I'll Always Look Out For You

2 | Definitely A Toddler | 20 Months Old

Two months after when Antonio came to the lodging house. I think this should be some fun. Enjoy! :)

"Antonio! Come back here!"

A loud string of giggles and little feet pitter pattering on hard floor echo throughout the upstairs of the lodging house.

"Antonio!" Jack is chasing after Antonio, who was in a makeshift bathtub until ten seconds ago when he decided to jump out and run away. Jack tries hard not to slip on any of the new water puddles on the floor. No one told him that toddlers love to run. Or that they are apparently hard to catch.

"Why is no one helping?!" Jack yells, exasperated. 

Morris and Charlie, the other ones helping Jack give Antonio a bath, are busy cleaning up the area around the knocked over little bucket that they were using to bathe him.

Itey, the closest newsie, just looks at his finger nails. A couple fourteen-year-olds snicker from further away.

Jack groans. "Antonio!" Finally, he catches up with him and snatches him off the ground. "Gotcha!"

Antonio kicks in Jack's arms and squeals with delight.

"Oh, you think this is funny, don't you?"

More high-pitched childish laughter. And nearby newsie laughter.

Jack sighs good naturedly. "Fine. This is funny." He starts walking back toward Morris and Charlie. "Can someone pass me a towel?"

Ray walks in the room as Morris nonchalantly tosses Jack a towel. "What's going on in here, Jack?" he asks curiously.

"Antonio ran out of the bath," Jack complains. "He got water everywhere!"

A smile tugs at Ray's lips. "Is that so?"

"Yeah!"

"Nothin' that can't be cleaned up though?"

"...no."

Ray grabs a rag and gets on the floor to start helping cleaning up the water. "See? It's all good."

Jack sighs and gets on the floor like Ray did and starts drying off Antonio with a towel. "I guess."

For two months now, they've had Antonio live with them in the lodging house. It's been a struggle, a joy, a pain, fun, all of it mixed into one, exactly like how raising a kid should be. While the newsies carry the banner, Kloppman watches over him. When Ray is done selling, he immediately comes back and spends the majority of his time with Antonio. Ray has taken the parent-at-eighteen commitment hard. And that's good, because most of the other newsies won't. Jack, Louis, Mush, and Charlie have the most fun playing with Antonio, having him chase after them, reading him worn-out children's books, and trying to teach him to talk. 

The thing about Ray is that he can sell a hundred papes like it's the easiest thing in the world. More, if the headline is good. And he'll sell them quickly too. And he doesn't lie like other newsies. Many newsies like to brag about their skills, but they will humbly step down from any title they give themselves and call Ray the King.

"Hey, Itey," Ray calls out, "since you aren't doing anything at all in the moment, why don't you get us some clean clothes for Antonio?"

As Itey does what he's told, Jack asks Ray, "where is everyone else?"

"Downstairs," Ray answers. 

"Wise decision," Morris huffs.

"Antonio's not that bad!" Charlie protests.

"I know he ain't. But he's hard to look after."

"Everyone knew what they were signed up for," Ray reminds them. "I knew that most wouldn't be thrilled to have a little one amongst them, so I told everyone that they wouldn't have to have that much responsibility."

Itey comes back with the clothes and tosses them to Jack before he heads downstairs.

"Antonio," Jack says, trying to get Antonio to look at him so he could put his shirt on the right way. No response to hearing his name. "Hey, Antonio." Nothing.

"Is there a chance he's deaf?" Morris asks. They've all noticed that Antonio doesn't tend to respond much to his name. He gets silence in return for that sentence. "It's a possibility."

Ray snaps lightly close to Antonio's ear. That gets a reaction out of him. "I don't know about deaf."

Morris shrugs. "I don't know when kids are old enough to supposed to be able to respond to their name."

"No, we don't," Ray sighs ruefully. "We're doing our best, though." 

It's a new experience for everyone.

Ray just hopes they raise Antonio right.

"Antoooniooo," Charlie coos in a soft sing-song voice right in Antonio's face. "It's meeeeee, Charlieeee."

Antonio tilts his head a little bit, trying to figure Charlie out, then goes back to avoiding eye contact.

What child doesn't like eye contact? Charlie wonders. He starts doing more baby-talk to try to get Antonio to look at him. Some of it works.

"When's his first word supposed to be again?" Morris asks.

Ray shrugs. "I wish I knew that too." There are many things he wishes he knew. But it'll be okay. He knows that he'll be able to handle this. So far, they've been able to meet most of Antonio's needs. What helps is that since Louis, Mush, and Charlie are so young, they don't sell every day or for as long, so they can help Kloppman while the older ones are out selling. Jack does his fair share of staying during the work day as well. Ray wishes he could take more time off. True, their lifestyle doesn't allow the most free time, but they'll make it work. Besides, it should get easier the more Antonio grows and develops, right? How much harder can this be?

Suddenly, Antonio stands up and starts going off again.

"Hey!" Jack springs up. "Come back! " And begins chasing him again.

"Wait for me!" Charlie yells, joining in the chase.

Morris and Ray laugh.

"We definitely have a toddler on our hands," Ray says.

Just thought I should mention Morris Cohen had an actual part in the strike of 1899.

In my head I had the 92sies bucket thingy that there's a kid in for Carrying the Banner and I was like "of course they'd put little Race in there." And then the fluff ensued.

I found an article that said it's recommended for kids between 18-24 months old to be screened for autism if parents are concerned and that totally just threw me off guard.

On that note I started researching what early signs of autism in children are, so they'll show up here and there.

Okay, but what story includes a toddler without a good chase around the house?

The term toddler was first used in 1793.

Also. Quick anecdote. Not too long ago, I was in Disney World. And this young girl who was probably mid-late elementary school age was chasing after this little kid that I'm pretty sure was her sibling, and she yelled, "It is SO HARD to LOOK AFTER A TWO YEAR OLD!" and I am never gonna forget that, especially since everyone around her related with that sentence so much and it was just so funny.

Some chapters here will seem like I'll have a plot. Others won't. It all comes together, though. That's all I'm saying.

Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section at all times.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who is doing A LOT of research for legit EVERYTHING right now)