Kelly House

Chapter 4: Romeo

"Jack, how'd you meet Crutchie?" Romeo asked.

Everyone waited with bated breath, but Jack did not respond.

Race broke the silence "I don't know where or how Jack found him, but I remember the first time I seen him.

It was cold, real cold, so must've been December, maybe January, I think, 'cause I was fussin' over the new shoes The Lodge gave me for Christmas. I'd gotten mud on them that day, so I was cleanin' 'em when Jack walked in with a bundle of rags. Least that's what it looked like at the time.

"Whacha got, Jack?" I asked but he didn't say nothin'. Just walked straight to Old Bill. Bill peeked under the rags, then him and Jack disappeared. I didn't see Jack again for a week or so, but that weren't so unusual. When I saw him again, he was helpin' a pipsqueak of a kid with a bum leg walk. Kid looked like he was near about dead, but Jack made him walk around some every day. Pretty soon the kid was lookin' better.

If we stays at The Lodge at night, we has to go to the classes, but there's nothin' that says we hafta stay there; it's our choice. But it was dead winter and that kid couldn't sleep outside—it'd kill him for sure—so Jack stays at The Lodge, goin' to the classes with the kid, and that's when he got to be real good at sellin' papes.

Now, anyone can sell a pape, but a good newsie has to be able to read the pape so's he knows what he's sellin'. Me, I could read the words good enough to sell me some papes, but Jack understood what all the words meant when they was strung together. He started readin' the whole paper, not just the headlines. It was amazin'! He had some guys who'd pay him extra just to chat about the articles. And they wasn't always namby-pamby how-de-do conversations neither. Sometimes they shouted at each other, but the gents always seemed to like it and walked away with a smile on their face.

And the ladies! Whoo-eee! He was popular with the ladies! Since he read the whole thing, he knew about all the social stuff and gossip and if a lady passed by, he'd hawk the social news at her and nearly every time they's bought a pape. Then he grew into hisself a bit and started keepin' clean and the ladies stuck around for chattin' after they's bought their papes.

Got to be Jack was outsellin' us all, doing 75-100 papes, or more, everyday without breakin' a sweat. It was amazin' to watch and he let me hang around him, too. Didn't even care if I stole his tricks, but he told me the best thing I could do was go to the classes at The Lodge and take a bath.

What'd I have to lose? So I tried it and sure 'nough, it worked! I never got to be as good as Jack—but there ain't no one smart as him, 'cept maybe Davey, and we didn't know him yet back then—but I was still sellin' a lot more papes than usual every day, too. And, trust me on this,the ladies sure do loves a guy who can talk social to them.

Pretty soon, the kid was lookin' better, so's Jack started takin' him out, teachin' him how to sell papes. He had a hard time of it at first 'cause he was scared of everyone but Jack. But people'd see Jack and me helpin' him walk and we sold more papes than ever. That kid's bum leg was a gold mine! And he was a charmer! Didn't say much, but his smile lit the Bowery! Folks ate it up, I tell ya.

You shoulda seen him the first time Jack gave him his share of the money: he didn't have no idea what was goin' on. Jack told him, 'You helps do the work, you gets paid.' It was only 'bout thirty-five cents or so but you'd'a thunk he was rich as Pulitzer.

'Is it enough for a crutch?' he wanted to know.

'Dunno, Kid," Jack told him. 'I'll have to check around. Meantime you hold on to that and don't lose it.'

Kid's clothes wasn't nothin' but holes held together by threads, so Jack ended up holdin' on to it for him, but you could see a difference in him after that. Stood a little taller, when he could stand; sat straighter when he couldn't. He took to sellin' papes like he was born to it. Did everythin' Jack did, on top of the bum leg and that smile.