The Place--Chicago
The Time--1934
The Cast of Characters--(In Order of Appearance)
Christopher (Babyface) Kirkpatrick
"Fat Lou" Perlman
Juju (Mad Dog) Timberlake
JC (Twinkletoes) Chasez
Joey (Muscles) Fatone
Lance Bass, Cub Reporter
* * * * * *
"You see," JC said, looking down into Chris' eyes intently, "I know all about Katie Kirkpatrick."
Chris pushed him away, and spat, "You don't know nothin'!"
"Oh, don't I? Jimmy the Weasel spilled his guts like a pig on a bandsaw."
"He couldn't tell ya nothin' cause he don't KNOW nothin--"
"Oh yeah? I know Katie was a round-heeled babe, who was no better than she should be, who was--" JC broke off, long enough to deflect a few choice blows from an infuriated Babyface, who was hissing, "You take that back!"
"Why, does the truth hurt? So Katie was a child of the streets, if that sounds any prettier--"
Unable to inflict as much punishment as he wanted, Chris jumped back, and just glared at Twinkletoes. "I never figured Jimmy for a stool pigeon--"
"Don't blame Jimmy. Let's just say I made it impossible for him to refuse to help me."
"Which means he pees his pants if you frown, the yellow-bellied rat. When I see him, I'm gonna--"
"You're not gonna do nothin."
"Did I mention I hate your guts, Chasez? Because I do."
"No, you don't. You hate that I know your little secret. You've been clutching it to yourself like a baby blanket all these years, thinking nobody knew."
And then Babyface actually laughed. "See? You don't know. You only have a piece of the puzzle--you think I do what I do because Katie was a whore before me, but that's not it at all." Chris curled his lip in scorn, and made to brush past Twinkletoes, and go back to the ballroom. JC grabbed his arm, with a grip of steel, and whirled him around to face him again.
"What about the four pretty faces in that photograph on your dresser? THAT'S why you do what you do, Babyface. That's why." JC stated calmly.
Emotions played across the smaller man's face like the shifting light on a storm-lashed back alley. Fury, betrayal, anguish, defeat...
"What do you want from me?" Babyface sighed. To his surprise, Twinkletoes moved away from him, and put his hand on the cord that parted heavy, cream-colored drapes. Behind the drapes was a French-door. Twinkletoes opened it, and gestured to Chris.
The two men stepped out an a balcony, that was tree-lined, and washed in milky moonlight. Chasez dropped gracefully down into a wrought-iron chair, and kicked another one over to Babyface. "Take a load off. Let's talk," he said.
Dejected, Babyface sat down, and sulked at Chasez. "You talk."
"Fine. Let me tell you a bed-time story, related to me second-hand, by a certain Jimmy the Weasel, who always makes a point of checking out the background of all his employees."
"Of course."
"Once upon a time, in the worst part of town, a laborer and his wife were killed in a fire. Their twelve-year-old daughter, Katie survived, and having no relatives, was reduced to selling herself on the streets, just to keep body and soul together. Being a pretty, blonde child, she never wanted for customers."
Babyface lowered his face, only the working of his jaw giving a clue to his emotions.
"Sometime when she was 14 or 15, she came across something in an alley, that was more wild animal than child, but there was just something about the little thing that she couldn't resist. She took in the abandoned toddler, and cared for it like it was her own."
"That's a pretty story you're making up..." Chris' voice was raspy.
"She named the little orphan Christopher--"
"No she didn't," Babyface interrupted. "She named the orphan Christina at first." Chris looked up, and just the merest shadow of a smile ghosted his lips. "Katie said I was so filthy all she could see was long dark hair, and big dark eyes. She thought I was a girl at first. By the time she got me cleaned up, and found some cleaner clothes to change me into, she'd already gotten used to calling me Chris. By then it was too late. I was Chris, for good."
JC sat up in his chair, and leaned forward. "Why don't you tell the rest of the story? I'm sure Jimmy missed all the good stuff."
"Huh, of course he would," Chris said bitterly. "Jimmy only knew what she did. He didn't know what she WAS."
"What was she?" JC asked, like a gift, an opportunity.
"A mistake." Babyface was silent so long, JC almost grew restless. But then Chris continued, in a slower, more thoughtful tone of voice. "I think about her almost every night, and the older I get, and the more I know of what the world is like, the more she amazes me. There was no way she should have been like she was. The world never lost an opportunity to kick her in the teeth, but she never--took the pain out on others. By rights, she should have been a bitch on wheels, crazier than Mad Dog. But all she did, was breathe in casual cruelty, and breathe out love and kindness. She was like a Mistake of Nature somehow, a freakish thing that shouldn't be. But a beautiful one."
JC studied Babyface, so uncharacteristically still, as the soft evening breeze rippled his hair. Irrelevently, JC remembered Fatone's teasing remark about "sweet black hair in the moonlight". He felt his throat tightening up.
Chris sighed, and shifted in his seat. "I guess Jimmy told you about the babies. Katie kept getting pregnant, she wouldn't even consider the back-alley abortionists. Not just because there was like a 50 percent mortality rate, but--she was a fool for babies, what can I say. Sometimes, it wasn't so bad. Katie would meet someone who would put us up, take good care of us for awhile, but it never lasted, and then back on the streets we'd be."
JC stiffened, as he knew, at least a little, of what was coming next.
"When you were fourteen," he murmured, "something happened."
Chris looked at him, his eyes wide and shiny with a film of tears that never fell.
"You mean when some john beat her to death."
Chris turned his head away, and again fell silent. After a while, he said over quickened breathing, "Of course, by then, we were a big family. Tess, Mary, Kathleen, and Jenny.
Tess was eleven, and Jenny was a baby. Tess needed to stay home, and take care of the little ones, and I needed to get some more jobs. I already had a shoe-shine stand, and sold papers...there just isn't that much a fourteen year old boy can do to earn some serious, family-supporting money, ya know?"
JC wished there was a way to gloss over what was surely coming next, but he didn't see any. He tried, though. "So, you took a page out of Katie's book, so to speak. I understand! I understand, Babyface, you had that family to support, you had to do what you did."
"Are you feeling sorry for me?" Babyface asked as though he couldn't believe his ears.
"No...well, yeah! Of course I feel sorry for you, what am I, a monster?"
"Don't waste your pity," Chris said. "Don't want it, never asked for it. YOU'RE the one making me tell you this shit. Because you won't leave me alone!"
Chris got up, and started pacing around the small patio area. "You really are a piece of work, Chasez. It's not enough you try to buy me, and tempt me with all kinds of promises, and get me to--forget my responsibilites---"
"Speaking of your responsibilities, Babyface, where are the girls now?" JC put in forcefully, before Chris could go off on him again.
"They're living with a nice couple on the other side of town. They think I'm out west, doing well, and sending fat checks 3 or 4 times a year for their upkeep. Tess is in her first year of college, and she's going to be a TEACHER." This last came out with enormous pride.
"So Katie's girls are never going to end up like their mother."
"Not if I have to die to prevent it."
"Too bad you're not willing to really stick your neck out for them."
As if JC had suddenly began speaking in ancient Arabic, Babyface looked at him in amazement. "What?"
"There's a way to provide for them, that you haven't even considered yet."
"Hey, if it's about the life insurance, I already got it covered."
"No...it's something I can do for them."
