Letters and Dances | Skittery

Headlines Don't Sell Papes - 15

Y/N laughed in relief as did the boys. Children: boys and girls, came marching down the main street holding signs. From another street came a crowd of familiar boys.

"Brooklyn!" Spot Conlon came into view and waved his cane in the air.

Skittery enveloped Y/N in a hug and spun her around as they shared a kiss, until they heard Racetrack gagging behind them. They let go of each other and glared at the boy who put his hands up in the air for surrender.

"The World will feel the fire and finally know!"
All the children up until the age of twenty one gathered in the square chanted, blocking the way of Pulitzer's building.

"Strike! Strike! Strike!" They chorused.

Jack grabbed Y/N's arm and pulled her, along with David, forward into the building.

A man with white hair and grey suit welcomed them and introduced himself as Seitz, Pulitzers' correspondent. Y/N whistled as she walked through the halls, grazing her hand across the polished wood of furniture.

"It's awful. Everyone's calling. Mr. Hearst and Mr. Bennett and the mayor, in such awful language! The city's at a stand still and they all blame the chief. It's like the end of the World! Only I didn't say that." A man with an odd moustache spoke to Pulitzer, not noticing the teens behind him.

"Extry, extry, Joe. Read all about it." Jack pushed past holding a pamphlet.

"I promised that if you defied me, I'd break you. I'll keep that promise, boy-" the old man pointed.

"Ah quit whining Joe." Y/N interrupted, earning a glare from the previous man and Pulitzer.
"Now, I gave you a chance to be free. I don't understand. Anyone who doesn't act in their own self interest is a fool." He continued.

"Then what does that make you?" David asked. Y/N smiled and raised her eyebrows and grinned at the man.
Pulitzer looked confused.

"Oh, this is my pal, Davey. The Walkin' mouth. And me sistah, Y/N. Morals of the group."
She gave the man a quick wave as he glared. Was there something wrong with his face?

"You talk about self interest, but since the strike, your circulation's been down 70%. Everyday you're losing thousands of dollars just to beat us out of one lousy tenth of a cent. Why?" David continued. Jack moved over to sit on the desk.

"You see, it ain't about the money, Dave. If Joe gives in to nobodies like us, it means we got the power," Y/N mocked, "And he can't do that, no matter what it costs. Am I right or am I right, Joe?"

"I sent for the police. They must be here by now. Send them in, Seitz."

Y/N took a deep breath in.

"Jack's not going back to jail, Pulitzer. Neither myself or Davey here are gonna go either. Look out here. Right out here is where the power is." Y/N said as she walked around the man and pushed the doors of the balcony open. Letting in the noise of the streets below.

She walked back in as Pulitzer pushed past her, "Close the window! Close the window! Go home! Go home! Go home!"

"I can't hear you , Joe!" Jack laughed.

"And neither can they!" Y/N added.

"Go home! Go home to your mothers and fathers! Go home!" Was the man really that ignorant?