CHARLIE, ROBIN, & ALDEN: {THE STREETS}

[Wolfy]

Setting off down the street, Charlie had a look of extreme annoyance on his face as he passed down the sidewalk. As people walked past in the opposite direction, they gave him a questioning look. He didn't look bad off - he had on a nice, smooth grey business suit, and he looked clean as a whistle. What could a young man like that possibly have to be annoyed about? CHarlie did his best to ignore those people, and just tightened his grip on the tiny hand he was holding.

Meanwhile, Robin, Charlie's daughter, looked quite pleased with herself. In her free hand she had a big book of children's stories that she had just gotten from the library. She had finally managed to coerce her father into bringing her; she had wanted to go for awhile, but had never gotten a chance to before then. And instead of listening to her badgering all morning, Charlie had agreed to skip a few scams and take her.

But now it was high time to get back to their work for the day. It was already eleven thirty! So the man let go of his daughter's hand and took the book gently from her. "Now, you run along ahead, okay. Tell me if you see anyone gullible." Robin grinned and ran off ahead, scanning the crowd for anyone who looked like an easy target.

She saw this as a big game, of course, and didn't quite realize that she was doing anything wrong. Had she known, of course, she would have felt terrible. Of course, Charlie would never tell her the impact that her little game had on the people they scammed.

Wanting to get her job done so she could get back to reading her book, Robin chose one of the first people she could find who didn't look like a threat. So, walking up to Aiden with a seemingly nervous face, she cleared her throat. "Hello, sir," she said and bent her head so she was looking at the ground.

"Mister, my brother is real sick," she said, lying perfectly. "He's always coughing and stuff. My daddy says that if we don't get some money soon, to pay for a special doctor, that he's going to get a lot worse..." She looked up at him with her big, crystal blue eyes with a pleading expression. "Please, do you have any money?"

[Anna]

The streets were busy today, but the young man didn’t seem to notice as people passed him by. Alden Nelson was lost in his own little world. “So if the approximation of the square root of two is four sexagesimal figures, that’s about six decimal figures? So that would be one plus twenty-four divided by sixty…”

Just as he was on the verge of understanding the equation in his mind a young girl began talking. He turned his head to look around him only to realize that he was indeed speaking to her for some reason unknown to him. She wanted money for a special doctor it seemed. Well he was just as intelligent as any doctor was, but then again he was cursed with an eidetic memory and all of those medical books his father forced him to read probably helped with that.

“Sick?” He repeated. “Coughing?” His brain scanned the symptoms for ‘coughing’ in his mind, but the list was too long. He needed to narrow it down. “What other symptoms is he expressing?” He wondered as he stroked his chin. “Fever? Nasal congestion? Is the cough paroxysmal? Is there blood?” Of course it took him a minute to realize that he was speaking to a child that probably didn’t understand what half of the words he’d just said meant which brought up another question. “Where are your parents?”

[Wolfy]

Robin just stared at him as he started rattling off symptoms. "Uh..." she said softly. She didn't know how to respond to him; she'd never been asked questions about a scam before. She didn't even know what half of those words meant! "Yeah, it's parox- that word! I remember the doctor saying something about that." Was it good or bad to say that? "And, yeah, there's some blood when he coughs..."

Thinking back to the time that she'd had the flu, Robin remembered being really hungry after she'd gotten better. "Yeah, he's always really hungry, but can't keep it down..." DId she cough when she'd had the flu? She couldn't remember now. "And my parents..." She glanced back into the crowd, knowing that Charlie couldn't be too far away. Just then, her father emerged from the crowd. "Oh, there's my daddy!"

Quickly catching up to them, he looked very embarassed as he gently pulled Robin back. "I'm sorry, did she bother you, sir?" he asked. They had agreed beforehand that the 'sick brother' routine was going to be used today, so he knew exactly what to say. He looked down at her and said in a voice that Alden could hear, "We have to get home to your brother, remember? You were going to read this book to him." He handed the book down to her. Sighing softly, he looked up at the man again. "My son is real sick... Coughing and not eating, it's just a big mess. We have to get a doctor to figure out what he even has."

Now Robin couldn't help but look nervous. They had just completely contridicted each other. Would Alden notice? Perhaps he would just chalk it up to her being young and confusing her facts. She didn't look either of them in the eyes, afraid she'd blow their cover any more that she already had.

[Anna]

“Not eating?” Alden asked in confusion as he looked back and forth between the girl and the father. He raised a doubtful eye at their contradictory statements, but gave a sigh. He was a bit suspicious now and silently decided not to give them any money. However he’d continue on with his diagnoses--just in case. If there really was a sick boy somewhere then he would feel incredibly guilty if he did nothing.

And by their descriptions he could pinpoint just what the sickness was the boy had. “It sounds like he’s suffering from Pertussis.” Alden said after a moment. Cough. Inability to eat. The girl said he couldn’t keep his food down, right? Yes. That would fit perfectly.

But that was incredibly contagious! Alden looked down at the girl. “You said she’s been around her brother?” He asked the man with concern. “Sir, I’m sorry to say, but she could already be infected. There isn't a cure and children under twelve years old rarely survive. Of course there is Rouge, but that is simply because it’s a miracle drug.” Rouge was also quite easy to come by. He personally got it off of a friend since his father was against it and therefore had received it for free.

Reaching down into his pocket he pulled out a vial filled with red liquid. “Here you are,” he said as he handed it to the man. “One diagnosis and one remedy. Free of charge, although I will more than happily accept donations. In the best interests of the girl, perhaps you should give it to her now before she becomes seriously ill like her brother. Also keep her away until you've given him the medicine as well.”

[Wolfy]

Robin took the vial and looked at it curiously. She looked about ready to drink it right then and there, but Charlie snatched it out of her hands. "We don't want this!" he said. "How do we know it's not poisoned or something?" He handed it back to the man with a suspicious look.

“And it’s not pertussis,” he said with a slight snap to his voice. “And it’s not whooping cough, either. Who are you to say what my son does or does not have? You don’t see doctors dishing out Rouge in the streets very often, and you don’t look like the doctor type.”

Even though the boy didn’t even exist, Charlie did seem like a concerned father. “Look, we don’t need that, all we need is the money to get him a real diagnosis!” So long as the man didn’t demand to see this “sick” boy, Charlie was sure he was in the clear. He would either get money, or he would be turned down. Surely this man wouldn’t want to see someone with a contagious disease, right?

[Anna]

Seeing as the man didn’t want the Rouge (and seemed very distraught that he‘d given it to him), Alden snatched it back from the man and popped open the cork to down it himself. He loved the cherry flavor and it always seemed to just make him feel better after drinking it. That was probably because he enjoyed rebelling against his father who would most likely give him a good beating if he found out that he took the stuff.

“I’m just as capable of giving a proper diagnosis, but I’d have to see the kid in order to do so. There seems to be no point though since I’m assuming that you are a doctor yourself, sir. Since you seem so certain that he doesn’t have whooping cough and all. I’m supposing the reason for this is because you indeed already know what his infliction is.”

Alden smiled warmly at him. They didn't seem too interested in seeing a real doctor--just getting the money. That only furthered his suspicious that this was a scam. What kind of father used their kid that way? Oh. Wait. His dad did that except he didn't use him for scamming, he used him for his intellect. It was all the same though.

“I’m not a doctor. I’ve read many medical journals though and I remember everything that I read. It’s a curse. I see that you too suffer from an affliction. It’s called ‘delusion’. As in you are ‘delusional’ if you think I’m going to give you any money.” Alden started to laugh. “Next time you two should probably confirm with each other your stories. Starting off with contradictory statements isn’t a very good beginning.”

[Wolfy]

Robin was shocked – truly shocked. She’d never blown a scam like that before. She’d hardly ever had anyone turn her down, but this was different. Usually when people didn’t give, it was because they honestly couldn’t afford it. But he looked rich, so that wasn’t the problem. It was because she messed up. Glancing up at Charlie, she wondered if she would get in trouble for it.

Charlie couldn’t help it – he was furious that their near perfect record had just been blown out of the water. Even though she was young, his daughter never messed up that badly. And though she didn’t realize it, the repercussions could be much more than one would think. If they were caught, they might never be able to pull off another scam again, and that was their entire living. Or worse, they could be arrested.

So after giving a quick glare at her, he looked back up at Alden. And then he began to salvage the situation, not for the money, but so that the two of them wouldn’t get tossed in jail. He wasn’t sure, but to him Alden seemed like the type to do such a thing to them. “We’ve been to numerous doctors – professionals, mind you,” he said. “And they’ve all said the same thing: We’ve never seen anything like this before Doctors see whooping cough all the time! And whatever my daughter says, she probably just got confused. She’s only six, you can’t expect her to be right constantly!”

He didn’t know if Alden would believe him, but it was worth a shot. Robin, meanwhile, looked rather puzzled. Why was her father pushing this scam so hard? It was just a game, wasn’t it? And this guy surely wasn’t buying it anymore.