Rose laughed at Julie’s excitement.. “Don’t ask me what made me think of bringing this, but I have mace. Although I also have no pockets and I don’t think it’d be super accessible in my sock.”
As if to demonstrate the point, Julie hiked up her skirt several inches to gain access to her own sock, where she placed the Dominus before letting the skirt drop again. Once she did, the sock was hardly visible at all, let alone the slight bulge from the coin-sized microchip.
Rose held the container of pepper spray out to Billy.
Billy grinned. “Oh, good. Because I’m a great shot with a can of mace, let me tell you.”
“Have a lot of experience, do you?” asked Julie.
“Not really, but I’ve got confidence in my ability… That’s what counts right?” asked Billy.
Rose shook her head, laughing. “There’s really nothing to it,” she said. Then she thought for a second. “Well, of course, you want to make sure you’re pointing it away from yourself. You see that little opening there, yeah?”
Billy nodded. “Yeah, I think I’ll be fine.” He paused. “Anyway, that’s what we have.”
“And it’s not much,” added Julie, supplying the thought that Billy apparently had the delicacy not to say out loud.
“Right,” said Tim. “And fifty-three cents won’t cover our food money for the next couple days.”
“I doubt I can do more than triple it with betting… I mean, I know the exact scores that the games are going to be, but I don’t want to end up being right too often or too precisely or people will get angry. Suspicious gamblers are not something I want to have to deal with,” Billy pointed out.
“Right, so… That would give us $1.59,” said Julie.
“Yeah… It may be enough if we sleep outside and don’t eat too well. Still, it’d be nice to be able to use public transportation and whatnot. I’ve always wanted to ride on a trolley, and at this point it could be practical for us,” said Rose.
Billy shrugged. “Well, let’s take this one step at a time. Betting is supposed to happen in The Tenderloin District, so we probably want to get there. But first we need to stash our clothes.” He extended his hands to collect the clothes Tim, Julie, and Rose had just changed out of. Even the boys, who had pockets, gave up their 21st century wallets, phones, and keys, since it would be best not to be caught with this stuff. After he took their stuff, Billy walked over to a tree in the backyard, grabbed a low-hanging branch, jumped, and deposited the rolled up ball of clothes in a place where several main branches met. The clothes could still be visible if you were looking for them, but hopefully no one would be.
They made their way out to the road and stood beside the street-car track.
“So which way do we go?” Rose asked nobody in particular.
“Well the good news is,” Billy pointed out, “that San Francisco is on a peninsula, so we can only get a certain amount of lost before we hit the ocean and know we have to turn around. The even better news is that I think downtown is over there, and the Tenderloin is basically downtown, just one district over from city hall.”
Billy pointed to a small cluster of skyscrapers dimly visible several miles away in the brightening dawn light.
“Good you’re here, then. I did a little bit of research and found out that city hall was just finished last year, 1915. But I had no idea that the Tenderloin District was anywhere near it,” admitted Tim.
“Yeah, seems like you really did your homework,” said Rose with a smile.
“Well… yeah,” confirmed Billy. “I guess I see a lot of incentive to study when the test is surviving after being sent a century into the past.”
“Don’t forget the part about saving the world,” cautioned Julie with a tone of overemphasized earnestness.
“I would never forget that,” Billy answered with an eyeroll. “Shall we, then?” The others nodded, and they set off on the road in the vague direction of the buildings they could see in the distance.
They walked briskly, anxious to get to the next goal and make some positive action. They chatted nervously about a number of things on the way into the city, covering everything from hushed whispers about whether the people who passed them on the street could tell they didn’t belong, to whether or not following a road toward a great big city on the horizon reminded anyone of the Wizard of Oz. Julie brought it up and Rose agreed that the comparison was apt, but Billy insisted it was because each of the girls liked to think of themselves as Dorothy. Tim registered that this was fine, so long as he wasn’t the scarecrow, and they all laughed, even though precious few other people in the city of San Francisco that day in 1916 would even have understood the reference. The Wizard of Oz had only been published as a book sixteen years before and would not become a musical for another couple of decades.
The four of them walked together for over an hour without saying a word about how they were going to find the bomb in time, or how they were going to turn fifty-three cents into enough money to support them for a long weekend in San Francisco and have enough money left over to fund some detective work. But Tim figured each of them just needed to talk and laugh with friends for a little bit, to take a break from how strange reality had become.
It didn’t matter that only a week ago, Tim was still surprised that Julie was his friend. Neither did the fact that, only a week ago, Tim had never met Rose and would never have voluntarily talked to Billy. Time had a way of changing people, whether it was a week forward or a century into the past.
Then, out of nowhere, when they were practically in the shadow of the skyscrapers, Billy got them back on track by saying, “So, if we’re approaching downtown from the west… which we are because the sun just rose from behind the buildings… then the Tenderloin should be to our right. Because it’s to the south.”
“Right… speaking of the Tenderloin-- Do you think it was named for the piece of meat, by the way?” asked Rose.
“Maybe… That wasn’t really the focus of my research,” said Billy with a shrug.
“Oh well,” said Rose, shrugging as well. “That wasn’t my real question anyway. Do you think they play poker there?”
“Well, yeah…” said Billy slowly. “Definitely. I’m actually only about 99% sure that I’ll be able to find someone there to bet me on college football, but I’m sure people there play poker. Unfortunately, it’s not like we can predict the outcome of a poker game, so it doesn’t help us. Why?”
Rose smiled coyly. “Because I’m good at it.”
Billy shook his head. “You can’t seriously be suggesting that you want to try to play poker in the Tenderloin, are you? That’s a no-go.”
“Why?” asked Rose.
“Because we can’t control it,” said Billy. “And because I can’t imagine very many 1916 poker players are going to take too kindly to losing to a seventeen year old girl even if you do win. I mean, I know we have a can of mace, but that’s no match for a bar full of angry men, which is what we’d be looking at if you made someone angry.”
“What do you guys think?” asked Rose, turning to Julie and Tim.
There was a pause. “Well… how good are you?” Tim asked, mostly because he could think of nothing else to say.
Rose gave that shifty smile again, “Like, really good. My Mom taught me, and she plays with the other attorneys she works with. And they’re lawyers, so they cheat. But she wins anyway.”
“Still sounds awfully risky,” Julie stated. “We need to be focused on the mission, though, and at this point fifty-three cents helps us almost as little as nothing would. That’s really the only reason I’m even letting us bet on the football games, but I don’t know if a buck fifty is enough either.” Nobody questioned her use of the word “letting”. They all knew she was the one who Hopkins had contacted first, and the reason they were all there. She was the only one Hopkins had said was destined to do some great thing they couldn’t even predict yet.
“So what’s the verdict on the poker?” asked Rose.
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“I… don’t know yet,” said Julie. “Let’s just get there first.”
The idea that the topic was now out of their own hands relaxed Billy and Rose, which led to something that Tim hadn’t really been expecting. The two of them were walking beside each other, in front of Julie and Tim, since Billy was the one who theoretically knew where they were going. Because of this, Tim and Julie had a pretty good view of Rose reaching out, grabbing Billy’s hand, and holding it. Or maybe it was the other way around, with Billy grabbing Rose’s hand. Even with the good view, it was difficult to tell.
It didn’t last long, though, because Julie groaned and said, “Let’s keep the public displays of affection to a minimum, shall we?”
Billy and Rose both almost jumped at this, like neither of them had quite realized what they were doing. The four of them walked on without mentioning anything about it again.
Chapter 14
The Tenderloin
About twenty minutes later, Billy said, “We’re getting close… It should be three blocks or so that way. ”
They had come into the area on Market Street and were in a part of the city with several tall buildings, about twenty stories high. Not far off in various directions, Tim could see some cool architectural features, including domes he was pretty sure must belong to an Orthodox Church. They struck onto Geary Street, where Billy had been pointing.
A few minutes later, Billy confidently announced, “We’re about to cross into The Tenderloin.”
“Let the festivities commence,” said Julie, half-heartedly.
“I still say that with a name like The Tenderloin, those festivities had better have something to do with eating some really good steak,” Rose joked. The other three laughed nervously. And they had reason to be nervous, Tim supposed. They were about to cross into a portion of San Francisco known for its illegal activities. Not only were they doing this without adult supervision, but their parents would not be born for another sixty years or so. They kept putting one foot in front of the other, because that’s what they had to do.
They had decided to walk around the area nonchalantly, but on their guard, until they found an opportunity that looked promising. Perhaps fittingly for a plan that had so much to do with gambling, they were therefore leaving a lot of the specifics up to chance.
As it turns out, it didn’t take long before something lured their attention.
There were four boys in their early teens, dressed in black pants, white button-down shirts, suspenders, and caps playing poker a couple yards down an alley off Geary Street.
As they passed the alleyway, Rose shot each of the others a significant look, but Julie kept walking, like she didn’t notice, and the boys followed her lead.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Rose protested, “Come on, I promise I can win us some money!”
“I’m not saying no,” said Julie calmly. “In fact I don’t think I even can say no. I mean, technically it’s Tim’s money, right? But I don’t think we should go in without a plan. And a vote. I think a tie should go to having us just keep walking, since that’s definitely the safest option. But I’ll vote yes. If we decide we’re in a situation where it’s safer to jump back to the possibly bombed out remains of our hometown, then we’ve got our Domini, but we’re going to need some money to get anything done here at all.”
“It’s not about safety… I mean, the kids are thirteen or something, we can take them,” said Rose, confidently.
Billy rolled his eyes. “I vote no. I could probably take two or three of them. I’m just not too confident that the rest of you can take the other one or two. No offense or anything, Tim.” The funny thing to Tim was that he really seemed to mean the part about not wanting to offend him. But Billy seemed to believe that the time for definitive decisions to be made had come, and this was not a time for mincing words.
Tim shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever said I could beat anyone up. But Julie’s right. We need the cash to get the rest of the plan to work. Here’s the fifty-three cents, Rose. Try not to lose all of it on the first hand.”
Moments later, the four of them approached the four boys in the alley, Rose with money in hand and looking confident, the other three following behind seeming a little more nervous.
“What’s the ante?” asked Rose boldly of the boys.
The four boys looked at each other. They really didn’t look more than thirteen or so, but they seemed to think of themselves as pretty tough.
“You asking for the boys?” asked one of them.
“Nope, just for myself,” Rose said. “I’d like to play.”
The four poker players looked at each other for a moment, then one of them spoke up. “We’ll let the boys play if they want and they’ve got money, but you ain’t playing.”
“Why not? You only let boys play?” Rose scoffed.
“What’re you, some sort of suffragette?” asked another of the boys.
This question seemed to catch Rose off guard. Tim jumped in, saying, “Oh come on, women can vote in just about every state West of Texas already, so just lighten up.”
“Just because it’s allowed doesn’t mean it’s a good idea,” said the boy who had been the first to talk.
“You think you’re pretty wise for a… what are you, eleven years old?” asked Billy. The two poker players who had spoken so far were now standing, but Billy towered well over them, over six feet tall compared to their five feet or so.
“I’m thirteen,” said the boy indignantly. Tim was pretty sure he heard a crack in the kid’s voice.
One of the poker players, who was still on the ground said, “Come on, Benny, just let her play. We ain’t talking politics, we’re playing poker, and you three ain’t much of a challenge anyhow.”
Rose smiled at the kid who had spoken last.
“I’m Rose. What’s your name, then?” Rose asked him.
“Tom,” he said, and hopped up off the ground to shake her hand. “Those two are idiots and they don’t know how to bluff.” He said this in a tone of mock-confidentiality, but Tim heard it, so Benny and his other bluff-challenged friend certainly did, too.
“I’m Dave,” said the other kid, jumping up and offering his hand to Rose as well. “Ante’s two cents. You can play if you’ve got money.”
“Great,” said Rose. Within moments, the four boys were sitting back in a wider circle with room for the newcomers to sit as well. At least, Billy and Tim were sitting, not thinking much about whether or not they’d get their pants dirty in the unpaved alley. Julie was trying to keep off the dirt by maintaining a particularly uncomfortable looking crouching position, while Rose had hiked up her skirt to her knees and was kneeling down on the dirt in front of the deck of cards.
This game of poker had no chips, but the four boys who were playing each had a motley assortment of change piled in front of them. Lots of already old-looking Indian-head pennies, a bunch of buffalo nickels, some Mercury dimes and the occasional quarter as well. Maybe these boys weren’t high rollers, but then again, they were only thirteen and the year was 1916. If Rose was anywhere near as good as she claimed, there was a chance she could win a little money for them and they wouldn’t have to sleep on the streets of San Francisco the whole weekend.
Rose put her change on the dirt in front of her and placed two pennies in the center circle. The four boys followed suit.
“So, I caught everybody’s name but yours,” Rose said, pointing to the boy who had asked if she was a suffragette.
“I’m Frank,” said the boy. “But I ain’t shakin’ your hand or nothin’.”
“That’s all right, dear,” said Rose in a sarcastically sweet voice. “I don’t want to take your hand, just your money.”
“We’re playing five card draw,” Dave told her. “I’m dealing this round, which puts you in as first better. You’ll have to bet two cents or fold at the beginning of each betting round, just to get the betting started. You think you can handle that?”
&
nbsp; “Yeah, I’m good,” nodded Rose.
“And you three better not look at anyone’s cards, not even old Rosie’s there. She’s playing, not all of you, and we don’t take kindly to cheaters,” said Benny. Then, apparently in an effort to prove his point, he untucked his shirt to show the handle of a knife tucked into the waistline of his pants.
At seeing this, Julie was back out of her crouching position, ready to storm off.
“Relax,” Rose said. “Benny here’s just making sure we follow the rules, right? He isn’t going to use it if we play right, which we’re going to. And as soon as I tell him that I go by Rose, not Rosie, everything will be just peachy here, right?”
“Whatever you say, Rosie,” replied Benny nonchalantly.
Rose bristled, but Dave put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s just riling you up to distract you from the game.” Dave looked up at Julie. “Don’t worry about Benny, I’d never let him knife anyone, Miss.”
Julie looked a bit placated by the fact that the kid had called her “Miss.” She did look a bit older in the clothes that she was wearing than she normally did, and the kid addressing her was only thirteen, but it still struck Tim as a bit funny.
“And hey,” said Dave. “I’ve got a leftover newspaper I didn’t get to sell today. I was going to return it to The Chronicle once we finished our game here, but if it means you’ll stay and I’ll get to play against someone other than these three, I’ll let you sit on it. It’s only a penny, after all.”
Dave pulled a paper out of a bag behind him and opened it up to spread it a little bit over the ground. Julie looked around at Billy and Tim and, seeing that they seemed to want to stay, too, sat down slowly on the newspaper.
Finally, Dave dealt the five players five cards apiece. “You bet first, remember?’ Dave prodded.
“Hmm, sure I’ll bet two cents,” said Rose, who put two fingers on two pennies and moved them slowly into the center of the circle. Because Dave raised the bidding another two cents, Rose needed to bet another two cents. Then, she requested two cards. Upon seeing them, she immediately put the cards down on the ground in front of them and announced, “I fold.”
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