A Newsies Carol

Part One: Again, Christmas

I'm new here, just trying this out, so apologies if the formatting is bad.

Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies. It belongs to Disney, Alan Menken, and the other creators.

A Christmas Carol, naturally, belongs to the wonderful Charles Dickens. I have borrowed a plot and the occasional phrase from his work for this project, but don't worry, I'll be putting my own spin on things.

Also, I am completely aware that I'm not the first to adapt this concept to the Newsies universe. Author SomedayonBroadway wrote "A Newsie Carol" (on FFN) back in 2019, and it was her story that inspired me to write my own. I recommend you read that one too, as it is spectacular and deserves the same love you may want to give this story.

Right, now that you know everything you need to, enjoy your reading!
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Davey was dead, to begin with. That was a fact. It had held true for seven years so far, and was showing no signs of aligning to the contrary. Jack Kelly was certain of it, as were the few witnesses to the young man's death. As were, also, the few family members Davey Jacobs had. All the same, the key point here is that Jack Kelly was certain, as he very well should have been. He had been Davey's sole best friend, business partner, and closest brother- a fact that, unfortunately, insults Davey's biological brother.

But I digress. David Jacobs was as dead as a doornail. If this fact is not distinctly understood, nothing marvelous can come of the story I am about to relate, and my efforts will have been for naught. So I will say, for a final time, that the young man was dead. Though his last name remained printed upon the door of his business- Kelly and Jacobs, as it was known- Davey had departed this earth. His partner was left to take over the firm on his own.

The law firm had come about in an odd way. Firstly, Joseph Pulitzer, Mr. Kelly's former boss, had fired him from his job as a cartoonist for The World newspaper a few years prior. While Jack was a talented artist, it had been apparent that he and Mr. Pulitzer did not mesh well together, hence Jack's loss of a job. It just so happened that Davey, a close friend of Jack's, was fresh out of law school and itching to start a firm of his own. He took Mr. Kelly on at once, first as an assistant and eventually as a partner. Over the years, Jack gained more knowledge of legal sciences. This came through long hours spent studying heavy tomes full of vocabulary he could barely comprehend.

In the end, Jack was properly educated and prepared to do the job well. Not quite so well as Davey, mind, but his efforts were satisfactory. So satisfactory, in fact, that he failed to notice the friends that no longer came to see him, for he was always busy without time for company. This lack of companions did not bother Jack, because he knew he would always have Davey.

Unfortunately, there came a day when he no longer had Davey, and from then on was resigned to the fact that he would never have his friend again. So Jack became accustomed to shutting himself within the frigid offices of Kelly and Jacobs, a building he refused to heat more than necessary, even in the dead of winter. Jack's reasoning behind this was nothing more than a desire to save money on coal, but it was said of him by his customers that he relished in keeping his workplace as cold as his soul.

Indeed, his soul had become cold. There had been a time, in his youth, not all that long ago, when his heart had welcomed warmth. Years of isolation and tragedy had hardened that heart, however, freezing out everyone in the process. It was uncommon nowadays to see a passerby wish him "Good day" when they saw him in the street, or for anyone to inquire the way to one place or another, of Jack Kelly. No young women came calling, at either his home or place of business, to see about going to the theater. Jack was still young, right on the edge of thirty, and a rather good-looking man at that. But his hard exterior and unpleasant demeanor repelled nearly everyone.