Yep, you read that title right! Now, Antonio is going to have a life inside AND outside of the lodging house! I'm really excited to write this! It's March of 1892. Ray = 23, Jack = 15, Louis = 13 1/2, Mush = 13, Crutchy = 12. Anyway. Enjoy! :)
"Antonio, wake up."
Wearily, Antonio opens his eyes. It feels a little earlier than normal. The first thing he sees when his eyesight clears up is Ray looking down on him.
"You got a big day ahead of you, Antonio."
"Why?" Antonio says sleepily. He yawns.
Ray chuckles at that. "Today's the day you become a newsie, Antonio."
Now Antonio's awake. Ray backs away as Antonio springs up in his bed. "Today is what?!"
This is probably the fastest Antonio has ever gotten up.
I'm going to be a newsie now. He puffs his chest out with pride. He's finally old enough! He's super excited. His stomach is all fluttery. He can barely concentrate on anything. He's everywhere at once. I'm going to be a newsie!
"Hey, Antonio!" someone shouts at him. Suddenly, a cap is thrown at him. "Ya can't be a newsie without a cap!"
Nearly euphoric, Antonio puts the cap on. Finally, something to complete his outfit.
He feels ready for the day. Like he can take on any challenge.
After everyone is ready, Ray sticks with Antonio, and leads him through the streets to get to the circulation center.
"But first, we come here," Ray explains. "to the Sisters."
Sisters? Antonio isn't sure he's heard that term before.
And before he can ask what a 'Sister' is, three women who look alike dressed in black and white outfits appear before them, carrying food and water.
"The Sisters give us food in the morning," Mush tells Antonio.
"When you're a newsie, you need to eat on the go!" Louis adds.
Sisters give us food. Newsies eat on the go. Antonio files this information away in his mind. He wants to pick up on every little detail he can.
"What kind of food?" Antonio whispers to Mush.
"Bread and water and such," Mush whispers back.
One by one, very respectfully, the newsies hold out their hands for the Sisters to give them food or something to drink, and once they get something, they thank them and move on. Antonio holds out his hand, and once he gets a piece of bread, he says "thank you" and moves back, following Ray and Jack. He doesn't really like the texture of the bread, though. Is this what being a newsie is? Food that you kinda have to eat but don't wanna?
"Now there's one last thing before we go to the circulation center," Ray tells Antonio. All the newsies start walking with them. "We come here to check out what the headlines are, see what we have to sell for the day."
Antonio looks around at all the others, who seem a little anxious at this.
"Why are they nervous for it?" he asks Ray.
"Sometimes the headlines ain't good," Jack answers for him. "If headlines are real bad, then we gotta make something up."
"But making things up is a part of bein' a newsie," Louis puts in.
YOU ARE READING
I'll Always Look Out For You
Fanfiction15 years before the legendary newsies strike of 1899, a child was born. When he is 18 months old, he is brought to the Manhattan Newsies Lodging House. In time, he would be known as Racetrack Higgins. This is his story. This is the story of the news...
