True Riches

As she waited, she once more pulled out the picture she had looked at so often since her uncle had sent her the article. Although she had never met any of the boys personally, Denton's in-depth article made her feel as if she'd known them forever. One in particular had attracted her attention from the beginning. The more she heard about him, the more she wanted to meet him. She smiled as she looked at the tall, dark-haired boy in the top right-hand corner of the picture.

"Still want to meet Skittery, huh?"

"Uncle Bryan!" Jacqui shrieked as she whipped around and hugged him. Remembering where they were, she quickly pulled away; she blushed deeply when she became aware of the passersby who were looking in their direction.

Bryan Denton just laughed quietly as he walked her out of the station. "Don't worry about it," he replied when she whispered a quick apology. "If you'd just given me a ladylike acknowledgement, I'd never have recognized you."

"When are we going to the lodging house?" Jacqui asked excitedly. She was rushing around the apartment absentmindedly performing meaningless tasks to keep herself busy.

Denton, who had been working on an article, looked at his niece in surprise. "Have you looked outside lately?" he asked her, gesturing towards the window. A heavy rain was pelting the glass, making it almost impossible to see the street below.

"Are the newsies working today?"

Denton knew he was beaten. Smiling, he got up and put on his coat. Then, grabbing his umbrella, he escorted a grinning Jacqui out the door.

Stargazer looked out the window as the rain pounded heavily on the pane. She had no idea where the other newsies were, but she wanted to be with them. Instead, she was stuck in the girls' room at the lodging house. "It was only one stupid sneeze," she thought, feeling sorry for herself. "He didn't have t' make me stay inside." 'He' was her grandfather - the boys called him by his last name, Kloppman, so when she'd arrived at the lodging house, he told her she might as well call him that, too. It was kind of awkward at first, but she soon got used to it. Now it seemed that she'd never called him anything else.

She was just about to return to the sketch she was doing when she heard footsteps. As they ascended the stairs, she could hear that the person they belonged to had been out in the rain. "Good," she said to herself, "at least one of th' boys is back. Someone t' talk to!"

Swifty stuck his head in the room. "That's th' last time we lets one o' Kloppman's relatives in th' lodgin' house! We works our brains out in th' rain, and you gets t' stay nice 'n' dry 'cause of a sneeze."

Stargazer took one look at him - he was soaking wet from head to toe - and burst out laughing. "Swifty," she whined, "why didn'cha tell me y' was gonna go swimmin' with Spot's group?" she asked jokingly.

"Oh, ha ha," he replied grimly as he wrung out his slate-blue vest. "Y' know how hard it is t' peddle papes wit' runnin' headlines?" he asked, continuing down the hall to the boys' room.

Composing herself, Stargazer hopped off of her top bunk and followed him. "Awww, I's sorry, Swifty," she said with overly sweet sympathy as he took a towel and dried his hair as much as possible. "How's 'bout I go get me some papes t' sell, then I can treatcha t' lunch at Tibby's?"

He tossed the towel on the counter and walked over to her. "Good idea, but right now," he said, "I's gonna settle for a little kiss."

"Well…OK," Stargazer said with a smile.

Their lips had just met when Skittery sloshed into the bathroom. "Glad someone's havin' fun t'day."

"Y' know, Skit, y'd prob'ly be in a better mood if y' got y'self a girl," Swifty scolded as he slapped Skittery on the back.

"I'm not in a bad mood!" Skittery retorted. "And don't call me 'Skit'," he grumbled, removing his dripping hat and vest.

"Ooooo, I hates rain!"

Skittery and the others stood gaping at the mud-soaked figure in the doorway.

"Sure, just stand 'n' look! Is it 'Heya, Tinker, what happened' or 'y' poor t'ing, let us help ya'? Nooooo."

A mischievous smile appeared on Skittery's face. "Hey, you're right, Swifty - a girl does improve your mood!"

Tinker, who had walked over to the sink beside Skittery - the pump in the girls' bathroom was broken - and was rinsing mud out of her short red hair, reached up and whacked him on the back of the head.

"Hey!" He hit her arm with the back of his hand as Blink entered.

"Didn't your mother teach ya not t' hit a lady?" Blink asked, hitting Skittery with his hat.

"Yeah, that's why I hit Tinker instead."

Snoddy came into the increasingly crowded bathroom. "Y' shouldn't say stuff like that," he said with a smile, shoving Skittery out of the way.

"That's it!" Snoddy's friendly push had been the wrong thing to do.

Denton and Jacqui reached the lodging house just as Jack was walking in. "Heya, Denton!" Jack said, walking them inside.

"Jack, I have a favor to ask," Denton replied. "This is my niece, Jacqui."

"Nice name," Jack said, smiling.

Continuing the explanation, Denton told him, "Jacqui's working on a project, and she wanted to spend some time here today."

Reading the look in her eyes, Jack replied, "She can only stay t'day if she works wit' us t'marra."

Jacqui practically leapt to the ceiling at his suggestion. She immediately spit in her palm and held out her hand to Jack. "Deal," she said.

"I like 'er, Denton! Can we keep 'er?" Jack asked as he shook her hand.

"Just make sure she doesn't get arrested or anything," Denton joked as he left the lodging house.

"Lessee if we can find some a th' othahs," Jack said. He put his arm around her shoulders, leading her up the stairs to the bunk rooms. Hearing an all-too-familiar sound from the boys' room, Jack left Jacqui at the door and walked in. Not about to miss the fun, Jacqui followed.

Skittery had punched Snoddy, knocking him to the floor. As the two started fighting, Swifty and Blink tried to intervene and were knocked to the floor themselves. Tinker and Stargazer were trying to help Swifty and Blink separate the boys when Jack and Jacqui walked in.

Swifty was the first one to notice them, and he tugged on Stargazer's collar. She quickly stood and pulled Tinker up with her. Noticing the others standing, Blink rose and turned towards the door.

"What's goin' on?!" Jack suddenly yelled, startling Skittery and Snoddy. The others backed away as the boys stood up.

Tinker slowly stepped forward. "Um, dis is kinda…my fault…"

"No it's not," Skittery said quietly. Turning to Swifty he told him, "You were right. Sorry."

Swifty just nodded towards Snoddy and said, "I'm not th' one y' tried t' soak."

"I know y' weren't tryin' t' start nothin' when y' pushed me," Skittery reluctantly mumbled, looking at the floor.

Snoddy glared at him through ice-blue eyes. "Th'nks," he replied. His jaw hurt so much he could barely open his mouth.

"No one answered my question," Jack said, exasperatedly pushing an unruly chunk of wet hair out of his eyes. He eyed the wet, muddy bathroom floor and the wet, muddy newsies. "How'd all this start?"

They all looked at Jack, then at each other. He looked from one to the other, waiting for an explanation. Jacqui quietly looked at all of them, amused.

"Dis'd never've happened if dat stupid kid wouldn't've taken m' papes!"

Everyone looked at Tinker in total confusion as she continued.

"See, I's sellin' in Central Park, and dis little brat runs up and grabs m' last two papes! So o' course, I chases 'im. I sees 'im run cryin' up t' 'is mama, so I tries t' stop. But th' grass's slipp'ry, an' I goes down in a mud puddle."

Skittery and Snoddy started chuckling, and the others instantly joined in. Jack, however, was still angrily waiting for the rest of the explanation. "That don't explain why everyone was on th' floor five minutes ago."

"Sure it does! See, when I walks in all muddy, Skit starts laughin', so I hits 'im. He hits me, den Blink hits him. Skit says I ain't a lady, so Snoddy shoves 'im, an' dat's when dey starts fightin'."

Between looking at the muddy Tinker and trying to imagine the whole episode, Jack found it impossible to keep a straight face. Turning to Jacqui, he said, "Um, it usu'lly ain't like this all th' time, but it's pretty close. Anyways," he continued, pointing to each of the newsies, "that's Swifty, Stahgazah - she's Kloppman's gran'daughtah, pretty nice girl - Tinkah, Snoddy, Blink…"

"…and Skittery," Jacqui concluded. Looking at Jack, she said, "I know all the boys, but how come uncle Bryan never mentioned the girls?"

Blink glanced at the newcomer, wiping traces of mud from his face. "'Uncle Bryan'?"

"Guys," Jack explained to the newsies, "this is Denton's niece. She's gonna be spendin' some time wit' us." Then he explained to Jacqui, "Denton wasn't that familiah wit' th' girls. They weren't real involved in th' strike."

"Not that we didn't wanna be," Stargazer said.

"Yeah!" Tinker agreed. "I'd a soaked dem joiks so fast dey wouldn't a knowed what hit 'em!"

"W…why don't we get outta here so T…Tinkah can clean up, huh?" Jack suggested between laughs.

Taking Jacqui's hand, Stargazer led her to the door. When they were standing in the hallway, Stargazer asked, "So, y' gonna be stayin' at th' lodgin' house?"

"Um, I don't know…"

"We got plenty a room, if that's what you're wondrin' about."

"If you guys wouldn't mind, I guess…"

Stargazer grinned and just about dragged Jacqui to the girls' room. "Guess what, girls? Denton's niece's gonna be stayin' here!"

Jacqui looked around the room. There were only four girls besides Stargazer, Tinker, and herself, with an age range similar to the boys'.

"Hi!" A cheerful, thin girl with black hair and piercing blue eyes approached Jacqui. "I'm Sapphire." Jacqui guessed her to be about fifteen.

"Hey, Saph," Stargazer said, "You take care a her - I'm gonna go sign 'er in."

"K." Sapphire led her into the room and over to a set of bunks. "That's Midnight," she said, pointing to the blond in the top bunk.

"Heya," Midnight said with a smile, reaching down to shake Jacqui's hand. Then, pointing to the bed below, she told Jacqui, "That'll be yours. Hope ya don't mind bunkin' with me," she laughed.

"I'm sure it'll be fun," Jacqui replied as she bounced onto the empty bunk. "Ohmigosh! Uncle Bryan's gonna wonder where I am when I don't come back!"

"No 'e won't," Stargazer said as she came back into the room. "Y' gotta go get your things anyway, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Jacqui responded sheepishly. She really wished she could learn to control her moods better.

"So, wanna go get 'em now?" Midnight asked as she hopped down from the bunk.

"Sure!"

That night, the girls stayed up until the early hours of the morning talking about their lives before they became newsies. Sapphire's had been the most intriguing.

"My father died of scarlet fever several months before my brother, Timmy, was born, and my mother caught it right before he died. She was sick right up t' th' day she had Timmy, when she died, and th' doc thought Timmy was gonna die too, but he didn't. He's the little boy that you saw earlier, the one that always hangs around Crutchy."

Jacqui remembered him. Timmy looked exactly like Sapphire - about 10 years old, he only had half of his left arm. He never left Crutchy's side.

Jacqui was so fascinated that even after all of the others fell asleep, she stayed awake the rest of the night, writing for the Letterpress. And tomorrow she would get Skittery's story started. She thought.

"Jack said y' had t' woik wit' us t'day, so y' gotta get up now."

Jacqui squinted at the light coming in the window of the girls' room. She looked up to see Tinker smiling and holding out a vest, hat, shirt, and pants to her. "Th' boots is on th' floor," she told Jacqui. "We think they's th' same size as yours."

Suddenly realizing what was going on, Jacqui excitedly hopped out of bed, grabbed the clothes, and sped into the bathroom.

"Th' pump's broken!" Midnight reminded, calling after her.

"Oh yeah," Jacqui said, speeding down the hall to the boys' bathroom which, fortunately, was deserted by that time. In five minutes, she was dressed and ready to head to the distribution center with the rest of the girls. By the time they got there, many of the boys were already sitting or standing with their stacks of papes, scanning for headlines they could stretch. Midnight and Jacqui each bought 100 papes and sat down on the platform.

"So," joked a red-head Stargazer had called Flame, "I guess everyone just calls ya 'Denton's niece', huh?"

Laughing, Jacqui replied, "No, I actually have a name. Jacqui Kelly."

A brunette who seemed to be about eleven and had come to sit beside Jacqui grew wide-eyed. "You're jokin'!"

"Nope! See, Uncle Bryan's sister married a guy named Kelly, and they named me Jacquelyn. When I heard about Jack Kelly, I thought the same thing," Jacqui said, tugging on her ponytail.

Stargazer came from the line and crouched down behind Jacqui.

"Hope Notes hasn't been botherin' ya too much," she said, pointing at the brunette.

"Notes?"

"Yeah," Notes replied. "I've always liked music, so they just started callin' me Notes."

Snipeshooter happened to pass by at that moment, and Notes watched as he walked by. "Music ain't th' only thing she likes," Midnight teased.

Jacqui giggled. "A little crush on Snipeshooter, huh?"

"Yeah, just a little," Stargazer said with a smile.

"Heya, Snipes!" Notes called.

Snipeshooter, who had picked up a stray stick and started a sword-fight with Les, just said, "Oh, hi," over his shoulder.

Boots picked up a smaller stick, walked over to Snipeshooter, and hit him with it. "Would y' be nice to 'er? Can't y' see she likes ya?"

Rubbing his arm where Boots hit him, Snipeshooter replied, "Yeah, that's why I'm ignorin' 'er."

"Y're gonna change y're mind someday," Boots told his younger friend.

"I am not," Snipeshooter mumbled, going back to his game with Les.

Meanwhile, Notes sighed and kicked at the dirt on the ground. Stargazer put her arm around Notes' shoulders. "Just give 'im a few years. He'll grow up."

Midnight stood up. "Not around these bummers," she said, jerking her head towards a group that consisted of Blink, Race, Mush, and Bumlets.

Ignoring her, Mush asked, "So, who's th' new kid?"

"That's Denton's niece," Blink said, "…uh…"

"…Jacqui," Midnight assisted.

"You're gonna be sellin wit' us?" Race asked.

"Uh huh. I wanna be a reporter, so I'm making my own newspaper to start out. It's gonna be about my experiences as a newsy."

"A girl reporter?!" Snipeshooter laughed.

"Why can't a girl be a reporter?" Notes asked, shoving Snipeshooter to the ground. "I'd like t' see you write a article!"

"OK, OK, geez!" he said as he got up and dusted himself off. He shot an 'I told you so' glance at Boots who just laughed silently and looked the other way.

Looking around, Jacqui could see that the other newsies pretty much shared Snipeshooter's opinion, though. Not so much about the girl reporter, but about the personal newspaper. "I know it's a pretty silly idea," she said quietly.

"I don't think so." A soft, appealing voice came from the back of the crowd, and Jacqui looked up to see Skittery moving to the front of the group. "Y' can come with me, if y' want. I'd like t' hear more about your idea."

The two of them left the distribution center, Skittery listening intently as Jacqui explained everything about the Letterpress.

By noon, both of them had sold all of their papers. They were now sitting under a tree, sharing a hot dog and talking about Jacqui's family in Boston. When they had finished her story, Jacqui asked, "So, what about you?"

With a shy smile, Skittery just picked at the grass and responded, "There's nothing to say, really."

"Unless you just sort of poofed out of nowhere and ended up in the middle of the lodging house one day, there has to be something to say."

"I guess I just don't have much to say about it, then."

"Why not?" Jacqui didn't know why she was being so nosy. She had never pried like this before. Why was she doing it now?

Growing defensive, Skittery snapped sharply, "It's just not something that's important anymore! I'm happy with my life now. I have a family, a home; I don't need that past anymore, OK?"

Jacqui knew he was right, and she felt awful for prodding him like she had. "I'm sorry, Skittery, I didn't mean…"

"I know," he replied softly. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. I just don't like thinking about my past. I'm so used to not having people ask about it…anyways," he concluded, standing and helping her to her feet, "what's say we go meet th' others at Tibby's, huh?"

"OK." She took his hand, and they headed for Tibby's. But now one more thing intrigued her about Skittery. Something about his past had made his casual street accent vanish, if even for a few seconds. There was so much more to this boy than met the eye - but would she ever find out what it was?