We Come Out At Night 2

----------------
Ruby
---------------

I got up the next day at about noon and went down to the casino snack bar to get something to eat. I got a bagel with cream cheese and strawberry jelly and a cup of coffee along with the newspaper and sat in an empty booth.

I guess that they thought they were sitting far enough away for me not to hear them, but they were wrong. I heard ever word of the conversation between Christ and The Rev.

“A news paper?” It was Christ who started off the conversation.

“I didn’t know she could read.” The Rev laughed after he spoke and Christ was laughing right along with him.

“She’s probably just looking at the pictures.” I really didn’t want to look over there and let them know I could hear them, so I just kept my gaze on the paper. I no longer had an appetite though.

When they finally got up to leave they were still laughing and the last one I heard speak before they left was The Rev. “She’s probably just reading the comics, hell a 1st grader could do that.”

When they were gone I let the tears fall and pushed my bagel away. I got out of the booth and picked up everything and threw it in the trash. Before walking out of the snack bar I wiped my eyes, but it didn’t stop the tears from coming.

I walked across to Shadows office and knocked on his door. “Come in” his voice sounded irritated and I hoped he would take mercy on me. I walked inside just as Izzy was getting off his lap and I closed the door behind me.

“Ruby, are you crying?” Izzy asked me, but I couldn’t find the words to speak. I just nodded in response. “Sit down.” She pulled a chair out for me and I sat down trying to calm myself enough so I could form a single word.

Shadows leaned forward and handed me a box of tissues. I took the box from him and set it down in my lap and after wiping my eyes with one of the tissues I looked up at him.

“Can you help me?” My voice kept cracking, but it was already past the point of being embarrassed.

He got up from behind his desk and moved around to the front of it and sat on the edge in front of me. “What do you need help with?” he asked.

“Can you make me smart?” He looked at Izzy who had a sympathetic expression on her face.

“Was someone mean to you?” He asked and again I couldn’t find the words because the sobs just kept coming. He leaned forward and grabbed my hand.

“Calm down. Just breathe and calm down.”

“I know I’m not smart as you guys are. I didn’t even go to high school.”

“Ruby” Izzy knelt down in the chair beside me. “Do you want us to help you get your G.E.D.?”

“What’s that?”

Shadows squeezed my hand before answering. “It’s a diploma.”

“Ok.” I nodded. “Will that make people stop making fun of me?”

Shadows let go of my hand and put a finger under my chin, lifting my face to look at him.
“If that doesn’t make them stop, these will.” He said holding up his fists and I laughed a little.

“Feel better now?”

“A little.”

“Ok. I’ll have Izzy get you everything you need to get that diploma, but you have to promise you’ll work really hard.”

“Oh, I promise.” I blotted my eyes with the tissue and looked at both of them. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, now come here.” He pulled me out of the chair and hugged me. Izzy came over and hugged me as well. “Ok, as much as I love group hugs, I have some work to finish. Was there anything else you needed?”

“No.”

“Then get out of here.” He winked and I knew he was teasing me. I left his office and went outside to smoke a cigarette hoping it would calm my nerves. When I got outside I sat down on the bench and lit up.

--------------------
Gates
--------------------

I was walking down the hall when I saw Ruby come out of Shadows office with tears coming from her eyes. I can only imagine what he had yelled at her for now, but she seemed pretty upset about it.

I followed her out through the front door of the casino and saw her sitting alone on one of the benches smoking a cigarette.

“This seat taken?” I asked and she shook her head no, so I sat beside her. “Want to talk about it?” she shook her head again and wiped her eyes with a tissue.

“I know that when something’s bothering me, I feel better when I talk about it”

“Talking about it won’t help. I’ll still be stupid after.” Oh boy, what the fuck happened now?

“What are you talking about?”

“I know you all make fun of me because I’m stupid.” Now it was time to face the music.

“Ruby.”

“No, it’s fine. I know I’m not smart, but do you guys have to remind me everyday?” Great which one of them did it in front of her?

“What happened?” She went on to tell me what happened in the snack bar this afternoon with Jimmy and Johnny. I knew we were mean, but we never threw it in her face like those two morons did today. “I’m sorry, Ruby.”

She shook her head and looked at me. “No, you’re not and that’s fine. You used to be nice to me, but you’re no better then they are.” She was right; I was a friend to her once, but turned my back on her just like everyone else.

She threw her cigarette butt down on the ground and got up. She didn’t say another word to me. She just went back inside and didn’t look back. I feel lower than fucking dirt right now. I understood everything she told me, but that didn’t explain why she was coming out of Shadows’ office.

I went to see him and he explained what happened when she came into his office. I wanted to strangle Jimmy and Johnny and so did he. He went on to tell me how he and Izzy agreed to help her get her G.E.D. because she wanted to be smart. Honestly, it baffled me that we let it get this far and that we made this girl feel so bad about herself.

---------------------------
Later that night….
---------------------------

I was sitting in the bar with Shadows when Ruby walked by. She went into the snack bar to get something to eat only this time she opted to take it back up to her room with her. When she walked back out she was carrying a sandwich and a soda, but she stopped and stood still and started staring off into the main room again.

“Why does she do that?” I asked Shadows knowing full well that we already had this conversation.

“I gotta know what she’s looking at.” He said and he got off his stool. I followed him over to where she stood and we both stood beside her looking in the direction that she was looking in, but we still didn’t get it.

“What are you looking at?” Shadows finally asked her, but she never pulled her gaze away from where she was looking. She raised her arm and pointed at the black jack table.

“That man, he’s counting cards. He’s here almost every night.” I looked at Shadows and he looked at me. We must have been thinking the same thing. This was Ruby after all there is no way she knew what counting card’s was.

“How can you be so sure?” He asked her.

“Watch, he’s going to raise his bet because the deck is high.” The two of us stood there and watched and she was right. He raised up.

“He has black jack,” she noted. “If you ask the dealer to shuffle the deck, he’ll get up and leave because it throws a kink in his strategy and he’ll have to start all over again.”

“Son of a bitch.” Shadows and I walked over to the table where the man played and sat down. Before the dealer could deal the next hand Shadows asked the dealer to shuffle the cards and sure enough, as Ruby said, the man took his remaining chips and left.

We just sat there looking at each other and then we got up and followed him outside. Needless to say after being confronted outside, he won’t be returning to our establishment any time soon. We went back inside, but Ruby was no longer there.

“How do you think she knew that?” Shadows asked me.

I shrugged. Apparently she was smarter then we thought. “I have no idea.”

“Well, I think tomorrow we should ask her to join us at the black jack table.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I need a drink.”

I walked to the bar and sat down and it didn’t take long for London to approach me.

“What’s your poison this evening?”

“The usual, straight up.” She nodded and set a glass on the bar and filled it.

“You know, bar tenders make great listeners.”

I knew she was trying to be friendly. “You’d be bored in a matter of minutes.”

She nodded her head. “A woman.”

“What?”

She laughed at me and tilted her head to the side. “We’re gifted people, us bartenders. You’ve got female troubles”

I sipped my drink and set it down on the bar. “You people scare me.”

“Bartenders or Females?”

“You know, girls. I don’t get you, any of you and I don’t think I ever will”

She laughed again. “Well, if we made it easy for you to understand us, where would be the fun in watching you try and figure us out?”

“You’re cruel.” I noted and sipped my drink again.

“She went up to her room. Looked kind of sad too.”

“Who?”

“Do you really need an answer to that?” Ok so she had me figured out in five minutes.

I shook my head. “Nope and thanks for the hint.” I dropped a twenty on the bar and walked away.

I headed up to my room to get something I had picked up earlier today and after I grabbed it, I walked out of my room and back on to the elevator. When I got to her floor, I walked down the long hall and knocked on her door.

She answered the door shortly after and stood there in the door way dressed in a white wife beater and gray sweat shorts. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy and she stood waiting for me to say something.

“So, I was wondering if you wanted to come up to my room and watch a movie with me.” I held up the DVD of The Outsiders that I picked up today. “I heard it’s got Matt Dillon and Patrick Swayze in it.”

A yes or no would have sufficed, but I didn’t get either. She frowned and walked right in to my chest and started to cry again. I wrapped one arm around her waist and brought a hand up to the back of her head and held her there while she cried. “Just let it all out, it’s ok.” I whispered as we stood in her doorway. She finally calmed down and looked up at me. “Do you have popcorn?”

“Ruby, Ruby, Ruby” I shook my head. “What’s a movie without popcorn?” She wiped her eyes and walked with me down the hall to the elevator. I took her up to my floor. Yes, like Shadows, I had a whole floor to myself. When we stepped off the elevator she seemed a little uncertain.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“You live here?” She was looking everywhere. I guess compared to the room she had, this was a palace to her. I laughed and took her by the hand.

“Come on, I’ll show you around.”

I brought her into the living room and she seemed completely taken back. It was only the living room to me. I had black leather couches and a dark purple rug with dark purple curtains and of course a wide screen television mounted on the wall above the fireplace.

I couldn’t help but enjoy her moment of awe. She was like a child in a candy store.
“Come on.” I led her to the kitchen that I hardly ever used, but liked to have for just in case moments. “Popcorn.” I held up the little packet and stuck in the microwave. I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the bedroom next.

“Your bed is huge,” that it was. I like a big comfy bed with lots of pillows. It had a black wrought iron frame and a purple down comforter with purple and black pillows. I walked over to the DVD player and popped in the movie.

“Make yourself comfortable. I’m gonna go get the popcorn and change. I’ll be right back.” I left her alone in my bedroom and went to my hall closet, which was just as big as my bedroom. I changed into a pair of sweat pants and went to the kitchen to get the popcorn. After pouring it out of the bag into a bowl, I grabbed a few beers from the fridge and went back to the bedroom.

She was sitting on the bed up against the headboard with pillows behind her back watching the previews that ran before the movie started. I walked over to the bed and set the beers down on the end table and put the bowl of popcorn down next to her on the bed before I got on myself. When I was seated comfortably, I reached over and grabbed a beer and passed it to her and took the other one for myself.

“Ready?” I asked her and she looked like she was going to jump out of her seat.

“Yes!”

I lifted the remote and fast-forwarded through the rest of the previews. When the movie started, Ruby tapped me on the shoulder. “You’re supposed to turn the light off, it’s a movie.”

“Right, I forgot.” I nodded and leaned over and shut the light. We sat there eating popcorn and watching the movie. When she finished her beer she handed me the empty bottle and rested her head on my shoulder.

I took the bowl of popcorn and put it on the end table so she had more room to move closer if she wanted too. We stayed silent and watched the rest of the movie about a bunch of kids from the wrong side of the tracks who had it pretty rough. By the end of the movie, I’d realized why she chose the book; it must have been something familiar to her only I had no idea how rough she had it because I didn’t know anything about her life before she came here. In a lot of ways she was just like Ponyboy Curtis. Not the brightest of the group, but full of heart and hope.

I turned off the movie after the credits started and looked down at her. She was sound asleep. I laid her down as gently as I could and pulled the covers up over her, she didn’t even stir. After turning off the television I set the remote down on the end table and got under the covers myself. “Stay Gold, Ruby” I whispered before closing my eyes and allowing myself to fall asleep.