Pieces

Different

Morris had always known he was different. Everyone knew. He wasn't just different. He was wrong. At least that's what he thought. And Wiesel. And Snyder. And Oscar, sometimes. It was never an issue until mom and dad left. Then, Oscar blamed him and he believed it. Why wouldn't he? Oscar was smarter. Then, he tried to hide everything and act as much like Oscar as he could. He couldn't be different.

Had it been about 50 years later, he would've been diagnosed with autism. But it was 1899. It hadn't been identified yet. So nobody had any idea why Morris wasn't like everyone else.

His uncle Wiesel had him working at the distribution window with Oscar. Morris didn't work much, though. He'd usually get distracted pretty quickly. Sometimes, Oscar would try to pick a fight with one of the newsies. When that happened, Morris would try to act tough, just like Oscar. He wasn't nearly as intimidating, though.

Morris wouldn't fight. He knew it was wrong. Oscar and Wiesel tried to convince him otherwise, but it never worked. The best they could do was give him brass knuckles and hope he hit someone. He would happily put on brass knuckles. He liked how they felt. Cold metal. His favorite feel.

Wiesel and Oscar didn't really want Morris at the distribution window, but they couldn't keep him back. He usually followed Oscar everywhere, especially if he would be gone for a long time. If Oscar went, Morris would go too. And leaving Oscar back wasn't an option. Wiesel needed the help.

There was one good thing about Morris: when he got upset, he'd punch his hand. That made it much easier for Wiesel to convince him to punch other people. A good way to hurt the newsies. Morris knew it wasn't right, but he also knew that Wiesel was smarter than him, so he'd usually listen.

They didn't want Morris for many reasons. One, he couldn't pay attention. He got distracted by everything, and it didn't help that he was especially interested in weather. Every morning, as soon as he saw the newspaper, he'd open it up to the weather and try to tell Oscar all about it. Then, when he didn't want to talk anymore, he would start fidgeting. He'd mostly tap on the papers, the table, and sometimes his leg. Sometimes, usually later in the shift, he'd clink coins. He usually got yelled at for that. Wiesel hated when anyone touched his money, even though Morris always remembered to put it back. If Wiesel yelled at him for tapping or clinking, he'd twirl. Wiesel hated that the most. He thought it made Morris seem less tough, as if anyone would think he was. And, after that, Wiesel would find a chair and tell Morris to sit and stay. He would usually make Morris sit on his hands so he couldn't tap. Then he'd bounce, and Wiesel knew it was hopeless. But Morris was getting better and controlling it, and trying to act more "normal".

But even worse than that was when he got upset. That happened a lot. He was very sensitive to loud noises. With the newsies yelling and the gates creaking (a sound that Morris hated more than any other), he got overwhelmed most days. That didn't always bother Wiesel too much, though. Usually, it only affected Morris. Sometimes it made it hard for him to work, since he couldn't think about anything. But work was always hard, since he had trouble focusing. He'd feel like all the noise was driving him crazy, the noise would seem to multiply itself by a thousand, and he'd want a distraction, but nothing helped. But, sometimes, when it was especially bad, he would start humming, and if it got worse, he'd scream. So if he started humming, Wiesel had to scare the newsies into shutting up without them knowing it was because of Morris. But they all knew Morris was different, despite Wiesel's efforts to hide it.

One newsie saw Morris as more than just that weird kid that was different from everyone else, and that was Henry. Henry knew someone else that was pretty similar to Morris, and had an idea of what to do to make him happy and to help him understand that there was nothing wrong with him. Because there wasn't.

Henry knew he couldn't talk to Morris in front of Wiesel and Oscar. So, every day, he tried to be the last in line to get his papers. Usually, when Morris was told to sit, he would stay there until they left. So, when Wiesel and Oscar were putting away the leftover papers, Morris was at the window by himself. That was when Henry had to talk to him.

One day, Morris started twirling. Henry knew that Morris would be told to sit. Then, eventually, he was. After he bought his papers, Henry stuck around and pretended to look them over, and kept his back to Morris. Oscar and Wiesel left, and Morris stayed where he was. When Henry turned around, he saw Morris watching him with his head tilted and a confused expression on his face.

"Lookin' it over. Seein' what headlines I got," Henry explained.

Morris seemed to think about that for a moment, then nodded. He grabbed one of the leftover papers that nobody took yet, then opened up to the weather. He had already read it, but wanted to make sure Henry saw it. Henry looked at the pages Morris had opened up to.

"Weather? Why?" There was nothing unusual in the forecast that Morris could be trying to warn him about.

Morris didn't reply. Instead, he read over the page again. Henry didn't bring it up again.

"Hey, I saw those twirls. Pretty good," Henry said. Henry was a dancer himself, as well as most of the other newsies. Maybe that's how he could connect with Morris? But, Morris had no interest in dance. Just twirls. They were fun and made him happy.

Morris laughed, but not quite an amused laugh. Henry wasn't exactly sure what kind of laugh it was, and wasn't even sure Morris knew. But the reason was, he was happy that Henry wasn't mad about the twirls like everyone else was.

Oscar and Wiesel came back out to put away the last stack of papers. Henry went back to pretending to flip through. Morris was still smiling, and had started bouncing again. They immediately knew something had happened. Wiesel handled the papers, and Oscar stayed with Morris.

"Hey, Mo, what happened?" he asked. He was trying to sound calm and patient, which usually worked when trying to get something out of Morris.

Morris laughed again, the same way as before.

Oscar turned to Henry. His expression and tone had changed. "What happened?"

Henry looked up. "Just makin' conversation, is all." Then, he turned back to Morris. "Hey, wanna come back by the lodging house when I'm done sellin'?"

Morris nodded, then Oscar grabbed him and pulled him out of the house. He really didn't want Morris becoming friends with a newsie. As soon as Morris was up and no longer sitting on his hands, he started flapping them. So he was actually happy about meeting Henry later. The opposite of what Oscar wanted. But, hopefully, Morris wouldn't go alone. Because Oscar and Wiesel definitely wouldn't take him.