The Landloper: The Romance of a Man on Foot — John Shaqi
The Landloper: The Romance of a Man on FootDay, Holman
General
The Landloper: The Romance of a Man on Foot
Day, Holman
Political corruption -- Fiction; Water-supply -- Fiction
If the woman had relatives who were forced to take the child it meant
more of this horrible tenement life. The child in his arms was pale and
thin; her bones seemed as inconsiderable as a bird's.
He did not know much about children's homes, orphanages, institutions
for the reception of the homeless, but it seemed to him that such a
tiny, frail little girl would be very, very lonely in such a place.
The skies grew dark without. He was cramped because he had sat for hours
in one position, fearing to waken her. But when he moved she did not
waken--he did not understand how soundly childhood can sleep. He laid
her on the foot of the narrow bed and looked about the room, shielding
a match with his hands. He had resolved to carry her out of that fetid,
overcrowded babel of a tenement. Where? He did not know. He hunted to
find her belongings. He found a few clothes. There was no receptacle in
which he could pack them. He folded them and crowded the articles in his
pockets. He stuffed in the doll and the rude playthings and hooked the
basket doll-carriage upon his arm. She did not waken when he picked her
up. He tiptoed down the stairs and nobody noticed him, In his own dizzy
mind he could not determine whether he felt most like a thief or a
lunatic. At any rate, he found himself walking the streets of the mill
city at ten o'clock at night, carrying a little girl in his arms and all
her earthly possessions in his pockets.
It came over him at last that the longer he kept her the more uncertain
he became as to what disposal he should make of her, or else he was more
loath to part with her; he didn't exactly know which.
Then she woke and spoke for the first time. “Me is te'bble hungry--and
firsty,” she mourned.
“Good Lord! What's the matter with me?” grunted the young man. “If I had
found a cat or a dog, the first thing I would have done would be to give
'em something to eat. I reckon I must have thought I had picked up an
angel.” To her he said, smoothing her hair with his free hand. “We'll
have sumpin for baby's tummy mighty quick.” He flushed at sound of that
baby prattle from his lips. But it had popped out in the most natural
manner possible.
He headed for the nearest night lunch-cart. He entered with his burden.
He elbowed aside men who were eating sandwiches and pie at the counter.
With complete and rueful knowledge as to the extent of his resources,
he ordered a bowl of bread and milk--“the best you can do for a hungry
kiddie for ten cents,” he added.
“Anything for yourself?” inquired the waiter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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