Authors’ Note: This chapter should reveals a bit about Estha, the mystery girl. Will she continue to be a mostly a mystery for a while, Maybe??. * nut_natz grins evilly at the thought of torturing the readers with her odd rantings*

4) THE REAL ESTHA

When they arrived at Tibby’s Jack took a seat in a booth nearest to the widows. Jack watched her while the silent, mysterious girl attempted to sit down at the booth without crowding her stomach. “ Umm….” Jack started, “… we could just sit at a table you know, and then you could pull out a chair.”

She looked at him, angry yellow flecks appeared in her eyes, “ I can do it. I am fine ok”. Jack relented saying anything. He realised that her obvious pregnancy was a sore point with her. He wisely decided to shut up and let her order. “I’ll have a double cheese burger and large fries with a large cherry soda and a glass of cold water. Do you have rolls? I’d like 3 rolls please, with butter, and a piece of chocolate cake”. Jack then watched, incredulously as she demolished the food in less than 5 minutes. He was thankful that he had all of his money on him. She was obviously very hungry.

She took a final drag from the glass of water and put the glass down on the table. She looked at him across from her in the booth with a quizzical expression on her face. Jack had found that her face was full of animated expressions and had spent the whole time she was eating just staring at her in awe. “What…” she said curtly.

“ Its just…wow… amazing… you just…unbelievable”. Jack was at loss for words.

She looked at him, her eyes quickly misting over with a hint of bewilderment, and then just as sudden her face changed and she burst out laughing. It was a laugh that made her body convulse, her eyes closed tightly and a tear rolled slowly down her face.

“ I am sorry if I seem to be a pig,” she finally said when she had a chance to breathe. “ I was just so hungry and I was craving food so much I could not stop myself. It must be the baby.”

“I’ve been living with the newsies for years and I’ve never seen one of the guys devour food like that. That was really something.” Jack replied, still amazed.

Estha smiled. She was feeling relaxed now. Her fingers began to play with her stomach. She trailed her fingertips up and down the mound. Then she jumped, scaring Jack a little. “What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

“Ohh don’t worry, it’s just the baby. It’s kicking.” She reached for his hand and gently laid his fingers on her stomach. He could a vibration running though her belly, then a strong pulse, then a tingle. He’d never felt anything like that before.

She looked at him. She was starting to feel like she could trust him… almost. She could never completely trust … them…

“Umm can I ask one question? You are definitely not from around here are you?” Jack ventured.

“ Well, no. I am from a little island in the West Indies called Barbados.”

“Wow, you are very far away from home. I could tell you were from the islands with that accent. But it comes and goes.”

“Well, I was taught to speak English without my dialect by a friend. He … well… thought I had the potential to learn if I did not speak the bajan dialect. He felt it degraded me.”

“ So how did you end up here?” Jack asked carefully.

Estha looked away, “ A big ship.”

“Ok…,” Jack paused, as he noticed that his little investigative work was not going to go much further. “Well I think that we are ready to leave now then.” Jack rose from the table. He counted out his money and laid 2 quarters down on the table carefully. He went over to the other side of the booth and helped Estha up. She leaned into his arms and he supported her. “ You are tired, aren’t you?. We’d better go back home.”

“ Home! Oh, you mean the lodging house! Yes, that girl may be awake now. I really hope that she is ok.” Estha turned to Jack. “ I know I was not very nice to you first, but thank you for all you have done. Thanks for the food and the company”. She was looking into his eyes. He realized just how tall she was and how sad her eyes really were from up close.

She turned and walked towards the door, swaying from side to side with the weight of her stomach throwing her slightly off balance. Jack wondered how she could have survived, in her situation, on the streets of New York. He wondered what it was that made her so sad. But mostly he was disturbed by the fact that he felt so drawn to her. He was deeply in love with someone else, some one who loved him just as much … Sarah…. So what he felt could not be… no it couldn’t…

Estha looked back at him. She felt something that there was something bothering him. She wondered if it was the same thing that bothered her. But it could not be as she could never feel that way again towards anyone and plus she was spoiled goods. She held her stomach and sighed. “ Jack, come on, we have to get back.”

“Yeah we have to go,” Jack walked towards her and led her out of Tibby’s, his hand tingling when his fingertips touched hers.

They walked out of Tibby’s and into the ever-darkening evening.

~~*~~

3 / Bulma’s Hideout / 5