by kblink
Coming up on the lodging house, he put out his forbidden smoke and, sighing, searched his pockets for five cents. He dragged his tired feet up the steps and into the front lobby. He went over to the desk where Kloppman, the landlord, sat dozing. Jack considered just sneaking by without paying for the night, but he knew from experience that Kloppman would know about it soon and drag the rent out of him anyway.
Jack rang the bell annoyingly until the kind old man woke up.
"Ehhh? Oh Cowboy, it's you. I shoulda known," he said, groggily.
"Yeah it's me. He-yah's me rent fer dah night," Jack said, slapping the nickel down on the desktop.
"Thanks fer rememberin'. What about last night's? " Kloppman insisted, staring down the tall, handsome boy with ruddy hair.
"I didn't sleep he-yah last night," he retorted. "I fell asleep in an alley." Jack knew that this was a weak attempt at "improvin' the truth", but he was tired and not in the mood to think hard for a better one.
"It's just five cents, Cowboy. I think you of all newsies can spare that," reasoned the old man. He had seen right through his excuse. Rolling his eyes, Jack reluctantly tossed another nickel at Kloppman as he walked towards the stairs and up to the bunk room. So much for a bonus for his Santa Fe stash. Although Jack made at least 50 cents profit every day, every little bit counts when you're saving for a dream. When he got to his bunk, he lifted up his mattress and carefully drew out the small pouch that held his life savings. He deposited what was left of that day's headline hawking. Then he went through his nightly ritual of counting the money twice and vowing that he would get to Santa Fe someday. But tonight he did this without his usual hope and optimism. After placing the money safely back in its place, he climbed up and instantly fell asleep, dreaming of wide blue spaces and golden deserts.
Jack was rudely awaken the next morning when Mush's left shoe went sailing through the air and hit him directly in the head.
"Hey! What's the big idea!?!" he yelled.
"Sorry Cowboy," laughed Racetrack. He had been playing keep-away with Kid Blink.
"We was jes' havin' some fun!"
"Yeah, wi' dah only pair a' shoes I's got!" whined Mush. "Come on, Kid. Gimme back me uddah shoe!"
"Oh, you mean DIS shoe?" Blink grinned, holding the old brown boot high over his head, poised and ready to throw it to Snoddy across the room. All the boys laughed at Mush's pained expression and weak attempts to grab his shoe.
"Awww Kid don't be such a joik, huh?" he said, starting to get mad and putting up his fists, threatening his friend. This of course only made the others laugh and holler even louder. Jack watched all of this without amusement.
"I swear," he said loudly in disgust, bringing the ruckus to a standstill. "Youse all get dumbah ev'ry day! So immatuah!" He grabbed Mush's other shoe out of Blink's grasp and handed the pair to it’s owner.
"Awww Jack we's only playin' around!" laughed Blink.
"Yeah well I ain't got no time fer playin' around! None of youse does. We's gotta gets tah sellin!" Jack yelled, storming out of the room and down the steps. His tone of voice shocked them all, but nobody argued as they hesitantly followed him outside. ,p>"Heya, Race..." Skittery whispered. "Does Jack seem tah be actin' a little strange tahday?"
"Yeah, I know what ya mean," Race answered absently, lost in thought and keeping an eye on the tall lean boy in the black cowboy hat. 'He seems tah be wearin' that hat a heck of a lot more often since the strike's been ovah,' Race thought, dismissing the idea as a mere observation. He pushed through the crowd till he reached his friend.
"Hey, Jack, " Race started, casual. " You okay? 'Cos, well, back dere...well, you ain't usually talkin' like dat, you know?" Jack kept his eyes straight ahead, not looking at his friend.
"I just don't need to be woken up by a shoe hittin' me in da head, then find myself in a room fullah dumbasses who don't know when tah quit." He shrugged off the subject.
"Hey! I resent dose comments, Jacky-boy," Race cried in mock horror. He continued seriously. " But since when does all that bothah you so much? I don't get it, Cowboy. You always were--"
"Since now, Race. I've been doin' a lotta thinkin' bout--" Jack realized that they were at the distribution stand and all the other newsies were silent, listening to their conversation. Jack got his papes and walked off to his selling spot with a backwards glance at Race. Race watched him go with a look of confusion. He had a slight idea what Jack might have been talking about. But it still didn't explain his actions that morning.
"What's wrong wid 'im, Race?" Mush asked, genuinely concerned about his friend. There were similar questions from the rest of the newsies as Race put his arms across Mush's and Blink's shoulders.
"You guys remember during the big rally at the end of the strike, when Roosevelt said dat he would take Cowboy anywheres he wanted?"
"Yeah shoah we do, Race," Blink answered.
"So?" Mush asked, lost. "What does that hafta do wid our predicament?" He was secretly impressed with his clever use of the big word. He was dating a real smart girl that he really liked, Melissa. He never missed a chance to show off what he picked up from her to his friends. Smirking with Blink at Mush's comment, Race continued, to the interest of the growing crowd of newsies around them.
"Okay, remember when Jack wanted to go to the trainyahds? Well...he doesn't like to talk about it too much anymore, but he has a dream to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico."
"New Mexico? Is that in Brooklyn?" asked Blink innocently, running his hand through his sandy blond hair.
"No Stupid! It's anuddah..." Mush hesitated, searching for the word, "...state. Ya know, like New Yawk state." He rolled his eyes at Blink's ignorance, only to get a playful slap in the face from him.
"Ahhh you ain't so smaht, Mush. Jest yer goil is!" Blink grinned, raising his eyebrows. "In fact, too smaht fer YOU! Maybe I should give 'er try, eh?" He laughed, he always loved provoking Mush.
"Hey!!" Mush shoved him, taking him seriously.
"ANYWAYS," Race cut in, annoyed with the interruptions. "It's real far away. Jack had a chance to go then, but he didn't. I don't know why. But then, I don't know why he wants tah go in dah foist place. We'll talk more bout this lateah, we's gotta go sell dah papes! Carryin' the bannah!" Race sauntered off, deep in thought about what to do about their friend.
"Yeah, yeah, carryin' the bannah," came the mumbled replies from the remaining newsies. Reluctantly they picked up their papers and went their separate ways. All were worried about Jack. Any one of them would do anything to help him. He was the oldest newsie, a whole two months older than Race. They had always thought of him as a big brother, one who looked out for them and wore a constant smile.
"I don't get it. Why would he want to leave?" Skittery asked Snitch.
"I don't know!" he replied. "Doesn't he know he'd be leavin' all a' us behind?"
"It don't make no sense," Mush said. "What's so bad 'bout New Yawk?" Bumlets agreed.
"Why would anyone want tah leave?" Only Race knew how serious the situation really was. He had heard Jack singing about his dream of Santa Fe the night before the strike started. He had also seen Jack add to his stash when he believed everyone was asleep. Race felt that the time had come to send for help.
"Racetrack! What are you doing here?" David was surprised to see the small Italian boy sitting on the steps of his school, smoking a cigar.
"We's got a problem, Dave," Race said, squinting into the sun as he looked up at him.
"What? Is...is someone hurt? Who--"
"No, no nothing like dat. It's Jack. You know when he almost left for dah trainyahds but came back? Well, I think he's havin' second thoughts, ya know?" Race took a drag on his smoke and looked to David for his reaction.
"Oh...well...I..." David was at a loss for words. He remembered how devastated he, Les, and Sarah had been when they thought that Jack was gone for good. He had felt that they were the main reason Jack had decided to stay. But since then, many things had changed. David's father had gone back to work for the factory, so he and Les were no longer allowed to be newsies. With much protest, they were sent back to school. Jack and David saw each other frequently for a while, then David realized that he was better off in school and became more involved in his schoolwork. Jack came by at least once a week for a while, then less and less...Sarah and Jack were no longer "Sarah and Jack". Since they hardly ever saw each other and were so different, they decided that it wouldn't work out. So David didn't know what to do about this new situation. He still cared for Jack as a friend, but he didn't need him like he used to.
"I want to help, Race, but I don't know if I can," he said sadly. "I think you guys, you newsies, have a better chance than me. I'm sorry. But if I can, I'll come by the House tonight and talk with him, okay?"
"Hey, t'anks Dave," Race said, secretly disappointed in David. He thought that he would have a larger influence on Jack than the others would. Race didn't know that things between the two former strike leaders weren't like they used to be.
"Oh, an' can ya spot me two bits? I've got a--"
"Yeah, yeah, a 'hot tip', I know," David smiled, handing him the money. Selling all his papes then meeting up with Kid Blink and Mush, who was still being teased by the other about his girl, Racetrack started out on the second part of his plan for help.
"Well, well, well what have we he-yah! Heya fellas!" the scrawny looking boy with the gold topped cane, red suspenders, and mesmerizing gray eyes hopped down from his perch on the pier to the street where the others stood.
"Heya Spot, how's it rollin'?" Blink asked.
"Well, Kid, I've been hearing things from little boidies," Spot Conlon didn't sound like his usual confident, tough self, although he was trying to. He sounded worried. "What're we's gonna do about Jacky-boy?"
"Well actually, Spot, we's hopin' you'd know," Race said. Spot thought for a minute.
"Well, foist we's gotta figuah out why he wants tah leave. Maybe it was somethin' we can change. You know, talk wid 'em. Oh an' Race, if I know you, an' I do, there ain't nuthin' you can't talk someone intah or outta. So maybe...see whatcha can do?"
"Yeah Spot...good thinkin'!" Blink said. He knew personally the effects of Race's mouth. Many of his profits had gone into Race's pockets for horse races and poker games before poor Kid knew what he was doing.
"Ok," Mush said, excited to know that there finally was a good idea. "We'll find out, don't worry!"
"Let me know when ya do," Brooklyn's leader replied. "And don't waste time! Dis ain't no game."
"We know Spot," Race assured him. "We'll get right on it." The trio turned to leave.
"Wait!" Spot called. "Maybe I'll come with youse, stay at your lodging house tahnight, ya know, so I'll know with out sending my boys out or youse comin' all the way ovah he-yah." Race knew the real reason he was coming with them. He didn't hide his concern very well.
"Shoah, good idea," Race said, smiling. They spit-shook and departed for the city.
"So, Jack, what you were sayin' dis mornin'," Race said, casual. He knew what he was doing. " You be wantin' tah continue dat conversation in private?" The two of them were sitting alone at dusk on the front steps of the lodging house. Jack was relieved that he didn't have to bring it up. He was afraid that Race and the others would be mad at him for the way he had acted that morning.
"Yeah, Race," Maybe just what he needed was to talk it out with his friend. "I would. What I was sayin' was," he continued. "that I've been thinkin' a lot 'bout Santa Fe. How I'm nevah gonna get dere, no mattah how much I save, it'll nevah be enough."
"Well, why are you so anxious to leave all of a sudden, Cowboy?" Race was confused. Jack had seemed happy up until today.
"I was thinkin' last night, bout how day in an' day out, my life is basically the same. I get up, I play around, I sell me papes, I soak the suckahs who make trouble fer us, I go tah bed, I staht ovah. That ain't the life I want, Race. That ain't my dream, ya know? I mean--"
"Whoa, whoa. HOLD it, Jack," Race had been listening in disbelief. "That's what all of us do. You think that's our dream? You think that that's what I want tah do fer dah rest a' my life? That that's what Blink an' Mush an' Spot an' dah uddahs want? We's all got our dreams. My dream is to own a champion racehorse. Mush's dream...is to...is to get married and settle down. You think yer dah only one? Yer crazy, Cowboy. We ain't got no choice in the mattah. It's a rigged deck an' dese are da cards dat we's got." Jack looked at his friend, who was glaring at him in shock for being so selfish.
"Race, I know nobody's happy. But I--"
"Who says nobody's happy?" Race shot back. "We may not be satisfied, but that don't mean we ain't happy." Suddenly, Race thought that he saw things from Jack's point of view. "Listen, Jack. Is this how you feel? You feel like dere's somethin' out dere waitin' for ya, that you weren't meant tah be a newsie?" Jack hesitated, then nodded slowly. " Well I think that you are meant tah be a newsie. And that ain't nuthin' tah settle for eithah. You should be proud to what you are, Jack Kelly. Don't tell Spot, but I think that you are the most famous and respected newsie in New Yawk. Bein' a newsie may not be yer dream, but it's what yer good at and it's where you belong. Wid yer family." Race finished his speech and leaned back on his elbows, looking up at his friend. Jack was letting Race's words sink in.
'He may be right,' he thought. 'Why did I think that I was the only one unsatisfied wid me life? But...can I keep doin' this my whole life? Can I go t'rough each day with Santa Fe being no more than a...a...fantasy and a stash under my mattress?'
"Yer right, Race. Everything ya said. But...I don't want tah be a newsie my whole life!" he insisted, pounding his fists against the concrete step.
"Jack," Race smirked. "You ain't gonna be a newsie yer whole life. None a' us are." Laughing, he continued. "Can you imagine us, foity ye-ahs old an' still wanderin' the streets, yellin ’Extry! Extry! Newsboys Lodging House Convoits tah Old Folks Home fer Convenience!'" Jack laughed at the ridiculous image Race had created.
"Yeah, I guess yer right, Race."
"Course I am! Listen, Jack. You'll save yer money until yer really ready to leave, an' den you'll realize dat youse got more dough den you knows what tah do wid!" Jack smiled thoughtfully. More seriously, Race leaned towards his friend. "Jack, could you have really left now if you got the chance anyway?" After thinking carefully, Jack grinned and slapped him on the back.
"Well now, you'll nevah know will ya, Race?" Laughing, the two friends stood up and went inside. Before going up the stairs to the bunk room where all their friends waited, Jack stopped and put a hand on Race's shoulder. "Thanks. A lot. You saved me from making a big mistake. I don't know why I thought I could leave all of youse guys anyways. I mean, what would you do without me round he-yah?"
Race smiled. "Yer welcome. Hey, dat's what I'm he-yah for!"
Walking towards the stairs, Jack questioned, "Am I really more famous than Spot?"
That night all the newsies were upstairs in the bunkroom, waiting for Jack and Race to come back upstairs. You could feel the tension in the air.
"What if he just don't like us no more, Dave?" Mush asked quietly. The same thoughts were going through everybody's minds.
"Don't worry, Mush," David reassured him. "Race is talking to him." He turned to the rest of the newsies. "It'll be okay! Jack just wouldn't leave. He's our friend." But he wasn't really sure anymore. He didn't know what to think, but it was important that he keep everyone else's spirits up.
"The Mouth's right," Spot said. "Jacky-boy ain't just gonna leave! He didn't last time, did 'e?" Spot had faith in Race, and he knew Jack very well. But lately...he had detected changes in his friend that he didn't understand. And anything Spot didn't understand scared him. Their fears were put to rest when the door to the room opened and two laughing boys walked in.
"Heya boys!" Jack said cheerfully, himself again.
"Jack!" Mush cried, running over. His brown eyes shined as he saw Jack's happy face. "Are you alright now?" David put down his history text he was holding and joined the growing group around Jack. Spot leaped gracefully down from Jack's bunk and did the same.
"Looks dat way, don't it fellas?" Jack laughed, flipping his cowboy hat from his head onto his back.
Crutchy spoke for everyone when he said," Boy Jack you really had us scay-ahd fer a while!"
"Sorry 'bout how I acted dis mornin'," Jack apologized, pushing his way through his friends to his bunk. "I was a real joik. None of youse desoived any a' dat. An' I'm sorry I didn't tell youse 'bout how I felt. I realize now that we's all got a dream. I know that we can't blindly follow it or nuthin', but think a' the consequences of...well, in my case, leavin'. But you can't just foiget about your dreams neithah." He turned and dug under his thin mattress, searching with his slender fingers for the familiar leather pouch. Grasping it, he pulled it out and held it up. "This is...was my Santa Fe money. That's all I thought of it as. My ticket outta he-yah." He looked at Racetrack. "But now I'll think of this as....as my chance tah staht a life for meself aftah I'm a newsie. When I'm done, like we'll all be someday. This money may take me to Santa Fe, or keep me around he-yah. The thing is, I won't know yet. All I know now is that for now I am meant tah be a newsie." He looked around the room at all his good friends.
Davey, with his education, would go far. Spot, with his power and status, was satisfied with where he was. Sweet Mush, who just wanted to be loved, would find that someday too. Kid Blink, who could be happy anywhere, would always have friends around him. And Racetrack, with his powers of persuasion, would be able to bargain himself most anything he wanted out of life. Jack sighed contentedly and grinned back at the two dozen smiling faces of his friends. Taking advantage of the moment, Jack leaned over and grabbed Mush's hat off his head, sending it sailing across the room. Mush looked at him in surprise for a moment, then, laughing, followed suit with Blink's hat, starting a large group keep-away. Blink, realizing the tables had been turned on him, started to playfully imitate Mush's whining from that morning.
"Awww, come on, Mush! Give it back! Don't be such a joik! Ahahahahahaha!" Before long, everyone was laughing hysterically. Tears were forming in Jack's eyes, and only partly because of the tickling match he was losing with Boots. How could he possibly have considered leaving this? Jack knew that he was where he belonged. He looked across the room at Race, who was collapsed with laughter on Bumlets' bunk. 'Thanks fer teachin' me that, Race,' he thought. Good loyal friends who truly cared about him were more important than all the space he could want, and more valuable than all the money in the world. His thoughts were interrupted by paper balls shot from Spot's slingshot bombarding his back and neck. Jack whipped around, grinning broadly.
"Oh, yer gonna pay fah dat, Conlon!!"