𝖇𝖗𝖔𝖔𝖐𝖑𝖞𝖓 𝖇𝖗𝖎𝖉𝖌𝖊 𝖎𝖘 𝖋𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖉𝖔𝖜𝖓 (spot colon)

chapter three

⇏ Once the show was over we headed outside. I bounced down the stairs and hummed the song while Les sang it. Davey asked how we knew Medda, so Jack told him about how she was a family friend.

"What about you, Frenchy? How do you know her?" Davey questioned.

Jack watched me, probably wondering if I was gonna answer. "After I escaped the orphanage she took me in, and taught me English." I only told him the bare minimum and hoped that my flat tone would be enough to throw him off.

Jack broke the silence as we walked past an empty shoe shiner station. "Come on, Les, you wanna shine me shoes for me?" He joked.

"Oh, it's getting late. My parents are going to be worried. What about yours?" David asked Jack. He does realize that most newsies don't have parents, right?

"Nah, they're out west looking for a place to live, like this." He pulled out the Santa Fe brochure that he always had on him."See, that's Santa Fe, New Mexico. As soon as

they find the right ranch, they're gonna send for me and Frenchy." I side-eyed him. We've had this talk before, and I had explained to him that the only reason I'd leave New York is so I could get to Boston.

"Then you'll be a real cowboy." Les seemed excited over that.

Jack responded with a "Yep," and we left it at that. We walked a couple of blocks, just enjoying the summer night.

The air heats up a few degrees and thunderous crashes are heard. Running to see what caused the commotion we saw grown men fighting and turning over cars. A riot. Riots mean good headlines!

David clearly wasn't as thrilled over the scene. He yelled "Jack! Frenchy! Why don't we go to my place and divy up? Y'all can meet my folks!"

"It's the trolly strike, Dave. These couple of dumbasses must not have joined or something." I explained.

David looked exasperated, "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Maybe we'll get a good headline tomorrow,

Dave." Jack called while watching the action. "Look at this, he slept the whole way threw it!"

Jack throws Les over his shoulder and we walk toward Davey's apartment. I joke around with Jack while David watches us like the mother hen he is.

As soon as we walked through the door heads shot up and a woman sped our way.

"My God. What happened?!" She asked.

Davey shook his head, denying his mother's assumption, "Nothing, mama. He's just sleeping.

The father looked up and began to question his son, "We've been waiting on dinner for you. Where have you been?" Davey cut him off by emptying his pockets of all his coins. He had them all since he didn't trust us to not blow them all. He acts like we don't know how to survive!

The father stared down the coins, as if in disbelief. "You made all this selling newspapers?"

David shrugged his shoulders while jabbing his thumb in our direction. "Well, half of it's Jack and Frenchy's. These are our selling partners and our friends. Jack Kelly, Frenchy, my parents. And that's my sister, Sarah."

"Ester, maybe David's partners would like to join us for dinner. Why don't you add a little more water to the soup?" David's dad said to his wife as she passed. He kissed her and she giggled before shoving him away playfully.

"Mayer!"

The apartment was quaint, to say the least, but it was homey. There was a kitchen to the left and a bedroom to the right. Outside the window was a fire escape. Everything was lived in but in a nice way.

The Jacobs served us some soup that was incredibly good, like this soup was godsent it was so good.

I must have looked happy or something because Davey's mother and sister started giggling. Looking down at my bowl, I wiped my face and started eating slower. I didn't want to embarrass myself. Jack watched me and patted my shoulder before digging back into his second bowl.

"So," Jack started after everyone was done eating. "From what I saw today, your boys are a couple of born newsies. Can I have some more?"

Sarah took his bowl from him and smiled.

"So with their hard work and me and Frenchy's experience, I figure we can peddle a thousand papes a week and not even break a sweat."

"That many?" David's dad questioned. I nodded.

Jack responded, "More when the headline's good.:

Sarah tilted her head and asked, "So what makes the headline good?"

"Oh, you know. Catchy words like maniac, or corpse,

umm..lovenest, or nude. Excuse me. Maybe I'm talkin' too much." Jack flirted. I kicked his leg to shut him up.

" Sarah? Go get the cake your mother's hiding in the cabinet." David's dad smiled at us. Cake? I haven't had cake since I left France! The Jacobs' were officially my favorite people.

Mrs. Jacobs protested, slapping the back of Mr. Jacobs hand. "That's for your birthday tomorrow!"

"Well, I've had enough birthdays!. This is a celebration!"

David and Sarah rushed around, grabbing silverware and the cake. I finished my soup before shifting to look at Jack.

He mouthed the word 'Cake' at me, and I nodded back at him. Oh I was totally fixing to rub this Mush's face.

David told his father about how his new job was gonna help the family. Mr. Jacobs gave him a disapproving stare, the mood in the room shifted for a split second before he reminded him that once he healed Davey was going back to school. David frowned, clenching his jaw.

Was he upset he didn't have to work? That he could go to school. My mood soured, as I stabbed my slice of cake with a fork. The sweetness of the cake soothed my mind, but still all I thought about was that David, who judged us for lying to survive, was upset he had a chance at a better life. That he had a family to put him through school. When my dad changed, school was my only escape. I did everything to stay in school, it was the one thing I missed from France.

Les drew me out of my thoughts. He was still asleep but he had been dreaming about Medda's show. He started singing the song she had sang today. Jack, David, and I all looked at each other before bursting out into laughter. 

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