Amnesia

They were out in the middle of a bunch of shops and carts. An old beggar woman appeared and asked for money. Nellie got a little nervous and shooed her away. "Get away, old woman! We've got no money for you!"

The woman glared at her. "You devil woman!"

"I said get away!" said Nellie, her voice a bit louder. The woman left and simply began asking others.

"What was with that? She's not calling anyone else devil woman." asked Sweeney.

"I dunno. Just doesn't like me for some reason, I guess." She grabbed Sweeney's arm again. "Let’s go. There's a crowd gathering over there, I want to see what it’s about." They walked to the crowd and pushed their way almost to the front. A boy walked out and started singing something about Pirelli's Miracle Elixir. Sweeney got a bottle and sniffed it. Then he handed it to Nellie to smell. "What is this?" she said with a disgusted look on her face.

"Smells like piss." said Sweeney.

"Smells like, ew!" Nellie leaned over to the person standing next to her. "Wouldn't touch it if I was you, dear."

Sweeney put the lid back on. "This is piss, piss with ink." They were completely ruining the boy's advertising attempts. Sweeney leaned over to the person next to him. "Keep it off your boots, sir, eats right through."

Despite their poking fun at it, the boy was still trying. "Yes, get Pirelli's. Use a bottle, love it. Ladies seem to love it!"

"Flies do too." Nellie interrupted and giggled.

Then Pirelli popped out of his wagon, obviously very offended by their remarks. "My elixir is piss?! Who says this?"

Sweeney raised his hand. "I do!" Pirelli looked down on him with disgust. "I, Sweeney Todd, propose that this is all an arrant fraud, concocted from piss and ink." He pushed his way through the crowd to the front. "I say that I can shave a man with 10 times more dexterity."

"I accept your challenge, Mr. Todd." He turned to the boy. "Toby! Get my razor!" The boy went back into the wagon and came back out with a razor and leather to sharpen it with. Two volunteers from the crowd came up and sat down. Pirelli sharpened his razor in the leather, slicing the boy's hands in the process. He spent the majority of his time boasting about his supposed superior skill, shaving the man slowly. Sweeney, however, spent the time preparing and only spent a few seconds shaving his man. In the end, he won. Beadle Bamford, the judge of the competition, declared Sweeney the winner. Pirelli gave Sweeney what was wagered and walked off.

"Mr. Todd, I must ask. Do you have your own establishment?" asked the Beadle.

Sweeney remained silent so Nellie answered for him. "Yes he does. It's just above my meat pie shop on Fleet Street."

"Well then, you'll be sure to see me there soon," the Beadle replied and walked away.
~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the pie shop Nellie decided to try one more thing to see if his memories would come back. "You know, if you would remember what happened when you were hauled away, you may feel differently about things."

"What do you mean?" asked Sweeney.

"I mean your wife, Lucy, was the whole reason you were arrested in the first place, her and that Judge Turpin." He looked confused so she sat down next to him. "She made up something about us attacking the judge and he played right along with it. After that, they got together almost instantly. She probably found out about us and got jealous, even though it seems like she was cheating you as well. Although I don't know if you would call what we did cheating since you didn't seem to love her in the first place." She paused to see if he was reacting at all. Nope, just the same confused expression he had when she began. "I didn't hear the whole thing. I came in late, after you were already gone."

He was getting more flashbacks. He was remembering that day. He could see the smug sense of self satisfaction on Lucy's face as he was arrested, the bad acting of the judge, and the faint sound of Nellie's voice in the background yelling at Lucy. "What exactly was it you yelled to Lucy?"

"I called her a bitch, threw her to the ground, and slapped her."

"Really?" Sweeney looked a little shocked.

"Well she sent the love of my life off to jail on false charges and you're expecting me to go easy on her? Oh hell no!" She stood up and grabbed the picture of Lucy and their baby from years ago. "You see this girl?" She pointed to the baby. Sweeney nodded. "Think she's yours?" He nodded again. She pulled the picture out and unfolded it, revealing Judge Turpin standing next to Lucy. "She was cheating on you for longer than you were cheating on her."

"Johanna...isn't mine?"

Now it was really starting to hurt. He even remembered a kid that wasn't his but still not her. She was about over the edge. "No. She's the judge's. She's staying with him now." He was seriously confused and sad at the same time. "Not trying to make matters worse but at least you won't have to worry about her. They told her the truth. Ok, the partial truth."

"What do you mean by partial truth?"

"Well they told her the judge was her father and Lucy was her mother, but they told her lies about you. She thinks you're a raving lunatic, and a violent one at that." Then they heard the bell above the door ring. She turned around and saw Pirelli and the boy. "Oh, didn't expect to see you here."

Pirelli took off his hat. "Oh, so you two are together all the time? Do you live together as well?" Nellie nodded. "How delightful." He looked at Sweeney. "I'm jealous that you get to see such a beautiful creature all the time."

Nellie began to blush. "Oh, why thank you, senor Pirelli."

He bent over, grabbed her hand, and kissed it. "It's my pleasure, miss. Its not everyday you see someone like you." Nellie’s face went redder. "If you don't mind me asking, are you two also lovers? If you are not, I would gladly take you with me."

"Um, well, it’s complicated." answered Nellie.

"But I do not know how I should survive another day without you in my b-" He cleared his throat. "Without you with me."

Sweeney stood up. "Why don't we go up to my barber shop, senor Pirelli? I would like to speak with you in private."

"Mind if I give the boy a nice meat pie while he waits? He looks starved." asked Nellie.

"Si, si, go ahead." Pirelli followed Sweeney up the stairs. He took off his cloak and set it on the counter. Then he began to speak with an english accent instead of his usual italian one. "I must ask, Sweeney, or shall I say, Benjamin, she really is a dazzling woman. If I were in your position I'd be in bed with her every night, whether she wanted to or not."

Before he could say anymore Sweeney had picked up a tea kettle and smacked him in the side of the face almost instinctively. "Do NOT insult her like that! She is NOT some street whore to be used at will by filthy slime like you!" Pirelli got up to his knees and Sweeney smacked him again, only from the opposite side. "Do you get that?! Never, I repeat, NEVER insult her again!" Smack! Smack! Smack! Finally, Pirelli was on the floor, unmoving, but he twitched after a few moments so Sweeney dropped the kettle, pulled out his razor, and slid the silver blade across the warm flesh of his throat, causing precious rubies of blood to pour from the opening.

Back downstairs Nellie and the boy were hearing strange noises from the upstairs, lots of thuds and crashes. Nellie stood up. "I'm gonna pop upstairs for a tick. Be right back, ok Toby?" Toby was too busy chowing down to even notice she said anything, so she walked upstairs and Pirelli was lying on the floor in a bloody mess. "What did you do?!" She walked over to the body and observed it.

"He insulted you. I don't know why I reacted how I did but I just couldn't stand hearing him talk about you as if you were nothing more than a whore."

She looked at Sweeney. "He ca-" She looked back at Pirelli. "He called me a whore?!" She looked back at Sweeney.

"Said he would force you to be with him and that you'd sleep with him every night whether you wanted to or not. So he was basically saying you were no better than street trash."

"Oh, well that changes things…thought you'd lost your marble there for a moment." She spotted his change purse and snatched it. "Doesn't do him much good now, does it?" She shoved it between her breasts for safekeeping and turned to Sweeney again. "Now, what'll we do about the body?"

"We'll go out when it gets dark and bury it." Sweeney suggested.

"No, someone's bound to see us." Then she got an idea. "Besides, if we bury them we'll be feeding the worms. That doesn't do us much good now, does it?" Sweeney looked confused. "But if we feed our customers, that could be used to our advantage." A smiled crept onto Sweeney's face. "Get it?"

"What a charming notion, Mrs. Lovett." said Sweeney.

"It just seems an awful waste. Such a nice, plump frame what's-his-name has, had, has, and business needs a lift, debts to be erased. Think about it. Lots of gentlemen'll soon be coming for shave, won't they? Think of all them pies!" She scurried down the stairs to the kitchen where Toby was passed out(he had found the gin) and Sweeney followed. Nellie pulled a meat pie out of the oven and set it on the counter. "Here we are, hot out of the oven."

"What is that?" asked Sweeney.

"It's priest."

"Is is really good?"

"Sir it's too good at least. Though of course they don't commit sins of the flesh. So it's pretty fresh." Nellie started playing with her rolling pin. "Save alot of graves, do alot of relatives favors."

Sweeney grabbed a cleaver. Then he pulled Nellie out from behind the counter and they twirled around the room. "Have charity towards the world, my pet."

She had a humongous smile on her face. Why shouldn't she? "Yes, yes, I know, my love."

"We'll take the customers that we can get!"

"High-born and low, my love."

Then they both spoke at the same time as if they had read each other's minds. "We'll serve anyone, meaning anyone, and to anyone at all!"

They stopped dancing and Sweeney put the cleaver to Nellie's neck as he leaned her to the side held her up himself. Yet she felt strangely comfortable, even though he could kill her at any second. "I'll come again when you have judge on the menu." Then he did something Nellie would not have seen coming had it not actually happened. He kissed her. At first her eyes were wide from shock but it didn't take long for her to relax, throw her arm up around his neck, and kiss him back.