The World Will Know (Newsies)

7: Seize The Day

The next morning, Rebecca and Elizabeth left through the front door bright and early, before their parents would be awake to question them on where they were going. The twins had left the pants at Katherine's house so they wouldn't have to worry about their parents getting upset again. Rebecca was in a nicer dress just in case they were to be caught, while Elizabeth was in an older blue dress from a few years ago. Neither twin had grown that much since they were about fifteen, so they had quite a few dresses built up in their closets. On Elizabeth's shoulder rested a small bag, in which was a pad of paper that Katherine had loaned her, a pen or two, and a copy of a book she had loaned from her older brother's library: Treasure Island. The night before, she had come up with the idea to read some stories to the newsies after the demonstration that day, specifically Les. She thought that the boys would enjoy that book, so it seemed like a decent idea.

They made their way through the town, running down the street as they often did. This time, they didn't have an "escort" there to tell them to slow down, so they were running faster than they ever had. Katherine's building was a little farther away than they realized, even if they were running, so by the time they reached it, Elizabeth was winded. However, her sister was standing up, comfortable and not exhausted whatsoever.

"How..." Elizabeth began, then shook her head and let it go. She entered the apartment building slowly and tiredly, with her sister close behind with a pep in her step.

They made their way up the stairs to the apartment, where Katherine was already waiting in the doorway. She was dressed pretty nicely, in a pink dress over a white shirt with a little blue tie. Draped over her left arm was Rebecca's pair of pants, as well as a shirt and hat she had snuck out of a neighbor's laundry. She clutched her notebook and pen in her hands, her eyes trained on the pages. Up until their arrival, she seemed to have been writing something down. Whether or not it was about the strike, the twins didn't know, because as soon as they stepped towards her, Katherine closed the notebook and ushered them inside so Rebecca could change clothes.

Hardly any words were exchanged as Rebecca got dressed, each of them wanting to hurry down to the square as fast as they could so they could get the picture and watch what happened next. Who knew, maybe Pulitzer and Hearst would give in this morning and bring the prices back down. The only words that were uttered were by Katherine, who muttered something along the lines of, "The cameraman is going to meet us down there as soon as possible, so we need to get there fast."

As soon as Rebecca finished tying her shoes after changing clothes, they were out the door like bullets from a gun. They practically flew down the stairs and out the door onto the street, where they continued to run like they always did through the streets of New York. Due to the time of morning it was, the streets were pretty quiet save for the pitter-patter of their footsteps and some scattered sounds from shops opening early. Practically nobody was on the street besides them and those shop owners, so they didn't have to worry about accidentally running some poor old woman over in their rush to the square.

They skidded to a stop in front of the lodging house, which was quieter than usual due to the fact that the newsies had already headed out to start their strike. As Rebecca pulled on her cap, the three noticed an older gentleman waiting by the door with a camera. There was their guy. Katherine motioned for the other girls to stay put, then walked over and had a quick conversation with the man. After about a minute or two, the man picked up his camera equipment and started walking towards the distribution center, with Katherine beside him as she gestured to the twins to follow her.

The distribution center was full of newsies without papers to sell. They were running around, cheering and chanting. As the cameraman set up his camera, the phrases "Seize the day" and "All for one and one for all" were thrown around by choruses of young people, running around and getting into position for their photo.