EEEEEEE I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS CHAPTER! YOU CAN TELL WHY JUST BECAUSE OF THE TITLE! I SHOULD STOP THE ALL CAPS SHOULDN'T I haha. There we go! Anyway. Enjoy! :)
Race looks at the newspaper on the table. He'll never forget this day.
Thursday, July 20, 1899.
NEWSIES CHILDREN CRUSADE STOPS THE WORLD
He's finally in the papers.
I'm famous.
Race puts his fingers on the picture. His picture.
Everyone else seems to have the same idea.
"All them words there are written about us?" Boots asks, incredulous.
"Where's my name?" Spot demands. "Where does it say my name?"
Jack just absentmindedly flicks his fingers at Spot, as if trying to get rid of a fly. Spot scowls at the action.
It gets Race, ever observant, to giggle though.
So Spot stuffs it and allows himself to laugh a little at himself too.
"You get your picture in the papes, so what?" Skittery asks ignorantly. "Where does that get you?"
Race can't even begin to process a question like that. Who asks something like that?
"What are you talking about?" Mush scorns. Others chime in.
"You've been in a bad mood all day," Jack complains.
"Not in a bad mood," Skittery retorts.
"You're glum and dumb." Race slaps Skittery lightly, accidentally making him slap Mush. But he continues on anyway. "You're in the papes, you're famous. When you're famous, you get anything you want." He slams his hand on the table. "That's what's so great about New York!"
Everyone agrees with him.
Then, they start fantasizing about what they'll get when they're famous.
"A pair of new shoes with matching laces," Mush starts.
"A permanent box at Sheepshead Races," Race adds. One can only dream. The thought gets him so excited, though.
"A porcelain tub with boilin' water," Spot contributes. Wow. His voice is nice. His cap is still gone.
Kid Blink gets up on a table. "A Saturday night with the mayor's daughter!" Everyone knows that's just to spite Mush for earlier in the week talking about some girl he met. Or he might actually want to go out with the mayor's daughter, for all Race knows.
Race walks up onto one of the tables.
"Look at me! I'm the King of New York!" He does a little tap dance. He spreads his arms out. "Suddenly! I'm respectable, starin' right at ya, lousy with stature."
Jack takes the pape. "Nobbin' with all the muckety muck, I'm blowing my dough and going deluxe."
Race jumps down and snatches the paper back. "And there I be!" He points to his face. "Ain't I pretty?"
Spot nods.
"It's my city," Jack says. Then with Race they sing together, "I'm the King of New York."
Everyone tries grabbing it at once.
"Hey, don't rip it!" "I SAID DON'T RIP IT!"
"A corduroy suit with fitted knickers," Boots says.
"A mezzanine seat to see the flickers," Les adds dreamily.
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...
