The World Will Know (Newsies)

2: The Union Awakes

In the twins' bedroom later that night, Elizabeth was crouched on the floor, taking her sister's measurements for the trousers she had so desperately wanted. "Are you sure you want me to make them? Because I'm not the best at sewing without a machine, and I'd have to be working all night to make these perfect for you," she asked Rebecca, looking up at her as she held the measuring tape around her sister's waist.

"It doesn't need to be perfect. I don't need an expert seamstress to make me a pair of pants. These are just to make a statement tomorrow. As long as they fit and don't look too shabby, they'll be perfect," Rebecca replied, her smile as bright as the evening star outside their window. The smog covered up all but the brightest stars over the city, and Rebecca's smile could have been mistaken for one of those visible ones.

"Alright, if you're sure," Elizabeth replied, measuring around her sister's thigh. "Wouldn't it be easier to just borrow a pair of Father's pants tomorrow?" she then suggested, thinking about it.

"Maybe, but he's also at least a solid foot taller than the both of us, so I'd end up ruining them when I wear them. Plus, he'd notice if a pair of his own were gone for a whole day, don't you think?" Rebecca shrugged slightly, her eyes trained on one of the pictures on the wall in front of her.

"Well, what about Bill's, or maybe Darcy's? Either of them would let you use a pair, I know they would. We could go and use the telephone in Father's office to call," Elizabeth pointed out as she moved to measuring the length of her sister's leg.

"Bill and Darcy may be kind enough to do that, but again, they're also too tall, almost as tall as Father. I need a pair of my own," Rebecca declared, standing straight up as she waited for her sister to finish.

"Alright, then, whatever you say," Elizabeth murmured and kept measuring. After another minute or two of silence and work, she spoke up again. "I think I've got all the measurements I need. You put on your nightgown so you look decent if Father comes in to say goodnight," Elizabeth ordered her sister, getting up from the floor and dusting her own nightgown off. "I'll be working on these at the window so I can get a little bit of natural light and you can sleep, okay?"

"You're too kind for your own good, Eliza," Rebecca told her sister, giving her a small smile. "Thanks, though."

"No problem," Elizabeth told her, smiling back as she gathered up the fabric and a pair of her father's pants that she had snuck out of the laundry to use as a guide. "Now put on your nightgown like I told you to."

"Okay, Mother," Rebecca mumbled and quickly changed into her nightgown before flopping down on her bed. "Good night," she called, reaching for the lamp between their beds to turn it off.

"Good night." The light was out, and Elizabeth was left in mostly darkness, but she was grateful that there was just enough light to make out what she was doing. She made some measurements on the fabric and cut the right shapes out to start stitching. "This is going to look terrible..." she mumbled under her breath, then started to stitch everything together. If she were using her mother's sewing machine, she could make these look fairly decent, but her mother would know that someone had been in there, and if she or anybody else in the family were to check on them in the middle of the night, she'd be caught and questioned. Better to just try and freehand them.

She could just picture it in her mind. It was going to look horrendous. The stitches would be off, there wouldn't be any pockets, the pants would just slide on...they wouldn't be anything like professionally-made pants. At least Rebecca said they didn't have to look pretty...

*****

Elizabeth was right. The pants were hideous, looking almost exactly how she had imagined them. Yet, Rebecca was so excited about them. She acted as if they were the best gift she had ever gotten, her smile even brighter than it had been the night before, if at all possible. She attempted to wear them out the door early in the morning, with Elizabeth by her side dressed like she always was. But, their father was up early that morning as well, and had caught them in the hall.