The Diary
by: Seven of Nine


Dear Diary,

Yesterday was great. Carrie got a home yesterday with some great people. I hated to see her go, but I’m glad she’s with a good family. What was really cute was that she ran up to Paul and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. She’s only six years old, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that she has the same feelings for him as I do. Today Paul and me are heading to the park for a walk. I’m hoping that nothing will get in our way to make it miserable.

Miriam was about to close her diary when Paul snatched it out of her hands and held it close to him.

“Come on, Miriam, we’s already late!”

Even though Miriam was fourteen, she loved Paul. He was her best friend, but she didn’t care; she loved him dearly. She pulled her diary out of Paul’s hands and stuck it under her pillow.

“You take my diary again Paul an’ I’ll soak ya!” she joked.

Paul just laughed and ran to her pillow.

“Hey!” Miriam screeched.

Paul reached under her pillow and pulled out her diary.

“Ooh, I wonder what you’ve written in here!” he teased.

“No! Don’t!”

Paul opened up the little book’s cover, then Miriam pulled it out of his hands. She shoved it under her mattress and frowned.

“Paul, yer a naughty boy.”

Paul grinned. “Oh, really? Ya shouldn’t a said that cuz now I’m gonna tickle you.”

Miriam yelped when Paul tackled her and started to tickle her. She was laughing so hard that soon Paul started to laugh with her. When he stopped, Miriam rolled over and smiled at him.

“Hey, we’ve wasted enough time. Let’s head to the park before Sister Ellen takes away all our time.” she told him.

Paul smiled back at her. He had the same feelings for her as she did, but she didn’t show it all too well. In fact, she hid it so well that it seemed like she only considered him her friend. He reached down and helped her up.

“Well, let’s go!” he exclaimed.

They laughed and walked out of the orphanage. Paul run away from his family three years before and was put into an orphanage with Miriam. They became fast friends, and once every month Paul would take her to the park. Today was a nice, summer day, and when the sunlight rolled along Miriam’s soft brown hair and danced across her gray eyes and it made her look more beautiful.

They only had a half-hour to walk in the park that day, so they made the best of it. When they headed back, Paul pulled out a nickel, which he held up in front of Miriam.

“Hey, I’ll buy us some rock candy.” He said.

Miriam nodded and they walked toward the candy store. Right in front of the store was a cowboy on a large, gray horse. Miriam loved horses, so the cowboy on the horse let her stroke its nose. Paul went inside to get the candy, but little did he know what would happen next. It turns out that there was a bandit in the store down the street. He came running out with a large sack and a gun. The gun went off and the horse that Miriam was petting reared up. The cowboy flew off just as Paul was coming out, and the horse’s hoof kicked up right under Miriam’s chin. Paul heard a crack, and Miriam fell to the ground like a stone.

“Miriam!”

He dropped the bag of candy and kneeled by Miriam’s head. She wasn’t moving. Paul took her head in his hands and stared into her eyelids.

“Miriam, get up.” He said, his voice trembling.

Miriam didn’t respond. Instead, blood flowed from the side of her mouth. The horse had reared up with so much force that when it struck her, it snapped her neck in half and killed her instantly. When Paul realized that she would never get up, he started to cry.

“No. No. No.” was all he could say.

Two days later her funeral was held. As soon as it was over, Paul heard that one of Miriam’s relatives were still alive and were coming to get her few belongings. Paul had the chance to read her diary, but he wouldn’t. Instead, he ran away from the orphanage and ran to the other side of New York, where he became a newsie.

* * *


“Look at dis, another trolley strike’s come up.” Racetrack pointed out.

“Really?” Itey asked.

He pulled a newspaper out and found the story. There was another trolley strike story. The last trolley strike had helped spark up their newsie strike. Itey hoped that they wouldn’t go on strike again, which was highly unlikely. He walked out of the gates and started calling out the headlines.

* * *


Lillian put her sister’s diary away. Wow, she thought, this Paul guy sounds like he’s pretty amazing. Her twin sister, Miriam, was said to have been killed when she broke her neck. Her uncle had been looking for Miriam after he found Lillian, but it was too late. He received her belongings and gave her diary to Lillian. Lillian had read it every day of her life and was extremely taken by the boy, Paul.

She stuck the diary in her pack and continued on. Her uncle had died a few months before, so she decided to become a newsie. She wanted to be in Manhattan because she had heard that Jack Kelley, the leader of Manhattan, was in truce with the most territories in New York, and she wanted to be safe.

She found a building that said, “Newsboys Lodging House” and walked in. Behind a desk was an old man with his feet propped up on the desk and reading a newspaper.

“Good afternoon.” Lillian said.

The old man looked over his newspaper and saw the girl standing there.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Uh, my name’s Lillian and I want to be a newsie.”

The old man stood up. “Well, welcome. My name’s Kloppman and Jack Kelley is the lead newsie here. You can talk to him about selling newspapers and getting a good place to sleep. He’s up those stairs.”

Kloppman pointed to the stairs. Lillian thanked Kloppman and walked up the stairs. She opened the door and found three boys sitting at a table. When she stepped in, one boy wearing a black cowboy hat turned to her.

“Excuse me,” Lillian said, “which of you is Jack Kelley?”

The cowboy stood up. “I’se Jack. An’ who might you be, young lady?”

“My name’s Lillian, an’ I’m here to be a newsie.”

Jack smiled. “Dat’s great. Dose guys over dere are Davey an’ Spot Conlon. Dave’s me walkin’ mouth, an’ Spot’s in charge a da Brooklyn newsies.”

Jack took her pack and tossed it on a bunk not to far from where they stood.

“Youse can ‘ave dat bunk. Tomorrah when we goes sellin’ papes I’ll teach ya all da tricks, kay?”

Lillian nodded. “Thank you.”

She walked over to the bunk where Jack had tossed her bag. She reached in and pulled out her sister’s diary. She opened it up to the last entry, which also had a picture of her and her friend Paul.

Lillian knew that Paul was a newsie somewhere, but she didn’t know where. She knew what he looked like; but then again, it had been four years since that picture had been taken. Her sister’s entries had been explaining who this Paul was, and he seemed like the perfect boy. Now she knew why she was in love with him.

“Hey Lillian,” Jack interrupted.

“Yeah?” Lillian asked.

“Since yer a newsie now, ya gotta have a nickname.”

“Well, everyone calls me Lily for short.”

“Is dat what ya want?”

“I guess so.”

“Then Lily it is. Da rest a da newsies are gonna love you.”

* * *


Itey walked over to Tibby’s and ordered a coke. He drank it quickly and headed back to the lodging house.

“Hey Itey!”

Itey turned and saw Snitch running towards him.

“Hey Snitch.” He said when he caught up with him.

“How’s yer sellin’ taday?”

“Okay, I guess. I jus’ hope dat da trolley strike ain’t gonna make us go back on strike again.”

Snitch laughed out loud. “Yeah right! Like dat would happen in a million years!”

Itey shrugged. His mind wasn’t working right that day because he couldn’t sleep that night. When he did get to sleep, Kloppman was telling everyone to wake it. At least I didn’t wake up with Snitch’s foot in my face, Itey thought.

They continued to head to the lodging house, neither of them saying anything. When Itey opened the door to the bunkroom, he saw a girl sitting on Stripe’s bunk. Stripe was a newsie, but she had gotten married a few months earlier. The girl looked sort of familiar, and when she turned and looked at him, Itey gasped.

She looked like Miriam, except older. She looked at him, then she looked in the book she had in her hands. Then, she looked up again and smiled. Itey couldn’t believe it. No, he thought, Miriam’s dead! I saw her die! Still confused, he turned around and left the room.

* * *


Lily was extremely confused when she saw Itey turn around and leave the room. The newsie next to him walked over to Jack and whispered to him. Jack whispered something to him, and the newsie came over to her and extended his hand.

“Hi.” He said. “Me name’s Snitch. You must be Lily.”

Lily took his hand and shook it. “Yeah, that’s me. Uh, who was that boy who was with you?”

“Oh, dat was Itey. ‘E’s been actin’ real strange taday.”

Lily nodded. Snitch was surprised to see that a girl like Lily was interested in Itey. Itey was his best friend of course, but Lily was one of the few pretty girls he had ever met. Her hair was a soft brown, and her eyes were gray. She had a book in her hand that looked like a diary. Snitch looked and saw a picture of a girl who looked like Lily and a boy who looked like Itey.

“Who’s dat in da picture?” Snitch asked.

Lily looked down at the picture. “Oh, that’s my twin sister, Miriam. She was killed four years ago, and that boy in the picture is her best friend.”

“He looks a lot like Itey.”

“I know. When Miriam died, Paul, the boy in the picture, took off. No one knows where he went, but it’s been rumored that he became a newsie.”

Snitch was shocked. For as long as he had known Itey, he knew that something had been bothering him. At first, he thought that it was the fact that his cousin died, but he had no idea that he also lost his best friend.

“Cheese, that’s a sad story.” He blurted out.

Lily nodded. “I know. Do you think that when Itey comes back I could meet him?”

“Sure. In fact, I’ll go downstairs an’ find out what’s eatin’ ‘im.”

* * *


Itey rushed out of the building and ran into the alley next to it. He leaned on the side of a building and sighed. Who is that girl? He wondered. I saw Miriam die, but how could she be back? He stood there for a few minutes, then he saw Snitch coming out of the lodging house.

“Itey, what’s eatin’ ya?” he asked.

“It’s dat goyl.” He answered.

“Who, Lily?”

“Whatever ‘er name is. She looks too much like me old best friend.”

“Oh, so you’re Paul.”

Itey’s head jerked up. “What? She knows who I am? Dat can’t be! I saw Miriam die! I was dere, an’ I know it fer a fact!”

“Calm down, Itey!” Snitch exclaimed. “’Er name ain’t Miriam, it’s Lily. She told me ‘er twin sista was killed four years ago, an’ she had ‘er diary.”

The diary. Itey didn’t want to remember that book. He had taken it away from her and teased her about it. At first it was funny, but now it tortured his mind that he teased her the day she died.

“Come on, Itey, she wants ta meet ya.” Snitch said.

“Why would she wanna meet me?” Itey asked.

“Didn’t I say dat she had Miriam’s diary? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say sat Miriam had written a lot about ya cuz Lily knows all about it.”

Itey sighed. If she did know all about him, she’d probably be in love with him. If she’s in love with me, he thought, I ain’t gonna forgive myself. I loved Miriam, an’ there ain’t nuttin’ that’s gonna change dat.

Itey followed Snitch back in the lodging house. When he opened the door, Snitch led him toward Lily. Itey’s heart sank when he saw how much Lily resembled Miriam.

“Itey, dis is Lily.” Snitch announced.

Lily smiled at Itey. Itey felt his heart sink when she smiled at him. He had the feeling that she knew all about him.

“Hello.” Lily said. “Are you Paul, my sister’s best friend?”

Itey went cold. “Well…uh…yeah.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Miriam wrote about you some much in her diary, and I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time.”

Itey’s heart sank to his shoes. Now he was sure that she was in love with him. He could tell by the way that she looked at him.

“Dat’s nice, I guess.” Itey stood up. “Excuse me, but I got some things ta do. It was nice meetin’ ya, Lily.”

Itey walked out of the bunkroom, leaving Snitch with Lily. Lily seemed a little sad to see him go.

“I don’t think he likes me that much.” She said.

“Why do ya say dat?” Snitch asked.

“Cuz of the way he acted around me. I think he had feelings for my sister, and he’s afraid of having the same for me.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve experienced it with my uncle. Trust me, I know how it feels.”

Snitch nodded. “Well, don’t worry. If ‘e says anythin’ dat hurts ya I’ll soak ‘im.”

“Don’t do that! Just give him some time to get to know me. I’m sure he’ll want to be my friend once he gets to know me.”

* * *


Itey sat on the roof, thinking about Miriam. He believed that Lily wanted him since he couldn’t have Miriam. He had loved Miriam more than anything, and all that was taken away by a bandit and a horse.

“Itey?”

Itey looked up and saw Lily standing there. In her left hand she held Miriam’s diary, and she seemed a little sad.

“Whaddaya want?” Itey asked.

“Nothing much, I just want you to give me a chance.”

Itey gave out a short laugh. “A chance at what?”

Lily looked at her feet. “Itey, ever since you saw me you’ve been avoiding me. You see, Miriam wrote all about you in her diary, and I want to be your friend.”

Actually, Lily had fallen in love with him, even before she met him. She clutched the diary in her hand when Itey snorted.

“You really don’t wanna be my friend, right? You jus’ wanna get the same stuff I gave Miriam. I loved yer sister, an’ you wanna take dat away.”

Lily was shocked. “What? No I don’t! I only want to be your friend, nothing else!”

Itey laughed. “Yeah, right. An’ I’m Napoleon. You don’t fool me da least bit. No, I ain’t gonna give you dat chance, so if I was you, I’d turn around and head back ta where I came from.”

“I can’t go back to where I came from, Paul. My uncle died.”

“Don’t call me Paul! Paul died four years ago with yer sister. I’m Itey now, so why don’t ya jus’ leave me alone?”

Lily whirled around and stormed down the fire escape. When she reached the ground, she sat down on the last step and sobbed. No one had ever talked to her like that, and this was the very first man she had ever fallen in love with. The words he spoke stabbed her like knives, causing permanent damage. She knew that she would never be the same again.

“Lily? Are you okay?”

Lily stopped crying when she heard Snitch’s voice. He sat down beside her and put his arm around her. Remembering his question, Lily shook her head.

“No, I’m not okay. I tried to tell Itey that I wanted to be his friend, but he turned me down flat.”

Snitch looked surprised. “That ain’t like Itey at all. I got an idea. Now I know ya like Itey, an’ I’d really like ta see ‘im apologize ta you, so why don’t we make ‘im jealous?”

Lily sniffled. “What if it won’t work?”

“If it won’t work in three weeks you can punch me in the nose.”

Lily chuckled. She hoped that Snitch’s plan would work.

* * *


Over the next two weeks, Lily would go selling her newspapers with Snitch. Itey didn’t seem to notice, and once Snitch kissed Lily right in front of Itey. He still didn’t fall for it. The next week they tried the hardest to get Itey to make Itey jealous, but it still didn’t work. Lily did get to punch Snitch in the nose, and he wasn’t too happy about it.

“I’m getting the feeling that there’s no way we can get him to apologize.” Lily said.

Snitch nodded. “’E’s real stubborn now, but I wouldn’t give up so easily.”

“Neither will I.”

“Let’s jus’ give it one more week. If ‘e doesn’t go fer ya by den, you can punch me in da nose again.”

Lily laughed. “We’d better, cuz I only gave you a medium punch. You don’t want to feel me hard punch.”

* * *


Five days went by and Itey still hadn’t fallen for their trick. Snitch was beginning to get real mad at himself for telling Lily what she could do to him if Itey didn’t fall for it. The next day, Snitch bought thirty newspapers to sell, and Lily took forty. The headline was good, so they sold quickly.

They stayed out late, talking on how they could entice Itey, but they couldn’t agree on anything. They stayed out late and by the time they headed back, it was dark.

As they walked down the street, they met up with the trolley strike. People were running everywhere, some holding up signs of their demands. Snitch pulled Lily over to the side to keep her out of danger. As the crowds seemed to diminish a little bit, they headed back to the lodging house.

But, as they got closer, the crowds got bigger, and police were coming. Some angry worker grabbed Snitch and punched him in the face.

Lily attacked him with angry punches and another man tried to take Snitch. He tried to fight him off, but he got pretty beat up. Lily was also a mess by the time she had fought her guy off.

She was about to ask Snitch if he was okay when a police officer grabbed her and tried to pull her away. Snitch tried to stop him, but another officer grabbed him.

“I didn’t do anything!” Lily screamed.

“We didn’t do anything! We just got caught up in the crowd!” Snitch yelled hysterically.

“Shut up! Yer goin’ to the refuge!” Another officer yelled.

Lily struggled as best as she could, but it was in vain. The officer shoved her and Snitch into a wagon and drove off to the refuge. As they drove off, Lily saw David walking towards him home.

“David!” she shouted as loud as she could. “David! Tell Jack we’re at the refuge!”

David saw and heard her. Before he could answer, they had turned the corner. But, before the wagon turned, Lily saw David running toward the direction of the lodging house.

* * *


“Jack!”

Jack turned and saw David storming through the door.

“Dave, you okay?” he asked.

David panted. “Lily and Snitch got caught up in that trolley strike and they were taken to the refuge.”

“Cheese!” Jack exclaimed. “We can’t get ‘em out tanight, it’s to late!”

“Can’t ya get ‘em out tomorrow night?”

“That’s when we’ll hafta do it.” Jack turned to the rest of the newsies. “Guys, tamorrah night I’m gonna go to da refuge an’ get Snitch an’ Lily out. Mush, Itey, I want you ta come with us.”

Itey sighed. Snitch he didn’t mind breaking out, but Lily was an entirely different story. He could never forgive her for trying to take Miriam’s place. He nodded at Jack, then he rolled over and closed his eyes.

* * *


Lily opened her eyes. She looked around and didn’t recognize her surroundings. Then, she remembered the trolley strike and how the police carried her off. Now, she was in a solitary with Snitch in the cell next to her.

She walked over to the other wall and found a loose brick. She pulled the brick out and looked into the cell. Snitch was sleeping on his cot, sucking his thumb and snoring.

“Snitch!” Lily shouted quietly.

Snitch lurched up and shook his head.

“Lemme go! Lemme go!” He shouted.

“Snitch, get a grip!”

Snitch turned around and looked and Lily. “Ah, sorry. I jus’ had a bad dream.”

“It ain’t a dream, Snitch. We’re at the refuge.”

Snitch’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “The refuge?”

“Yeah. Remember what happened last night?”

Snitch nodded. “Oh, yeah. Cheese, I’m losin’ my mind here.”

Lily could hear someone coming down the hall. “Someone’s comin’, Snitch.”

She stuck the brick back in its place and sat down on her cot. The tiny door opened and a plate of disgusting food appeared. Lily wrinkled her nose at the smell of the food but left it alone. When she heard the footsteps growing fainter, she pulled the brick out of the socket.

“Snitch, I believe this is a bad time to remind you that I get to punch you in the nose.”

“Ya think?” Snitch snapped.

“Just kidding.”

Snitch sighed. “Well, knowing Jack ‘e’ll be here tanight ta break us out. All I can say is be ready, kay?”

“Okay.”

* * *


Jack, David, Mush and Itey sneaked through the refuge gates. Jack headed for the cell where Ten-Pin was, but Mush saw Snitch waving from the solitaries.

“Jack, they’s in the solitaries!” he whispered loudly.

Jack and the gang ran to the solitaries. The climbed up to the roof and Jack tied a rope around his stomach. He handed the other end to the other boys and had them lower him down.

“That’s good!” he said when he was at Snitch’s cell.

He pulled bars off and handed them to Snitch. He put them on his cot and climbed through the window. Jack held onto him and the three boys on the roof pulled. Jack pushed Snitch up then got up himself.

“Where’s Lily?” he asked Snitch.

“She’s in the solitary next ta me.”

Jack moved over and had the other boys lower him down. He got to Lily’s cell and pulled the bars off.

“Lily!” he said.

Lily, who was sleeping, woke up and saw Jack in her window. She got up and walked toward the window. Jack handed her the bars.

“Put them on the cot.” He told her.

Lily took the bars and placed them on the cot. Then, she slipped through the window and grabbed a hold of Jack.

“Pull us up!” he said.

The rope began to pull up, but it was also beginning to break apart. When they were almost up, the rope burst apart. Jack grabbed the side of the building before the rope broke, and Lily dangled on his other arm.

Jack lifted her up and she grabbed the side. David and Snitch came by to help Jack up, and Itey was left to help Mush, who had fallen and hit his head when the rope burst apart.

“I’m seein’ stars.” Mush said.

“Forget about the stars, Jack needs our help!” Itey snapped.

“Itey, get Lily!” David told him.

Itey didn’t want to do it, but he noticed that one hand had just slipped. Lily was dangling by a thread. Itey walked over to the edge and grabbed her hand as it was just about to slip. She hung there for a second, trying to grab Itey’s hand with her other hand.

As his grip began to loosen, Itey began to realize something. As Lily hung there, he knew that if she slipped she would die. Just like Miriam. When he looked at her face he noticed how cruel he had been to her.

“Hang on, Lily, I won’t let go.” He told her.

He reached over with his other hand and grabbed her other hand. He was beginning to slip with her. Jack grabbed Itey’s legs in the nick of time. Itey heaved Lily up with all his strength. Lily was shaken up, but she was glad to be on solid ground.

“Come on, let’s get outa here before the bulls catch us.” Jack said.

They took off and ran through the gates. They ran to the lodging house before anyone caught them.

* * *


Lily took her newspapers and walked towards Snitch.

“Hey Snitch, I get to punch you in the nose.” She said.

Snitch pouted. “Not here!”

Lily smiled. “Yeah here.”

She balled up her fist, then someone caught her wrist. She turned around and saw Itey.

“Hey Snitch, why don’t you go selling by yerself taday?” he offered.

Snitch smirked at Lily and nodded. When he disappeared, Itey released Lily’s arm.

“Lily, I’m real sorry about what I said that night.” He told her.

Lily blushed. “It’s okay. I guess I needed to wait a while before I said I wanted to be your friend.”

“Lily, I jus’ thought that you wanted ta take Miriam’s place. I loved her more than anything in the world, and the second you said you wanted to be my friend I thought that you were only trying to take Miriam’s place.”

“Well, a part of me did want to take Miriam’s place, but the truth is that I got Miriam’s diary. She loved you too, and I can understand how you felt when she died. In her diary, just about every page had something about you on it.”

“Good things or bad things?”

“Good things. What I’m trying to say is that with all the things Miriam wrote about you, I fell in love with you, even though I hadn’t met you yet.”

Itey looked surprised. “Really?” he asked.

Lily nodded. “Yes. If you don’t believe me, then I’ll take you back to the lodging house and show you as soon as I finish selling my newspapers.”

* * *


Lily walked over to her bunk and pulled out her sister’s diary. Holding it close to her, she went out the window and climbed up the fire escape where Itey was waiting.

“I got it.” she announced.

Itey smiled and walked over to her. Lily opened the diary and handed it to Itey. Itey read every page in the book and was almost in tears when he came to the last entry.

“She really loved you.” Lily said gently.

Itey closed the book. “I didn’t know she felt the same way about me. I thought that she just considered me her best friend.”

“She did, and she loved you even more than that.”

“Lily, remember what I said that night, about Paul dying with yer sister?”

“Yeah.”

“What I meant by that was that my love for anyone else in the world died with her. Now, I jus’ discovered that it ain’t true. When you was dangling of the side of the refuge, I realized that if I let you go you’d suffer the same fate as Miriam. That changed the way I felt about ya.”

“So, what’re you saying?”

“I love you.”

Lily was surprised. “Are you fooling around with me? Cuz if you are, I’ll-”

“I’m speakin’ from me heart.”

Lily just sat there and smiled. Then, she ran her fingers through Itey’s hair and kissed him. And for the first time in a long time, Itey was truly happy.