The Big Apple Posse

by Wendy R. Williams

Chapter III

  “Be much fun? What did he mean, be much fun?” Cindy’s voice was shaking as she ran down the darkened tunnel.

  “They were just bad men.” Amanda’s voice quivered. Why did those men want her? But she could not take time to think about that. She had to stay safe. The streets were incredibly scary and she was the only one around to take care of Peter and Cindy.

  “There’s another rat!” Peter grabbed his sister.

  “Stay next to me. I am going to light a candle.” Amanda pulled a birthday candle out of her pocket and lit it with a match. They were in the tunnel and this time they could not go back out. “We need to walk until we get to a station close to Cindy’s apartment. How many more stations is it?”

  “It’s just one, we can get out at Union Square. But won’t there be looters at Union Square too?” said Cindy.

  “What street is Union Square?” Amanda asked.

  “14th Street.”

  “Then we would have to walk two blocks north to get to 16th. And don’t we have to go a few blocks across town too?”

  “Yes, I live at 16th and Third, so it would be two more blocks across town,” Cindy said in a very small voice.

  “We won’t make it for four blocks. It is too dangerous for us to be on the streets. We don’t have anything to use to protect ourselves and there are too many looters.” Amanda tried to sound brave, but all she wanted to do was sit down and cry. But she couldn’t. She was in a subway tunnel with two younger kids, there were bad guys chasing them, rats were scurrying about, and she had to act like a grownup and take care of Peter and Cindy. She could not let them know how scared she was. “Why don’t we walk to Grand Central Station. If there are any policemen in the City, they will be there. I see the National Guard there all the time. Maybe the Metro North trains will be running and we can get on a train and go home to Connecticut. I have a debit card and Mom keeps $100 on it.”

  “You have a debit card?” asked Cindy.

  “Yes, I do. All my friends have debit cards.”

  “Good,” said Cindy.

  “Come on. We don’t have that many birthday candles and we need to get to Grand Central before night,” said Amanda.

  The children followed Amanda and her candle up the tracks. After a while they got into a rhythm, walking over the tracks. The tunnel was spooky, dark and cold. They could hear the sound of people running on the street through the subway vents above their heads and mice running past them in the tunnel. But they kept on trudging on the tracks, passing the Union Square, 23rd Street and 34th Street Stations on their way to Grand Central. The first few times they reached a subway station, they boosted Amanda up on the platform so she could check, but each time, Amanda came running back down the stairs and lowered herself into the tunnel, telling Cindy and Peter that there were still looters running through the streets.

  There was hardly any light in the tunnel when they reached the stations. They could still see the station address on the wall when they reached 28th Street, but when they reached the next station there was no light at all.

  “I think this is 34th Street,” Cindy said. “Sometimes we get off here to go to Macys.

  Finally, they reached Grand Central Station. It was pitch black in the subway tunnel and the only way they could be sure they had arrived at Grand Central was that they were at the second station after 28th Street where there had been enough daylight left to see the address on the walls. But now it was totally dark and the only way they could tell they were even in a subway station was the bit of the platform they could see by the light of the birthday candle Amanda was carrying.

  “I am really scared,” said Cindy.

  Peter was too tired to talk.

  “I am scared too, but I am going to take care of you. But we have to get out of this subway tunnel and find some nice people to help us.” Amanda tried to sound braver than she felt.

  “I don’t think there are any nice people left in this city,” Peter said.

  “There are always nice people. We just have to be brave until we find some,” said Amanda. “Come on, it’s time for the buddy climb. Here, Peter, you go first.”

  Peter climbed on Amanda’s shoulders and up on the platform. This time they had the “buddy pull” down and they scampered up on the platform quickly and then lighting the last of the birthday candles, they found the stairs.

  “I am really hungry,” Peter said.

  “Shh. I’ll find food, but right now everyone needs to be very quiet. I am going to blow out the candle and then we are going to climb up the stairs together without making a sound. We don’t know who is up there.” Amanda blew out the candle. “I am going to go first, Cindy you come next, and Peter you be last. Hold hands and climb slowly.”

  The children climbed up the stairs to the darkened platform. It was pitch dark when they made it to the top of the stairs. Amanda put her hands over their mouths and pulled them close. “Shush! We need to listen to see if anyone else is here.”

  The children stood frozen at the top of the stairs. The subway station was dark and cold. They stood for a minute in total silence.

  “The escalators to Grand Central are behind us. We need to turn,” Cindy whispered.

  “I am going to light the candle again. You follow me.” They turned and followed Amanda through the dark station until they reached the turnstiles. Ahead, they could see two escalators and some stairs. At the top of the stairs were some flickering lights.

  “Come on, we need to go up the stairs. If there are any police in the city, some of them have got to be here. I am going to blow out the candle again because we may need it later,” said Amanda.

  “There is a store in Grand Central that has lots of cool Japanese flashlights. It’s across the hall on the other side, but maybe the door is open like the restaurant was.” Cindy was starting to sound less scared.

  “Okay, we’ll see what happens when we get up there.” Amanda pulled her little band up the stairs into the now dark Grand Central Station.

  “Where is that store?”

  “I will show you.” Cindy started to walk.

  “No, we need to move slowly. We don’t know who else is here.” Amanda grabbed their hands.

  The children walked down the hall, away from the subway entrance and the little light that was coming through from 42nd Street. At the end of the hall, they could see a bit of moonlight coming through the ceiling of the Great Hall. Amanda normally loved to look at the Great Hall with its soaring ceiling studded with sparkling constellations. She liked to imagine herself dancing across the floor in a ball gown, but now it was just another obstacle. Amanda pulled Cindy and Peter flat against the wall and they slowly began to walk across the Great Hall.

  “What’s on our feet?” Peter was pointing down at their feet which were covered in white powder.

  “I don’t know. Someone must have spilled some flour when they were leaving?”

  “Flour, why would anyone be carrying that much flour?” asked Peter.

  “I don’t know. Shh!” said Amanda.

  “Okay,” said Peter as he stomped his feet in the powder.

  “The store is on the other side,” Cindy whispered.

  “Okay, we need to run across the hall. Go as fast as you can and don’t stop for anything.”

  The children started running across the hall past the clock tower on their way to the west side of Grand Central.

  “Hey, there are some kids here.” A man’s voice called from the top of the stairway behind them. Amanda grabbed Peter and Cindy’s hands and pulled them across the hall until they were on the other side. They stopped and looked back up into the hall and could see two tall men wearing all black moving down the stairs with a flashlight. The man started to run across the floor of the Great Hall which looked like someone had used a gigantic flour sifter.

  Cindy grabbed their hands and pulled them quickly down the hall and into the empty flashlight store. They lay flat on the floor behind the counter and tried not to brea
th. They could hear two men walking down the hall and talking.

  “They are gone. They were probably just some looters anyway,” one of the men said.

  The children stayed where they were for a few seconds, and then Cindy said, “We have to find the flashlights. They have some little ones at the counter where you check out.”

  “I hope they don’t need batteries,” said Peter.

  “No, they have solar batteries; they are pretty cool; they are French. All the kids in my school love this store. It has the best stuff.” Cindy walked around to the front of the counter and started feeling through the articles in the front of the counter. It was almost pitch dark in the store.

  “This one is a key chain.” Cindy turned on a flashlight that was attached to a key chain.

  “Hold it down behind the counter. We don’t want anyone to see us. We need to take all of them. Put one in your pocket and the rest in my backpack.” Amanda started scooping up the flashlights.

  “Hey, that’s stealing,” Peter said.

  “Stealing? We are being chased by thieves and you are worried about stealing?” said Cindy. “Oh, I see. We would be thieves too…”

  “I will leave a note saying we took (Amanda quickly counted) ten flashlights and then we will tell our mothers to pay for them when we find our mothers.” Amanda quickly grabbed a note pad and a pen and wrote out a quick note: “I owe you for ten flashlights. Amanda Wolinski.”

  “I am hungry.” Peter had just about had all he could take.

  “There is a food court downstairs. And there is an escalator over there. I am hungry too.” Cindy started walking toward the door.

  “Take that note pad if you are going to steal the food.” Peter was so tired he could barely make sense.

  “Okay, okay. I will write another note saying I took the note pad and pen and then we need to go downstairs and see if we can find some food.” Amanda wrote the note, grabbed both Cindy and Peter and headed out into the hall. “Don’t turn on your flashlights. We can just use mine.”

  Amanda held her flashlight close to her leg creating a small circle of light on the floor.

  The children walked to the escalator and started creeping down the escalator stairs. The basement of the station was totally dark and there was no sound. Amanda remembered that all around the center of the room were food stands. Amanda pulled Cindy and Peter to one of the stands and then motioning to them to be quiet, she used her flashlight to see what kind of food there was. They were in luck. The counter was filled with wrapped sandwiches, chips, cookies and cans of soda. Amanda quickly grabbed three sandwiches, three bags of chips, six cookies and three cans of soda and handed them to Cindy and Peter.

  Cindy looked at her beef sandwich. “I am a vegetarian.”

  “You ate a steak last week,” Peter snapped.

  “That was before I was a vegetarian. But I guess I can wait a few more days.” Cindy started eating.

  “I want to be a vegetarian too,” Amanda whispered through a mouthful of sandwich.

  “You do? I didn’t think they had vegetarians in Connecticut.”

  “Well, they are going to have one,” Amanda murmured through a mouthful of chips.

  “Just one! I don’t ever want to be a vegetarian. I hate vegetables.” Peter was feeling very superior.

  “I’m just glad to have food,” said Amanda.

  “Me, too,” Cindy sighed.

  The children finished eating and then Amanda grabbed some more food and put it in their backpacks. “We don’t know when we will see food again.”

  “Remember, the note. I don’t want to get arrested.” Peter grabbed Amanda as she was about to get up.

  “I would love to see a cop and get arrested.” Amanda wrote the note anyway.

  “I need to go to the bathroom.” Peter started to get up.

  “There are bathrooms over there.” Cindy had spent a lot of time at Grand Central, taking trips to Connecticut to see her cousins.

  “Okay, pick up everything and follow Cindy, but be very quiet.” Amanda pulled Cindy up from the floor and gave Cindy and Peter their backpacks.

  “That’s heavy,” Peter said.

  “You’ll be glad it is heavy in about four hours. We need to go.” Amanda was sounding more and more like her mother.

  The children traveled through the dark basement of the station by the light of Amanda’s flashlight. When they got to the bathrooms, Peter tried to go to the left and go into the men’s room.

  Amanda grabbed Peter’s arm. “You are staying with us. We need to stay together.”

  “Okay.” Peter was too tired to argue. They went into the ladies room together and using their flashlights used the bathroom.

  “Don’t flush. Someone could hear us,” Amanda barked.

  “Yuk. Being a fugitive sure is nasty work,” Peter said.

  “Can I turn on the water in the sink? I am so dirty.” Cindy had her hand on the faucet.

  “Turn on one faucet really slow and clean up with wet paper towels.” Amanda turned a faucet on to a trickle and thought to herself that so far she had done a pretty good job. They were safe, they were fed and right now, they were going to be clean, well, a little clean.

  “What do we do now?” Cindy asked Amanda.

  “Well, we have not found anyone to help us here so we better leave and see if we find someone outside.” Amanda was just about to hand Peter and Cindy’s their backpacks when suddenly they heard the voices of the two men from before right outside the bathroom door. Amanda froze, put out the flashlight and pulled everyone to the back row of toilets.

  The door slammed open. “Hey, this is the ladies room.”

  “Who cares?”

  “Well, I like a urinal.”

  “Okay. But look, aren’t those the backpacks those kids had?”

  “Yes, let’s look!” Amanda could see the edge of a lantern shining from the front of the ladies room.

  “Not now. We don’t have time to fool around with any kids. We’ve got a lot more stuff to move.” The men left.

  Amanda pulled everyone into a stall. They stood there and shook.

  “Who are they?” Cindy was whimpering.

  “Just more looters,” said Amanda.

  “I’m glad I didn’t go in the men’s room,” Peter said.

  “What are we going to do?” Cindy was shaking.

  “I don’t know,” said Amanda.

  “You don’t know. You have to know. We don’t have our mothers. Something awful has happened. It’s dark. I’m cold.” Cindy was really sobbing.

  “Okay. I do know. I am going to take care of you. Please don’t be scared. I will get us out of this mess. I promise.”

  “You’re just twelve years old. What can you do?” Peter asked.

  “We will all get out of here. Here hold my hands.” Amanda grabbed Cindy and Peter’s hands and made a circle. “From now on, we are a team and I promise we will be okay - we will do it together.” Amanda was horribly scared. She was just as cold and tired as Peter and Cindy, but somehow telling them she would take care of them made her feel better.

  “I am really tired,” Peter said.

  “You are cold and that is why you are tired. Let’s go upstairs and see if we can find some tablecloths to keep us warm.”

  “Tablecloths?” asked Peter.

  “There are some fancy restaurants upstairs and if we can get up there, maybe we can wrap up and go to sleep. And maybe tomorrow there will be someone in the station to help us,” said Amanda.

  “We are going to sleep in a restaurant?” asked Cindy.

  “We need to improvise – like they do on the Survivor shows. We have food, we have flashlights and now we just need to make a plan to stay warm. Or like that guy on Mission Impossible: ‘Our mission, if we choose to accept it, is to get to the Grand Central balcony and find some tablecloths.’ So what is it, are you in?” Amanda was trying to be cheerful and not allow herself to be scared. Whatever had happened, it was not going to be over quic
kly and they needed to survive until they could find someone nice to help them.

  “Come, we need to.” The children quietly moved to the front of the restroom, stopping to pick up the backpacks. Amanda motioned for them to be very quiet while she slowly opened the door and listened. Not hearing anyone outside, they walked through the dark by the light of one low flashlight. Amanda thought it was colder and darker than before. There was no light filtering through the stairs and she could hear scurrying sounds from the train tracks below. The rats must really be afraid.

  They traveled back the way they had come, climbing back up the escalator into the darkened alcove below the Grand Central Balcony. The Great Hall was completely dark now.

  “I am going to turn off the flashlight. We need to move in the dark. We can feel our way along until we get to the balcony steps and then we will climb up,” Amanda whispered.

  “Why can’t we have a light?” whispered Cindy.

  “Because I don’t want anyone to see us. Come on, we need to tiptoe.”

  Peter grabbed Amanda’s arm, “Maybe they have night vision goggles!”

  “And maybe they don’t. Come on! There is a door up there too. If they chase us, we can run out onto the street.”

  They moved down the hall, staying totally flat against the wall until they found the end. Amanda turned and still holding Cindy’s hand (Cindy was holding onto Peter), they climbed up the stairs. When they got to the top of the stairs, Amanda pulled them to the right into the restaurant, moving slowly so as not to knock over a table in the dark.

  The tables and bar for the restaurant were outside on the balcony of the Great Hall, but the kitchen was behind a door. They walked through the open door of the kitchen and went inside. Once they were inside, Amanda turned on her flashlight. They were in the kitchen and the ovens were still warm. Amanda quickly found a shelf filled with tablecloths and grabbed them and wrapped them around herself and Peter and Cindy. The children sat on the ground huddled next to the gas oven and shivered until they were warm again.

  Cindy started to speak, but Amanda hushed her. There was no way to know if they were safe. They could only sit and hope.