Brooklyn Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page A

without our friends. Am I right, Lil?”
    â€œRight as rain. We encouraged each other, again and again. Lots of support and no excuses.” She shook her head. “Home was not so happy because our parents struggled so hard, there wasn’t much energy left for anything else, even children.”
    â€œSo we swore we would get to college and work hard and get out.”
    â€œMoved up and away, I would say. Right? We had better lives in time, and we earned them.”
    â€œWhat about the ones who didn’t take that path?” I was trying to steer this wide-ranging conversation back to the subject of crime. “It’s no secret that Brownsville was a hotbed of mob activity. Some of your classmates and neighbors became quite famous.”
    â€œFor all the wrong reasons!”
    â€œDid you know any? Your cousin’s boyfriend you mentioned? What did you think of all that?”
    â€œI never thought about it at all. Not one minute.” Ruby gave me a hard look. “The boyfriend turned out to be a real sweetheart. Brownsville was made notorious because of the rotten few. Yes, there was crime, of course there was, like any poor neighborhood with desperate people. But you would think there were murdering gangsters on every block, carrying Tommy guns in plain sight.”
    â€œAnd there weren’t?”
    â€œNo, of course not! We knew. We knew what those bums were. They were people to avoid. And you know what? We were the good, smart girls. We weren’t looking for nightclubs and flashy jewelry, so those nogoodniks weren’t looking for us.” She added with a laugh “It’s been many a decade since I used a word like ‘nogoodnik.’”
    Lil was looking away from her friend, as if her thoughts were somewhere else altogether.
    Ruby went on. “I can say this: we could walk home from work, from the subways, late at night, even carrying money, and never be afraid. There were always people out and about who knew us and wouldn’t let any harm come our way.” She thought for a moment. “And the truth is that they did not bother upstanding, normal citizens. It was one gang against another. As I said, much-exaggerated.”
    Her friend was still staring off into space, and I wondered if we had lost her, when she turned back to us and said, “Ruby, you are full of crap.”
    Ruby gasped. Had we heard that right?
    â€œJust full of it.”

Chapter Four
    Ruby turned pinker than her makeup.
    â€œLil, you are getting tired. I’m going to walk you up to your room.” She turned to me, her self-control unaltered, but her voice now shaky. “Erica, it’s been lovely. Call me if you have any questions. Now, Lil, let’s get you up.”
    â€œI’m not going anywhere.” She looked right at me, her face pale and her hands clenched. “Ruby’s spinning you a nice story about the good old days. Old people like to do that, and she’s old, we both are. Really old now. The only thing wrong is that it isn’t true. I have a different story for you.”
    â€œYou’re calling me a liar?”
    Lil shrugged. “You can hear liar, or you can hear losing your marbles, or you can hear telling a ‘nice’ story.” She made air quotes with her fingers. “Your call. It doesn’t matter to me anymore.”
    This had mysteriously turned into a conversation that didn’t include me.
    Ruby stood up, fumbling for her flower-painted cane. “I am very hurt by your attitude, Lillian. After all these years! Erica, thank you for coming here to see me. Come back any time.”
    She walked away, back straight, head high.
    Lillian looked at me and smiled wearily. “She’ll get over it. She’ll decide I was affected by my meds. You can decide that for yourself after you hear my story.”
    Her tired blue eyes looked straight into mine, and I already knew what I thought.
    â€œDo you have the