9 A Brand New Suit

New Clothes

“If Sir would please hold still while Mickey is working with pins,” the skinny red headed Irish man said, holding up a rather long steel pin with an air of threat. The word Sir hadn’t been said with all that much respect either. That’s what happens when a person is a peasant and they show up for a knight’s court attire, as it were.

“Sorry, Mickey,” Gael said, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. “It’s just so hard to hold still! How much longer?”

Thin face, brown eyes dark enough to black, Mickey jaw shifted back and forth, eyes down though, looking at Gael’s bare foot as he wondered if he could get the pin all the way through before Gael kicked him. “It’s not your first fitting, Galen? Oh wait! It is! No more adjustments for you, uh,” Mickey said. “Be patient. I don’t want ye to show up and them to be like, ‘look at the bleedin state of that Irish lad!’ now do we?”

“No, Micky, I’m sorry. It’s just, I’ve got so much energy and I’ve got to go see Ma and stuff too, you know?”

“Oh I’d give that another fortnight, my pup. The littles are still with the Doyle’s. Your ma ain’t impressed by what you’re doing. In bed with English.” Mickey put the last pin in the hem. “Take’em off.”

“This is America. We’re all Americans,” Gael said, channeling Jack. “I’m going to make more money with this work and I’ll never get arrested again.”

“More work too,” Mickey complained. “For me and for you. You know as well as I do that English is a state of mind. The Americans are more English than the English sometimes. I’ll make you proper English with a matching vest, jacket, and tie by morning. So much work I’ll need elves to help me finish it!”

“I know you can do it, Mickey,” Gael said, giving his best and brightest smile. “I’m an honest man now, Mickey. I’ll take good care of the littles.”

“Honest man,” Mickey snorted, but set the new pants down by his sewing machine. “Honest, honest man. Gael, you’ve always been an honest man. Lawyers are more thieves than you ever were.”

“Well, at least it’ll feel like home then, uh?” Gael pushed back. Wearing just his boxers and tee-shirt, he poured himself some coffee and used sleight of hand to get two of Mickey’s sugar cubes. “Think I should get a haircut?”

“Yes,” Mickey said, picking up his shears and opening and snapping them closed a couple times.

“I’ll go see Tiny,” Gael said, holding up his hand. “So like four hours on the suit for tomorrow?”

“Five. Buy new shoes. Don’t wear anything Fairfax gave you. It’s bad luck.”

“Gotcha,” Gael agreed. “I’ll get some new shoes. You want I should bring you some dinner back?”

That got him a real smile out of MIckey.

“Will do.” Gael buttoned up the second-hand pair of pants that Mickey had traded him for the tuxedo that he’d been wearing. He pulled on a long sleeved shirt and left the collar buttons undone. “I’ll pick up the rest when I get back, okay?”

“You’ll be the thieviest of lawyers, Galen.”

“I’m going to do my best,” Gael agreed. “Thanks Mickey!”

A few stores over, the cobbler accepted the black patent leather shoes that Alfred had dressed him in for a simpler brown leather pair with a bit of delicate leather work at the toes and a dozen pairs of new socks. He could have gotten a better deal, but he was running out of daylight. Then he picked up a dozen eggs, ten pounds each of oats and flour, a dozen apples, a large wedge of cheese, and a tin of tobacco for his dad.

Not having been home in nearly a month, he paused outside the tenement building and considered if he wanted to go inside. Mickey had warned him. It wasn’t a very long considering because he had food for his little brothers and sisters, so he went up the stairs two at a time. There was something familiar and almost welcoming to the smell of smoke and human existence.

Though standing in front of the door that had been home for more than a decade, the only home he’d had since getting expelled from school, there was a tightness to his chest. He had a different home now, new and splendid in ways he’d never imagined home could be. He still didn’t think he was ever going to like mush, but the scents of roses and Jack were splendid. He set the bag of groceries down, gave the door a rapid knock, then made for the stairs as fast as he could.

His next stop was at the Doyle’s. It was already late by their standards and all the children in the house, all eleven of them with Gael’s three little siblings were in bed. Kate-Marie refused to see him. Still, he left five dollars there for food and necessities.

Once he got home, he found that Jack had saved him dinner of sliced roast beef, fresh bread, and a glass of wine. Nothing really felt real about all of this. While he was eating, his new suit arrived. Of course he had to try it on and then he and Jack bickered over how to tie a tie, until Gael destroyed Jack’s concentration with a kiss.

Jack was, perhaps, the shyest man Gael had ever kissed. Kissing was all they did. For that night, it was enough.