My Brother’s Keeper- 2

“We owe that guy,” Jerry said once he had caught his breath.

Roy nodded in agreement. He was bent over, his hands on the tattered knees of his jeans as he tried to breathe normally again. Straightening finally, he said, “We do, but since we didn’t see him that’s going to be a bit of a problem.”

“At least he saw Daws and his gang.” Jerry pushed back deeper into the corner of the doorway, not caring that it was full of God only knew what kind of trash. At this point in his life something like that didn’t faze him any more than it did his brother.

“Let’s hope Daws didn’t get a good look at him.” Roy dropped down to sit beside Jerry, opening the bag of food. “Diner is served,” he said with a wry chuckle.

“Yep. Oysters on the half-shell, without the oysters, filet mignon, well the bacon anyway, lots of tossed salad…literally.” Jerry took out a dinner roll, wiping the worst of what was on it onto a half-used paper napkin, and ate it in two bites. Then he took the last remains of a chicken leg, looked at it and sighed as he leaned his head back against the wall. “Will we ever get used to this?” he asked mournfully.

“You don’t have to. You can go back home and be welcomed with open arms.”

“That’s not happening, Roy. I won’t do that until it’s both of us. I promised you that.”

Roy smiled sadly. “Then I guess you’re stuck living on the streets.” He fished out a hunk of meat he thought was probably the last of a pork chop, wrapped it in a couple of lettuce leaves and ate it without shuddering. “Go ahead, finish up what’s in there,” he told his brother once his mouth was empty.

“What about you? You’ve hardly eaten anything.”

“Not all that hungry,” Roy told him with a small smile. He was actually, but there was hardly enough for one of them, to say the least of two. 

Jerry frowned, but did as Roy told him after wrapping his thin jacket tighter around himself when a brisk breeze kicked up. “Where are we sleeping tonight?” he asked around a mouthful of bread.

“I was thinking the Ritz, but I maxed out my credit card,” Roy replied with a straight face. He chuckled when Jerry looked at him in disbelief and then caught the joke. “Actually, if we’re lucky, we can use the rooftop shed again. So far Daws and his gang haven’t stumbled on to it. We just have to get there without his seeing us.”

“He can’t be everywhere at once.”

Roy nodded as he said wryly, “Bet me. So far he’s done a pretty good job of finding us on the street.”

“So maybe it’s time to find somewhere else?”

“Yeah. Yeah I think so. Tomorrow.”