With a $5.00 rose and a $5 °Cubs hat…
For a small woman, it took it took a lot to pry her loose and set her back on the floor. It was a hard, wet, noisy kiss, and our faces were only inches apart as I raised my hand toward my mouth. “Don't you dare wipe that off.” She grinned up at me. “It's bad luck.”
“I wasn't wiping, I was checking to see if my lips are still here.”
“Good idea. I've been known to damage some things when I get excited.”
“I'll have to remember that.”
“Yeah, you'll have to remember.” She looped one arm around one of the El car's stainless steel poles and the other around mine, pulling me close. Her cheek was pressed against my arm and I could smell her hair. Considering we were screaming at each other only a half hour ago, I was surprised and suddenly very much afraid.
“Giving me a big wet one in front of Tinkerton wasn't real smart, you know.”
“That depends on your perspective.”
“It's going to be hard to argue I dragged you here against your will, but you knew that, didn't you?”
“My will, huh.” She looked up and gave me a helpless shrug. “I guess I was so pumped after all that stuff back there, I couldn't control myself. But don't push me away, Talbott. Please. Let me have some fun before I come back down, okay?”
The El train quickly gained speed, rocking and clattering its way north, back into the city. Sandy seemed content with the vise grip on my arm and I was content to watch her reflection in the dirty window glass. Some people have a sixth sense when people are watching them. She must be one of them, because it didn't take long for her eyes to pan up and lock on mine as I watched her.
“What?” she asked with those dark, curious eyes.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?”
“If it wasn't for you, they'd have had me for lunch.”
“Who? Jamal and his Homies? Nah, they were just messing around. If you want to see some bad, I'll take you on a real tour of the south side.”
“No thanks. I've had my adrenalin for the day. Look, I know I acted like a jerk this morning. Part of me wanted you to go away, but most of me was glad you stayed. So I apologize. I couldn't have done any of this without you.”
“Jeez, a man who knows how to apologize. Does this mean we're a “we” again?”
“That's up to you, and Tinkerton.”
“And you aren't going to run off and dump me the first chance you get, are you?”
“No,” I said.
“Is that a promise? Because a gentleman like you would never break a solemn promise he made to a vulnerable young maiden like me. Would he?” She stared up at me with a straight face. “Okay,” she added. “Maybe I'm not so vulnerable.”
“Only if you promise me that if this all goes wrong and we get caught or they're closing in on us, you'll get away from me and run off and hide. Will you promise me that?”
“How sweet. He almost cares.”
“I mean it, Sandy. I'm worried about you. Promise.”
“All right, I promise. Cross my heart, I'll run away from you. But if you run away from me, I'll hunt you down like a mad dog.”
That was a cheery thought. I looked around the El car. Spartan, you might call it. It had a tile floor, molded plastic seats, and aluminum poles with straps for the rush hour crowd to grab. Plastic: the surface of choice for a cattle car. Nothing to break, steal, or stain. And Sandy and I were the only white faces on the train. It had been noisy when we jumped in, then all conversation instantly ceased. The other passengers had their noses jammed into their newspapers or their eyes closed, hoping it would all go away.
I looked back through the window. The northbound lanes of the Dan Ryan were strewn with cars and trucks involved in the chain of accidents. Their drivers stood arguing with a growing army of cops and with each other. On the grassy bank, cops swarmed all over Gino Parini's white Mafia-wagon and I could barely make out Tinkerton and his goons working their way back up hill to LaSalle.
“That guy Tinkerton doesn't like you very much,” she said.
“You believe me now?”
“Jamal was right. He's got you in his cross-hairs.” She still had her arm wrapped around mine and she tightened her grip even more. It didn't look to me as if she had any intention of letting go. I knew it, she knew it, and we both knew the other one knew it, but neither of us wanted her to take it away. There was a newly found warmth and energy there and God, I had to admit it felt good. It had been a long time.
Behind us, some of the police cars had already turned around. Lights flashing, they raced north on LaSalle, trying to catch up. On the busy city streets at that time of day, they stood no chance. Sometimes though, if they couldn't do anything else, cops just liked to make noise. Eventually, Tinkerton would send a small army after us. The man had no shortage of anger or motivation, but he had no idea where we were going or where we might get off. For the moment anyway, we were free.
“How long do you want to stay on this thing?” she asked.
“You're the local expert, you got any suggestions?”
“The El drops underground in another mile and turns into a subway. It runs north under State Street into the Loop. We could get off at Randolph and run like hell.”
“Running would not be a good thing. We want to be quick, but melt into the crowd.”
“I'm much better at melting,” she hugged my arm tighter.
I looked down at her, exasperated. “Are you going to keep making suggestive comments like that, because…”
“Hey, I'm just fooling around, Talbott,” she said, not backing off an inch. “So lighten up. You sound like an old man.”
“I am an old man. How old are you? God, you are sixteen, aren't you?” She smacked me on the arm. “That was to show you I do have a sense of humor.”
“Humor? Well, they might lock you up for a lot of things, but you are way too late for statutory rape.” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “I'm twenty-four.”
“And I'm thirty-four and the longer I hang around with you, I'm not sure I'll ever see thirty-five.”
“Then I've got a lot of work to do to “young” you up, don't I?” She squeezed my arm tighter again. “’Cause I'm not ready to act thirty.”
The train rolled on north through another station. “Okay,” I said. “We'll get off at Randolph.”
“We could go back to my aunt's. And I have a couple of girlfriends out in the suburbs I could call. Or we could hop on another subway and head north to Evanston.”
“Bringing your friends would be a bad idea, but what's in Evanston?”
“My Toyota. I have it parked up there in a rental garage. It isn't much, but it's a car and it can get us to Milwaukee, or Peoria, or St. Louis, or somewhere.”
“No, Tinkerton would have already checked on vehicle registrations and they'd have an APB out on your car and the license plates.”
“Well, we can take the El out to O'Hare or Midway and catch a plane.”
“You and me make it through airport security? That won't work.”
“Let me think,” she said. “There are some commuter railroads that come into the Loop. The Northwestern Station is about a half mile away. Or we could run over to Michigan Avenue and catch the Illinois Central or the South Shore.”
“The South Shore? Where does that go?”
“South, dummy! Well, actually it swings east around the south shore of the lake into Indiana, as far as South Bend, I think. Eddie took me there once, to a Notre Dame game.”
“Eddie? Did he go to Notre Dame?”
“Get real. His golden dome was above his ears. No, Eddie was a gambler and he liked to watch his money work. He bet like Pete Rose and he lied even worse. He would tell me he quit and then put down serious money on a half-dozen football games the next weekend. The bastard borrowed money from everybody, always looking for that big score. He hocked my camera once. I chipped his front tooth over that one.”
“A real sweetheart.”
“Yeah, he was a walk in the park. We had our moments though,” she smiled wistfully. “They lasted about a week and a half after the honeymoon, when the love muffin disappeared and I woke up next to the real Eddie.”
Through the window, I watched the train drop lower and lower until we disappeared inside a tunnel and everything went black. The lights came on inside the car and the rumbling clickety-clack of steel wheels reverberating off the concrete drowned out her voice. Outside, the first sign for the Randolph Street station flashed past.
“Is this where we get off?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
I turned her around so she faced me and looked into her eyes. “Look, you can stay on the train and ride it to the end of the line, you know.”
“Then what?” she asked. “Go home and feed the cat? Clean the kitchen? Bury the stiff in the rear yard? I don't think so.”
“If you come with me, we're getting out of Chicago. I don't know where we're going, probably to Boston, and I don't how long it will be before you ever get back here.”
“Promise? Because I'm bone tired of Chicago, Talbott. It's flat worn me out and there's nothing here I want to go back to. Frankly, Boston sounds pretty good to me. Anywhere sounds pretty good, so stop trying to talk me out of it.” She still had her arm through mine and she pulled me out the door onto the platform. “I'm coming, are you?”
I pulled my arm free and ran down the platform toward the staircase, but she blew by me at a dead run. I ran after her, but I never stood a chance. In seconds, we were up on the street, walking away, and blending into the fast-moving crowd. The truth was I was glad she was with me. I also knew it was stupid and very dangerous, but I couldn't stop myself anymore. She was so alive, and I was so tired of being alone.
“Let's take the train to Indiana,” I decided and told her. “The South Shore. It'll get us out of here, and it's in the right direction.”
“Okay. The South Shore station is under the Prudential Building.”
“I was there yesterday. I had to fight off the hookers for a pay phone.”
“It's so nice to be wanted,” she laughed as she latched onto my arm again. “We're disguised as a couple. But to make it work, you've got to pretend you're enjoying it.”
We walked up Randolph past a long line of stores. Every half block I pulled her into a doorway. She would put both arms around me inside my jacket and rest her head on my chest while I looked up and down the street. “We could move a bit faster if you didn't keep doing that,” I told her.
“I'm pretending, remember. So stop complaining.”
What could I say? I looked up at the sky, expecting a lightning bolt to zap me any minute, but the tall buildings and deep doorways probably ruined Terri's aim.
At the next corner I saw the entrance to the underground commuter rail station. We passed two gypsy girls on the stairs hawking cellophane-wrapped roses to the tourists. Sandy started down the stairs, but I pulled her back and reached into my pants pocket. I pulled out a badly wrinkled five-dollar bill and handed it to one of the girls, who smiled and gave me one of the big red ones.
“Here,” I said sheepishly as I turned and gave it to Sandy.
Her face lit up like a small child. “A rose? A red rose? You?” I seemed to have caught her completely by surprise. “Uh… I really don't know what to say, Talbott.”
“You said to pretend we're a couple,” I answered.
Before I could stop her, she reached up and kissed me softly on the cheek. “This is very sweet of you,” she said. “I know you're just pretending, Talbott, and that's okay. You're safe out here on the street, but don't do something like this when we're alone.”
Hand-in-hand, we ran down the stairs to the underground railroad station under the Prudential Building. There was a large, framed railroad route map standing next to the ticket booths. I found downtown and let my finger trace the line that ran south and east around Lake Michigan. Each colored dot represented a local or express train station.
“Here's my plan,” I told her. “We'll take the next South Shore train, like you said, whatever comes first, and head into Indiana. If we move quickly, while Tinkerton and the cops are still streaming north, maybe we can slip through before they can close the net.”
“Makes sense.”
“Then stay close and keep quiet.” We walked up to the ticket window at the far end. “When's the next train to Kankakee?” I asked the bald-headed ticket agent.
“That would be the Illinois Central. One's leaving on Track Six in…” He squinted through his bifocals as his finger ran down the schedule. “I make it twelve minutes.”
“Two tickets, please,” I smiled and handed him two twenty dollar bills. Next to the window was a rack with Amtrak brochures. I pulled out the one for the trains headed east from Chicago and stuck that in my pocket. With the tickets in hand, I smiled at him again and pulled Sandy away.
“Kankakee?” she whispered, confused. “That's straight south. I thought you said you wanted to go east, to Indiana?”
“Later,” I answered as we walked to the far side of the cavernous waiting room. Sitting on a hard wooden bench, I saw pre-teen girl with blue jeans, a book bag, and a Cubs baseball hat on her head. Her eyes were closed. She had earphones in her ears and an iPod hanging around her neck. Her feet dancing to the music. I walked up to her with Sandy in tow and tapped her on the knee.
“Wow, a Cubs hat!” I said with a friendly grin as her eyes opened. “You know, I promised my girl friend here that I'd buy her one while we were in Chicago, but the store in the hotel was out and we've got to leave.”
“So?” the girl eyed me suspiciously.
“Twenty bucks. I'll buy it from you.”
Slowly, the girl took the hat off, examined it carefully, and looked back up at me as she considered the offer. “Fifty,” she countered.
“Fifty!” Sandy said. “For a lousy fifteen buck hat?”
The girl shrugged and put the hat back on her head. “I'm not the one with the promises, am I?” She answered with a knowing smile and eyes much older than her years.
I had no choice but to laugh as I dug in my pocket and handed the girl two twenties and a ten. I took the girl's hat and pulled Sandy back into an alcove.
“I don't believe you. Fifty bucks? You're nuts.”
“Hush,” I told her. “Put your aunt's wig on.” She did and I put the Cubs hat on over it, pulling it down low, so it rode on top of her ears. “Now go to the ticket window at the other end and buy two South Shore tickets on the first train for Indiana.” I took her shoulder bag from her and the rose. “It won't take Tinkerton's people long to check all the stations and talk to the ticket agents. When they lay our photographs in front of baldy back there, he'll remember us and he'll remember the two tickets I bought for Kankakee. With the Cubs hat and the blond hair, the other guy won't. Now go.”
“Talbott.” She looked up at me with a new hint of respect. “Underneath that slightly dim-witted dweeb exterior, you can be one sneaky son-of-bitch. I have hopes for you.”
She walked away toward the ticket booth as I took a seat on the bench. I had her big shoulder bag. It was like a cookie jar on the kitchen counter. I could grab the papers and be out the door before she knew I was gone. It was a thought, a good one, and probably even the right one, but I couldn't do that to her.
She came running back, took my hand, and pulled me along. “Let's go, we gotta hurry. Our train's leaving on Track Four in three minutes.”
“South Bend?”
“No. I bought tickets on a local. There's an express leaving in thirty minutes that goes as far as Michigan City, but we don't want to sit here that long. The local connects with it at 59th Street. We can get off, wait there, and buy tickets on the express.”
“Very smart. And very sneaky, too.”
“See, Talbott?” She grinned happily. “What ever would you do without me?”
“Don't let it go to your head.”
“Then move your ass, because the three minutes we had is now two.”
She grabbed her shoulder bag and the rose and we ran down the tunnel. “By the way,” she asked. “How come you didn't grab the papers and take off without me?”
I looked shocked. “You know, that never even occurred to me.”
“Bullshit! You thought about it all right, but I've got eyes like a hawk and you aren't half fast enough to get away with it.”
“You know, that must have been it,” I answered as we jumped on board the nearly empty commuter train and plopped side-by-side in one of the rear seats on the far side of the car. The South Shore Line had gaudy orange cars with diamond-shaped accordion contraptions on top that connected to overhead electrical wires. Not that I cared. The train could burn cow chips as long as it got us the hell out of Chicago.
She put the rose to her nose and took a big sniff. “Presents are nice,” she said as she gave me a hug. “So we're off to Boston?”
“I have friends there. Maybe we can get some help.”
“That works for me. I locked the store. I've got my camera and a tooth brush,” she said as she patted her bag. “I've even got a rose and a new baseball hat, and I've got you. What more could a girl possibly want?”
“Sandy…”
“Relax, Talbot. I'm just joking with you again. Really. I don't go where I'm not wanted, so you're safe.”
Wasn't this going to be fun, I thought. This trip with her is going to be a ball of laughs, if it doesn't get us both killed first. Fun? Laughs? She was pressed up against me, holding tightly onto my arm. Despite her promises, I could tell she wasn't joking at all.