Runaways Box Set

Chapter 3

Chapter 3The bus took them to an area that was a mix of small businesses, warehouses and—Terry saw when he looked down a side street—older brick homes. For a moment he thought they were heading to one of the houses when they turned a corner. Then Rudy led the way down an alley. He stopped halfway, kneeling by a small glassless window covered on the inside by a battered piece of plywood. Terry couldn’t see what Rudy did, but a moment later the plywood seemed to be hanging by one corner, giving them room to crawl through. Snap went in first, followed by the others. Rudy came in last, putting the plywood back in place.

They were in a basement, Terry thought. Although you couldn’t prove it by me, as dark as it is. That changed seconds later when Rudy turned on a flashlight. Snap had one too, and with both lights going, Terry saw it was a basement, or at least one room of it. On the far side was a slightly open door. Terry and Kel trailed after the others into another room, and then a third one off to one side.

“Classy digs,” Kel said with a laugh.

Josie grinned while going to light a pair of candles, set in what looked like empty tuna cans, sitting on a wooden crate. “Our home is our castle or something like that.”

Snap lit two more candles on a battered table on the other side of the room before switching off his flashlight. While he did that, Rudy closed the door and much to Terry’s surprise, got a two-by-four from under the worn sofa that sat in the middle of the room. He put it into obviously homemade brackets—one on each side of the door—to keep the door from being opened from the outside.

“To keep out the cops?” Kel asked worriedly.

“More like anyone else who might be looking for a place to crash,” Rudy replied.

There was a blanket hanging from a rope stretched across the rear of the room. Josie disappeared behind it, coming back a minute later minus her backpack. When Terry looked at her in question she said, “Snap and my bedroom, so to speak. Rudy uses the sofa.”

“You two can have that corner,” Rudy said, pointing to a pile of blankets. “Not much of a mattress but better than nothing.”

“And to add to the mod-cons,” Snap said, chuckling, “we even have a pantry.” He opened the door of a cupboard above the table. It held a small variety of canned goods, dry cereals and snacks, as well as several rolls of paper towels and a couple of rolls of toilet paper.

“Where’s the bathroom?” Kel asked.

“Ah yes, that would be a good thing to know.” Snap took the bar off the door and picked up the flashlight Rudy had set on an orange crate nearby.

Terry and Kel followed him back to the window they’d used to enter the building. When they were in the alley, Snap led the way to the end, pointing to Porta Pottys at a construction site across the street. “There you go.”

“Geesh. I guess it’s better than behind a dumpster,” Kel muttered.

“Much,” Snap agreed as they returned to the building.

When they were back in the room, Kelly discovered that Rudy and Josie had fixed supper. Rudy showed him how they used Sterno and a large tin can to make a stove that they set a pot on to heat their food.

“Where do you get the Sterno, and the food?” Kel asked.

Josie shrugged. “Some we buy if we make enough spanging. The rest…well, I think you can figure that out.”

“Shoplifting.”

“Got it in one,” Snap replied. “A necessary evil if we don’t want to go the ‘sell our bodies’ route. Or sell drugs for that matter.”

Kel looked at Terry, shaking his head. “I guess we have a lot to learn.”

“Not to worry, we’ll teach you,” Rudy told him. “Now, let’s eat before it gets cold.” He took a mismatched set of bowls from the cupboard, putting them on the table along with spoons, dishing out the stew they’d heated.

“Better than how we were eating it,” Terry commented. “Speaking of which…” He went over to his pack that he’d put down by the pile of blankets. Digging through it, he took out the last two cans he’d brought from home. Then he got the one in Kel’s pack and gave them to Rudy, saying, “To add to the stock.”

Rudy thanked him, put them in the cupboard, and then everyone found a place to sit and began to eat. Terry felt uncomfortable when he realized that Rudy seemed to be studying him. Finally he asked with a small smile, “Do I have something on my face?”

“Nope. Sorry. I’m just trying to figure you out. You took a big chance, coming here. You probably hitched at least part way, which isn’t safe. You hooked up with us even though you don’t know ace-deuce about us. If you dad’s looking for you he’s probably filed a missing person’s report on you—both of you actually—so if a cop stops you, you’re up s**t creek.”

“Kel might be, but he runs fast,” Terry replied with a small grin. “If anyone asks, other than cops, we’re claiming he’s an emancipated minor. I’m old enough I shouldn’t have any problems.”

“Still,” Rudy pointed out, “you should do something to change your appearances. Kel can let his hair grow out which’ll help. You…hmm…”

“Yes?”

“How would you feel about dying your hair? That copper color is great, but it stands out.”

“I suppose I could. But how, and where? I don’t think I’d want to do that in the Porta Potty.”

“Damn, no. There’s plenty of gas stations around with one-person washrooms we could use.” Rudy tapped his chin. “Black would be a big change.”

“Let me think about it. Okay?”

“Yeah. Sure. For now let’s get some sleep. I have the feeling you need it. Both of you.”

* * * *

It took Terry a minute to figure out where he was when he woke the next morning. Then it all came rushing back—being dropped off in Denver, meeting Rudy and the others, coming to their squat as Rudy called it. Climbing out of his sleeping bag, he realized he had a definite need for a bathroom. But can I use it during the day? he wondered, remembering the ones at the construction site.

He shook Kel’s shoulder, getting a muttered “It’s too early” from his brother. Then Kel opened his eyes and sighed sleepily. “It wasn’t a dream and I gotta piss.”

“Me too. So hop to it and let’s hope the construction workers don’t kick us out.”

“They won’t,” Rudy said from the other side of the room. “They know us.”

“They know you, not me and Kel,” Terry pointed out.

“Same diff, but I’ll go with you this time.”

The three young men left the room after Rudy woke Snap to let him know what was going on and to bar the door.

“Question,” Kel said as they walked down the alley. “How do you keep people out when you’re gone? You can’t bar the door behind you then.”

“Trust to luck, and so far it’s worked. Or I should say that no one’s tried to steal anything. We’ve found dudes crashing there a time or three. We let them stay the night and warned them before they left they’d better not tell anyone about the place. As far as I know they didn’t.”

After making use of the Porta Potty, with no hassles from the men working at the site, the three teens returned to the building. Josie was awake by then and she and Snap took off to do the same thing. When they got back, Rudy passed around bowls of dry cereal, saying, “Sorry we don’t have any milk to go with it but the fridge seems to be on the blink.”

“You know,” Terry said thoughtfully as he ate, “if you ever find one, in an alley, and brought it back, you could use it to store bread and stuff to keep it freshish since they’re air-tight.”

“Like we could get one through the window,” Snap said.

“There’s no doors?”

“Yeah, but they’re padlocked.” Snap shook his head. “Someday they’re going to sell the property and then we get to look for a new place to stay.”

“Hopefully off the streets,” Rudy added. “I don’t want to be on them when winter comes. Been there, done that, and it’s not fun.” He finished his breakfast, collected up the rest of the bowls when everyone else was finished, put them and the ones from the previous night into a plastic bag and left the room.

“He’s going to wash them somewhere?” Kel asked.

“Yep. There’s a fast-food place a couple of blocks away we use for that,” Snap said.

“You guys know how to make use of everything you can, don’t you?”

“You bet. You learn that when you’ve been on the streets as long as we have. If you guys want to change into clean clothes you can use our—” Snap chuckled, “—bedroom.”

Terry and Kel took turns changing. When Terry came back in clean jeans and a T-shirt, he asked, “Is there a laundromat somewhere?”

Josie nodded. “Three blocks over. We usually do laundry on Tuesdays. Sort of part of our routine. It makes things seem a bit…more normal, I guess.”

Rudy came back a few minutes later, put the bowls away and then said, “It’s time to hit the streets. Since you and Kel need to get the hang of things, Terry, we’ll split up. Kel will go with Snap and Josie, you’ll come with me.”

Terry frowned. “Why separate?”

“One, because if there’s anyone looking for the two of you, they’re less likely to notice either one of you if you’re not together. Two, because people tend to shy away when they see a big group of street kids. We want to make some money if we can.”

“Okay, that makes sense.”

* * * *

Half an hour later Terry watched Kel walking down the mall, chatting away with Snap, who had one arm protectively around Josie’s waist.

“First things first,” Rudy said when they were out of sight. “Wait there—” he pointed to one of the benches, “—while I pick up some dye. Black or brown?”

“I think…brown?” Terry chuckled. “I’m not into the whole Goth thing and I’d probably look like one with black hair.”

“True.”

Terry stopped him before Rudy headed to the drugstore on the corner. “Here, take this,” he said, handing Rudy a ten he’d stashed in his pocket. The rest was in his sock at this point. When Rudy c****d an eyebrow, Terry told him, “Mom gave us a few bucks when we left. I don’t know if it was in way of an apology or just her letting us know not to come back. Like ‘This should get you well away from town’.”

“I’m surprised you have any left,” Rudy commented, pocketing the bill.

Terry shrugged. “We didn’t eat much while we were on the road.” Even though he trusted Rudy at this point, he wasn’t about to tell him that he still had most of the money they’d left home with. Hell, if they get tired of having us around we’ll probably need it. No—definitely need it.

Rudy came back ten minutes later, carrying a plastic bag. “There’s no gas stations down here, but there’s a building on the next block with restrooms on each floor. We can use one of them.”

When they got there, they went up to the third floor, using the fire stairs. Once they were in the restroom, Rudy locked the door then told Terry to take off his shirt. “You don’t want brown stains on it.”

Terry did, then at Rudy’s order, dampened some paper towels.

“Holy s**t,” Rudy muttered.

“What?”

“Your back. Damn, Ter. He did a number on you. A lot of times from the look of it.”

“I’m aware of that,” Terry replied tightly.

“I’m sure. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything, but hell…”

“It’s okay. It’s not going to happen again and some of the old scars have already faded.”

“If you say so. Sure doesn’t look like it from where I stand.” Rudy shook his head as he opened the dye box. Taking out the bottles and instructions, he put on the latex gloves that came with them and after telling Terry to lean over the sink, he rubbed the dye into Terry’s hair, using a wet paper towel occasionally to wipe it off when it got on his skin. “Now we wait…umm, it says ten minutes.” He grinned. “Got any cards in you pack?”

Terry chuckled. “Nope.”

“Then we talk.” Rudy leaned against the wall by the sink. “What’s it like, living in a small town?”

“Probably like anywhere else, but slower. School, homework, get into sports if that’s your thing.”

“Did you?”

“Sports? Yeah. Baseball in high school. You?”

Rudy grimaced. “I left home when I was fifteen. Sports weren’t high on my list after that.”

“You from here?”

“Are you kidding? I’m an easterner, born and bred. Or was until I left.”

“Why did you leave?”

“Remember what I said about parents who couldn’t handle having a gay kid? That would be mine. First they tried to convince me it was just a phase I was going through. Then, when that didn’t work they kicked me out.”

“Whew.” Terry whistled through his teeth in dismay. “How did you end up out here?”

“I knew a guy who’d moved to Golden. That’s just west of Denver, in case you didn’t know. He let me stay with him for a bit before we decided we weren’t making it, even as friends. So I split and I’ve been on the streets ever since.”

“Four years.”

“Yeah.” Rudy chuckled. “That makes me a lifer, sorta.”

“Why not get a job?”

“There aren’t a lot of them out there for guys with no high school diploma and no fixed address.”

Terry smiled weakly. “Well, I’ve got half of that, and I know how to cook so maybe I’ll have a career at a fast-food place.”

“Lots of luck with that around here. Wrong ethnicity. And do not tell Josie I said that.”

“I won’t.”

“I think ten minutes are up. Let’s see what we have going. Stick your head under the water and rinse the dye out. Then you get to condition, just like in the fancy salons.”

Terry laughed, and did as he was told. He used paper towels to dry his hair when he was finished. Then he looked in the mirror. “A whole new me,” he murmured, a bit dismayed to see he really was—at least as far as his hair was concerned.

“And not bad, either,” Rudy said. “Brown works. Not as nice as the copper but better that going Goth. Get dressed and I’ll teach you the fine art of spanging.”

“You called it that before,” Terry said as he put on his T-shirt. “I presume that means begging?”

“Yep. Short for asking for spare change.”

They cleaned the sink as best they could with paper towels, tossed them in the trash, and took off.

* * * *

“When I thought of Denver, I pictured nice weather, not a sauna,” Terry grumbled, wiping sweat off his forehead. “It wasn’t this hot yesterday.”

Rudy laughed. “That’s Denver. If you don’t like the weather, wait a day.”

“So tomorrow it’ll be cooler?”

“I didn’t exactly say that. Yesterday was an…what’s the word? Anomaly? It’s been hot like this for most of the last week.”

“Damn. We should be getting change just for the pity factor that we’re out here trying—and melting in the process.” Terry looked at the money in the paper cup in front of him. “Isn’t working though.”

“Everyone’s dashing to the nearest air conditioned shop or restaurant.” Rudy looked him over then said, “Be careful of the sun. You’re already a nice shade of pink on your arms and face.”

“I never really had that problem at…where I came from.”

“Flatlander?” Rudy asked with a grin.

“I suppose.”

“Let me guess. Nebraska? Iowa? Maybe Kansas?”

Terry smiled. “One of those.”

“But you’re not saying which one. That’s okay. I get why not. You don’t know me well enough to trust me yet.”

“I…okay, I trust you so far, but we’ve known each other less than a day and I don’t want to take any chances that the bastard will find us. Especially Kel. He could drag him back home since he’s not eighteen yet.”

“I understand.” Rudy looked as if he did, and that he didn’t like it. Jumping to his feet, he said, “Let’s find another spot. This one sucks.”

After pocketing the bit of change he’d made, Terry joined him. “Look, I didn’t mean to piss you off,” he said quietly.

“You didn’t,” Rudy responded, staring straight ahead.

“Yeah, I did. I just have to watch out for Kel. Me…I can take care of myself when it comes down to it.”

“Yeah, I saw how well you’ve done that.”

“Meaning?”

“Your back. It looks like something from a medieval torture dungeon.”

“Like I said last night, things could have been worse. At least I’m alive, and Kel’s not messed up like me.” He stopped walking, staring down at the pavement, remembering the last beating. The one that precipitated the decision to leave.

Obviously it took Rudy a minute to realize he wasn’t beside him anymore but he finally turned to look back. “What’s wrong?”

Terry shook his head. “Nothing. Just…” He shrugged.

Coming back to him, Rudy said softly, “Tell me.”

“Dad was as drunk as I think I’ve ever seen him,” Terry blurted out. “He’d been out celebrating his birthday. With his drinking buddies. I guess he didn’t like realizing he was getting older, because when he came home we could hear him staggering up the stairs, swearing as he did about how he was as good as he had been in his youth, and stuff like that.. I told Kel to hide in his closet. Then I waited. I knew what could happen. Would happen. I’d have run but I wasn’t about to leave Kel there on his own. So…” He shuddered. “He finally stopped whipping me, staggered to bed, and passed out. Kel came in and I told him we were getting out of there for good. We did. We have.”

“And you are not going back. Either of you. Not if I can help it,” Rudy said adamantly, putting his arm around Terry’s shoulders.

“Thanks for saying that, even if it was only to make me feel better.”

“It was the truth. I’ll…we’ll make sure you’re safe. Both of you.”

Terry realized he’d teared up and wiped his hand over his eyes. “We’d better, umm, find that new spot you were talking about.”

“Yeah, guess we should.” Rudy looked around and pointed. “How about there. It’s in shade and no one’s taken it yet. Probably,” he grinned, “because the place pipes out classical music and most kids will be damned if they’re going to sit there and listen to it. It’s the restaurant’s way of keep us homeless away from the customers.”

“Won’t work with us though,” Terry said with a weak grin.

“Not in this lifetime.”