The Magpie's nest

Chapter 5

Alfie had Sarah on his mind. Again.

He'd employed her at the Bakery and for the past two weeks he had seen her every day of the week except Saturday because he went to the synagogue, had some Shabbat and went out dating, as he usually did. He'd took the Brunette, Clara, or Cara or whatever she was called to the theatre, but she seemed even more mundane than she had the first time. They'd kissed from plain chivalry at the end of the evening but he'd have felt like a fraud bedding her when he felt nothing, not even a fleeting attraction. He was frustrated, he needed his needs met but had stopped attending whore houses since way before the war. Plus he was successful now, he shouldn't have to pay someone for the deed and risk infection. The notion was ridiculous when higher class women gave it to him freely.. but he didn't want them either. He was at a loose end. Craving something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Chemistry, desire most likely. He hadn't felt that in ages, except for Sarah. Of course that couldn't happen, wouldn't happen because he was entrusted with her livelihood currently. He was paying her wages at the Bakery, and at the club on multiple evenings and a bit of typing on the side when she could fit it in. He could see that she had blossomed even within the fortnight, her cheeks fuller and a healthier, rosier complexion and he took more pride in being responsible for that then he ever could for managing to fuck her pink. Even though she was making him weak, a feeling he just wasn't used to, her welfare mattered to him more than his own base desires. He could have just thrown his money at her of course, he wasn't short of a Bob or two, but he loved the way she was proud of her achievements, he wanted her to feel accomplished, worth something, powerful, and right now he couldn't make sense of that either.

Ruth had loved her, like he knew she would, the women gossiping more than baking if he thought about it, which could become a concern, and before he could stop her she was inviting her round for food with their family. Alfie told her privately that it was too much, that he saw her all week already and they didn't know her well enough yet for her to sit at the family table with their mother. Especially if their mother found out she was one of his dancers. His mother didn't agree with all that business, she told him he should treat all women equally, pointing out that it was below the Jewish women he cared so much about, and he shouldn't put any women in such vulnerable positions just because they followed different beliefs. She'd accused him of acting like a Russian .. called him a pimp... a traitor at first, and he'd had to spend a long time telling her how he looked after the women, paid them more than he should, protected them, priding himself on the standards of his enterprise. It did not matter though, his mother would just click her tongue disapprovingly and change the subject. She hated any type of advantage being took on the vulnerable, as she should quite rightly, and he mostly agreed. She wouldn't be happy that he had Sarah gyrating in her underwear on a stage for coins and then eating his sisters cooking on their best family China.
The dinner was not a good idea, and he didn't mix business with pleasure with his women, never had and wasn't about to start now. Since Ruth was such a busy body however, he decided to let them get on with it for now and he would refrain from attending to spare himself.

Tonight it was this such family dinner, but he instead found himself at a restaurant with Clara, yawning whilst he wished he had just done what he wanted to do and dine next to Sarah surrounded by everyone he loved. Maybe he didn't want his mother to know she was one of his dancers because it would mean admitting to himself that he had sold her services for money when he had some type of care for her. More than the care he had for the others. That he wanted her for himself. Maybe there was a guilty conscience about it all and maybe he didn't want her dancing anymore unless it was just for him. That would mean admitting weakness however, and having to do something about it all and he just couldn't bring himself to rock that boat. Alfie didn't act vulnerable, wasn't in his nature.
Instead he aimed to pay her enough, with more shifts at the Bakery so that soon she would realise of her own free will that she didn't need to dance anymore, and though he would lose money and interest without her at Cleopatra's, he'd feel better about it all if she was safe in his Bakery, or round his family table with his sister, and not being leered over by the likes of Darby Sabini and Billy Kimber. He'd wanted to choke Sabini with fucking spaghetti last week when he'd beckoned her over to his table for a private dance behind a curtain. Didn't trust the rat faced fucker either and so he'd sent the blonde one, Amy to join them so Sarah wasn't alone.