Not Natty-Chapter One

Harry's head was in the toilet. Natty rushed in to brush her teeth. Rose, her mother, pushed her and Natty's sister, Abby, off to school. Rose knew she had to save Harry despite their troubled marriage. Natty knew Abby was unpredictable. How would she react when they broke the news?

Abby torments her younger sister, Natty. Harry, their father, comforts Natty as they listen to President Roosevelt on the radio. They live in a two family house on Chester Street in Brooklyn. Natty loves to watch the vendors sell their wares and to talk to her neighbors through the air shaft. They are poor but Natty doesn't know it yet.

Rose's three brothers live in Cleveland. She worships them, especially her brother, Bob Firestone, real life gangster and racketeer. Bob is connected to the Cleveland mob. He made a friend of Detective Wasserman after Bob's then-girlfriend stabbed him. Bob needs Harry to defend a friend of the Brooklyn mafia. But, unbeknownst to Harry, the verdict is fixed.

Harry's head was in the toilet. Natty had run in to brush her teeth. Her mother, Rose, found her there, transfixed by what looked like coffee grounds splattered all over the bathroom tile. Rose rushed Natty and her other daughter, Abby, out of the house to school. Rose knew she had to try to save Harry's life, despite their troubled marriage.