Crippled Words (A Crutchie Love Story)

Chapter 7: I Need To Leave

I didn’t go back to Willa’s house. I didn’t want Aunt Caroline to see me or know where I was. so I went to the newsboys lounge. It was pretty loud there at night. The boys were playing around and talking. Some were playing card games or rolling dice. It was like a party until everyone fell asleep. The only other girl that stayed there was Les. It was more like she was one of the boys. She smoked and played cards with all the boys. I felt like I was the one out of place sitting there in the corner sulking in my own misery. After beating the boys for the fourth time in poker, Les came to sit with me in the corner. She had a cigar in her mouth and blew out the smoke.

                “I heard about your prissy Aunt,” she said, “Is dat why ya sittin’ here lookin’ like the world’s fallen down?”

                “Pretty much,” I said, “It’s just, I never liked my Aunt Caroline. She’s judgmental and pompous and all she cares about is her image and not people. I don’t want to go live with her. I don’t want to leave me friends. I don’t want to leave…” I looked at Crutchie who was laughing at something Jack had said.

                “Crutchie? You really like him, don’t ya?”

                “I think I love him. He’s the only genuine boy I’ve met. It seems no matter what happens he has a bright side to it. He makes me laugh and smile. He’s great.”

                Les laughed and took another drag of her cigar. “I’ve known Crutchie for a long time. He’s a good kid. I also know what’s it’s like to be in love. I’m in love with Spot, as crazy as it sounds. I think Crutchie is more in love wit you den ya are wit him.”

                “How do you figure that?”

                “The way he looks at ya. He just stares at ya like he wants ta give ya da world, but knows he can’t. It’s a dreamer look everyone gets when their in love. It’s the way I look at Spot and how Spot looks at me. It’s the way Race looks at Sydney and the way she looks at him. It’s the way Jack looks at Sarah and Sarah looks at him. And now you look at Crutchie that way and he looks at you that way. It’s the look a love.”

                “Now all I feel like is like he’s looking at me and trying not to cry. What is he going to be like when I’m forced to leave with my aunt? It’ll kill him.”

                “I can’t answer dat one. All I know is that when I got taken back to dat orphanage, I felt like I had to let Spot go. He had a life where he could go anywhere, do anything and I was trapped. He wanted to give up his free life for me. I wasn’t going to let him do it. Sometimes, you gotta give ya own feelin’s away to protect da ones ya love.”

                Les patted me on the shoulder then went back to the poker table to play another round. I sighed and looked out the window that was above my head. The night sky was decorated with stars. I thought about my dad. I thought about what he would have wanted me to do. He wouldn’t have wanted me to go with Aunt Caroline. He would have wanted me to stay with Willa and her family. I went over to Crutchie and half dragged him out the door. He hobbled after me. He leaned on his crutch when I stopped walking.

                “What was all dat for?” he asked.

                I answered him with a kiss. The arm that wasn’t on the crutch wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer. I just wanted to be wrapped up in him and forget about everything else, but I couldn’t. I pulled away from him.

                “I need to leave Crutchie,” I said.

                “What?” he said.

                “Not with my aunt. I just need to leave. I don’t know where, but I need to go somewhere. Somewhere where she can’t find me.”

                “I’m going wit ya.”

                “No. You can’t. You can’t walk all that well and what if we need to run, hide? You can’t do all of that.”

                “Ya ain’t leavin’ witout me, Sadie. I ain’t gonna let ya.”

                “Crutchie…”

                He moved his hand from my waist to the side of my face. “Now I may be a street rat and a newsie. I may work on the streets and sell newspapers. I may not even remember what a home looks like, but I do know how ta feel. I ain’t riskin’ never seein’ ya again. I can’t. Now I’m goin’ wit ya and dats final. We’ll get through together.”

                “You’re crazy, newsie. You know that?”

                “Sounds familiar.”

                I hugged him. I didn’t know how this was going to work. I didn’t know how far we would get until someone found us. But oddly enough, I didn’t care. I was glad I had Crutchie and no pompous family member was going to take me away from him.

*(This part kind of sucked. Sorry! Do you readers have any idea what should happen next? I'm kind of stuck :-/...)*