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Sarah en Co.

Hoofdstuk 2

Chapter 2

The next morning, Sarah was still sleeping, only to be rudely woken up by the sound of an engine starting. It didn't take too long until she realized, it was the engine of the truck she was hiding under starting and she hurried out of the way from a large tire that was threatening to run her over and dove into a nearby trashcan that was laying on it’s side on the sidewalk. Watching the truck drive away, she signed in relief.

'That was too close,' she said to herself. She crawled out of her hiding spot and acknowledged the world around her; New Pork City was wide awake; people were walking and talking and the street was bustling with cars.
Sarah had never seen so much people in her 16 years of living and fascinated she started walking, eager to explore.

While she walked there, Sarah was starting to understand why her parents and sister seemed to like this city a lot; everywhere she looked, there where new things to see. She giggled as an older man tilted his hat when she walked past him, but didn’t look where she was going, so she almost ran into a New Pork citizen, who was listening to a boom box and dancing to the beat as he walked.

‘Oh excuse me!’ Sarah felt herself blushing as she tried to excuse herself, but the man merrily patted her on the shoulder with his free hand, while he lifted his boom box up on his shoulder with the other. Still dancing to the beat, he walked by her.

Sarah turned and watched him go, listening to the song coming from the boom box for the first time.

Rapper (from radio):
You see the feet walkin' down the street in the fast lane
Walkin' on the street where they goin'
Just makin' a move tryin' to survive
Find a way or not to stay alive
Cool cat in a cruel world
Knows good from bad, his mind is in a swirl
Recognising the song, Sarah smiled and started dancing to the song too as it continued.
Got to look out and open your eyes
If you're in a jam, you got to realize
You're in the fast lane
Chorus (from radio): Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute
Rapper (from radio):You're in the fast lane

As Sarah ended with a pose, the song faded out as the man with the boom box was out of earshot.

‘Man, I love that tune,’ she said happily, ‘It’s catchy!’

Just then, she could swear she could see her sister walking at the other end of the street and without thinking; she spurted across the street, only to be almost be run over car as she tried to cross the street. Fortunately, she jumped aside on time and lifted a fist to the descending car as she tried to stop herself having a heart-attack.

‘WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING, YOU, YOU ROAD HOG!’ she yelled angrily. ‘PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO CROSS THE STREET, YOU KNOW!’ She growled in frustration as the car drove out of sight.

‘SELFISH JERK’ Sarah muttered to herself as she dusted herself off.

Then, her attention was caught by a vendor named Bobby, who was pushing a hotdog cart along, singing to himself. He carelessly pushed Sarah aside as he passed her, but instead off apologizing, he turned to another man walking at his right, snapping ‘Excuse me; I’m trying to work here!’ The man gave him an angry look as he walked on, but Bobby smiled.

‘Thank you,’ He continued humming and singing as he hoisted his pants back over his meaty hips. ‘Hey people, step right up and catch a whiff of the real New Pork hotdogs!’

Sarah could smell the hotdogs and her stomach growling in anticipation. Licking her lips, she walked over to the cart.

‘Get your hotdogs! The best hotdogs in town! It’s a beautiful day, why not making it even better by eating the best hotdog you will ever have in your life?’ he called to the people passing his cart.

He didn’t even notice Sarah standing next to him, looking at the hotdogs with greed in her eyes. She was cursing herself that she forgot to bring money when she left her house and was ready to try and steal herself a little breakfast. But just as she stretched out a hand and reached for the nearest hotdog, Bobby noticed her.

‘What the- Nobody steals from my cart!’ he snapped at her as he grabbed her arm. ‘Thief!’

‘Sorry sir, but I’m just hungry,’ Sarah whimpered, ‘I haven’t had any food in ages and-‘

Across the street, a boy around Sarah’s age was walking, looking cool and confident. He had short, brown hair, blue eyes and a young face. He was wearing a denim jean jacket over a simple white t-shirt, together with a simple pair of pants and sport shoes who looked way to new for the look. His name was Nathan.

Nathan stopped walking when he spotted Sarah, who was being held captive by the hotdog seller, who yelled at her for reasons he didn’t know. Instead, his eyes travelled over Sarah’s slim frame and a devilish smile appeared on his face as he jumped on the hood of a nearby taxi.

At first he was content on watching Sarah, but his eyes side-tracked when an attractive brunette appeared. Her long hair danced on her back as she walked and her green eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.

As she stopped at a street, waiting for the streetlight to go green so she could cross the street and go home, Nathan seized his change.

‘Psst. Pssst.’

Wanting to know where that noise came from, the girl turned and saw Nathan lying on the taxi. He made some obnoxious kissing sounds at her.

‘Hey beautiful,’ he purred seductively, smirking. The face of the girl switched from confused to angry before he even had the change to blink and he barely had the time to duck when she picked up an old soda can that was lying by her feet and hurled it at his head. It missed him, but the point was made, as the girl scoffed and turned away. At the same moment, the light turned green and the girl crossed the street angrily.

‘Ohh, touchy,’ Nathan hummed as he ran a hand through his hair. He looked at Sarah again and saw that Bobby was shaking her in anger.

‘Well, well, looks like Fat Bobby’s first visitor can use some help from the Nath-master to turn this into a real catastrophe,’ he said with an smirk as he got an idea.

After what seemed like hours, Bobby had enough of Sarah and pushed her away, sending the poor girl flying into a garbage can, only for a banana peel to slide of the top and right onto her head.

‘Urgh, I will never look the same way at a hotdog again,’ Sarah groaned as she picked herself up and took the banana peel of her head, tossing it aside. ‘Man, being home-less is harder than I thought. How am I going to eat without money?’ She signed unhappily.

‘Maybe you just need to pick a better person to steal hot dogs from, handsome,’

Sarah froze in her tracks and spun around, only to see Nathan leaning against a wall, looking cool and collected. Screaming in fear, she jumped back a couple of feet and raised her arms, ready to defend herself.

‘You stay away from me!’ she yelled, trying to sound threatening. ‘I haven’t clipped my nails in 2 months!’ Nathan merely raised an eyebrow.

‘Chill out girl, I don’t hurt girls. I only date ‘em’ Nathan walked closer to Sarah who balled her hands to fists, ready to strike.

‘I said, stay away from me!’

‘And I said ‘Chill,’ Nathan retorted. ‘Man and here was I thinking you really wanted that hotdog,’ Sarah lowered her hands a little as her stomach seemed to react at the boy.

‘What do YOU care about me craving a hotdog?’ she snarled.

‘For one thing, my name is Nathan,’ Nathan introduced himself, ignoring her biting tone and putting a hand upon one of her balled ones. ‘And I don’t know if you realized it, but I’ve been watching ya, and I think you’re in serious need of some professional help from someone like me. So, what do ya say handsome, want to team up and change that man’s mind about sharing some of ‘his’ hotdogs?’ Sarah’s eyes widened and she pulled away from him, a scared look on her face.

‘Oh no, FORGET IT! I’m not going anywhere near that guy ever again! He could have KILLED me!’

Nathan gaped at her before he asked: ‘Is that you worry about?’ Sarah nodded and Nathan’s smirk returned to his face. ‘Well don’t. It’ll be a snap. Minding you, I’m an expert at these things. All we have to do is teach you some moves,’ he explained.

Sarah just stared at him, as she didn’t understand a word he was saying. ‘What?’ she asked in confusion, lowering her hands back to her sides, showing she didn’t think of the boy as a possible threat anymore.

Nathan resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead went on, trying to explain it to the girl. ‘You know moves?’

No reaction.

Nathan started walking to a rhythm; Sarah followed him, looked interessed, ‘tempo, Tap-e-di-tap-rhytm. Don’t you know this city’s got a beat? All you gotta do is hook into it! It’s easy!’

‘Really?’ Sarah asked.

‘Absotively posilutely!’ Nathan said, smiling wide.

‘I think you’re making all this stuff up,’ Sarah crossed her arms, trying to look like she wasn’t dying to learn how to ‘hook into it’. ‘You do realize that the words you just said don’t exist in the English language, right?’ Nathan laughed.

‘Last time I checked, they did,’ Sarah rolled her eyes.
‘Have you checked the dictionary? They DON’T,’ she argued.

‘MOVING ON!’ Nathan yelled, talking right through her and taking her hand.

Giving her a wink and mumbling ‘they do,’ he spun her around, so that she faced Bobby again. ‘The man you see can be affectionately known as ‘Fat Bobby’, a well-known enemy of all people who don’t have enough money to buy one of his precious hot-dogs. That’s why it’s our mission to liberate those all-beef kosher franks and hightail it as far away from him as possible. Are you starting to feel the rhythm?’

‘Well,’ Sarah looked into Nathan’s blue eyes and was ready to tell him she didn’t feel it, when the ground started shaking beneath her feet.

Sarah’s eyes lit up as she thought that was the rhythm Nathan kept talking about, not realizing that she was standing on ground that moved, producing the shakes. ‘Yeah, I do feel it!’ she cheered. ‘So, when are we gonna get those hotdogs?’

Nathan smiled. ‘Right…now,’ he replied and with that, he dropped Sarah’s hand and gave her a push, hard enough for her to fall of the platform they were standing on.

It had risen from the ground while they talked and Sarah hadn’t noticed it at all. She fell to the ground with a loud shriek and when the word stopped spinning, she saw Nathan walking away casually.

Thinking he was abandoning her, she took of after him. But she had forgotten about the banana peel she had taken of her head earlier and thanks to her bad-luck, she just had to slip on it, sliding forward with increasing spread, only stopping when she hit the first thing that stood in her way; Bobby.

The angry man recognized her at once. Rubbing his sore stomach, he glared at her as she sat up, to sore to realize who she bumped into. She was brought back to earth rather rudely when Bobby grabbed the front of her shirt and lifted her up in the air, so that they were face to face. Her face went as white as a sheet when she saw Bobby’s eyes, which were flaring from anger.

‘Eh, whoops, my bad?’ she said quietly, but it was clearly too late to apologise. Bobby wasn’t going to hold back this time.

While Sarah was distracting Bobby, Nathan strolled to the abandoned hotdog cart, swiped a rope of hot dogs, which he wrapped around his neck like some sort of scarf and trotted off like nothing happened.

‘YOU’RE GONNA GET IT GIRL,’ Bobby yelled at Sarah, whom he still held by her shirt, suspending her in the air. ‘I’M GONNA SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS TO CHEECKY KIDS WHO THINK THEY CAN MAKE FUN OF ME AND GET AWAY WITH IT!’

Sarah’s eyes watered while she tried to get herself free, but just as Bobby brought his hand back, the sound of something heavy swinging through the air sounded, and 2 seconds later, the thing slammed right into Bobby’s head. He staggered, letting go of Sarah in the process, who didn’t hesitate to get away as soon as she hit the ground.

She didn’t even cared enough to look what of who saved her, she just wanted to make sure that she’d put as big a distance between her and Bobby, as soon as possible. That and she had to find Nathan, so she could eat.

All she heard before she dove into the ally way where she’d met Nathan; she could swear she heard a woman screech: ‘HOW DARE YOU THREATEN A POOR, INNOCENT GIRL? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF! AND DON’T YOU THINK I’D GET TIRED SOON! I CAN DO THIS ALL WEEK!’ Followed by more sounds of something heavy hitting Bobby’s head….

Sarah met up with Nathan on a construction site. She was panting and close to tears, while the boy was calmly humming a song.

‘Wow Handsome, you really got that rhythm,’ he complimented her, watching her wiping her eyes; she was still shaking from head to toe.

‘Thanks,’ Sarah panted. ‘And by the way, thanks for the stopping Bobby from punching my face in!’

She raised her head and gave Nathan her fiercest glare. ‘Now, give me my hotdogs, so I never have to look at you again, thank you,’

she held out her hand, waiting for Nathan to give her her part of the loot, but nothing happened.

She looked at Nathan again. ‘Hurry up, I’m starving!’ Nothing happened.

‘Come on, aren’t we gonna eat them before they get cold?’

That got a reaction out of the boy. He stopped in his tracks and looked at Sarah. ‘We?’ He asked.

‘Yeah, we, didn’t you hear me the first time?’ Sarah put her hands on her hips and looked at her new friend. Nathan’s smile never left his face as he walked to the girl and put a hand on her shoulder.

‘Listen Handsome, I hate myself for breaking this to ya, but the dynamic duo is now the dynamic uno,’ He said, feigning remorse.

‘What do you mean?’ Sarah asked him, confused yet again.

‘What I mean is, that our partnership is herewith absolved,’ Nathan explained smoothly, and he gave her a small kiss on the cheek before he hopped into a concrete tube that was being lifted up by a crane; the hotdogs still wrapped around his neck like a scarf.

Realizing what he meant, Sarah yelled after him, watching the tube being moved about; ‘Hey, that’s not fair!’

‘Fairs are for tourists Handsome,’ Nathan answered, smiling cheekily. ‘Consider it a free lesson in street savior-faire from me. It was nice knowing you!’ And with that, he jumped out of the tube and onto a pile of tubes that was already lying there.

Sarah’s face flushed red with anger. ‘Oh no you don’t!’ she shouted, stomping her foot before chasing after the boy. ‘I was almost KILLED helping you get those! HALF IS MINE! I DESERVE THEM! NATHAN, COME BACK HERE!’

She watched the boy disappear behind the pile of concrete tubes before her, and not wanting to lose him, she started climbing on the nearest one.

Jumping to the ground, Nathan smirking yet again, he began to walk away as he hummed. He didn’t get very far, though, as Sarah appeared, leaning on a warning sign, looking very angry.

Nathan, who had expected her to do that, gave her a look and wiggled with the end of the rope of hotdogs, as to taunt her.

‘You want ‘em? Come and get ‘em!’ was all he said before he trew his head back, howling like a dog.

Nathan: uh-huh

Sneaking past the girl easily, he jumped onto a car and stood on it. ‘But don’t say I didn’t warn ya,’ he said. Then he started singing.

Nathan: ‘One minute I’m in Central Park’

Singing he jumped onto another car, which was next to a billboard with a painting of a Central Park scene on it, and he did a pose, making it look like he really was in the park. As he continued singing, he jumped to another car, and another, crossing the street with no problems at all.

Nathan: ‘Then I’m down on Delancey Street’

Sarah, trying to catch Nathan, also jumped from car to car. She watched as the boy landed on the mixer of a cement truck and walked in rhythm along the rolling of the thing.

Nathan: ‘Say, from the Bow’ry to St Marks’
Uhn!
There’s a syncopated beat

He then jumped to the other side and rode the mixer, singing like nothing out of the ordinairy happened.

Nathan: Like I said: woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!

Sarah also got on the mixer and tried to snatch the hotdog rope from Nathan, but she missed and slipped. Nathan looked on as she fell onto the wet cement below.

Nathan: I’m streetwise, I can improvise

Wanting to show what he meant, he slid down the thing that the people used to empty the cement truck of cement and landed much softer than Sarah did. He walked the wet cement like it was just stone.

Nathan: I said woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!

Sarah, who was sitting in the wet cement, gritted her teeth at Nathan, before looking at her own feet and clothes, which were covered with wet cement, in disgust.

Nathan: I’m street smart; I’ve got New Port City heart

Getting out of the wet cement, he used a water stream squirting from a hydrant to get himself clean.

Nathan: Why should I worry?
Why should I care?
I may not have a dime

Sarah followed him out of the wet cement sidewalk and ran to Nathan, who was now cleaning his shoes, glaring daggers at him.

Nathan: But I got street savior-faire!

Nathan, now free of any cement, unblocked the water stream, and the water hit Sarah right in the face, drenching her and sending her flying backwards.

Nathan: Why should I worry? Why should I care?

Still singing, he walked over a gate from which air was blowing upwards, drying him.

Nathan: It’s just be-bopulation

A soaking wet Sarah walked after Nathan and got on the grate to. The wind blowed through her hair, making it fly in all directions, drying her off, but it also lifted her off the ground.

Nathan: I got street savoir-faire
mm-hmm

Now all dry, Nathan walked off the grate. He shook his shoes around, trying to get some remaining water out of them. Turning around, he burst out laughing.

Sarah was standing there, looking unhappy, and sporting an afro hairdo that made her head look twice as big. Shaking it off, she leapt off the grate, after Nathan, who was still laughing.

Nathan: The rhythm of the city
but once you get it down

Feeling the need to fool with Sarah again, Nathan then snuck underneath a nearby sunglasses stand. Sarah saw the rope of hotdogs disappearing and smirked herself as she ran towards the stand.

Nathan: Then you can own this town

Focused on the hotdogs, Sarah didn’t looked where she was going and she tripped by accident, ramming into the sunglasses stand. Of course sunglasses went flying.

Nathan: You can wear the crown!

Just as the boy said ‘crown’, a pair of sunglasses landed on his head, making him even cooler.

Nathan: Why should I worry? Tell me! Why should I care?’

Two young girls, one with spiky, black hair and one with cream-colored hair, were walking by a crosswalk as Nathan came by. They admired him as while he sang and walked like a cool dude.

Nathan: Say, I may not have a dime!
Oh! But I got street savior-faire!

Then, Nathan jumped onto a nearby piano, which was being lifted up a building by a crate. Lying on his belly, he played it, smiling down at the girls at the same time.

Nathan: Why should I worry? Why should I care? Yeah…
It’s just doo-wopulation
And I got street savior-faire!

The girls cheered for him before they sang:

Girls: ‘Everything goes
Everything fits

Nathan stopped playing the piano to grab a bouquet of flowers which was standing in a vase on the piano, for some odd reason.

Dancing to the rhythm, he threw the flowers down to the two girls, so that flowers rained down on them while they signed lovingly, still watching Nathan as the piano continued to descent into the air.

Nathan: They love me at the Chelsea
They adore me at the Ritz!

At the other end of the piano, Sarah desperately tried to hold on as she tried to hoist herself up. She had followed Nathan all the way up a building and tried onto the piano, where Nathan was still standing, dancing and singing.

Nathan: Why should I worry? Why should I care?

Finally succeeding in climbing onto the piano, Sarah got up and tried to pounce towards Nathan, aiming for the hot dog rope, but the surface of the piano was to slippery and so the girl just slid down the keys and fell down.

Nathan: Yeah.
Even when I crossed at the line,

Screaming, Sarah watched at the concrete came closer at an allarming rate, but just when she got ready for the hit, she bounced off a cloth roof and landed in a box of tomatoes.

Nathan: I got street savoir-faire!
Nathan jumped off the piano too, landing in the same cloth roof Sarah had bounced off and bouncing right onto a different car. Sarah, who had climbed out of the box of tomatoes, wathed him go before jumping on another car herself.

Nathan: Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!

While Nathan was standing on the car’s roof, other kids of all ages saw him singing and stopped walking to watch.

Nathan: I said woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!
Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!
Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!

The kids finally ran over towards him, but Nathan lifted his sunglasses up and leaned over so he was looking through the windshield of the car he was on, making a silly face at the driver. Starled, the man leat out a scream, stopping the car, so Nathan could jump off.

Nathan and chorus: Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!
I said woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!

(As the whole crowd sang, some of the teenagers followed Nathan's lead, as if they were pretending they were in a parade)

Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!
Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!

Somehow, Nathan managed to jump onto a fire escape that hung in an alleyway. He watched the crowd, who sang on without him, before he reared his head back and howled like dog.

Jumping the fence of the fire escape like it was nothing, he landed in the alleyway and joined the crowd.

He passed by a group of teenagers who looked very glum, but brightened when they saw him passing. The jumped up and sang along

Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!
Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!
Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!
Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo!

The song ended as Nathan left the cheering crown behind and walked down the alley. Proudly thinking (blame his big ego) that he finally lost Sarah, he walked home, humming the song under his breath.

Little did he know that Sarah was in fact, up a rooftop above his head, watching him as she followed him secretly.

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