Family
Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies or any of the characters
Flashback, 1892 (Crutchie's POV)
I approach the boy who seems to be the leader of the newsies, my crutch thumping on the hard, wooden floor of the den in my new home. I just moved in yesterday. All I know was that a boy these boys called Race found my 9-year old self in a cold, dark alley unconscious with my leg all twisted up. The Race boy carried me to this place, and asked this boy if I could stay here. The boy said sure. I don't remember anything before that. All I know is that my name is Andrew, I am nine, and I have a gimp leg. Yesterday, the same kid who said I could stay here told another guy, I think his name was Specs, to go get me a crutch so I could walk. That's why I think that boy is in charge. If he tells someone to do something, the boy does it.
As I approach the boy, I quietly cough. The boy turns to face me and says, "What do ya want Crutchie?"
"My name is Andrew," I say.
"Well your new name is Crutchie, because of your crutch, got it kid?" the boy says again. He looks about twelve, and has black hair, and grey eyes, a complete contrast to my sandy-blonde hair, and green eyes. I nod silently at the black-haired boy, not wanting to anger him.
"So kid, what do ya want?" he asks again, sounding impatient.
"Who is my family?" I ask in a small, quiet voice.
"We is your family kid," the boy responds to me.
"No you aren't!" I yell at the boy, "You ain't my mother, or my father, or anyone! I don't even know your name, so don't ya tell me we are family!"
"Kid," the boy says in a surprisingly calm and collected voice, "I don't know who your mother, or father were, but if we found you in an alley with a gimp leg all bruised up, they must have not wanted ya. Same with us. We ain't got a ma or a pa, and if we do, they don't give a dime about us. All of us is a family kid, we is all brothers. And my name is Jack Kelly."
"Well Jack Kelly," I say back to him, "I don't got a family. No one ever wants me. I thought mas and pas were supposed to love ya, but if my own ma and pa don't want me, then no one will want me."
"Ya don't need a ma, or a pa kid," Jack tells me, "Ya got me. I'll be ya pa, or ya brother, whatever ya want, and I'll make sure nothing bad will ever happen to ya."
"Promise?" I ask him.
"Promise," Jack says back, meaning it.
Present Day, 1899 (Jack's POV)
Our strike failed I think to myself as I walk around Newsies Square the day after our strike. While looking around the square, I see a piece of cloth lying on the ground. When I go take a closer look at it, I see one word on it, STRIKE. It was the banner Crutchie put on his crutch for the strike. I then remember the day I promised to keep him safe. I was only twelve, and he was only nine, but I meant every word of it, and now me at age seventeen and him fourteen, I still did. But now, Crutchie is in the Refuge. He is in a small space, awaiting his fate from Snyder. He was going to be hurt. I had failed. I had broken my promise, and family never breaks promises. I had failed all my boys, but I failed Crutchie the most. I couldn't keep him safe. He called my name right before Snyder started beating him with his own crutch, and I didn't do anything. Crutchie was counting on me to save him, to keep him safe, just like I promised. I had failed him. The kid doesn't deserve me as a pa, or a brother, or whatever he thinks I am to him I think, as I leave the square, Crutchie's banner held right up to my heart.
Present Day, 1899 (Crutchie's POV)
As I sat in the small, dark, cramped room in the Refuge, I remember back to when I was nine, when I first became a newsie. Jack had promised me that he would keep me safe, but he broke that promise. When Snyder began to beat me with my crutch, I cried for Jack. I saw him, staring at me from his "penthouse" in our Newsboy Lodging House. I knew that he had heard me, so why didn't he come help me? Isn't that what family was supposed to do? Help one another, and keep them safe? Isn't that what Jack promised me? That he would be my family, and keep me safe? If so, he broke his promise. I remember the time Jack was in the Refuge, said he still has nightmares about it. Did his fear keep him from saving me? Did fear really stop him from keeping his promise? He had told me he would be whatever I wanted him to be; my brother, my friend, or even my father. If he was those to me, was his fear of the Refuge keep him from saving his friend? His brother? His son? If Jack feared the Refuge, why would he let Snyder send me here? I thought we were family, but family never breaks a promise. Or so I think. At first, he was my brother, but now, I don't know what we are anymore.