ESCAPE
Chapter Fourteen
Rose looked upon the familiar brooding figure
of the second Hockley mansion; the first being occupied by Cal’s father,
Nathan. It was at that moment that Rose realized that she didn’t have a
mission. She had naturally assumed that a butler would lead her into the house,
where she could take her kids and go. But now she realized that darkness would
have to descend before she could make her move. And then, she would have to
figure out where to go from there. She had noticed that one of the men at the
train station with glasses had looked a little too carefully at each of the
passengers, and gone away with one of the people that had been standing on the
other side of the platform. True, they could have been waiting for a friend or
family member that hadn’t caught the trip, but then why would they have stood
on different parts of the platform? Surely they worked for Cal, which meant
escape from Philadelphia, especially with her two children, would prove to be a
challenge. The only way not to leave would be to stay, which just might be
the safer choice, she reasoned. The two men, if they were the only ones
posted, will report back to Cal and tell them that I’m not here. Then, he won’t
post anymore men here after about a week, so a getaway will be easier soon.
Rose, of course, was getting ahead of
herself, considering the fact that she was still half a block away from the
house.
"Can I help you?" A woman’s nasally
voice made Rose jump. It was their nearest neighbor, Gertrude Amelia
Farthingway. She was known by Rose for wearing dull, drab clothes and judging
others if they wore any color but brown.
As Rose saw who it was, the blood pounded in
her ears. This is it. Nice going, Rose. You’re caught within the first ten
minutes of arriving here. However, as she gazed a little deeper into
Gertrude’s eyes, she realized that the woman had no idea who she was. With a
silent chuckle, Rose remembered that she was wearing a dirt-streaked white
dress with oxfords, her hair was put up and had become so soiled that she
looked almost brunette, and Gertrude hadn’t laid eyes on her before unless she
was completely dolled up at a dinner party.
"Oh, I’m sorry," Rose said, faking
an Irish accent. "I’m visiting me poor, sick sister and must have gotten
lost. I’ll be on my way."
*****
Rose went to a more rundown part of the city
a long walk away and found a series of shops and restaurants. She hadn’t eaten
a respectable meal for longer than she could remember, but first she had to get
some decent clothes to wear.
She found a shop with nice things that
wouldn’t cost her too much, and bought five dresses, two pairs of shoes, and a
scarf to hide her hair when she would need to make her escape. Even though they
were bought at respectable prices, the only roll of money she would probably
have for a while seemed considerably smaller as she walked out of the store.
Next, she bought things that she would need
to look half decent on a daily basis, such as a comb and toothpaste.
The final thing she bought was a large white
bag with vertical pearl stripes of silk on the outside. It was the only item
she bought that day that looked moderately expensive, but Rose felt it would be
worth it as the bag would have to hold all her things, double as a pillow, and
be the only shred of elegance she had left to her name.
It wasn’t until after all her shopping was
done that she allowed herself to step into any of the restaurants. She had a
fierce hunger, yet she didn’t believe that she would be able to hold too much
down. She finally settled on a light sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, and a
thin slice of turkey.
After locating a clock, she was aghast at how
late it was. After calculating how low the sun was in the sky, she decided that
she had two more hours until darkness would set in. Determined to spend the
time wisely, she went over her plan of how she was going to her precious
Jayvelin and Jacob safely back in her arms again. Then, she traveled further
into town until she found a church-sponsored building that let families sleep
on the cots that were laid in the one room it held each night and get what they
could of the soup prepared each morning. She didn’t think it was fair for her
to use it, considering that she had some money in her pocket, but Rose
decided that for her first night alone with her children, fair wasn’t an issue.
*****
The sun inevitably melted into a deep purple
darkness as Rose crept back towards the Hockley mansion, where there were two
precious children tucked inside without their mother.