I Went Down (NaNoWriMo Read-Along)

32 Emmy Jane

The taxicab bounced over the cobbled streets. Emmy Jane sat in the back and bounced with it. It was very early, just barely beyond morning for those who set their schedule to the sun, and she was struggling not to yawn. It would probably be rude if she yawned, and no matter how unsettling Dapper Jack was, she did not dare to be rude to him. Not when he worked for Jimmy Primrose, and not when the rumors she had heard about his work might be true. After had had shut the car door for her, she had watched his quick, almost unconscious, reach behind his back to adjust the position of his knife before he sat down in the front seat. She had noticed the long knives the Plainsmen wore in leather sheaths tucked into their belts; the brief glimpse under his long coat showed that Dapper Jack’s was sheathed entirely in silver.

She could see the back of his head in front of her, and the occasional glimpse of the driver’s face in the rear view mirror. A few days’ worth of beard darkened his cheeks and he kept his eyes fixed straight ahead on the road. Occasionally Dapper Jack turned and gave some brief direction to him: “Turn here. Take the bridge. Left.”

They were going to pick out new clothes. “For Jimmy to look at you in,” he had said, and that left one large question in her mind. Was she to pick the clothes for herself, or would Dapper Jack be picking them for her? And if it was the second option, would he be watching her try them on?

Dapper Jack did not look back at her. She would have to get his attention and ask him. Which stores would they go to first? What did Jimmy Primrose want her to wear?

But there was a cold feeling in her stomach now, like she had swallowed a dead fish. There were many men working for Mister Primrose who might have been sent to take her to buy new clothes. Was it Dapper Jack who had come because of his own fashion sense? Over his silver-coated knife, he wore a long coat with a subtle plaid in dun and tan. It accented the deep brown gloves on his hands, as she had noted when he handed her into the car. His boots were well shined, and matched the gloves precisely. Over his shoulder she could see just the tips of his coat’s wide lapels. They had brass points affixed to them, making sharp corners. She did not reach forward to tap Dapper Jack on the shoulder.

Outside, there were few people on the street. They had passed out of the night district of the Torgove onto some other island which she did not recognize. Perhaps it was another night district, for there were few people on the streets. Perhaps Dapper Jack knew a particular backstreet route that would avoid the trucks which often clogged the roads which led onto the Lew. “Turn left,” said Dapper Jack in his smooth voice and the car turned. There was an opening in the buildings as the car climbed over the arch of another bridge. It was a particularly lumpy one, covered with cobblestones still. Emiliana had been curling her fingers over each other in her lap, but now she clung on to the seat to keep from bouncing painfully from side to side. In the rearview mirror she caught a glimpse of the driver’s face.

“Stop here.” The driver hit the brakes immediately and the car lurched on the damp pavement. If Emmy Jane hadn’t already been bracing herself in place on the back seat, she might have tumbled head over heels into the front.

Dapper Jack opened the door and got out. When he came around to open hers, the sinking, sunken feeling in her stomach was no longer avoidable. They were nowhere near Bellea’s or any of the other shops that she knew of.

“Where are we?” she asked. Perhaps he was lost, too, and they were just stopping to take their bearings. He would get back in the cab and they would continue.

“Get out,” Dapper Jack said. He held his hand out to her. Did he ever take his gloves off? He had been wearing them nearly every time that she saw him. “Come on,” he said. “I don’t have all day. I have to catch a train.”