A small family restaurant is not the most famous or posh place in the city. Most clients are people who need an inexpensive but tasty food. Large portions for hungry men. The restaurant owner personally works in the hall and accepts money from guests. There are also two waitresses working there: a tall and beautiful woman and a low, fat partner who looks like a gnome. Mostly men visit the restaurant. Certainly, they love the tall beautiful girl more. They enjoy talking to her and just watching. She is able to support any conversation and to be pleasant and sweet. The young girl often receives expensive gifts from the customers. Nobody pays attention to the short fat waitress. Men do not want to talk to her and, of course, do not give gifts. She is just a good waitress, but that is not enough.
New York consists of numerous districts. In one of such districts there are small streets called «places». Lots of artists discovered these places and decided to live there. Cheap rentals and old lofts were the things they liked. Later this place was named Greenwich Village. Sue and Johnsy opened a studio on the top floor of one old building. The real name of Johnsy was Joana. She came from California. Sue was from Maine. Soon they became best friends. Suddenly a dangerous disease came to their house. Sue got pneumonia. The doctor examined her. He said that the girl had only one way to survive — she had to obtain a passion to life. She needed either a beloved person or a life goal. Johnsy decided to help her friend recover.
Della's home is a cheap flat in poor area in New York. The rent for the flat is thirty two dollars per month. Tomorrow is Christmas, but Della does not have money. You can't buy a good present for less than two dollars. Della has already counted her money for three times — one dollar and eighty-five cents. It isn't enough. Della bursts into tears. Earlier James earned thirty dollars a week, but later the salary greatly decreased. They have not enough money. Della just looks into the window and sees a grey cat. She wants to buy a memorable gift for James, but she can't afford it. But she has bright eyes and long golden hair. They own only two treasures for two: Della's gorgeous hair and James's watch. He got it from his grandfather.
Everything happened in Alabama. Bill Driscoll and Old Hank thought they needed more money. They decided to kidnap a child. People in small towns love their children very much. In such places you can find lazy fat sheriffs who do not like investigating crimes. They found a boy in one of the courtyards. First thing the child threw a stone in the Bill's eye. With great difficulty, they managed to grab the boy, even though he fought like a bear. The child was taken to a cave, not far from the town. There was already a small supply of food. When Bill returned to the cave, he saw a fire in front of it and the boy with feathers in his hair. Old Hank said they were playing Indians. And that was just the beginning. Bill realized that this child could cause more problems than any adult.
