She tilted her head to listen more closely. Better yet, the stiffness in her body eased as they walked.
“Every day, young children would come to the cart with dirty faces and empty bellies. Pitiful, sad creatures or quick-fingered little ones who ran faster than I ever could. I kept them away as best as I could, but there were always more. I would catch the littlest ones, but it broke my heart to take their only food away. Sometimes, I would let them have an old apple or a mushed one that would never sell. But as hungry as they were, they never ate it.”
“What? Whyever not?”
“Because they had to give their prize to an older boy, and he in turn gave it to an older one, all the way up the line until a very large man named Gill had it.” He paused to watch her. Were there thieving rings in Scotland? He was certain they existed in every major city, but apparently not in her corner of the world.
“I don’t understand.”
“He was the man who ran the children. He taught them to thieve and bring him the goods. He prostituted the girls, taught the boys to pickpocket or worse, depending on their inclination. And the youngest ones begged. In return, he gave them a miserable place to sleep in the worst of the rookeries, fed them from his leftovers, and gave them a sad bit of protection from other predators.”
“That’s horrible.”
“I thought so, too.”
He had her attention now. Her steps had slowed, and she turned her face to him. They were strolling beneath trees now, so there was a great deal of shadow despite the three-quarter moon.
“I guess you found a solution,” she said.
“I did.” He spoke with pride. “It was my first good win, and it set the course of my life.” He stayed silent after that, just to be sure he had her caught. A good storyteller knew when to pause for his audience to prod him forward.
“You must tell me the rest,” she cried. “How could you—still a boy—stop a whole ring of thieves?”
“I became one of them.”
“What?”
“I pretended to be lost and alone. I waited, shivering, in a place I knew he traveled.”
“You let yourself be caught by Gill?”
“I did. He was very kind at first, giving me food and a warm coat.”
“That’s how he gets them to trust him.”
“Yes.”
“And then once he brought me to his place, I figured out who was in charge, who was mean, and who was just scared.”
“But you were a boy yourself.”
“I was twelve, but I knew how to look even younger. Plus, I was scrawny.”
She shook her head. “I cannot imagine it.”
“I didn’t fill out until I began working at the docks.”
She shook her head. “Such a life you’ve led.”
“No more fantastic than what you’ve done. I couldn’t deliver a baby if you dropped one in my hands. You’ve managed it since you were the same age.”
She smiled. “I suppose everyone’s life seems normal until they talk with someone else.” She squeezed his arm. “Don’t keep me in suspense. What did you do once you were trapped inside with this terrible Gill?”
“That’s the thing. I wasn’t trapped inside. We were sent to thieve, remember? But he had a system. Bigger boys disciplined the smaller ones, but there’s always one who will break. I worked with the weakest of the supervisors.” He winked at her. “That’s what Gill called them. His supervisors. As if they were more than brutes beating up on weaker children.”
“What did you convince him to do?”
“His name was George. The older boys teased him about being Mad George because of the king and some other nonsense I can’t remember. It doesn’t really matter what they said, only that it made him furious. Then once he became angry, they pointed him at some drunken sot and told him to take out his fury on them.”
