Being a girl is easy. Like guys, fix your hair, all that. It's even fun sometimes.
Being a girl NEWSIE is hard. Dress like a guy, act like a guy, lie about headlines. It can be fun too, but it's hard work.
Being me is ten times as hard. Dress like a guy while hawking headlines. Being a girl while working at Medda's, serving drinks. It's completely confusing sometimes.
My name's Antoinette. Not Marie, but close enough. May Antoinette Germaine. Not French, but mom wished I would be.
Mom died when I was five. I inherited her brown eyes and shy demeanor. She'd be horrified at how I live. I was one of the "richies" back then.
Dad, who I inherited my red-brown hair from, died in a train wreck the day I turned 9. He was on his way home for my birthday, but the train he got on was hit by another train that had no idea that his train was on the same set of tracks. Big wreck. Worst birthday of my life.
I was turned out by all of my relatives. Nobody wanted a "little brat" in their house. So, I ended up on the street.
The newsies found me. Blackjack was the leader of the Brooklyn newsies at the time. He found me out on the street, crying after 3 days of sleeping in random alleys. He turned me over to Silver, the head of the Manhattan newsies. Brooklyn couldn't handle a little girl at the time. They were overrun with young boys.
Silver helped me sell my papers until I was good enough at it that I could hawk a headline like a pro. He was so proud. After another couple of months, he even let me sell with the younger ones. Helping them out, holding their papers.
About 4 months after I got there, Silver turned 18, and got a job in the distribution center. He put Jack Kelly in charge. Jack, who was usually called Cowboy, was the one that gave me my nickname. All the good newsies have one. Silver must've had some sort of pull on what it was, because it was something he had always called me.
"May, ya new newsie name is," Jack told me, "Rose."
May roses are the most beautiful ones ever. Silver always called me "rose" because, when I was new at the house, I was shy and quiet, but once I got out there and started selling, he said "Ya just kinda, well, bloomed!"
So, from that day on, I was Rose to all of the newsies. Once in awhile, one would call me May, or Annie sometimes, but only one called me Antoinette. That is the current leader of Brooklyn. Spot Conlon. He was on "patrol" with Blackjack when he found me.
Spot always preferred my middle name to my first and newsie names. He never made a nickname of it either. Never Annie, or Netta, or anything. Always Antoinette.
He'd call me Rose in front of the newsies, but when we'd run into each other, he'd call me Antoinette.
Once, I literally ran into him in the park. He had said, "Why, Antoinette, isn't it an absolutely LOVEly day?" He'd always tease me about being a richie, but never cruelly. Just in a nice way.
Here's where this story starts. I'm 13 years old, and still a Manhattan newsie. Brooklyn's just gained a few new girl newsies, and I've been sent to help Spot "train" them. It's kind of like when you get a new puppy, you have to get them used to everything and all.
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"Okay, so your names are Lillith, Suzette, and Daisy?" I asked. The new girls all nodded their heads.
Lillith was a short blonde with lovely brown eyes. She was the shy one.
Suzette was a bit taller than Lillith, and had bright red hair and green eyes. Obviously from Ireland originally. She had the Irish temper and accent. She was the troublemaker of the group.
Daisy was the tallest of the three, and obviously the oldest. She was gorgeous. Long brown locks of hair with deep blue eyes. She was the glue that held the small group together.
"Alright goils," Spot said, "Dis is Rose, she'll be helpin' ya."
They all looked at me, and immediately I knew I'd be doing more than just helping them. I'd be taking care of them.
"Ya gotta stay wid 'er when ya sell papes, an' when ya go off, she's gotta know where ya going, a'right?" he said, more as a command than a question.
"Yes sir." Daisy said, "I'll make sure we all do our best."
Spot was charmed by Daisy. She was obedient and the hardest worker of them. She'd keep Lillith on task and Suzette from hurting customers on more than one occasion.
"She's diligent, Spot." I told him, "Suzette tends tah get angry at people, an' Lillith gets distracted easily, but she keeps 'em workin'."
"Good." Spot said, "If she did anythin' less, you'd be doin' all dat."
"So, who's giving 'em der newsie names?" I asked.
"You are." Spot said, giving me a look like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Didn't da person dat took care a ya give ya your name?"
"Nah." I said, "Silver stepped out befoah he had da chance to. Jack did."
"Silver gave ya nickname tah Jack tah give tah ya." Spot said, "He woulda given it to yah, but he left."
And that's how I learned how newsies got their names.
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I thought about theirs for WEEKS before I came up with anything good.
Lillith's a bit flighty, so we'd call her some kind of bird name like Robin or Raven.
Suzette's got a quick temper, so Flames or Scorch would be good for her.
But Daisy was going to be the hard one. She's good at alot of things, and she has almost no faults.
"I can't come up wid a good one fah Daisy." I told Spot, "I got dah othah ones, but her's is gonna be tough."
"Well, what are da othah ones?" he asked.
"Lillith's is either Robin or Raven." I said, he nodded in agreement, so I went on, "Suzette would be Flames or Scorch."
"Flames is bettah." Spot said, "Red hair, hot tempah. Poifect fah her."
"So, what about Daisy?" I asked.
"I'll think about it." he said, "But don' expect nothin'. You gotta give it tah her."
