Josiah was born on the city streets with a pork pie hat on his head and a song on his lips. He never knew a mother’s embrace, but he did know pickpocketing. He nicked enough to keep clothes on his back and bread in his mouth, and that was where his ambition ended.
One day Josiah spied a stranger working his neighborhood.
“This streets taken!” He knocked the trespasser into the slushy gutter.
“Didn’t see your name on it!” The urchin stood up, braided hair swinging over her shoulders.
“You’re a girl?”
“So what if I am?”
Josiah thought about all the cons a girl could help with: The Long-Armed Nanny, The Wailing Wench, and the near-impossible, Double Trouble Basket Switch.
“We should work together.” He suggested.
“In your dreams!” The girl laughed. She stuck out her tongue and ran off into the crowded streets, leaving Josiah disappointed and heartbroken.
Jess
