change your attitude, young people. I’ll come back by and check on you in a few weeks. If I find you acting civil like you ought to, I’ll consider you for a trip west.”

With that, Brace turned and set his gaze on his wife and the twins.

Letitia sent a signal to her husband by looking first at him, then turning to look at each girl standing within the circle of her arms.

Having been married to this woman for over twenty years, Charles stepped to Letitia and smiled. “We’ll do it, honey. Let’s take the girls over to the buggy.” Then he turned to the twins. “Would you come with us?”

Darold and his group glared at the Braces as they walked to the buggy. Charles looked over his shoulder at the group. Darold
said something to his friends that Charles could not distinguish, but stood with his feet spread apart with a look of defiance. Charles shook his head, then turned back to the twins.

Donna and Deena stood with identical quizzical looks on their faces, casting sidelong glances at the group, who were now grumbling loudly that they wanted their money.

Ignoring them, Charles smiled at Deena and Donna. “Have you girls heard of the Children’s Aid Society?”

“We have, sir,” said Deena.

Letitia took hold of the girls’ hands. “Would you like to come to the Society and stay with us so you’ll be warm and have plenty to eat until we can put you on an orphan train and send you out West?”

The voices of Darold and his group were so loud, Donna said, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Brace, I could barely hear you. Did you say we could stay with you and be warm and full?”

Letitia raised her voice. “Yes, dear. We will keep you at the Society’s headquarters until we can put you on an orphan train, and you’ll have the opportunity to be taken into a foster home out West. Would you want to do that?”

The twins stared at each other in wonderment. “Oh yes!” blurted Deena. “We sure would, wouldn’t we, Donna?”

“Very much so.”

“Good!” said Letitia. “There are many nice families out West who are taking homeless children into their own homes. That sounds all right?”

“Sounds like a little bit of heaven,” said Deena.

Donna took a deep breath. “It sure does! Especially after what we have lived through the past few days.”

“Let’s be on our way then,” said Charles. “Hop in the back seat, girls.”

The girls did as they were told while Charles helped Letitia
into the front seat, then circled the wagon and climbed in beside her.

Deena took hold of Donna’s hand. “Can you believe it, sis? It sounds almost too good to be true!”

“It sure does,” said her twin, “but I just pinched myself, and I’m not dreaming!”

The Braces laughed, and Charles put the buggy into motion with a snap of the reins. They drove away with Darold and his group shouting snide remarks at them.

While driving along the street, Charles spoke over his shoulder to the twins. “I was just going over our train schedule in my mind. We’ll put you girls on an orphan train that is leaving Grand Central Station on March 30. Until that time, you will be in the girls’ dormitory at the Society’s headquarters. And as Mrs. Brace said, you will have a warm place to stay and plenty to eat. It looks like you may need some new clothes. We’ll take care of that.”

Donna said, “We have some clothes in this bag we’re carrying, Mr. Brace, but they’re sort of worn out. It would be wonderful to have some new ones. And the food and warm place to stay sure sounds good!”

“It does!” Deena said excitedly. “Thank you so much.”

“One other thing,” said Brace. “Would you tell me your parents’ address? I want to go talk to them so they will know that we’re sending you out West.”

Deena told him the address and apartment number and explained that with their father working two jobs, it would be hard to find him home. Charles said just talking to their mother would be enough.

Soon they arrived at the Society’s headquarters. Deena and Donna were taken into Ivy Daniels’s office where Charles and Letitia sat down with them. Charles asked the girls to tell their
story to Ivy, who made notes as the twins gave her the details.

When they finished, Ivy set compassionate eyes on the girls. “I’m so sorry this has happened to you. But I’m glad Mr. and Mrs. Brace came along when they did.” She wrote their names in a notebook. “Well, you’re registered with us now, and you are officially scheduled to be on the train that leaves March 30. You’ll be staying in room number ten with two other girls.”

Charles rose from his chair. “I’ll go see your mother right now girls.”

Donna said, “Please tell her that we love her.”

Deena nodded. “Yes. Please tell her, Mr. Brace.”

“I’ll do that. Mrs. Brace will take you to your room.”

Ivy told the twins how happy she was that they were going west to find a new home, and Letitia walked them down the hall to the girls’ dormitory. When they reached room ten, the door was open. The two girls who occupied the room were sitting on chairs talking as sunlight filtered through the windows. They looked up and smiled as Letitia entered with the twins on her heels.

Letitia smiled back. “Betsy, Margie, I have some new roommates for you. As you can see, they are identical twins. This is Donna and this is Deena. Their last name is Mitchell. They are thirteen years old. Donna, Deena, this young lady with the cast on her arm is Betsy Gilder. She’s twelve. This other young lady is Margie Lehman, and she is fourteen.”

Donna and Deena noticed that not only was Betsy’s left arm in a cast, but there were purple bruises on her face.

Betsy and Margie welcomed the twins, and Letitia could see that their warmth was pleasant to the twins. She showed the twins where to hang the clothes they had in the cloth bag, and while they were placing them in the closet, Letitia surreptitiously glanced at the threadbare clothing. She made a silent guess at
their size then excused herself, saying she would let them get acquainted and hurried away.

Margie left her chair and went to where two other chairs stood and dragged them into the center of the room, telling the twins to sit down. As they did so, the twins looked around the room. After living in the cramped, dingy tenement flat, and more recently on the cold streets of Manhattan, the room seemed like a little corner of heaven. There were four single cots in the sunfilled room, each covered with a bright, colorful quilt and a soft pillow.

Margie sat back down next to Betsy and looked into the faces of the twins. “Have you been orphans long?”

“We’re really not orphans,” Donna said. “Our parents can’t afford to keep us any longer, so they sent us out onto the streets.”

“I’m sorry it happened to you,” said Betsy, adjusting her left arm and the cast.

“It’s been hard for us,” Deena said. “How did your arm get broken, Betsy? And how did you get those bruises?”

Betsy’s eyes filled with tears and she put her free hand to her face.

Deena’s jaw slacked. “Oh, I’m sorry, Betsy. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Margie put an arm around Betsy. “It’s all right, Deena—you
are
Deena, aren’t you?”

Deena nodded.

Before Margie could say more, Betsy sniffled and said, “Don’t feel bad, Deena. I want you to know.” She turned to her friend. “Margie, would you tell them?”

“Sure, honey,” said Margie, squeezing her shoulder firmly. “It happened just over three weeks ago. The Gilders lived on the fifth floor of a tenement on Manhattan’s north side. Betsy’s father, Lyle Gilder, is a heavy drinker. He came home in a drunken stupor
late one night. He and Betsy’s mother, Elizabeth, got into an argument. They were both very angry, and Betsy saw her father throw her mother off the balcony of the flat. Her mother was killed when she hit the ground.”

The twins frowned, then Donna set sympathetic eyes on the battered girl. “Oh, Betsy, how awful!”

Betsy bit down on her lips.

Margie pulled her closer and said, “When the police came, Lyle Gilder told them his wife fell off the balcony, and they believed it. When the police had gone, he warned Betsy that if she ever told anyone what she really saw, he would beat her to death.”

The twins shook their heads in silent pity.

Margie went on. “The very next day, when Betsy’s father came home from work, he overheard two women who lived in the tenement discussing his wife’s death. One woman said to the other one that she had been told that Elizabeth didn’t fall, but that Lyle was drunk and threw her off the balcony. Lyle assumed it was Betsy who had told the woman and stormed into the flat. He swore loudly at Betsy and started beating on her. Neighbors heard Lyle’s loud profanity and Betsy’s cries, and summoned two policemen from the street.

“Lyle was still beating Betsy when the officers burst through the door. They seized him, put him in handcuffs, and placed him under arrest. When they picked Betsy up off the floor, they found that her left arm was broken and her face was severely bruised. Soon everyone in the tenement was aware of what happened and were gathering in the hall outside the Gilder flat. The two women Lyle had overheard talking about Elizabeth’s death told the officers that one of the elderly tenants who lived two doors down from the Gilders on the same floor had seen Lyle throw Elizabeth off the balcony, but she was afraid to get
involved. She had only told the one woman about it less than ten minutes before Lyle came home.”

Deena was shaking her head slowly, tears in her eyes. “Oh, Betsy, I’m so sorry you’ve had to suffer like this.”

“Me too,” said Donna. “So what about your father?”

Betsy drew a shuddering breath. Her voice was strained with emotion as she said, “He stood trial for murdering Mother, and he will be executed nine days from now,” When those words had come out, Betsy broke down and sobbed incoherently.

Deena left her chair and threw her arms around Betsy. Donna followed and did the same while Margie looked on. Slowly, Betsy’s sobbing subsided. The twins still held her in their arms. Deena looked at her sister. “What happened to us with our parents putting us out on the streets was bad enough, but what happened to Betsy is far worse.”

Donna nodded. “That’s for sure. How were you orphaned, Margie?”

Margie’s features pinched. “My parents were both killed in a train wreck up in Massachusetts. I’ll tell you more about it sometime. It happened a little over a month ago. I just don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“I understand. But I’m sorry for your grief and heartache.”

Margie managed a smile. “Thank you.”

When Letitia Brace left room number ten, she went upstairs to a large walk-in holding closet and chose three dresses for each twin to begin wearing immediately, along with two more expensive dresses each for when they would be traveling on the orphan train. She would explain that when both boys and girls traveled westward, they were dressed especially nice for being examined and questioned by prospective foster parents. None of the dresses
were identical, as Deena and Donna were, but Letitia was sure they wouldn’t mind.