Dirty Faces- Book 1

Chapter 15: Buried Treasure

Chapter 15: Buried Treasure

Ginny and her friends walked along the railroad tracks with no particular destination in mind at all. They did this sometimes. It was an easy enough game- set out walking, following the tracks, and see how far you get before you get tired and have to turn back. If they got lucky, they would be able to bring a story or two back from their travels. It was a great way to kill time when they were all burned out on baseball and swimming. J.D. and Becky were giving Tommy and Danny the play-by-play of Ginny's altercation the day before.

"I seen him after. I didn't go home," J.D. said. "He's gonna be sporting that shiner for a while."

"He had it coming," Becky added. "Good for Ginny."

Ginny wasn't quite as proud of herself as her friends seemed to be; she kept trying to change the subject, which Tommy picked up on.

"Got some good news this morning," he announced.

"You heard from your brothers?" J.D. guessed.

"No...not that. Actually, we found out we ain't gotta go away anytime soon. Father Riley must have some connections or something. We can stay there as long as we need; nobody from the county's gonna come out and take us away."

"That's fantastic news!" Ginny chirped. J.D. and Becky agreed and they were able to keep the conversation away from Sam Green's black eye for the rest of the day.

In the evening, when they were all tired and hot and hungry because they hadn't breaked to eat, they turned around and followed the tracks back toward town. When they got there, J.D. and Becky went straight home, while Ginny lingered on the Priest's porch, talking to Tommy after Danny went in to wash up for supper.

"Thank you," Tommy whispered. "For, you know."

"Don't mention it. Like Becky said, he had it coming."

"Next time..."

She laughed. "I doubt there'll be a next time. I don't think he'll mess with any of us again and I don't think I'll be getting into any more fights. For any reason."

"Good. But I was gonna say next time ya hear somebody talking ill of us, just let it slide. Don't go getting yourself hurt or in trouble for our sake. Besides, whatever he was saying- and no, I don't wanna know- it was probably just the truth."

"But-" she attempted to protest but he shushed her.

"It is what it is, Ginny. No matter how hard ya hit, it won't change the past, won't change the truth. We're no-account, Danny and me. We come from trash."

"Tommy, that is not the truth!"

"It is the truth. But it's OK. We've been given the chance to change that and most natural-born trash don't get such a lucky break."

"I don't understand." But, she thought, she really did. She just needed to hear it from him.

He sighed, trying to think of how to make it make sense for her. "Ya know, it was just a few years ago when Pap got on in the mines and we moved into that company house. You 'member before that, when we lived in the ol' home place?"

She did. She remembered that rickety old shack they had lived in when their pap was working odd jobs (and making moonshine on the side, of course). There were cracks between the boards on the walls bigger than her fist that the boys would stuff with newspapers in the winter just to keep out the drafts. It had mysteriously burned to the ground not long after they moved out.

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well, when we moved into town we thought we was rich. But that don't even compare to now. We ain't ever had it so good. We eat three times a day, we got decent clothes to wear, a warm bed to sleep in, don't ever have to worry 'bout what kinda mood Pap's gonna be in when he gets back from the still. Heck, me and Danny might even get to finish up our schooling before we go work full time...Now, don't get me wrong, I love my pap, and my brothers, wherever they've got off to. But if somebody showed up here tomorrow and said we'd have to go back there, I wouldn't go without a fight. That would be something worth fighting for."