Whiskey Lullaby
Spot Conlon never thought he would ever fall in love, let alone the second in command of Manhattan. Come to think of it, Kitty never thought she would fall in love with the infamous leader of Brooklyn. But it happened. Everyone else but the two knew it would happen eventually and when it finally did, the two were inseparable. Spot was seen more in Manhattan that with his own group. One day that all changed because of a member of his own group.
One sunny day, Spot Conlon was walking down the Brooklyn Bridge with a spring in his step and a big smile stuck on his face. Now, if you were new to the Newsies, this would look very strange. But everyone knew that it was because Spot Conlon, the infamous leader of Brooklyn, the most respected and feared Newsie of them all was in love. He was going to meet his girl at Central Park, under a Willow Tree next to the lake. He walked past an alley when he heard something. He looked into the alley and what he saw broke his heart. Kitty was standing there against a wall kissing Speed with her hands on his chest. He dropped the box that he was holding and made both turn. Kitty gasped and pushed Speed off of her.
"Spot…." She said. "This is not what it looks like, I promise!" She added walking towards him.
Spot ran away from her. He ran away from her calls of that it wasn't true. He ran to the Willow Tree. Their Willow Tree and flew himself down.
She put him out
Like the midnight end of a burning cigarette
She broke his heart
He spent his whole life trying to forget
We watched him drink his pain away,
A little at a time
But he never could get drunk enough
To get her off his mind
Spot went out every night and every time he got a chance with his friends. Jack Kelly, his best friend, saw the change and started to get worried. Spot drank and drank. Jack tried to stop him but all Spot would do was brush the warnings away until he saw Kitty or someone who reminded him of her and then he would drink even more.
"Spot you have to stop this. This isn't going to fix anything!" Jack told his friend.
"Shut up Jack. You don't know nothin'!" Spot would say every time. Then he would just wobble out of the bar or whatever and go home. He sat on his bed every night and drink a large bottle of whiskey thinking about her.
He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away her memory
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees
We found him with his face down in the pillow
With a note that said I'll love her till I die
And when we buried him beneath the willow
The angels sang a whiskey lullaby
Finally, Spot reached into his drawer and pulled out the gun he had found in a garbage can a week ago. He studied it and pulled the clicker back and put it to his head. Just as the door opened to reveal Kitty, Spot pulled the trigger. Kitty ran to him, but it was too late. Her Spot was gone. She took the note that was in his hand and read it. I'll love her till I die. She cried, sitting there holding him to her. She didn't even notice Jack, Racetrack, and Mush standing in the doorway watching her with sad expressions.
A week later, Spot Conlon was buried under the Willow Tree by the lake in Central Park. Most of the Manhattan Newsies were there, most of the Brooklyn Newsies were there, Medda, and standing there alone was Kitty. She just looked at the grave where her beloved Spot lay. A single tear escaped her eye, but she had cried so much the night he died, and every night since that she didn't think she had any more tears left. Jack, Racetrack and Mush looked at her and then looked around. Everyone was whispering and looking at her. The three of them walked over to her.
"I never even got a chance to tell him the truth. That I was trying to push Speed away from me. I never got a chance to tell him how much I loved him." She said to them and pulled out a box. "He dropped this when he ran away from me that day. I haven't had the courage to open it. Would you do it for me?" She asked Racetrack handing him the box and looking at him square in he eyes. He nodded and took the box. When he opened it, he showed it to Kitty. She gasped and tears she didn't think she had, ran down her cheeks when she took the box. There was a single gold ring with a small diamond on it. She fell to her knees and cried over the ring. Jack, Race, and Mush just stood there while everyone else left.
The rumors flew
But nobody know how much she blamed herself
For years and years
She tried to hide the whiskey on her breath
She finally drank her pain away
A little at a time
But she never could get drunk enough
To get him off her mind
Until the night
Kitty knew that everyone talked about her and what happened to Spot, but she didn't care anymore. All she did was drink, sell papers, and drink some more. Racetrack saw what was happening and he wanted to stop it before Spot's fate became Kitty's. Race knew he could find Kitty at a bar drinking.
"Kitty you have to stop this. You can't do this to yourself!" He told her every time.
"Oh stop Race. I'm fine! I'm just a little dizzy." Kitty would answer him before she passed out. Racetrack always took her back to the Manhattan Lodging House and put her in the room they used for the sick kids. She had some Whiskey stashed in that room and when she awoke, she would drink some more. The more she drank the less her heart hurt when she thought of Spot. She tried not thinking about him, but it didn't work. He was always on her mind.
She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away his memory
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength she had to get up off her knees
We found her with her face down in the pillow
Clinging to his picture for dear life
We laid her next to him beneath the willow
While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby
Everything finally got too much for the 17 year old girl. It had been a year since the death of the love of her life and she was a mess. She opened the door to the side table in her room. She was there so much; she just started calling it her room. She took out the gun that Spot had used and looked at it. She pulled the clicker back and brought it up to her head. Racetrack opened the door, bringing her some soup and saw her with a gun up to her head and something in her hand.
"Kit, don't. This isn't gonna fix anything. Just put the gun down, please?" Racetrack told his best friend. She just smiled sadly.
"You've been like a brother to me. I love you like one too. Good-bye Race." Kitty told him and Racetrack ran to her but not before she pulled the trigger. She landed with a soft thump on her pillow. Jack, Mush, and Blink ran into the room when they heard the shot and saw Racetrack sitting on the bed holding his best friend. He saw that she had something in her hand and he took it. It was a picture of Spot on the Brooklyn Bridge. Racetrack cried. Not one of the Newsies had ever seen him cry before, but they knew that loosing Kitty was like loosing a sister to him.
A week after Kitty had died; she was buried next to Spot underneath the Willow at Central Park. Everyone who had shown up at Spot's was there plus more. Racetrack stood next to Kitty's grave and placed a picture on it. It was of him, Kitty, Mush, Jack, and Spot at Central Park. He let tears slide down his face and Mush put a comforting hand on Race's shoulder.
"Good-bye Kit. You'll never know how much you meant to me. You were my best friend and my sister. I'll miss you." Racetrack said to her grave after everybody but he, Mush and Jack had left. They turned and started to walk away when Racetrack looked back. He saw Kitty standing there in a long white dress, with her long auburn hair blowing in the wind. She was almost transparent. Then he saw Spot leaning up against the Willow Tree and smiling at her. She smiled back and they ran to each other. Kitty put her arms around Spot's neck and he spun Kitty around. Racetrack smiled as they shared a kiss. And with that, he knew he and the two love-birds would be alright.
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