Notes: Baby Face was written in 1926 by Benny Davis and Harry Akst. I Can't Give You Anything But Love was written in 1928 by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh. Sonny Boy was also written in '28 by Al Jolson, B.G. DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson.
Stick With Me, Kid Part 9
Jimmy's POV
Hildy and I spent most of the afternoon gathering lush pine branches that would make pretty comfortable beds for six of us. As for the seventh, well, I didn't much care about Helstrom. The bastard could make do with the culls.
The rifle was never out of my reach, and Hildy carried the canteen.
Every now and then, the ground would tremble, and we'd look at each other nervously. We spoke of this and that to distract ourselves from their increasing frequency.
"Did you always want to be a sailor, Jimmy?"
"Yep. I wanted that so bad that I ran away from home when I was fifteen."
"That wasn't too smart, if you'll excuse me for saying so?"
"You're right, honey." I found myself falling into the habit of calling her that, like Smitty did. She seemed comforted by it. She'd become very attached to him, and he cared about her a lot, too. She was still just a little girl, even though sometimes, like now, she sounded so adult. "I was lucky, though," I told her. "I signed on with the Skipper right off, and he's the best captain in the world."
"I was lucky too, when Johnny came back to get me." She saw my quizzical expression. "Mai Ling was going to get a lot of money for me. She told me about it right after I drank that cup of tea she gave me. It must have had opium or something in it, because it knocked me right out. I should have known better." She sounded disgusted with herself.
"Aw, honey, you'd just lost your daddy."
"I know. But ..."
"And Smitty did get you out of there."
"You're right, Jimmy. But I've always had to be self-reliant. No one else was going to look after me." Her eyes were suddenly very old. "Daddy liked to drink a little, you see."
The poor little scrap. "Well, you've got us now, Skipper and Charley and Smitty and Mr. Denham, and me."
"Oh, yes. I do have all of you now. Thanks, Jimmy." She sniffled a bit. "That makes me feel better."
"Say, you ain't gonna cry now, are you?"
She smiled up at me mistily, and shook her head.
"Howzabout a song?"
"Oke. What would you like to hear? I take requests, you know."
Most of the songs I knew were barroom ditties. I didn't think she'd know them, and if she did, she shouldn't. I shrugged. "Why don't you pick something?"
She gave me a grin and began to sing. I hummed along, or sang some snatches of the ones I did know.
"You have a nice voice, Jimmy. We could do an act together."
"Sing in front of an audience?" I shook my head. But I was flattered she thought I could sing well enough. "Are all the songs you know so adult?" She looked puzzled. "Don't you know any... I don't know... kids' songs?"
"You mean like, 'Baby face, you've got the cutest little baby face...'"
I couldn't help myself. I burst into laughter. "Um, not exactly what I had in mind, honey."
"'I can't give you anything but love, baby... '"
I shook my head and continued chuckling.
"'Climb upon my knee, Sonny Boy...'"
"Never mind."
We dropped the branches and went back to get another load.
We were sweating heavily. The heat seemed to press down on us, and we took turns sipping from the canteen she carried. I hoped the others would find some fresh water. Our canteen was almost empty. I hid my concern from the little girl.
We stopped beside a tree I wasn't familiar with, and I looked up at it. "Those branches look like they'll be comfortable. Wait here. I'll climb up and break some off, and drop them down to you." I looked at the angle of the sun through the canopy of the trees, trying to guess the time. It was later than I had realized. "Then we'll call it a day."
"I am a little hungry," she confided.
"Yeah, me too. I'll open a couple of those cans that Charley packed. I don't think Skipper'll be too upset with us."
"Um... Jimmy? Do you have a way to open the cans? Charley was in such a rush he forgot the can opener."
"Sure. Smitty used a shiv..." My words trailed off, and I stared at the little girl in dismay. "And he took it with him. That was the only one in camp, I think."
She sighed. "I was really looking forward to some of that salt pork that the Skipper doesn't like."
I echoed her sigh. "I'll tell you the truth, honey. So was I." I took another drink from the canteen and climbed up the tree. I was glad this would be the last of them.
All afternoon, I'd been keeping an eye out for danger, but there had been nothing, and I... I relaxed.
We were returning to camp with the branches, trying to sing a song in harmony, when all of a sudden one of those dinosaur-critters appeared a few yards down the path in front of us.
We stared at it. It stared at us.
It stood about six feet high. It had muscular hind legs and ridiculously short forelegs, ending in three-taloned feet. But it was the mouth that made me want to cry for my momma. That mouth was filled with rows of teeth. Lots of teeth. More teeth than there was tea in China.
I noticed all that in a split second. I dropped the branches and the gun, grabbed Hildy, and learned first hand how Helstrom had managed to climb that tree.
Maybe the critter was surprised by our presence. Maybe its brain was really small, and it didn't realize straight off that we could be a new source of food; whatever the reason, we were halfway up the tree before it started chasing us.
But once it began to move, jesus, it was fast. It launched itself up after us, and I put a hand on Hildy's seat and pushed her up higher. She clung to the trunk, her eyes huge as she watched that thing snap its jaws shut, managing to snag a tooth in my pants.
For a second it was touch and go, and then my pants gave up the ghost, and the seat was torn out. "Go, go, go!" I ordered, and we scrambled higher.
When we were safely out of reach, in a notch high up in the tree, we looked down at it. The critter had fallen back onto its ass, and was struggling to right itself, and from the sounds it was making, if ever a dinosaur was cussing, that one was!
"What is that, Jimmy?"
She hadn't seem the stegosaur that had treed Helstrom. "Mr. Denham said they were dinosaurs. Prehistoric beasts."
Hildy shuddered.
Time dragged by. The sun was setting, and Hildy was starting to get nervous. "Why hasn't anyone come back yet, Jimmy?" she asked in a tiny voice. By 'anyone', she really meant John Smith. "Do you think he... Do you think they..." Her lower lip quivered.
"I think they just lost track of the time and probably made camp somewhere for the night. They'll be fine, honey."
"Do you promise?"
Jesus, how could I promise something like that? I was whistling in the dark as it was. I felt sick, but I tried to keep my reaction from the little girl. I looked into her blue eyes. "I promise, Hildy. Now, don't you worry, or you'll get me in dutch with Smitty. He'll think I'm doing a really bad job taking care of you."
She leaned back against me. "How long is that thing going to stay there?"
"Not much longer, I hope, Hildy. It's a good thing you didn't drop the canteen like I dropped the rifle."
"The only reason I didn't drop it was because the strap was around my neck."
"Well, it's still a good thing."
"And the rifle'll still be there in the morning. You can get it then."
"Sure I can, honey." I dropped a kiss on her hair.
"The morning!" she suddenly squeaked. "Jimmy, suppose I fall asleep." Her eyes were enormous pools of worry. "I could fall out of the tree!"
Fuck. We both could fall out. "Don't you worry. I'll hold onto you. I won't let you fall out, honey!" I muttered to myself, "But I wish I had something to tie us to this tree!" I didn't realize she heard me. "Hildy, hold still. What are you..."
She wiggled and wriggled, and there was a tearing sound. "Here, Jimmy. Maybe this will help." She handed me a strip of material she'd torn off the hem of her nightie.
I was more relieved than I wanted to let on. "Thanks, honey." The strip should be long enough, I figured, with Hildy wedged in front of me. I slid it around my back and tied the two of us tight to the notch of the tree.
The critter paced beneath us, and its tail whipped back and forth like it was really unhappy that we were up there out of reach, and it was down there on the ground. It went back to the spot where we had crossed paths, caught our scent on the branches, and began making match sticks out of them.
"Well," I sighed, "there goes our beds."
And then I heard a sickening crunch, and realized the creature had stepped on the rifle. I shivered.
I didn't have much religion, but that night I said a prayer in thanks that at least we still had the two other rifles.
tbc