JC: Harry and Amy
Chapter 4
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2005

A very dirty young man stepped up to the window of the shack at 
the Homeless Hotel. He watched as Amy ladled stew into plastic 
bowls. She was humming while she worked. With a wry smile, he 
said, "Miss Amy. You sure look happy today."

Looking up from the pot of stew, Amy examined the young man. 
She paused in the middle of ladling out another bowl of the hot 
stew as she took in the dirt that covered him. She laughed at the 
sight and asked, "Cal, what happened to you?"

"I got a job cleaning out an old building and discovered that the old 
coal chute still had coal in it," he grinned. His yellow teeth looked 
white in contrast to the fine black powder covering his face. 

"You're going to have to get cleaned up before I give you anything 
to eat," she chastised.

"Just save me a bowl of that stew. I really worked up an appetite," 
Cal replied with a smile. 

One of the old men in line behind him said, "Looks like The Kid 
got a tan."

Black George, the man who actually ran the daily operations of the 
Homeless Hotel, said, "Hell. Looks to me like the kid smartened 
up and got tired of being a white boy."

Amy laughed at the good natured joking and said, "Black George, 
you know he's not that smart."

Everyone laughed as Cal grinned and headed off to the showers. It 
was going to take him at least an hour to get all of the coal out of 
his clothes and hair. At least it was summer and he wouldn't freeze 
under the cold water. It didn't make sense to him that they didn't 
include a Fusion Water Heater in the camp.

Amy returned to her work, laughing about Cal and his appearance. 
There was a story behind the coal chute and she was sure that she'd 
hear all about it later when folks settled down around the fire. The 
fire wasn't necessary, but as Red-nose George said, "It provided 
the proper ambiance for a Homeless Hotel."

"Who put the sway in your caboose?"

Amy looked up and, waving the ladle around like a weapon, 
shouted, "Harry! I'm going to kill you!"

Bits of stew flew all over as she shook the ladle. A good 
percentage of it landed on Harry, who stepped back with a smile. 
He wiped a bit of stew off his face with a finger and then tasted it. 
He said, "This is good, but I usually get my stew served to me in a 
bowl."

Cackling at the exchange, Hotel Harvey asked, "Hey, Harry. What 
did you do to Miss Amy?"

"I'll stew you!" threatened Amy as she fought to keep the grin off 
her face. It was hard pretending to be mad at him. She hadn't seen 
him since that night four months earlier when he had brought a 
passed out Bill over to her house. She hadn't seen Bill since the 
morning after, but they talked on the telephone almost every night 
and exchanged e-mails with regularity. He was coming to town the 
next day for their first official date and she was looking forward to 
it.

Grinning, Black George said, "Yeah, Harry. What did you do? I 
haven't ever seen her this excited."

"Me? I did nothing!" Harry stood in place trying to look innocent 
and angelic. His pose fooled no one and prompted another round of 
laughter. When it came to help or creative mischief, Harry could 
fool no one. 

"Nothing? You kidnap a man and drive him a hundred miles to 
drop him off at my place. You call that nothing?" asked Amy. She 
put her hands on her hips and stared down at him. She started to 
sway and leaned forward to support herself on the edge of the 
counter. 

"Damn Harry. You gave her a man? Why didn't you bring me one 
too?" chided Trashy Tracy as she put a hand to her hair and posed 
like she was a fashion model. She was about as far from looking 
like a fashion model as was possible on the street. 

"Tracy Darling, you already have me," answered Harry as he 
hugged the bag lady and kissed her soundly. 

Amid shouts suggesting that they get a room, Tracy said, "Okay, 
Harry. I'll hold you to that."

Smiling at her, Harry said, "I'm looking forward to it."

Dancing in place, Tracy shouted, "Boys, I'm getting laid tonight!"

The grimaces on the faces of the men around the shack suggested 
that they felt sorry for Harry. Laughing, Harry said, "Now that we 
know why Tracy is happy, tell us why you are so happy, Amy."

Red-nose George (he was one of the three men named George in 
camp and he had a red nose) said, "It's obvious. She has a 
boyfriend."

"About time," commented Black George.

"You can say that again," said Hotel Harvey. 

Tracy commented, "Yep. Even my sex life has been better than 
hers and I haven't been laid in five years."

Shocked at the comments about her personal life, Amy asked, 
"Don't you guys do anything other than discuss my life?"

Hotel Harvey answered, "Hey, we don't got jobs. Got nothing 
better to do than to talk about you."

"It ain't right for a pretty woman like you to be hanging out with 
the likes of us," said Red-nosed George with an authoritative nod 
of his head.

"So where is lover boy?" asked Tracy.

Blushing at the characterization of Bill as lover boy, Amy said, 
"He's coming down here tomorrow afternoon."

Realizing that some of the men hadn't been fed yet, Black George 
nudged Amy and said, "Amy, why don't you go over to the fire 
pit? I'll finish up ladling out the stew."

Wanting a chance to talk with Harry, Amy handed him the ladle 
and said, "Save some for the California Kid."

"Will do, Miss Amy," replied Black George with a chuckle. He 
was looking forward to the story about how the young man had 
become covered with coal dust.

As Amy settled by the fire pit on the tall crate one of the men had 
found for her, the men who had already eaten or gotten their stew 
joined her. The regulars had cinder blocks, creates, or broken 
chairs to sit on. The transients sat on one of the railroad ties 
scattered around the area. This was the social area of the Homeless 
Hotel, where people would tell stories, sing songs, or wax 
philosophical. It was always crowded when Amy or Harry was 
around.

Tired of being the subject of conversation, Amy knew one sure-fire 
method to change the subject. All she had to do was ask one of the 
wilder characters of the camp a question. Having heard the story 
five times already and knowing that it was different each time, 
Amy asked, "Hotel Harvey, how come folks call you that?"

The old man rubbed his potbelly with both hands as he leaned back 
to get into story telling mode. He said, "Well, back in the old days 
the only way to get across the country with any kind of speed was 
to ride the railroads. This fellow by the name of Frank Harvey…"

Harry interrupted, "Fred Harvey. His name was Fred Harvey."

"Right, Fred Harvey opened up a chain of restaurants and hotels at 
all of the major stops of the Santa Fe railroad," he paused to see 
Harry's reaction. At his nod, Harvey continued, "These places were 
called Harvey Houses. Now a girl who wanted to get married but 
didn't have many prospects often went to work to at a Harvey 
House in some of the more remote locations in the belief that it 
improved their marriage prospects. They were called Harvey Girls 
and, for the most part, they were pretty ugly."

Shaking his head, Harry interrupted, "Most of the Harvey Girls 
were attractive."

"Hey, it's my great-grandmother we're talking about and she was 
one ugly bruiser. I know. I've seen her picture. Ugh, she was an 
ugly woman. In fact, I'd say she was buffalo ugly," countered 
Harvey. He gave a theatrical shudder as though to prove his point.

Amy laughed at the exchange. Sometimes when he told the story, 
his great-grandmother was the princess of the prairies and 
sometimes she was buffalo ugly.  She said, "I thought you said that 
she was the princess of the prairies."

Harvey pulled his ear for a moment as he considered his reply. 
Finally, he said, "Well, you ever seen the prairies? They're pretty 
ugly. It ain't a complement to be called a princess of the prairies."

Everyone gathered around the fire pit laughed at the comment. 
Amy smiled and said, "Sorry, I didn't know that."

"That's okay. You're a pretty young woman and I wouldn't expect 
you to know that much about ugly."

"Amen to that," said Trashy Tracy.

"Now as I was saying, my great-grandmother was a Harvey Girl. 
Now the story is that she had the morals of an alley cat, but I find it 
rather hard to believe considering how ugly she was. Anyway, 
some smooth-talking salesman comes along and, for some reason, 
he knocks her up. I don't know how he could have done it. I mean, 
I've seen her picture. All I can say is that this salesman was a real 
piece of work. You know the kind that I mean. He probably came 
from Cleveland or some place like that."

"Cleveland?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, Cleveland," mused Harvey. He ran a hand over his 
unshaven face producing a noise like sandpaper on wood.

Harry shook his head while laughing at the storyteller. He knew for 
a fact that Harvey was from Cleveland. Unable to take it any more, 
he slipped away from the fire pit. Amy watched him go and turned 
her attention back to Harvey. 

The old man continued, "So anyway, she's pregnant. Terrified at 
the prospect of living with such an ugly woman for the rest of his 
life, that fellow goes off and commits suicide. The result of that 
unholy union was my Grandfather." 

"Suicide? You said that he was killed in a gunfight defending the 
honor of your great-grandmother," challenged Amy recalling a 
previous version of the story. 

Harvey frowned for a second before he answered, "Well, that was 
just nice way of saying he killed himself. You see, in the old west 
you didn't commit suicide by shooting yourself. You went out and 
found someone to do it for you. Yes sir, you found someone to do 
it for you. Of course, a guy wouldn't shoot you for no reason. You 
had to find some reason to make him want to shoot you. So that 
fellow went out and claimed this gunfighter had besmirched the 
honor of my great-grandmother. Of course, the gunfighter shot 
him."

Amy couldn't help herself, she asked, "That was common?"

"Very common. Hell, more than half the people that died in 
gunfights in the old west were really committing suicide. It's a 
fact," answered Harvey as if he were an expert in the old west.

"Okay," replied Amy as Black George sat down in the chair next to 
her. She gave Harvey a look that said she didn't believe a word he 
was saying.

"Yeah, it was a sin to kill yourself. But if you did it that way, you 
could march right up to those Pearly Gates and honestly say that 
someone else killed you. No sin," he explained at the look that 
Amy gave him.

Red-nose George suggested, "Too bad you didn't live back then. 
I'm sure we could have found a half dozen gunfighters who would 
have been happy to put you out of your misery. That would save us 
from listening to your stories."

A number of people laughed, but Harvey just shrugged off the 
comment. He continued, "So anyway, the fellow who put the bun 
in the oven died. So that left great-grandmother all alone. Times 
were rough, but she was just too ugly to give up. After the normal 
nine months, she gave birth to my granddad. Named him Harvey 
after the hotel."

Trashy Tracy asked, "Now why in the world would a woman name 
her kid after a hotel?"

"Hey, if you were so ugly that no man wanted you, wouldn't you 
name your first born after the place where you were lucky enough 
to get laid for the first and only time in your life?" asked Hotel 
Harvey with a surprised expression on his face.

"Shit, you won't find me naming my kid 'Back Alley,'" Tracy 
snickered. Her comment caused a round of laughter. 

"That's cuz you're still a virgin," countered Hotel Harvey with a 
wink in her direction.

Amy noticed that Harry was walking toward the shack with 
someone. Black George noticed her sudden attention and 
whispered, "I'll take care of it."

As Black George walked off, Amy asked, "So what has your 
grandfather being named Harvey have to do with you becoming 
Hotel Harvey?"

"Well, every male child after that has been named Harvey to 
remind us all of the shame that my great-grandmother brought 
upon the family. I'm the third Harvey of that line," answered Hotel 
Harvey.

Knowing the answer to her question, Amy asked, "I guess we 
know how you got to be named Harvey. So where does hotel come 
from in your name?"

"I don't know," answered Harvey straight-faced. As groans rose 
around the fire, he added, "Might be because of the story about my 
name. Of course, it might be the fact that every Harvey in our 
family was conceived in a hotel."

Red-nosed George laughed and said, "Every time you tell that 
story it changes. Maybe we ought to start calling you, Harvey Bad 
Story Teller."

Amy laughed at the exchange. When she noticed that the 
California Kid had joined them around the fire, she asked, "So Cal, 
how did you end up being covered with coal?"

"It's a simple story. If you want it told with a little color, I expect it 
would be best if Tubby told it," answered Cal as he winked at the 
large man taking a seat beside him. 

Tubby stretched and moved as though he was warming up to do 
some serious work. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Well, this 
morning Cal and I went down to that artsy part of town to do a 
little begging.  We aren't down there for more than ten minutes 
when this fellow sashays up to us. You know the kind of fellow 
I’m talking about."

The group of people around the fire nodded. Harvey commented, 
"Sorry, Tracy. That's another man that won't touch you."

"Harvey, you're another man who won't touch me and it ain't on 
account of a lack of desire on your part," she retorted as she 
plumped up her breasts.

"Oh, that had to hurt," exclaimed Red-nosed George nudging 
Harvey.

Black George returned and sat down next to Amy. The new person 
took a seat on one of the railroad ties in the back. Amy saw him sit 
down, but wasn't paying attention because Harry had returned to 
his spot as well. She couldn't see enough of the new person to 
determine if he was an infrequent visitor or a newcomer. Black 
George whispered, "He's taken care of, Miss Amy."

"Good," she whispered back.

Tubby let the comments settle down and continued his story. 
"Well, I figured that the fellow had designs on poor California Kid, 
so I was about to rent him out for ten dollars."

"Hey!" exclaimed Cal with mock indignation. 

"Okay, I wasn't going to rent him out, I was going to sell him 
outright for twenty. Any way, the fellow asks us if we were 
interested in earning ten bucks an hour. Rather than assuming that 
he had indecent things in mind, I up and asks him what he needs," 
said Tubby.

"I asked him."

"Who's telling the story?" asked Tubby as if that made any 
difference to what had actually happened. Seeing Cal shake his 
head, he continued, "The fellow answers that he needs the 
basement of his new house cleaned out. We took the job. I figured 
that the Kid is young and could do all the work while I 
supervised."

Amy chuckled and leaned forward with a grin on her face. She 
said, "I'm sure you were willing to take the majority of the money 
because of the management decisions you would have to make."

"Sure. The Kid was just labor," agreed Tubby with a wink. The 
others laughed at the comment.

Amy sat back and ran a finger through her hair as she laughed. 
Since night had fallen, only the fire lit her face and it gave her 
features a softer and warmer look. Her grin was easily her most 
visible feature from across the fire.

Tubby continued, "So we get over to this guy's new house only to 
discover there was nothing new about it. It must have been two 
hundred years old if it were a day. When we get down to the 
basement, there's a hundred years worth of trash and stuff."

"There wasn't even enough room for Tubby to stand around and 
supervise. Poor guy actually had to work," commented Cal with a 
grin aimed at the large man beside him.

"That was the truth of it," said Tubby with a sad shake of his head 
provoking another round of laughter.

"We got about a third of the basement done and Cal discovers this 
little door against the wall. So he up and asks me what it is. Well, I 
tell him it is a door for midgets to use so that they can get to the 
other half of the basement."

Cal shook his head and said, "He really did say that. Stupid me, I 
actually believed him. So I ask why it isn't at ground level."

"I tell him that's because it's a circus midget door to the other half 
of the basement. They liked their doors off the ground so they 
could jump through it," said Tubby laughing as he talked. He 
pounded Cal on the shoulder while laughing.

"I believed him," said Cal as everyone else around the fire laughed 
at his gullibility.

Incredulous, Amy asked, "You didn't?"

"I swear I did. He said it with such a straight face that I believed 
him," answered Cal shaking his head. Even now he couldn't 
believe that he had fallen for it.

"We get back to work and soon most of the stuff is out of the 
basement. Because Cal is such a puny guy, I tell him to start 
sweeping while I carry the rest of the stuff to the curb. Every time I 
make a trip, Cal over here stops his sweeping and looks at that 
little door set in the middle of the wall. I can tell that he's real 
curious about it," said Tubby.

Cal interrupted, "Okay, I'll admit it. I was curious. I kept trying to 
figure out how a circus midget would use that door."

"After one of my trips, I tell him that if he raps the door real hard 
with the broom handle and then opens the door that it will stay 
open. It was built that way so the circus midget could jump 
through the door and get to the other half of the basement," said 
Tubby. He was having a hard time keeping himself under control.

"He carries another load to the curb and comes back. Now I'm not 
sure that I believe him at this point. The whole story just seems a 
little odd to me," said Cal.

By this time, Amy is anticipating what comes next in the story and 
is starting to laugh. Others around the fire are laughing as well. 
Tubby said, "So I suggest to him that he try it. Of course, I don't 
think he's actually going to do it."

"I hit that door with the broom handle as hard as I could and lifted 
the door. I hear this noise inside and stick my head through the 
hole to see what it is."

Tubby starts laughing as he recalled what happened next. Hardly 
able to control his laughter, he said, "A hundred years worth of 
coal dust comes billowing out of the coal chute. When he turns 
around, he's covered with coal dust and is blacker than old Black 
George here."

Cal shook his head and said, "I still can't believe that I believed 
that a coal chute was a door for a circus midget."

Amy was laughing so hard that she had to hold her sides. In some 
ways, Cal was still a kid at heart despite the street smarts that he 
had picked up. She could see him doing exactly what Tubby had 
described. 

As she laughed, the man who had joined the group late peeked out 
and watched her. Lit by the fire, the look of joy and happiness on 
her face as she interacted with the homeless men around her made 
her look alive. She was the most beautiful sight that he had ever 
seen. He leaned forward and stared at her knowing there was no 
turning back. At that moment, he knew he had fallen in love with 
her.

As the laughter died down, Trashy Tracy said, "You ready, 
Harvey?"

"Sure," answered Hotel Harvey as he stood up. He walked over to 
Tracy and offered his arm. He asked, "What say you that we get a 
hotel room tonight?"

With a little swing in her hips, Tracy answered, "Good idea."

As they walked off, Amy chuckled and said, "The way they argue, 
it's hard to believe they're married."

Harry grinned and said, "The way they argue, they have to be 
married."

The crowd laughed at the exchange. Amy glanced over at Harry 
and realized he was wearing his special grin. She knew him well 
enough to know that grin meant he was up to no good. She asked, 
"Harry, what are you up to?"

Trying to look innocent, Harry answered, "Me? Up to something?"

She looked over at Black George and noticed that he was hiding 
his mouth behind his hand in a very uncharacteristic manner. She 
knew that if Black George was included in whatever Harry was 
doing, it couldn't be that bad. Looking back at Harry, she said, 
"Spill it Harry."

"Did I spill something?" Harry asked while he moved around 
looking as if he were trying to see if he had spilled something on 
the ground.

Laughing at the antics of the Druid, Red-nose George asked, "Is 
Harry playing a trick on you, Miss Amy?"

Before answering, Amy looked around the crowd. She almost 
missed him peeking around from behind Red-nose George, but his 
grin caused him to look again. Squinting, she looked at the man a 
third time believing that her eyes were playing tricks on her. Her 
breath caught in her chest and then she screamed, "Bill!"

Her boyfriend stood up and walked toward her as she scrambled to 
grab her crutches. Excited, it took her several tries before she 
caught them and then was able to get them in place after more 
fumbling. She stood up to rush to him, but he had already made it 
to her. She dropped her crutches and threw her arms around him. 

Looking at the clothes worn by Bill, Red-nose George commented, 
"My, my. He's a real dandy."

Tubby said, "Nah, I'd say he's dapper."

The two men smiled at each other and, simultaneously, said, "He's 
Dapper Dandy."

Amy broke off her hug and, smiling at the name being given Bill, 
said, "He's my Dapper Dandy."

Laughing, Black George boomed, "So we now know who put the 
go in her cart."

"The sway in her caboose," suggested Harry.

"The giddy in her giddy up," contributed the California Kid.

"Isn't that gitty up?" asked Tubby scratching the side of his face.

"Don't think so," answered Cal with a frown.

While the two men argued good-naturedly, Amy took stock of her 
appearance. She was dressed in her camp clothes, old worn blue 
jeans and a sweatshirt. Her braces were worn outside the pants. 
The shoes were heavy black things with part of the braces threaded 
in the heels. Her hair was a mess. Even worse, she wasn't wearing 
any makeup. Feeling self conscious, she fussed with her hair trying 
to look a little better. 

Bill noticed the attention she was giving her appearance and smiled 
at her misplaced vanity. He had seen her real beauty from across 
the fire. Turning her head to look up at him by holding her chin, 
Bill said, "You're the prettiest thing in all of Chicago."

"I'm all dirty," countered Amy. 

"Yeah, you are," he agreed, proving it by wiping a little smug off 
the side of her face. It only endeared her more to him. 

"What are you doing here?" 

"I couldn't get you out of my mind and just had to see you. I 
couldn't wait until tomorrow," answered Bill and then he kissed her 
nose.

"You should have waited until I was more presentable."

Laughing, Bill answered, "And miss seeing you here? Never. I 
never saw a woman look more beautiful than you sitting here 
talking with these men."

Black George announced, "Gentlemen, I think our Dapper Dandy 
is a regular Casanova. He's sweet-talking her like he's got a tongue 
made of sugar."

"Speaking of sugar, have we got any coffee?" asked Tubby 
breaking off his argument with Cal.

Amy, flustered by Bill's presence, grabbed her crutches and said, 
"Stay here boys. I'll get out the hot chocolate."

Her announcement surprised Harry and he asked, "We stock hot 
chocolate now?"

Black George answered, "Miss Amy started bringing hot chocolate 
over for us to drink at night."

"Really?" asked Harry looking over at Amy. She continued to 
surprise him.

Amy made her way over to the door of the shack. Looking over her 
shoulder at the men around the fire, she smiled and said, "Be nice 
to him boys."

Red-nose George cleared his throat and answered, "We'll just have 
a little chat here with Dapper Dandy while you're doing your thing 
in the kitchen."

Unconcerned, Bill said, "I'll be fine."

Harry stood up from his seat and moved over to Hotel Harvey's 
cinder block. He knew Harvey wouldn't get upset about him using 
his seat, but didn't know how he'd react if he discovered Bill sitting 
in it. Sitting down on the cinder block, he said, "Use my chair, 
Bill."

Taking a seat, Bill looked around the fire. The friendly faces that 
had been interacting with Amy were gone. Grim men were 
examining him with hard looks on their faces. He glanced over at 
Harry and received a wink from the old Druid. He relaxed a little 
and looked back as Amy disappeared into the shack. Once she was 
gone, he looked down at the fire.

"You hurt Miss Amy and I'll hunt you down," said the California 
Kid in a very serious tone of voice.

Looking up at the young man across the fire, Bill said, "Excuse 
me?"

The young man started to repeat his earlier threat, but Bill 
interrupted, "I heard what you said. I want to know why you said 
it."

Tubby answered, "He only said what we are all thinking."

"What did I do?" asked Bill feeling nervous. He glanced over at 
Harry, but the old man just shook his head as if to counsel him to 
listen and learn. 

"Miss Amy is an angel. She's the best thing around here," said 
Black George. Dropping his voice, he added, "No offense Harry."

"None taken," replied the old man with a humble nod of his head. 

"You hurt her and there ain't a person here that'll forgive you," said 
Black George. 

Harry interrupted, "Gentleman. Take it easy on him."

The California Kid looked over at the shack for a moment and then 
said, "Harry. I came out here when I was about fifteen. The first 
person who helped me was Miss Amy. She introduced me around 
and made sure the fellows were nice to me. I don't know where I'd 
be if she hadn't been there."

"Sure you do," said Tubby, "you'd be hustling."

Nodding, Cal said, "You're probably right, Tubby. I'd be on my 
knees sucking cocks for twenty dollars if it weren't for Miss Amy."

Listening to the exchange, Bill came to the realization that Amy 
had touched these men's lives in a very personal and meaningful 
fashion. He glanced over at Harry and saw the man nodding his 
head in agreement with Cal's statement. This was a tough world 
these folks lived in and few people reached out to help them 
without expecting anything in return. Two people here had done 
that, Amy and Harry. 

Black George said, "Some of us have known Miss Amy for years. 
Most of the time, it's been like there's a weight dragging her down, 
but she's never let that stop her. Shit, she's got more reason to be 
down than most of us. Despite that, she always has a good word 
for us. None of us have ever been able to make her happy. Hell, 
we've never seen her this happy."

"You can say that again," interjected Red-nose George. 

"We don't want to see her unhappy again. Do you understand me?" 
asked Black George.

Bill was about to answer that he was in love with her and that he 
would never hurt her when Harry said, "Gentleman, you're 
forgetting that he loves her."

Staring at the fire, Tubby said, "Shit, everyone of us sitting around 
this fire loved somebody, but the reason half of us are here is 
because we trampled all over that love. Don't tell me that love 
conquers all. Everyone around this fire knows that's bullshit."

Sniffing, Cal wiped a hand under his eyes and then under his nose. 
In a quiet voice, he said, "I don't believe it is bullshit."

Tubby put a hand on the boy's shoulder and, in a gentle voice, said, 
"I stand corrected."

"I don't know what I believe about love, but I only know what I 
feel. She's the best woman I've ever met and that scares me," said 
Bill realizing that it was the truth.

Amy stepped out of the shack and all conversation came to a halt. 
As she made her way to her seat, she announced, "The water will 
be hot in just a bit. You'll be able to go over there and fix your own 
hot chocolate. So what were you guys talking about while I was 
gone?"

"We were just telling Dapper Dandy how we all felt about the 
Chicago Angel," answered Tubby with a grin.

"Did Harry get you guys to start calling me that?" asked Amy 
sounding exasperated with the nickname. She shot Harry a dirty 
look that accused him of greater malfeasance.

Harry shook his head and said, "Nope. I heard about the Chicago 
Angel when I was in Miami. That was before talking to Ed."

'Chicago Angel' thought Bill. What kind of person was known 
around the country as the Chicago Angel? Having watched her 
dealing with the men, he knew the answer. Only a remarkable 
woman like Amy could have such a reputation.
