I'm the Queen of New York!

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!" Were the yells of the Manhattan newsies as we made our way to the front door of Pulitzer's World office building.

"Alright we gotta get word out to all the newsies in New York! I need some of those, uh, what'd ya call 'em?" Jack asked Davey.

"Ambassadors?" he replied.

"Yeah. Right, you guys, you gotta be am-bastards, and go tell the others that we're on strike!" Jack proclaimed. Everyone cracked up at 'am-bastards.'

"Say, Jack! I'll take Harlem!" Blink yelled, though he was in the front of the crowd. I guess it was so that no one else would go to Harlem because in his mind he called "dibs" on it.

"Yeah, I got Midtown!" Race also shouted. Hmmm... I really wonder why he chose Midtown. No, I don't. Midtown is where most of the races take place in New York. I bet that after he tells the newsies there that we're on strike, he'll stick around for the rest of the day betting on races with money he doesn't have.

"I got the bowery, Jack!" Mush, said. Finally, someone in the front who doesn't blow out my eardrums! I bet that Mush chose the bowery because of all the pretty girls there. You ever heard of "Bowery Girls"? Well, if not, Bowery girls are poor, but pretty girls who hang around in bars. Cheery, huh?

"I'll take the Bronx!" Crutchy squeaked. I'm sure he chose that area because it's not really a long walking distance, and with his leg and everything.

"Alright, Bumlets, Specs, Skittery, you take Queens!" Jack ordered.

"Pie Eater, Snoddy! East Side! Snipeshooter, you go with 'em! I said.

"What about Brooklyn? Who wants Brooklyn?" Jack asked. I tried not to be the first one to volunteer because the guys would suspect something. You see, I've been "going out" with Brooklyn's leader, Spot Conlon. No one knew about it except us. I didn't even tell Jack, and that you don't get to see often. It had all started when I had just become a newsie and Jack took me around to all the different parts of New York. When we arrived in Brooklyn and I met Spot, we just hit it off. We had secret "dates" whenever we could. That started a week after I joined, and that was just under two yearsago. We were slowly falling in love. Some people say that Spot Conlon is a womanizer and a jerk, but that's only from girls that he meant nothing to and he had to get rid of their relationships. Spot told me himself that he wanted to find someone that was more than a regular prim and prissy, delicate, skirt hanging all over him. He said he wanted a girl who could hold her own and could do just about anything with little to no help. I'm getting sidetracked, back to the story.

"Come on! Spot Conlon's territory!" Jack tried again.

No one volunteered. 99% of the New York newsies were afraid of Spot Conlon. The only people who weren't were Jack, me, himself, and his newsies. Davey looked like he had no idea on Earth who or what Spot Conlon was. Honestly, that didn't shock me. Davey looked like he didn't get out much. I mean, he's lived in New York all his life and ain't got a New York accent. I've only been in New York two years and I have a thick New York accent. I mean, really!

"What's the matter, you scared of Brooklyn?" I asked.

"Hey we ain't scared of Brooklyn! It's Spot Conlon that makes us, a little noivous." Boots defended. See what I mean?

"Well he don't make us noivous!" I gestured that I meant me and Jack." So us and you Boots, we'll go to Brooklyn." I said.

"All right." Boots relented.

"And Dave can keep us company!" Jack added.

"Sure, just as soon as you take our demands to Pulitzer." Dave countered.