New York Orphan (Tales of Flynn and Reilly Book 1)

by Rosemary J. Kind

  The day passed slowly and he was glad when it was finally time to find Tom and Molly and go for food before returning to their straw beds for a second evening. When they did, Tom talked of nothing but the difference reading and writing would make to his life.

  “You see. We’ll be rich one day. It ain’t goin’ to be like this forever.”

  Daniel smiled at his faith and ambition. He hoped Tom was right, but for his own part he was less convinced. He longed to sing, but the writing was much harder.

  He expected the second night to be much as the first. However, when they went through the door he was surprised to find them greeted personally by the superintendent.

  “Where are your parents?”

  Daniel was confused. They’d gone over this the previous day. Tom answered this time. “We ain’t got none, sir.”

  “And how have you been living?”

  “We got turned out on the street when Mammy died. We’ve done our best, sir.”

  Daniel was amazed at how polite Tom was being.

  “And your father?”

  “I dunno, sir. He left years ago. We don’t know where he is.”

  “Then come with me, you three.” And without another word he led them to a small room where a bath had been set up and a pile of clean clothes was waiting. “There’s a train going tomorrow with places for you three to travel to find better lives. You’ll take a bath and put on these fine clothes and be ready to leave at first light tomorrow.” He went immediately, leaving them in the charge of another gentleman who was overseeing the bathing process.

  Despite his wonder at the clothes which lay ready, without any apparent holes or frays, Daniel had a sudden horrible thought and looked at Molly. “No!” They looked at him and he could see the worry etched deep in Molly’s face. She’d realised the problem too. Tom looked confused and went ahead with his bath first, without further comment.

  Molly looked helplessly at Daniel, who shrugged in response. Without causing a scene, he could think of no way to get her out of the predicament. As Daniel followed into the bath, when Tom got out, he could still think of no solution. It would be obvious as soon as Molly undressed that she wasn’t Michael. They got no further than her taking off her cap and shaking out her hair before the gentleman overseeing the baths stopped the process.

  Daniel’s heart sank as they were ushered in front of the Superintendent again. He had no idea what reaction they were going to face. Surely girls could go wherever they were headed, too, couldn’t they?

  “Name?” He looked down on Molly, but there appeared to be no anger.

  “Molly, sir, Molly Reilly.”

  “Parents?”

  “That part was true, sir. We’ve got no parents.”

  The man nodded. “I’ll arrange for you to be taken somewhere ‘suitable’ for your kind.” He raised his eyebrows as he emphasised the words.

  Daniel’s heart sank. “But, sir, she’s our sister and we need to stay together.”

  The man continued almost as though he hadn’t heard Daniel speak. “You two go to the schoolroom. Miss, you come with me.” He led Molly towards the door, and the look of horror on her face as she turned to Tom and Daniel was too much for Daniel to bear.

  “Noooo…” He tried to cling to her, but his hands were forcibly removed as they dragged Molly away from him.

  He’d lost all the people he’d ever loved in the world and now Molly was to be taken from him too. Whilst Tom turned and headed for the schoolroom, apparently unmoved by what was happening, Daniel could do nothing to stop the tears, and he stood and sobbed until the stout gentleman of the previous day bustled him off to join the others at the desks.

  Daniel could not even begin to think about lessons. Every part of him was sick with fear that he’d never see his beloved Molly again; she who had come to mean so much to him, who had saved him from starvation and tended his wounds; she whose bravery had carried them this far. Even when it came to singing, Daniel remained silent.

  As soon as they finished he went to the music teacher, hoping that the previous evening would have given the man a good opinion of him. “Excuse me, sir. Do you know where they’ve taken my… sister?”

  “Not at all, boy. Now run along.”

  With this dismissal, Daniel felt as though life had ended. Tom seemed so far away, with pride in his new-found learning, and showed no care for where his sister had gone. Daniel felt more alone than he had done since arriving on the docks a year previously. More, even, than when he thought he’d lost Tom to the Roach Guard. Molly was gone and Tom was discovering a world that felt alien to Daniel. Whatever the morning held, it could feel no worse to him than the way life seemed now.

  Chapter 7

  I was wearing corduroy britches

  Digging ditches, pulling switches, dodging hitches

  I was workin' on the railway

  Traditional

  “Tom, I’m scared.”

  “Will you look at that? Daniel Flynn, scared of going on a train.”

  “It’s not that. Where are we going?” Daniel stumbled after Tom as they were led off to join the rest of the group.

  “Now how would I know that? To have a home of our own was all they said. To places where we’d have beds to sleep in every night and learning to do sometimes during the day. It’s our chance, ain’t it? There’s nothing here.”

  “There’s Molly.” Daniel felt a lump in his throat as he said it.

  “They’ll send her too, you’ll see.”

  “D’you think so? Oh, I hope you’s right.”

  Tom laughed. “And how would I know that? I don’t know where Molly is, but I know I’ve got a chance. A chance I’d never have if I stayed here. What’s here for me? Blacking shoes, sleeping rough. Look at yourself with your broken nose. We ain’t even part of a gang. What chance is there?”

  To Daniel there was family, or what passed as that. He realised Tom’s da had left and hadn’t been back, and he wondered whether his leaving was what made Tom so hard. Maybe the death of a parent was kinder than being abandoned by them. He was quiet as they plodded on. His stomach churned and he felt awkward in the clothes he’d been given the night before, the collar buttoned and strange against his neck. He was trying to stay clean, as they’d been told to, but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded when most of the time there was nowhere to sit but the floor.

  There were a lot of other children waiting on the platform. They looked bigger than he was and he presumed they were older, but as they all stared at him he guessed it was his black eyes and scar that drew their gazes. They seemed to keep a little distance from him and he heard whispering and saw others pointing at him. A gentleman, some sort of priest by the look of what he was wearing, was going with them on the journey. The man seemed flustered as he tried to keep the children together and ready to board the train.

  As they set off, many of the other boys seemed in high spirits. A train journey was new to all of them and even Daniel could imagine it would be exciting at another time. He sat quietly, staring out of the window, but registered little through the blur as he thought of Molly and wondered how long it would be until he saw her again. As the train travelled further from New York, he began to wonder if that time would ever come.

  Tom punched his arm. “Will you look at that? I’ve not seen fields like those since I was in Ireland.”

  Another of the boys was shouting to the guardian, “Mister, what’s that?”

  “They’re corn fields. That’s how the cobs of corn grow.”

  “Where’ve all the buildings gone?”

  Daniel presumed the boy had lived all his life in the densely packed streets of New York and had never seen fields before. He, on the other hand, was relieved to see the back of the buildings. He just wished Molly were here to share it with them and couldn’t understand how Tom could care so little about where his sister was.

  The train rattled on and Daniel tried to console himself by singing quietly. Other boys were running around, en
joying what they saw as an adventure, but Daniel felt lost and alone, and as far from Tom as he’d ever been.

  When the train finally stopped, Daniel thought they must have arrived and let his eyes close in relief and silent prayer. Instead, to his confusion, they were led away from the railway to a waiting boat, to cross a lake the size of which was unimaginable to him, with no shoreline visible on the other side. As they were led below deck, Daniel’s breathing quickened as he remembered the last ship he’d been on and the outcome of that journey. His heart was racing and he could feel the sweat on his brow. He did the only thing he knew to ease his rising panic. He closed his eyes and sang the songs his father had sung. He ignored the pain of his battered face and sang as though his life depended on it.

  After a while he became aware that the other Irish boys were beginning to join in and his was no longer a lone voice. He opened his eyes, looked around him and realised they were all focussing on him. He started to sing more loudly, and together they struck up quite a melody. He wondered if their earlier bravado was masking some of the same fears as he felt. Even Tom had joined in the song, something he’d never done before.

  Suddenly there was a bustle and jostling and Daniel looked up, startled to know what was happening. The gentleman in charge was rounding them up. Daniel blinked, fearing he’d done wrong by starting the song. He realised he was shaking as he wondered what his punishment would be.

  “Look lively, boys, and move towards the stairs.”

  Daniel frowned. Where were they going? He could feel the blood pounding in his ears as he followed the others up the passageway and was surprised to see they were being led into the saloon.

  The priest was beaming. He looked around for Daniel and seemed about to pull him forward, but then, apparently having second thoughts, moved him to the middle of the group. “These ladies and gentlemen have asked that you sing again for them. Start us off, boy,” he said, looking directly at Daniel, who had carefully hidden himself behind a taller boy.

  Daniel felt his tension easing. He closed his eyes and, with his broken nose increasing the nasal sound, began to sing the same well-known Irish ballad he’d been singing below deck. Again, the others joined in and, as they ended, their audience applauded. He began another, but fewer voices joined him. As he’d sung for his supper for almost a year, Daniel felt no fear at having an audience and continued to sing, including a couple of solos. He wasn’t singing to the people in front of him on the boat. He was singing to Molly, far away, back in New York.

  After that, they slept a while having been given some of the spare berths on the boat rather than huddling in the steerage section as they were supposed to do. Daniel no longer felt so alone, as boys talked to him and accepted him as one of theirs. He was surprised to find that not all the children were orphaned as he and Tom were. A few had parents back in New York, who had sent them, hoping the children would find a better life than they could give. Others were like him and Tom, homeless and without family. Some had been born in New York, but many, like them, had crossed the seas from Ireland. He thought he’d seen some of them around Five Points, but in the clothes they’d been provided with they all looked much the same as each other and he wasn’t used to seeing his kind looking so clean.

  Eventually the boat came to shore at a place called Albany. Their number was a little reduced as some of the adults on the boat had offered to take boys home with them. Despite Daniel’s singing, no one wanted him or Tom.

  It was a long wait for their next train and they were weary from the journey. Whilst not yet tatty, the clothes were already showing the signs of dirt that the boys found so hard to avoid. Crouching on the ground, for want of anywhere else to rest, probably wasn’t helping.

  When the wait was over, they were rounded up for their next train. Daniel was aware of heated voices and confusion. It seemed they were supposed to be in a carriage of their own, but instead the boys had to force their way into already full compartments. Tom was ahead of him and made it into the carriage before Daniel was stopped and redirected to a freight wagon at the end of the train. There were no windows and precious little light or ventilation. The boys tried to find space on the wagon’s floor amongst whatever and whoever was already there, but in the darkness it was hard to find a vacant patch.

  Later, the train rumbled into Buffalo and a now filthy Daniel was able to find Tom once again. He was uncertain how much time had passed since they left New York. It was Wednesday when they set off, he knew that. There were nights and days en route, but it wasn’t clear how many. They waited once again, in Buffalo this time. Another boat was to take them across a similar expanse of water to the previous one, but even further away. Every mile increased the distance from Molly and took him to places where he felt as alien as he had first arriving in New York. The stench from the animals on the boat was hardly worse than anything he’d been used to, but that and the coarse filthy mattresses in the berths made the change of clothing seem pointless.

  By the time the boat arrived in Detroit they were told it was Saturday night and yet the travelling was still not at an end. The novelty of the train had long since worn off for all of them, but they were bundled onto another, for what they were told would be the final leg of the journey.

  Daniel did not know where Dowagiac was. All he knew was that they’d been travelling an awful long time and he was tired. Tired to the point that even lifting his legs to walk was almost too much. It was early morning and, not being expected until later, the children fanned out around the station and found places to sleep. As Daniel drifted off he was aware of an argument going on with the station master, but he was too tired to care and, curled up on the floor, was quickly asleep.

  “Come on now, boys, wake up. Form an orderly line.”

  Daniel stirred himself from the depths of slumber. His limbs felt leaden and his mouth was dry and thick with dust. The sun was up and the morning advancing quickly as he went to the stream where others were swimming. He tried to wash the worst of the dirt from his face, before the gathering they were to attend. He’d never tried to swim and with the water so cold he didn’t fancy starting now. His face was feeling less bruised than the previous days, but he couldn’t judge what he might look like. He tried to see his reflection in the water, but with the ripples from the boys splashing it was impossible. He looked for Tom but couldn’t see him, either swimming or on the bank.

  Cleaned as best they could, the boys, in their by now ragged clothing, were ushered into the chapel and sat together to the side of the congregation. Daniel had only ever been to a Catholic service before and even that was a long time previous. He saw Tom further down the line and tried to catch his eye, but Tom didn’t respond. Instead, Daniel spent the time looking around in awe at the women’s hats and wondering why so many were crying when the priest talked about the lives the boys had led in New York. It was hard not to fidget but he was not alone, as other boys were shifting awkwardly and looking around. At least he recognised one of the songs, and for a few brief minutes was lost in the soul of the music.

  It was later when the boys were called into the neighbouring hall. “Now stand nice and tall, no hands in pockets. Remember to look straight ahead and answer any questions you’re asked.”

  There was sniggering from some of the boys, but Daniel felt lost and helpless. He wanted to stand near to Tom in the hope they’d find a home together, but Tom moved away when Daniel searched him out, leaving Daniel confused. He did his best to stand tall, but he was smaller than the older boys. He couldn’t help feeling like the beasts he’d seen at a cattle market when he was younger, as the adults went around prodding and poking at the boys standing there.

  “Name?”

  “Daniel Flynn… Reilly, sir.” For a minute he forgot he was supposed to be Tom’s brother.

  “Can’t you even remember your name?”

  “Yes, sir. Daniel, sir.” He could feel his heart racing. “That’s me brother Thomas, sir.” He leaned forward to point down
the line, but Tom, his blood-brother and former confidant, was nowhere to be seen. Daniel swallowed hard.

  “And how did you get the scar, you little ruffian?”

  “It wasn’t my fault, sir. It was when…” But the man hadn’t stayed to hear the answer. He’d moved down the line and was testing the muscles of one of the remaining larger boys.

  When the adults eventually left, a number of the boys went too. The supervisor took charge of those who remained and they were given bedding for the night.

  “Excuse me, mister.” Daniel approached him hesitantly.

  “Yes, child?”

  “Do you know where me brother went?”

  The man looked down his records. “Yes, he’s with a family out of town.”

  “Will I see him again?”

  “Well, that depends.”

  However, he didn’t tell Daniel what it depended on, and before he had the chance to ask anything further the man was called away. The boys were left in the care of the local helpers, who fed them and kept an eye on them for the night.

  Daniel sat with his arms around his knees, listening to the bravado of the others.

  “I didn’t like the look of him so I made meself look smaller,” one boy was saying.

  “Na, you just know to be rude to them. They won’t want yous then.”

  “What’ll happen to the rest of us? Will we go back to New York?” The boy sounded hopeful, and for a moment the prospect lifted Daniel’s spirits. If only he could go back and find Molly.