Newsies' Little Sister

Chapter 27 - Strike! (Part 7)

A/N If you've seen the announcement, you'll know why this took so long

We raced through the city, shouting and hollering, all the way to Jacobi's. We ran in and sat down on the various tables and chairs.

I saw a couple of people go over to Jacobi, they talked for a bit, then he nodded and went away. 

A few minutes later, he came back in with a tray, a few glasses of water and a seltzer.

"And a glass of water for you." He said, handing a glass to Crutchie.

"And one for you." Another glass to Les.

"And you, and you." Another two to Davey and Romeo.

He then cleared his throat and held up the glass of seltzer.

"Who's the big spender that ordered the seltzer?" He called out.

Albert raised his hand and said, "Over here!"

Jacobi went over to him, making his way around the table and chairs.

"That'll be 2 cents."

Albert groaned and a couple of the boys around him laughed quietly.

"2 cents for a glass of seltzer? Just gimme a water."

"How did I ever see that coming?" Jacobi replied sarcastically, taking the "extra" glass of water off the tray and handing it to Albert.

When Jacobi left, Davey raised his glass.

"I'd say we launched our strike in a most auspicious manner!" He said, proudly.

A deathly hush came over the entire deli.

"Yea, English please..." I whispered. Elmer turned to me, a smile on his face. He'd clearly heard what I said.

"I dunno about that," Nick said after a while. "But we sure scared the bejeebers outta weasel!"

"Yea!" Finch and Race shouted.

"And did you see the Delanceys? They didn't know which way was up!" Crutchie said, laughing.

Jack stood up on a table and held out his arms to make us all quiet down. "Hey, hey. So, what's next?"

"Now you have to spread the word. Let the rest of the city's newsies know about the strike." Davey said, he was surprisingly on-board with the whole thing.

"Hey you heard the man! Let's split up, spread the word!"

"I'll take Harlem!" Nick stood up and I stood up next to him.

"I'll go with him." Jack nodded.

We both sat down again.

"I got Midtown." Race called out.

"I got the Bronx." Jojo stood up.

"And I got the Bowery!" Buttons touched his cap and nodded.

Jack started to assign people boroughs to cover.

"Uh, Specs, you take Queens."

"Yea." Specs stood up too.

"Ay! Tommy Boy!" Jack shouted to the other side of the deli.

"Hey." Tommy nodded.

"Take the East Side. And who wants Brooklyn?"

At the mention of Brooklyn, we all shied away, turning away and some people used their caps to cover their faces. I just let my hair fall in front of me, but it wasn't like I was in any danger of being picked to go to Brooklyn because I was already gonna go to Harlem with my brother.