The Pied Piper

[The Pied Piper]

presenting GABRIEL JAMES
otherwise known as THE PIED PIPER

he is TWENTY FIVE
he is A FORMER RAT
formerly of KENTUCKY, PENNSYLVANIA, and BROOKLYN

YOU ARE LOOKING FOR;;
piper is short for a man of his age with the height of five foot three inches. he weighs one hundred and thirty six pounds, a fact he is quite proud of. he has short brown hair that sticks out at all angles and is very untidy and improper. he has been described as 'rat-like' but he does not have the pointed nose and chin of a rat, instead, it his eyes that give credit to the discription. black and with small pupils, they very rarely stay still and are always looking around wildly. he usually wears dark blue pants, a white shirt and suspenders of black, with an old and tattered newsboy cap on his head in black. he carries a pennywhistle with him, something he plays incessantly. he is quite good at it.

DON'T BE FOOLED;;
piper is a funny little man, but not entirely on purpose. he has a temper shorter then his height and often pouts in a foolish, childish way. he has been known to stick his tongue out a people and flounder for comebacks. he has a pleasing way about him, where he strives to make everyone around him happy. he is much like a dog in this way, always seeking belly rubs and approval from those surrounding him. while as old as he is, he rarely acts mature. he is a suspicious person by nature, the kind that will look over his shoulder several times a second. he has a hard time believing anyone, let alone strangers. he has never been one to trust people, but he grudgingly does so occasionally (but it is rare).

he has to have everything his way, or else he throws a fit. this may or may not include lots of cursing and fist shaking. he is not particularly violent, but he is a fierce fighter. being raised in brooklyn, he learned to scrap early on. he’s a horrible thief, but a wonderful liar. he is clumsy but quick footed. needless to say, piper is an enigma that man kind will never figure out, and one they don’t.

he does not like enclosed spaces or talking about himself (especially his childhood). he is often surly and uncooperative, answering with grunts and glares. he only wants to be accepted.

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU;;
piper was born in 1874 to winston and harriet james. he was born in kentucky, on top of an isolated mountain. he grew up surrounded by sisters and brothers, five of them to be exact and after he arrived (he was the sixth), eight more arrived for a grand total of fourteen. piper was one of the oldest boys in the family and so from the age of five, he worked right alongside his father and older brothers in the coal mines, breaking up larger chunks and checking for any material that was not coal. he was rarely ever clean, even with long baths. the job was dangerous and piper ended up with a large numbers of cuts and scars on his hands, arms, feet, and legs.

at the age of seven, the coal mine in which he, his father, and his brothers worked, exploded due to too much gas in the mines. piper was near the entrance, trying to drag a stubborn mule that had stopped out. he was blasted thirty feet backwards and landed in a sandy creekbed, saving his life, but breaking his left leg. two of his brothers (henry and sam) died, along with his father. his mother was suddenly faced with twelve children and no husband. she uprooted the family, they left the mountain and traveled to pennsylvania, where an uncle lived. the uncle was lazy and unproductive and therefore told the seven of the twelve children (the youngest of this seven being six) that they had to work or leave. so, they went to work. piper found himself in the mines again, next to his younger brother floyd and their older twin brothers harry and winston jr.

his three older sisters (ann, sarah, jean) worked in mills that were scattered along the rivers. however, the uncle soon kicked his mother out (she would not provide her daughters for his friend's pleasures) and they found themselves destitute. she quickly became enagaged and then married to a lonely widower named george. he was sixty years old at the time and lived in new york city. his mother was lied to about george's supposed wealth and they lived in a cramped tenement apartment. george could not work because of his bum leg from the civil war. times were desperate. having no coal mines within walking distance, piper was confused as to how to get a job. his older sister ann became a women who got money by ill-gotten means, sarah became married and widowed within two months of arriving, jean left the family never to be seen again, harry and winston jr found jobs in a factory. piper did not want to do any of these things, for his mother became even more attached to him then ever.

he became a chimney sweep. it was dirty work, but he was used to it. he had to scurry up the sides of chimneys, sweep them, climb back out, run along rooftops. his broken leg had never quite settled right, so his left leg grew weak and one day he fell off a roof and landed on a cart full of vegtables. while it saved his life, it also put him into debt, for the vendor wanted money for his crushed vegetables. piper grew desperate and began to steal. from other tenents, from rich people who's chimneys he sweeped, anyone. he gave everything he owed to the vendor and found he still had much left over. he began to steal regularly, feeding and clothing his rapidly growing younger silblings. this was all by the time he was twelve.

when he was thirteen his favorite little brother named edward, grew ill and then died. edward was only twelve, and had been piper's shadow. he was devastated, he grew listless and was eventually fired for missing show much work and doing a crappy job anyways. his mother grew sad and tired and too fell ill. george was angry and began to make the younger ones (the youngest of which was five) work also. this did not bother piper at first, until he saw his youngest sibling and littlest sister (who had contracted scarlet fever at a young age and never fully recovered) bessie coming home with bruises from the factory supervisor's cane. he began to rage at george and even though he was only 4'11" and fifteen, he flew at george and was severly beaten by the still powerful man.

broken and defeated, piper turned a blind eye to his siblings plights and like the coward he had become, ran away. he soon found himself in the brooklyn lodging house that was at the time led by a fourteen year old boy named trash. piper was very wary of this boy, for he was not used to having a boy his age be in control of anything. all his life piper had been beaten down and used, but this strange boy was doing the complete opposite. trash had rats and piper had run the streets of new york for many years, knew many people in the black market, knew thieves and pickpockets and prosititues (through his sister ann). he was useful. once again, piper was being used. the young children of brooklyn followed piper around and the heartsick piper (he was missing his younger siblings and a young spot conlon reminded piper of edward) doted on them. he taught them things, especially a young girl named doll. the trail of children usually following him lead to his nickname the pied piper, which people generally shortened to piper. he was sixteen.

piper only became aware that he was being used when he failed to deliver the correct information. then he grew angry, but kept it buried. however, when doll's brother soldier died, piper grew scared, he was too involved; he cared. caring had got him no where in his life. so, he ran away, just like he had down when he got too involved in his siblings affairs. he went out west, to california. he was twenty and on his own. he was finally over five foot, was unsuccessful as a gold minor, fell in love, watched the woman he loved get shot and die because of him, and grew even more wary and suspicious of people.

at twenty five, he was lonely and decided to go visit his friend (term used loosely) trash in brooklyn. however, he arrived to find everything had changed. spot was now leader, trash was no where to be found, doll and spot were married, birds now ruled instead of rats, and everyone was soft. also, no one knew who he was! he's been in brooklyn for three months now, and is still confused.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE?;;
family
friends
alcohol
smoking
having alone time
not being abandoned

WHAT DO YOU NOT LIKE?;;
being used
being beaten
remembering everything
being abandoned
running away
being afraid
enclosed spaces
being confused
being lied to
becoming attached to people

strike is deceased | italicized is missing
SIBLINGS;;
Sam
Henry & Winston Jr.
Ann
Henry
-Him-
Edward
Sarah
Jean
Colton & Rebecca
Dayton
Bessie

PARENTS;;
Winston James
Harriet Lowell James
George Merney - step-father