THE FIRE WITHIN
Chapter Thirteen
Tommy and Marie carried the baby
off the ship in Kerry. Tommy went straight to his parents’ house. When he went
up the steps, he saw his mother. He handed the baby to Marie. He saw his mother
doing the laundry.
"Tommy? Is that you?"
Helena looked up and saw him with a girl holding a baby.
"Yes, Ma. It's me."
Tommy hugged her.
"Oh, Tommy, I have been so
worried about you." She hadn't seen him in a year.
"I am fine, Ma. This is
Marie Bannaczak. She was a maid in New York and came with me. I found
Christa." Tommy pulled on Marie's hand as he introduced her.
"Whose baby is that?"
Helena wondered if this was her grandchild.
"Christa's. She told me to
bring him here." He showed her the baby.
"Is she in trouble?"
Helena held the small infant.
"Sort of. She found her
uncle. He is not like her mother. He almost killed Christa. She was afraid that
he would kill her child, so she told me to bring him here." Tommy took the
baby from his mother.
"You think she will be all
right?" Helena knew Christa had been a good child, but she hadn't been
bright in conceiving a child so early in her life.
"The father of her baby is
strong. I am sure he won't let her get hurt. She told me she would be coming
for the child soon." Tommy knew Christa was strong, and she would survive.
"All right. Let's bring him
inside and feed him before he gets a chill." Tommy wrapped the baby in his
blanket. "Oh, I almost forgot. Where are my manners? Hello, Marie, I am
Tommy's mother, Helena," Helena said as they entered the house.
"Nice to meet you,
Helena." Marie felt like an intruder. She didn’t know Tommy that well.
"Come inside, my dear."
Helena welcomed the girl, just like she had welcomed Christa into her home.
They all followed Helena inside.
Helena made a bed for Michael and fed him some goat milk. The baby was happy,
and he sort of reminded her of Christa's father. They all sat down and chatted
for a while. Then Tommy took Marie to his room and let her sleep after she ate.
She looked tired. He closed the door and went to the room with Michael and his
mother.
*****
Christa woke up late, seeing
Amsterdam cut himself with his father's razor. She didn't ask why he had done
that. She just got dressed and put her knives in her makeshift belt. She looked
at herself in the mirror and tied up her hair. When she looked at herself, she
realized that her uncle was in her, and she wouldn't lose. Not this time. Not
ever.
Jenny came inside to talk to
Amsterdam. "I am going to San Francisco."
Amsterdam turned to her. "Why?"
"I don't want to see you
die." She looked sad.
"I am a survivor. I ain't
gonna die, Jenny." He was very confident that he would survive this day.
"Well, I can't stay to see
it. This will never be over." She knew he would keep fighting ‘til the
end.
"I promise you this will all
be over by tomorrow." He knew that Bill would be dead by the end of the
day. He had promised his father so.
"No, it won't." She
turned away and left.
He looked at her. There was
nothing he could do to change her mind, so he let her go.
When she left, there were riots
in the streets. Jenny tried to avoid everyone as she went on her way with her
bag to her ship.
*****
Amsterdam, Bill, and a few others
said prayers before going out to fight. Christa looked up and spoke to her
mother and father. "Take care of me out there. I love you, Ma and
Da."
They went in a group and started
walking to Paradise Square. Christa walked beside Amsterdam. She felt nervous,
but she also felt confident. They each took a kind of communion bread and said
a prayer before going out to war. When they finally reached outside, the
tension of death was in the air.
Bill's gang walked out of a
tavern. They carried knives, bats, axes, and so forth. When they came to a
halt, Bill stood there, looking at Christa. "I never thought I would see
the day when my own blood fought against me."
Christa stayed silent, just
staring at him.
"On your order,
Vallon!" He looked at Amsterdam.
Amsterdam held up his bat and
raised it high to signal when to go. Then he heard some sort of bomb being
fired into the air, so he waited. When the bomb landed, everyone tried to avoid
it. He brought Christa close to him and hovered near the ground.
There was so much smoke, Christa
couldn't see anyone. She felt Amsterdam take her to a more secure location, all
the time dodging the bombs. When he saw that she was somewhat safe, he went
into the smoke and went after Bill.
"Bill!" he yelled.
Bill went around Amsterdam,
hiding in the smoke as he came in and cut him on the leg. Amsterdam tried to
cut him, but missed. They did that several times before the smoke finally
cleared. Amsterdam saw someone and stabbed him. It was a soldier. He made it to
a tree and started to look for Bill. When he finally saw Bill, he stabbed him
near his stomach. He had used his father's razor. Bill fell to his knees.
"Thank God, I die a true
American." He took out the razor and looked at Amsterdam, willing him to
finish him off.
Amsterdam's anger became so
intense that he shoved the blade that he had on his leg into Bill. Blood
squirted at him. He tried to block it, but got sprayed with his enemy's blood.
*****
Christa saw that everything was
finally over. She saw Amsterdam lying next to Bill. She touched Amsterdam's
face thinking, he was dead, but he wasn't--just a little cut-up and
blood-stained.
She hadn't seen them fight. She
was glad she hadn't. She got him up, and they started to walk. She took him
onto a porch. It was deserted. He rested there for a while, and someone came to
them, seeing that he was hurt.
A man no older than twenty
patched up Amsterdam's wounds. Christa was so grateful that she hugged the man.
"There's no need to thank me, Miss."
"Yes, there is. This is my
husband. We have to go to Kerry to get my baby. I sent him there with my best
friend. I didn't want him to be hurt," Christa explained to him.
He took a stack of bills out of
his pocket and handed them to her. "Here's something to get you on your
way to get your child back."
"Thank you so much. God
bless you." Christa put the money into her skirt pocket.
"I won't need it where I am
going, and I’ve got no family. That's three hundred dollars." He smiled at
them and went on his way.
"Now we can go to Kerry and
get Michael. Our luck is changing, Amsterdam, and I think all for the
better." She hugged him, trying not to hurt his wounds.
"I can't wait to get him
back. Maybe our luck is changing." He hung onto her and got up, walking
with her slowly because his leg was cut.
With everything that had
happened, from Christa arriving and meeting Amsterdam until Bill's death, they
seemed to have gotten through everything together. This time it was forever.
They would be together, and nothing would stand in their way. Not Bill. Not
ever again.