| The next morning, Stephanie woke up before anyone else. She quietly went down the creaky stairs and went to the docks. She began to sing a song her mother had taught her a long time ago. Mother. "Pretty good." said a voice, Stephanie, startled, turned around and saw Spot, who obviously had been taking a morning walk as well. "What are you doing here?" said Stephanie. Spot glared. "Hey. Dis is my territory rememba?" Stephanie looked down at the ground and said, "sorry. I didn't mean it like dat..." Spot then said, "You sing pretty good, Dat is, I ain't neva hoid someone sing udda dan Medda. But she's professional." Stephanie looked at the water. Spot took out his slingshot and walked over to another area. He took a marble out of his pocket, rolled it around in his fingers, and shot it at a beer bottle, making it shatter, He continued shooting beer bottles or bullseyes drawn with chalk on the wooden boards nearby. Stephanie watched his aim intently. He never missed, and always hit everything right in the center. She noticed that everyone in Brooklyn had slingshots. Then, Spot put his slingshot in his pocket and walked away. Stephanie wondered why he did this, until she saw everyone else clamber out of the lodging house. She immediately realized it was time to go buy papes for the day. She followed after, copying what they did. After a long day of selling, and the making of some new Brooklyn newsie friends, Stephanie, Marbles, Shinah, and Tricks headed back to the lodging house. They all sat down at a table and started to play Polker. Out of the corner of her eye Stephanie thought she could see Spot looking at her. She turned around and his eyes flickered away. She smiled and turned back around to play cards. What is wit dis goil? Thought Spot. Usually when a goil meets me she either feahs me or she's in love wit me. But dis goil....she's different. she treats me like everyone else. Da ting is...dere's dis feelin' I get when i'm around her....i'm not quite shoah what it means.... The next day, Spot ran into Stephanie yet again early in the morning before anyone was awake. For some odd reason, when he saw her sitting on the docks dangling her feet over, he felt his heart skip a little, as if he were excited that she was there. He shrugged it off and wandered over to where she was, but continued to ignore her. She looked up and said "Morning." "morning." he mumbled. "How's it rollin?" "Eh, pretty good. Just...ah never mind." They both remained silent until stephanie said, "Yeh know...I never really got to apologize for bein' so rude like I was. I was just upset or in a hurry. Me mudda always said I was too hot headed." Spot's mouth seemed to tug at the corners and said amused, "Yeh, it's all right. Jus don't let it happen again." Stephanie laughed and took off her cabbie hat, letting her long dark brown, almost black hair tumble down her shoulders. "Yeh know....I never really knew dat bein' a newsie could be so much fun! Me family and I used ta tink it would be horrible, ta jus have to sell papes. We was sorta rich, I guess..." Stephanie's voiced trailed off. The thought of her family just made her head hurt and her heart ache. She stood up and put back on her cabbie hat. Spot turned around to see why and noticed Marbles and Shinah coming towards her. Spot joined Tricks, Deck, and Fish and walked off towards the circulation building. Stephanie looked at Spot walking away, but didnt' get to gaze at him for long when she was playfully pushed by Shinah. rolling her eyes, Stephanie walked along with her friends as they joked around on their way to buy papes. spot strolled along the docks in the evening, as he whistled an irish toon, fiddling with his slingshot. He stopped in his tracks and saw Stephanie sitting on the docks again, watching the water. He walked slowly up to her and heard her singing quietly, like a lullaby of some sort. "pretty good again." remarked Spot. Stephanie looked up startled but didnt say anything. She just looked back at the water embarassed. "So uh, what do you find about da wadda dat's so interestin'?" asked Spot. "Um...well...." Spot waited patiently. "I always loved da wadda, but me mudda neva let me go swimmin'. She always said it was 'unlady like'. Me fadda agreed, and so me bruddas always went swimmin' while I watched dem. So I guess da wadda reminds me of dem..." Spot listened intently. "so uh, what happened to dem?" "Who?" "You're family. No one becomes a newsie jus like dat. Dey all either ran away or dey don't got no home or family anymore." said Spot. Stephanie sighed and hung her head. "Me parents were murdered, and me bruddas ran away scared. Dey totally forgot about me, dey said it was 'every man for hisself'. So dey all ran off leavin' me. So I stole some of deyre clothes cause I hated me dresses dat I was forced to wear, and I decided to live on me own, neva trustin' nobody." This tragic story didn't surprise Spot. every newsie had a terrible heart-breaking story to tell, and this was no different. Stephanie shrugged and laughed shakily. "so uh, what about you?" "Uh...what about me?" asked Spot. "What happened to your family?" "Oh....well....me family's Irish as you can tell. But anyways, me mudda and me fadda were walkin' about town, and so dey left me. Sittin' at home all worried. Den sometime came and told me, and dey wanted ta take me to one of dem orphanages. I didn't wanna go to some stinkin' orphanage, so I ran away, and da bulls didn't botha ta chase me. So I kept runnin' and runnin' til I reached da docks. Den I met da old leader of da Brooklyn newsies, and he liked me. So he gave me a slingshot ta play wit, yeh know, just ta pass da time. Den I guess I got so good dat all da Brooklyn newsies started followin' me influence. Den da old leader was beaten up so bad dat he died, and everyone told me ta be da leader." Stephanie nodded. "So where is your cane, and key from?" "Oh dese? Well, I found dis cane when I was runnin' away. I tripped ova it, and den picked it up. I figured I liked it, so I decided to take it. Den, me key, was dis key dat was to a chest in me room. Me mudda kept all me photos in deyre and told me to keep it safe. So i wore it around me neck, and since it's me only memory of dem, I decided to keep it. no one knows about dis key and cane, and how I became a newsie. And i don't plan on tellin' anyone. Yeh got dat?" Stephanie nodded. spot sighed and sat down next to Stephanie. "yeh know, you need a newsie nickname." Spot said after a long period of silence. Stephanie grinned and said "What did you have in mind?" Spot shrugged and said, "I dont know, how about boidie? yeh sound like one when yeh sing an' all." Stephanie smiled "I like it!" So Stephanie, er, Boidie and Spot got up and walked back to the lodging house. Following closely behind was a dark shadowy figure, who immediately recognized the beautiful girl. He quietly crept away, putting "Brooklyn" into his mind so he knew where to find her.... |