“But … but what about my baby brother?” he stammered faintly.
“All been figgered out,” said Piggy, now producing a fullfledged, ear-to-ear grin. “Ought we ter tell him now, Duck?”
“Aw, it’s gittin’ late,” Duck said. “We better wait ’til mornin’. But he ain’t yet said if he’s joinin’ up with us. So, is you, or ain’t you?” he asked Robin.
Robin did not wait to draw another breath. “I am,” he said simply. “But you ain’t even telled yer name,” Mouse said. “You got a name, aint’ you?”
Robin hesitated. Should he lie and invent something? After all, remember what Hawker’s friend Maggot had said, how he had better start calling himself something else just for protection? But then Robin thought of what his papa always used to say. “In for a penny, in for a pound.” So go ahead and give his real name. Let the boys laugh and get it over wth.
“It’s Robin,” he said, as defiantly as he dared. Nobody even snickered.
“It’s the name o’ some kind o’ bird, ain’t it?” said Piggy.
“It’s nice,” mused Spider. “We all got a kind o’ animal name, an’ now we got ’nother one.”
“Spider ain’t a animal,” said Piggy.
“Closer’n some,” said Spider. “But wot ’bout the baby. Wot’s ’is name?”
“It’s not any kind of animal,” replied Robin. “It’s just Danny.”
“Don’t matter none,” said Mouse. “We’ll jist pertend there’s a bird wot got the name o’ Danny.”
“Danny the bird wot come ter live with us at St. Somethin’,” said Piggy, yawning hugely, for the hour was late indeed.
The yawn was contagious, and the rest all followed suit.
“But … but what’s St. Something?” asked Robin.
Duck looked at him sleepily and yawned again. “It’s where yer at, Robin. Wot did you think? Yer bed’s anywheres on the floor where there ain’t somebody else. You already got your pillow.”
Duck collapsed on the floor where the other boys were already curled up on their rag pillows, and reached over to snuff out the candle.
“G’night!” he said.
“G’night!” chorused Piggy, Spider, and Mouse.
Conversation for the night was clearly over. If Robin was to learn anything more, it was going to have to wait until morning. But everything had happened so suddenly, and then ended so abruptly, his head was still spinning when he lay down. In one day he had become a thief, liar, and runaway. But most unbelievably of all, in less than a heartbeat it seemed, he had become a street boy. And he had the feeling there would be a great deal more to learn about that. Oh yes, a great deal more indeed!
Chapter VII
Duck’s Tale
Nobody was very cheerful about Danny waking them up in the morning, soaking wet and screaming for his breakfast. The only one who did not appear to mind as much as the others was Piggy. He quickly retrieved a clean diaper and the remaining bottle of milk from Robin’s shopping bag, and scuttled over as fast as his twisted leg could carry him to relieve Danny’s misery.
Robin, having spent his first night with nothing between himself and a rock-hard floor, and with recent events whirling in his brain, had managed to get little sleep. In truth, he had only fallen asleep a short time before Danny issued his loud demand for attention. He only manged to stumble over to him as Piggy was already removing his sodden diaper.
“I’ll take it over, Piggy,” he said uncomfortably. “You don’t need to do it.”
“I don’t mind none. You’ll git yer chance. You c’n tend ter this, an’ one here from las’ night, an’ the dirty bottle,” Piggy said, waving the wet diapers at Robin. “You c’n rinch ’em out when you goes ter the terlit. Looks like the rest o’ the boys is now goin’, so they’ll show you where it’s at. You c’n take over when you git back, an’ I’ll git my terlit turn.”
So Robin joined the three other boys, all yawning and rubbing their eyes, in a parade led by Mouse, who was holding the fluttering candle. A candle was, of course, needed, for the hallway was as dark in the daytime as it had been at night. The parade ended at what Mouse informed Robin was “the room wot had the terlit.” After they had all had their turns at this particular accomodation, the other two returned to their rooms, while Mouse held the candle for Robin to take care of Danny’s laundry with a cake of soap found at the sink. As he scrubbed, Mouse continued with his guided tour.
“Where the ol’ geezer wot takes care o’ down here an’, we supposes, some o’ the cleanin’ upstairs, keeps ’is mops an’ buckets,” said Mouse, jerking his head at the other door farther down the hallway. “He got a small gas burner an’ a ol’ kettle wot he owns ter make tea for hisself. People here got ter be richer’n sin, puttin’ all this stuff in wot’s no more’n the bleedin’ cellar. Better’n nothin’ any o’ us ever knowed.”
“Aren’t you afraid he’ll discover you living down here?” asked Robin, squeezing the water from the diapers.
“Ain’t yet. Course we ain’t been here but a couple o’ days,” replied Mouse, as they started back down the hallway. “But we ain’t worried none. He’s deafer’n a door post. Got only one eye wot works, an’ ’pears as how that ain’t none too good. We knowed that ’fore we moved in when Duck seed him talkin’ ter someone outside.”
Just what Duck had seen, Robin would have to wait to hear, because they had now arrived back at their room, where Piggy was waiting to hand Danny over to him.
“You c’n hang the dipes over there on them chair legs,” said Piggy, pointing to four chairs, each with only three remaining legs and holes punched in their cane seats,
