“Where is the closest subway?” asked Thibodeaux.
“The subways are not running,” said Miss Virginia.
“No, we need to get in the subway to hide. We can walk north to my aunt’s house if we can just get in the subway,” said Thibodeaux.
“This way. I never ride on the subway, but I do see the entrances.” Mr. Garvain quickly led them to a subway entrance at 40th and Park and they all climbed down the stairs. Amanda and Thibodeaux helped Mr. Garvain and Miss Virginia to climb over the turnstiles, something they had most certainly not learned to do as children.
Amanda led her posse over to the edge of the platform and lying on her stomach, she dropped her legs down. Thibodeaux did the same and then they helped Peter and Cindy get down.
Mr. Garvain looked balefully down at the children on the tracks.
“It is easy. It only looks hard. Lie down on your stomach and drop your legs over the side. We will help you get down,” said Amanda.
Mr. Garvain and Miss Virginia gingerly lay down on the subway platform and with much huffing and puffing, they were pulled down onto the tracks.
Thibodeaux and Amanda handed flashlights to everyone. “Come on, we need to get away from here fast,” said Amanda.
They were back in the tunnel, walking on the Lexington Avenue line on their way to Harlem.
Chapter XII
The Big Apple Posse walked up the subway tracks followed by Mr. Garvain and Miss Virginia. It was dark in the subway, but at least this time they all had flashlights.
The backpacks the children were carrying were very heavy, but they had to be carried.
They walked slowly and methodically down the middle of the deserted tracks.
“That is the third rail,” said Amanda to Mr. Garvain and Miss Virginia. “I don’t think the power is on, but stay away from it anyway.”
“Thank you dear,” said Miss Virginia.
They continued trudging up the tracks heading towards 116th Street.
“When we get to my Auntie’s apartment, we can rest. She always has plenty of food and water. ‘If you can’t plan ahead, you have no head,’ she always tells me,” said Thibodeaux.
“Your Auntie sounds like a very smart woman,” said Miss Virginia.
“She was born and raised in Harlem and she tells me that if you can live your life in Harlem, you are one of God’s blessed children,” said Thibodeaux.
“Well, I am looking forward to meeting your Auntie Tina,” said Miss Virginia.
Amanda walked on the tracks thinking about the last few days. She was grateful they were all alive and safe, but the responsibility of taking care of five people was beginning to overwhelm her. She thought about her mother and how her mother would expect her to be the brave one. Her mother had told her that, “When I am not there, you are me.” But being the brave one, was really hard work.
It took about three hours to make it to 116th Street subway station where they planned to get out and walk across town to Thibodeaux’s neighborhood. They had to move slowly, at the same pace that Mr. Garvain and Miss Virginia were able to walk. The subway tracks were deserted. No bad guy wanted to be down here when there were so many places to loot on the streets. When they arrived at 116th Street Amanda said, “Here, help me get up on the platform and I will check to see if it is safe for us to go outside.”
“Oh no, you don’t. I live up here and I’m a boy and boys do the scary things,” said Thibodeaux.
“Okay. You can go too,” said Amanda. “Come over here and get on my shoulders and climb up on the platform.”
Thibodeaux climbed up on Amanda’s shoulders and without waiting to pull her up, ran across the platform yelling, “I’ll be right back.”
Amanda was furious. She was in charge of this posse, not Thibodeaux. “Here, push me up on the platform. If everyone helps, I can get up.”
Mr. Garvain walked over to Amanda and picked her up and put her on the platform.
“Thanks. I hope you did not hurt your back,” said Amanda.
“Appearances to the contrary, I do lift weights,” said Mr. Garvain.
“I will be right back,” said Amanda.
Amanda quickly ran across the platform and jumped over the turnstile. Just as she was about to enter the stairway, Thibodeaux came flying back down the stairs.
“Get back into the subway. They are here. Those bad guys were waiting for us upstairs. They have motorcycles and they are chasing us,” said Thibodeaux.
Amanda and Thibodeaux jumped back into the tunnel and started running north followed by Cindy, Peter, Miss Virginia, and Mr. Garvain. They had made it about ten feet when the two men who had tried to enter Mr. Garvain’s home made it to the subway platform.
The men jumped down from the platform and began to chase them down the tunnel.
“Stop, just give us the flash drive and your computer,” said one of the men.
Amanda whispered to the gang. “Turn off your flashlights, and get out your pepper spray.”
Amanda grabbed her posse and pulled them to the other side of the tracks. It was totally dark in the subway tunnel. Suddenly the two men were right on them. “Okay, now.”
The posse sprayed pepper spray in unison on the two men who began to cough. Mr. Garvain took his cane and started whacking the two men yelling. “Run, run.”
Amanda and her posse and Miss Virginia ran down the tracks about twenty feet and stopped. Amanda turned on her flashlight to see the two men on the ground and Mr. Garvain running toward them. As soon as Mr. Garvain reached them Amanda said, “No flashlights. But, we need to keep on moving.”
And so they did, traveling as quickly as they could in the dark until they were about a city block away. Amanda whispered, “Stop. Listen.”
She could hear the men complaining about their eyes, but they sounded like they had not moved from where they left them.
“Keep going. I will turn on one flashlight to light our way,” said Amanda.
They continued walking on the tracks until they were about two blocks away from the 116th Street subway entrance when Peter said, “Stop, we need to talk.”
“You’re right about that,” said Thibodeaux.
“How did they know we were here and how did they know we had the flash drive?” asked Cindy.
“Almost as soon as you had internet access, those men were outside the house,” said Miss Virginia.
“The flash drive must have a GPS on it. That’s how they knew we were at the 116th Subway station too. The internet must be up all over New York City,” said Peter. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”
“We need to get rid of the flash drive,” said Amanda.
“I copied it onto my computer so we don’t need it anymore,” said Peter.
“But if we throw it away, it won’t matter. They will just figure we will get out at the next station and wait for us there,” said Amanda.
“So we won’t get out at 125th. We’ll go farther north until we know for sure that they are not still following us,” said Thibodeaux.
“But don’t you think they will follow us to all the stations?” said Mr. Garvain.
Thibodeaux pulled a wrinkled up old subway map from his back pocket and looked at it by the light from his flashlight. “I have a plan. We can walk north until we get to 149th Street and then we will walk back down on the 2 line until we get to 103rd Street on the west side of town.”
Peter took the flash drive out of his pocket and placed it next to the wall in the subway.
He looked around and took note of where he was in case he ever needed to tell someone where he had left it, even though he no longer needed the actual flash drive since the contents were on his netbook.
“Okay, it is gone. Let’s go,” said Peter.
“We have to move quickly. We need to out run them because as soon as they can see again, they will know we are going to 125th Street so we need to move quickly,” said Amanda. “Everyone turn on your flashlights and let’s do it.”
And so they did. The little band hurried down the tracks. Everyone was exhausted having already walked about seventy-five city blocks to get to 116th Street. But hurry they did.
When they reached the 125th Street Station, Amanda whispered, “Turn off your flashlights and be very quiet.”
They tiptoed through the 125th Street station, not stopping to send someone upstairs to see if it was safe, they moved quickly through the station and continued on the tracks. They could hear some men in the station, but it was very dark and they could not see them.
“We have to take the number five line,” said Thibodeaux. “And right now, it is the one in the middle.”
The band quickly moved down the subway line, away from the station.
Amanda motioned for them to stop and listen. They could still hear the men in the station.
The band quickly moved down the tracks by the light of one flashlight, staying to the middle when the track veered off the left.
When they were about four blocks away, Thibodeaux motioned for them to stop.
“We are under the river right now.”
“Under the river? Oh, that does sound troublesome,” said Mr. Garvain.
“Yup, but we are in a tunnel so we don’t need to swim,” said Thibodeaux who was looking at his subway map by the light of his flashlight. “We are going to pass 138th Street soon and we need to move to the right on the 5 line after that. When we get to 149th, we need to turn back on the 2 line.
“Light your flashlights and move,” said Amanda.
And so they did, moving quickly. When they reached 138th Street, they turned off their flashlights and traveled through the station, but they did not hear anyone.
It seemed darker than ever when they finally reached the 149th Street Station. This time they had to enter the station to find the 2 and head to the west. Amanda asked Thibodeaux to kneel down while she climbed on his back and once she was on the platform she lay down and pulled him up with help from the exhausted Peter and Cindy.
Cindy then climbed on Peter’s shoulders and was pulled up by Thibodeaux and Amanda and then Thibodeaux and Amanda pulled up Peter.
“Mr. Garvain, please help us with Miss Virginia,” said Amanda.
“Here, sister, get on my shoulders,” said Mr. Garvain.
Miss Virginia got on Mr. Garvain’s shoulders and climbed up on the platform.
Now it was time for Mr. Garvain. Everyone lay down on their stomachs and with much heaving and many near misses when almost everyone landed back in the subway, Mr. Garvain was lifted up onto the platform.
“If we are going to do this again, we really need to locate a step stool,” said Mr. Garvain.
“Shh,” said Amanda. “Oh, sorry, that was impolite.”
“No offense taken. We need to be very quiet. We are on a mission,” whispered Mr. Garvain.
The little band quietly walked through the subway station finding the signs that said downtown 2 line. When they arrived on the 2 line, Amanda, Thibodeaux, and Mr. Garvain all lowered themselves to the platform and then helped the others down.
They were back in yet another tunnel.
“I am so tired,” said Cindy. “I don’t know if I can walk anymore.”
“Yes, you can. You have been great,” said Amanda.
“When we get to my Auntie’s house we can all get something to eat and go to sleep. She has a very big apartment and lots of beds. But she won’t be too pleased when she sees how dirty we are,” said Thibodeaux.
“Maybe she has some wipes,” said Miss Virginia. “I could sure use some wipes and some hand sanitizer.”
By now everyone was exhausted and the trek down from 149th to 103rd Street took twice as long. It would be late at night before they arrived and they had not eaten since breakfast. Amanda walked holding hands with Peter and Cindy who were stumbling with exhaustion and not talking at all. Each time they reached a station, they would turn off their flashlights and move through it in the dark. Using only one flashlight to light up the wall, they checked the station number after they had passed through it and heard no one. When Thibodeaux told them they were going back under the river, no one even had enough energy to be scared.
So trek they did for hours until they finally reached 103rd Street. At 103rd Street they climbed out of the tunnel onto the platform. Everyone was totally exhausted and pulling up Mr. Garvain took twice as long as before. But soon they were all sitting in a heap in the dark on the platform, not daring to use a flashlight.
“Why don’t I go upstairs and check to see if it is okay for us to leave?” said Thibodeaux.
This time Amanda was too tired to argue and simply said, “Thanks.”
Thibodeaux turned on one flashlight and held it close to his leg and walked to the turnstile and jumped over and then headed slowly up the stairs.
The little band sat in the dark and cold on the platform floor. Cindy put her head on Amanda’s shoulder and quickly fell to sleep. But it was a sleep that would not last long because Thibodeaux was soon back.
“I did not see the bad guys, but there are some gangs roaming the street. So we need to stick together and get out our pepper spray and hey, Mr. Garvain, you were pretty good with that cane back there,” said Thibodeaux.
Amanda shook Cindy and Peter who were practically catatonic. “We have to go.”
“I can’t walk,” said Cindy.
“Yes, you can. It is only a few blocks and then we can eat and go to bed. That is we can go to bed after my Auntie cleans us up. She is going to have one fit when she sees what the cat drug in,” said Thibodeaux.
“What the cat drug in?” asked Peter is a very sleepy voice.
“That’s just something my Auntie says when she sees a mess like us,” said Thibodeaux.
So the band climbed quietly up the stairs by the light of two flashlights and went outside onto 103rd Street. It was very dark outside. The moon was far off in the distance and obscured by clouds. Suddenly it started to rain so soon they were very wet, cold, and tired.
The rain had obviously discouraged the bands of looters Thibodeaux had seen before, because no one but their group was on the street. Thibodeaux led his band up Columbus Avenue until he reached 105th Street. He quickly led them to the right down Columbus to a small apartment building. Thibodeaux quickly pulled out a key and led them into the pitch dark lobby.
“The stairs are over there,” said Thibodeaux.
Suddenly a man jumped out of the darkness and shoved Thibodeaux, pressing a knife against his throat. “Give me your money, cell phones, and watches or I will cut him,” said the man.
But by now they had this thing down and the man was quickly subdued with pepper spray and Mr. Garvain’s and Miss Virginia’s canes.
“Get out, get out,” screamed Miss Virginia as she hit the man again and again.
The man ran out of the door to the building.
“Thibodeaux, are you okay?” Amanda shone her flashlight at Thibodeaux who had a cut on his neck.
“He just nicked me,” said Thibodeaux.
“We need to light up the lobby and check for his friends,” said Mr. Garvain.
The only other person in the lobby was a homeless man who was asleep down the hallway. He was snoring and had not awakened during the commotion.
“We need to get upstairs. Everyone get out your flashlights and pepper spray and follow me,” said Thibodeaux.
So they did. The stairs were deserted so they climbed as quickly as they could up the stairs until they arrived on the fourth floor.
Thibodeaux banged on the door and said, “Auntie, Tina, it’s me and I have some new friends with me.” Thibodeaux used his key to open the door and walked into the living room of his Aunt Tina’s apartment to see her walking to the door with the help of her walker. Auntie Tina had a baseball bat in her hand.
Amanda looked around the apartment in awe, tired or not, she had never seen anything like this before. Everything was dark green, the floors, the walls, the ceiling. And all over the
apartment were small altars. The altars were surrounded by candles which lit African figurines. These were figurines that Amanda had never seen before. She had been in a Catholic Church once, but those figurines had been different, more formal, more gold. Some of the figurines in the apartment looked a bit crazed like they might be from a horror film. There was also a funny smell in the apartment like something sweet had been burned.
“Do you play baseball?” asked an almost catatonic Cindy, looking at Auntie Tina’s bat.
“No, I use it to whack no-goods,” said Auntie Tina. “And just what do we have here?” Auntie Tina looked at the group of dirty travelers at her door.
“These people are my friends and we are going to save the city,” said Thibodeaux.
“Well right now you just need to come inside this apartment,” said Auntie Tina.
“Auntie, we have some bad guys chasing us and we had to hide in the subway and we walked from 42nd Street all the way to 149th Street in the subway tunnel and then all the way back down to 103rd Street. And we have not eaten all day and we are tired, thirsty, and dirty,” said Thibodeaux.
“You had some what? And just what is that cut on your neck?” said Auntie Tina.
“Some no good tried to cut my throat. He was hiding in the lobby downstairs and tried to rob us,” said Thibodeaux.
“We beat him up,” said an exhausted Mr. Garvain.
“Well, let me fix your neck while your friends take turns cleaning up in the bathroom. Then I will fix us some food. Thibodeaux, you march over to the sink and let me fix you up,” said Auntie Tina.
Auntie Tina took Thibodeaux by the hand and walked him to the sink. “There’s no hot water but we still have water in the tank so the rest of you can wash up with cold water. I don’t know exactly where you folks have been, but you sure are dirty.”
Auntie Tina cleaned Thibodeaux’s neck and then she put some ointment on it and put a bandage over the top. “If I find that no-good who hurt you, I’m going to wring his neck like he’s one of the chickens.”
The Big Apple Posse Page 11