The World Will Know (Newsies)

13: Too Damn Slow

That night, after everyone had spread the word about the rally, Elizabeth was pacing around one of the sleeping rooms in the Refuge, thinking about what she had heard from her sister. A city-wide rally for all the newsies? Oh, if only she could go. After all, she wanted to be a part of all this so badly now. With what she's been through, how could she not want to support the rights of the young boys and girls in the city? What kind of doctor would that make her someday? A horrible one, that's what.

Maybe she could make it after all. It was getting dark now, and she wasn't injured. Maybe she could sneak out the window by following that plan that Crutchie made, using the blankets to climb down and out the window, then be out of there in minutes. She considered the fire escape at first, but she came to the conclusion that the structure would be too noisy in the middle of the night. A single wrong step and it would ring out, alerting all the cruel people who worked there of her plan. She'd get caught instantly, and who knew what would happen to her if she did?

Well, actually, they'd get caught. She couldn't do this without taking Crutchie with her. After all, she came to take care of him. She couldn't just leave him behind in this place. If everything worked out the right way, she could stay out of the Refuge entirely once they were gone, and so could Crutchie. They'd be free again. Oh, the freedom would be so incredible right about now...

It was official, at least in the young girl's mind. When the sun went down entirely, and the city was finally sleeping, she and Crutchie would run away and disappear like she wrote in her letter. But first, she just had to actually tell him the plan. His leg was already starting to get better, she had discovered, so they might be able to make it. Though it definitely wasn't as good as it had been before the injury, it was good enough that he might be able to limp at a much slower pace, or move quicker if he was leaning on Elizabeth's arm.

She strode across the room towards Crutchie's bunk, letting a small smile form on her face as she thought about what they could potentially be doing, where they could potentially be in just a little while. If only, if only.

Crutchie was sitting on the edge of his bunk, his eyes trained on the nearest window to his bed. He wouldn't admit it, but he was looking out the window at the streets, or as much of the street as he could see. He was hoping to see Jack or one of the other newsies come by again. But, he doubted any of them would show up, at least not today. It was too late in the day, and none of them were dumb enough to come near the Refuge at night.

Elizabeth positioned herself at the bottom of the ladder, looking up at Crutchie with a small smile. "Hey, Crutchie, mind if I come and join you up there?" she requested.

Crutchie snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look down at her. "Liza. You surprised me," he admitted softly. With a motion of his hand, he called her up there. "Yeah, sure, come on up."

Elizabeth nodded quickly and climbed up the ladder, then took a seat beside him with her legs dangling off the edge of the bed. Once she was settled into her place, she asked, "How are you feeling? Is your leg doing better than it was before?"

Crutchie shrugged a bit, letting his gaze fall to his legs. His good leg was feeling moderately better, but it was nowhere near as good as it had been before he was attacked by Snyder. "It's alright, I guess," he admitted, sighing softly. "Why?"

Elizabeth smiled at him. "Well," she started, "because I care about your well being, and because that might be important due to what I have to say to you."

He tilted his head in curiosity, looking over at her with confusion on his face. "What's goin' on?"

The young lady grinned at him and immediately sat up straighter. In a quieter voice, so nobody else could hear what she had in mind, she informed him, "Tomorrow night at Irving Hall, the newsies are hosting a rally for all the newsies in New York. If you think you can make it out of here using that escape plan you came up with, we can get out of here and back to the lodging house, and we can meet all of our friends at the rally. What do you say?"