Read Online From Riches to Rags by Mairsile Leabhair - Free Book Online Page A

on it. He didn’t move from his seat as I explained to him that I needed Chris’s apartment number. He gave me the standard refusal excuses, until I pulled out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to him. He looked at me with beady eyes and a greedy grin. I handed him another Benjamin, with an ultimatum. He was satisfied and told me the number to her apartment.
    I bounded up five flights of stairs because the elevator in that old building was out of service, and looked like it had been for years. When I got to the fifth floor hallway, with its tattered carpet, peeling wallpaper and trash in the corners, I shook my head in wonder. How could anyone live in such filth? I noticed a young woman standing in front of 5C, with what looked like a takeout box in her hands. She was handing it to a little old lady who smiled at her, until she saw me, and then she quickly retreated back inside.
    Two doors down from 5C was Chris’s apartment, 7C. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to her. Suddenly, it was me who was timid. Well that’s a first. Just as I raised my hand to tap on the door, the old lady from 5C poked her head back out and told me that Chris had left for work already. I walked over to her, until she took a step back, as if she was going to close the door again. I stopped and smiled at her, hoping to calm her fears. I asked her if she was friends with Chris.
    “She’s a dear thing. When I told her this morning that my cat had died, she gave me her kitten.” The old woman disappeared from the doorway and when she returned she was holding a black and white kitten. “She said its name was Blackie.”
    Oh my God! I screamed in my head, both excited and confused.
    “Chris gave you her kitten… named Blackie?”
    “Yes, and when she did, she tried to hide the tears in her eyes. I tried to refuse such a kind gift, but she said I needed her more than she did. Why would she do that?”
     
    ***
     
    “Chris, hey Chris!”
    It was two in the morning. I had just clocked out and was headed for the bus stop when Melinda pulled up. This girl doesn’t understand the concept of the word no. What am I saying, it’s Blackie Blackstone, of course she doesn’t get it because no one has ever dared to say no to her. I decided to ignore her and continued to the bus stop, then sat on the cold, hard bench. She stopped her car near the bench, got out and walked over to me, then sat down. I turned away from her.
    “Oh come on, I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d give you a lift home again. Is that so bad?”
    “And what do you want in exchange for your good deed, Melinda?”
    “Ouch, that hurt. I thought we were friends now?”
    I looked at her dubiously. “What would give you that idea?”
    “Because, you named your kitten after me.”
    My face blushed so deep that I thought I would burst into flames. How on earth did she know that? I was at a cross between angry and curious, so I calmed myself and turned on the southern façade. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Melinda.”
    She grinned at me, a big cheesy grin like she had pulled one over on me, then she got up and went to the passenger side of her car. She leaned inside, and when she came out, she was holding my kitten in her hands. Blackie! I forgot everything else and held my hands out for my kitten, like a kid does for his presents at Christmas.
    “How did, why did…” I couldn’t form a complete sentence. Blackie, the kitten, was as happy to see me as I was her and I rubbed my cheek over her head and she purred for me.
    “Aw, you two are so cute together,” she said, and sat down next to me.
    “No, this is wrong. You have to give her back to Ms. Shelby,” I said, even as I hugged my kitten closer.
    “Who?”
    “She’s the old lady who lives in apartment 5C. Why on earth would you take this kitten from her?”
    “Because, I gave her another one.”
    “You.. you did?” It was then I realized that I was drunk with