Chapter Text

Columbus, Ohio, United States

1937



“Get your things, already! We have to be at the station in an hour.” Red hissed. His sister was agonising over choices between different items from her wardrobe. It wasn’t normal for her, this sort of vanity and hesitation; he knew on some level that she was trying to stall, to avoid having to take the next steps on a trip neither of them wanted to take.



“Why didn’t you tell me we’d have to go to New York? I would have packed yesterday if I’d known.”



“Mom would have been able to tell something was up. This is safer.”



“Did you…?”



“Yeah, I grabbed the jewellery I could last night. I’ll pawn it when we get there.”



“Do you think it’ll be enough? For the…”



“It’ll be enough for the procedure and a place to sleep for a few nights. It’ll be okay.”



She bit her bottom lip; Red could see the tears forming at the edges of her eyes.



“Don’t worry, Dotty,” He gave the best reassuring smile he could. “I’ll tell her I took it to play cards, remember?”



“Are you sure?”



“Yeah. And we’ll say we ran off to see a show on Broadway. We will, too. After it’s done. That way if she asks us about it, we’ll have something to say.”



“Thanks Red,” she murmured, pulling her bag’s zipper closed.



Red smiled, pulling his hat on. “Don’t mention it.”