Hey this is more about the Sun and the Philadelphia Newsies. This one comes after "A New Version of Me" and before "The Human Spirit" and "Isaac's Mind"
Rising Sun
"Going somewhere?" Smudge, Sai and I were cornered in alley. We had unknowingly picked a fight with some factory workers.
"They were dissing newsies!" I could envision myself explaining to Mrs. Smudge, our nickname for Smudge's mom, later in the lodging house. "Listen," I said," you insulted us. We kicked your buts. How about we call it even and all go home?" I said.
"Let me think," the boy said, slowly. "No." The three guys behind him laughed.
"Oh well," I said, smiling wryly, and kicked him in the shins.
He keeled over in pain and the seven of us converged in fighting.
"Are you in trouble?" I suddenly heard an over done bravado voice say. "Just call on Harvey.... ddaaannnn, daahh, daah, dann." She entered the thick of it. Since the addition of me to the lodging house we had added seven girls, Mendak, Peanuts, Li, Ton, Baasa, Skeptic and Harvey. The fight was over soon. Harvey was the resident tomboy and prided herself on never loosing a fight. We all walked home in laughter, trying not to think about the fact that we would be so getting it when we finally came home.
"Hey what'd you do? Step on a rake?" Skeptic asked the next morning, when she saw Smudge's face. Smudge quickly looked in the mirror.
"My mom's gonna have a fit!" she yelled.
"Smudge, breathe!" Sai said.
"Relax," I said, putting my hands on her shoulders and steering her towards the door. "Just say good morning, keep your head down, and walk really fast." Smudge groaned.
"For a three days," Skeptic said.
"Three days! It's not gonna to take that long to go down will it?" Smudge moaned.
"I don't know. I don't get shiners," Harvey said. Smudge gave her a look.
"Girls!" we could hear Smudge's mom called as we filed down the stairs. "Have a good day," she told us as we walked out the door. "Don't stay out too late and -- Smudge what happened to your face?!"
"I stepped on a rake. Bye momma!" Smudge said, quickly, kissing her mother good bye.
"Nice one," Skeptic told her.
"Quiet!"
"I am sooo tired," Smudge said, walking into the lodging house that night.
"Hey Sun, someone stopped by looking for you," Baasa told me.
"Oh yeah, who?"
"Some guy by the name of Dave, looked like a factory worker or something."
I looked sideways at Smudge. "What did he say?"
"Nothing much, just that he would see you later."
"Oh man," I said. "Oh man, oh man, oh man."
Smudge rubbed her head.
"So Harvey, how about being our personal body guards for a week?" Sai said.
"Not for hire," Harvey answered.
"What's so bad about him? He seemed like a nice guy," Ton said.
"Yeah he looks like a nice guy, but trust me you wouldn't want to meet him someplace in a dark alley," Smudge said, her head still in her hands.
"It's okay," I said, clearly faking it. "It's all good."
"Yeah, those guys were wusses anyway," Harvey said. Smudge, Sai, and I looked at her and shook our heads.
The next morning the three of us pulled our newsie hats down lower than usual.
"You wouldn't be... scared?" Harvey asked us.
"Did you see the size of those guys?" I asked her.
"No I was too busy punching them out," she said.
"Yeah you better watch out before I punch you out," Smudge said.
"Oh yeah," Harvey said," you wanna make something of it? Wanna take this outside?"
"Harvey," Smudge said," we are outside."
"Oh."
Sai smiled and turned away from the group. "There they are," she said, in a loud whisper, as she spotted three tall figures hanging around the distribution stand.
"Don't whisper," I said. "They can't hear you."
"They can't hear me," Sai said. "So what's the difference if I whisper or not?"
"Because they'll pick up on the fact that you're afraid."
"Said, Sun, the world class fighting champion," Smudge said, dryly.
All the newsies had neared the stand. I couldn't quite make out the words, but I heard Dave and his friends talking about what they were going to do to a certain bunch of newsies and using graphic hand movements.
"It's okay," I said. "We're not afraid of them,"I said under my breath.
"What was that?!" Dave called.
"She said, we're not afraid of you!" Harvey called, loudly.
"We're gonna die," Smudge moaned.
"Well that's not very optimistic," Ton said.
"Actually under the circumstances I'd say that's too optimistic," Skeptic added.
"Quiet," I said. We had started up the stairs. "Dave, what can I do for you?" I said brightly, hoping to hide my genuine fear.
"Nine tonight," he said. "Be at the park. Our leader fights your's." He spit and the wad of saliva landed an inch from my foot.
"That's disgusting," I said. "Didn't your mother ever teach how to treat a lady?"
"You're no lady," he said. Harvey laughed. Ton nudged her.
"What? It was funny," she muttered.
"Listen Dave," I said, aware the situation was getting dangerous. "I don't know how you factory workers do things, but we don't have a leader, we don't meet people in parks and we don't fight." He raised his eyebrows. "Except on occasion," I added, quickly.
"Well make this an occasion," he said.
"Do these goons behind you talk?" I said, motioning to his friends, and trying to change the subject.
"No," he said.
"Oh so you're the leader," I said, sarcastically.
"No," he said. "Jenkins is. You know Jenkins?" I nodded. "Look for him tonight. Who should we look for?"
"No one," I said. "The newsies aren't participating."
"Fine. Then I guess everyone in Philadelphia will know who the cowards are," Dave smirked.
I held up my hand. "Hold on one second." I turned to my friends, the newsies, who were all behind me. "This guy is really starting to bug me," I said. "Harvey would you like the honor of punching him out?"
"No can do," Harvey said. Echoes of why not ran through everyone. "The guy said it's got to be the leader."
"We don't have a leader. Who agrees that Harvey should do it?" I said. No one answered.
"Who thinks that Sun should be our leader?" Sai said. My mouth dropped open. Not only had I not been expecting it, but Sai was one of the people who I would've recomended. To my growing suprise, my friends cheered.
"I think it's unanimous," Ton said.
"Wait a minute have you seen me fight?" I said.
"Have you seen Jenkins?" Harvey said.
"Oh yeah I know Jenkins," Peanuts suddenly said. We all waited expectantly. "He's the scrawniest little shrimp on this coast." I inclined my head.
"Let me think about it," I said.... "Okay." I turned back to Dave. "You can tell Jenkins that he'll be looking for Sun," I said.
"You're the leader," Dave said, smirking.
"Apparently."
We met that night at the park it was dark and cold and I was pumped. Harvey had been getting my adrenaline up the entire day, until I was actually looking forward to the fight. True to word, Jenkins was there and every bit as scrawny as Peanuts had said.
"You know," I said to him, before we started. "I feel really bad about beating you up. How about we just call this off?"
"Do not count your chickens before they are hatched," he said, with a Chinese accent.
"Uh-oh," I managed to get out, before I was down on the pavement. Well it didn't go as bad as you might have thought it would. I still couldn't get over the fact that the guy's name was Jenkins. We kidded Peanuts for weeks afterwards about how she had forgot to mention Jenkin's knowledge of karate.
I won anyway. He knew karate, but he was still shorter than me. He probably was a nice guy. I would've stayed to talk, but my lip was bleeding, my eye was swollen, my back hurt, and I could only imagine what I would feel like tommorrow.
Sai supported me as we left the park. "The newsies-- victorious once again," Gigglebug said. I laughed painfully.
Then, suddenly I thought of something. "Guys wait," I said.
"Uh-oh, speech," Skeptic said.
"Just a short one," I said. "I really appreciate the fact that you guys trust me enough to say that I'm your leader, but we're newsies. We stick together and we're all equal. We don't need a leader."
"You're resigning, already?" Neve said. I laughed and then coughed. It hurt.
"Sun," Ton said," I think you don't realize that it really is a big bad world out there and we do need a leader. Even if it seems like we didn't just choose you on the spur of the moment. You need to be the leader, because you think everyone is equal, not resign because of it."
"Ton," I said," If we ever need a leader, if we ever need anyone to do anything, I will be there, but, in the meantime..."
Ton examined me. "Is that a promise?" she asked.
"Promise," I said, giving her my hand. From around us, there was cheering. I never knew sixteen girls could make that much noise.
Rising Sun
"Going somewhere?" Smudge, Sai and I were cornered in alley. We had unknowingly picked a fight with some factory workers.
"They were dissing newsies!" I could envision myself explaining to Mrs. Smudge, our nickname for Smudge's mom, later in the lodging house. "Listen," I said," you insulted us. We kicked your buts. How about we call it even and all go home?" I said.
"Let me think," the boy said, slowly. "No." The three guys behind him laughed.
"Oh well," I said, smiling wryly, and kicked him in the shins.
He keeled over in pain and the seven of us converged in fighting.
"Are you in trouble?" I suddenly heard an over done bravado voice say. "Just call on Harvey.... ddaaannnn, daahh, daah, dann." She entered the thick of it. Since the addition of me to the lodging house we had added seven girls, Mendak, Peanuts, Li, Ton, Baasa, Skeptic and Harvey. The fight was over soon. Harvey was the resident tomboy and prided herself on never loosing a fight. We all walked home in laughter, trying not to think about the fact that we would be so getting it when we finally came home.
"Hey what'd you do? Step on a rake?" Skeptic asked the next morning, when she saw Smudge's face. Smudge quickly looked in the mirror.
"My mom's gonna have a fit!" she yelled.
"Smudge, breathe!" Sai said.
"Relax," I said, putting my hands on her shoulders and steering her towards the door. "Just say good morning, keep your head down, and walk really fast." Smudge groaned.
"For a three days," Skeptic said.
"Three days! It's not gonna to take that long to go down will it?" Smudge moaned.
"I don't know. I don't get shiners," Harvey said. Smudge gave her a look.
"Girls!" we could hear Smudge's mom called as we filed down the stairs. "Have a good day," she told us as we walked out the door. "Don't stay out too late and -- Smudge what happened to your face?!"
"I stepped on a rake. Bye momma!" Smudge said, quickly, kissing her mother good bye.
"Nice one," Skeptic told her.
"Quiet!"
"I am sooo tired," Smudge said, walking into the lodging house that night.
"Hey Sun, someone stopped by looking for you," Baasa told me.
"Oh yeah, who?"
"Some guy by the name of Dave, looked like a factory worker or something."
I looked sideways at Smudge. "What did he say?"
"Nothing much, just that he would see you later."
"Oh man," I said. "Oh man, oh man, oh man."
Smudge rubbed her head.
"So Harvey, how about being our personal body guards for a week?" Sai said.
"Not for hire," Harvey answered.
"What's so bad about him? He seemed like a nice guy," Ton said.
"Yeah he looks like a nice guy, but trust me you wouldn't want to meet him someplace in a dark alley," Smudge said, her head still in her hands.
"It's okay," I said, clearly faking it. "It's all good."
"Yeah, those guys were wusses anyway," Harvey said. Smudge, Sai, and I looked at her and shook our heads.
The next morning the three of us pulled our newsie hats down lower than usual.
"You wouldn't be... scared?" Harvey asked us.
"Did you see the size of those guys?" I asked her.
"No I was too busy punching them out," she said.
"Yeah you better watch out before I punch you out," Smudge said.
"Oh yeah," Harvey said," you wanna make something of it? Wanna take this outside?"
"Harvey," Smudge said," we are outside."
"Oh."
Sai smiled and turned away from the group. "There they are," she said, in a loud whisper, as she spotted three tall figures hanging around the distribution stand.
"Don't whisper," I said. "They can't hear you."
"They can't hear me," Sai said. "So what's the difference if I whisper or not?"
"Because they'll pick up on the fact that you're afraid."
"Said, Sun, the world class fighting champion," Smudge said, dryly.
All the newsies had neared the stand. I couldn't quite make out the words, but I heard Dave and his friends talking about what they were going to do to a certain bunch of newsies and using graphic hand movements.
"It's okay," I said. "We're not afraid of them,"I said under my breath.
"What was that?!" Dave called.
"She said, we're not afraid of you!" Harvey called, loudly.
"We're gonna die," Smudge moaned.
"Well that's not very optimistic," Ton said.
"Actually under the circumstances I'd say that's too optimistic," Skeptic added.
"Quiet," I said. We had started up the stairs. "Dave, what can I do for you?" I said brightly, hoping to hide my genuine fear.
"Nine tonight," he said. "Be at the park. Our leader fights your's." He spit and the wad of saliva landed an inch from my foot.
"That's disgusting," I said. "Didn't your mother ever teach how to treat a lady?"
"You're no lady," he said. Harvey laughed. Ton nudged her.
"What? It was funny," she muttered.
"Listen Dave," I said, aware the situation was getting dangerous. "I don't know how you factory workers do things, but we don't have a leader, we don't meet people in parks and we don't fight." He raised his eyebrows. "Except on occasion," I added, quickly.
"Well make this an occasion," he said.
"Do these goons behind you talk?" I said, motioning to his friends, and trying to change the subject.
"No," he said.
"Oh so you're the leader," I said, sarcastically.
"No," he said. "Jenkins is. You know Jenkins?" I nodded. "Look for him tonight. Who should we look for?"
"No one," I said. "The newsies aren't participating."
"Fine. Then I guess everyone in Philadelphia will know who the cowards are," Dave smirked.
I held up my hand. "Hold on one second." I turned to my friends, the newsies, who were all behind me. "This guy is really starting to bug me," I said. "Harvey would you like the honor of punching him out?"
"No can do," Harvey said. Echoes of why not ran through everyone. "The guy said it's got to be the leader."
"We don't have a leader. Who agrees that Harvey should do it?" I said. No one answered.
"Who thinks that Sun should be our leader?" Sai said. My mouth dropped open. Not only had I not been expecting it, but Sai was one of the people who I would've recomended. To my growing suprise, my friends cheered.
"I think it's unanimous," Ton said.
"Wait a minute have you seen me fight?" I said.
"Have you seen Jenkins?" Harvey said.
"Oh yeah I know Jenkins," Peanuts suddenly said. We all waited expectantly. "He's the scrawniest little shrimp on this coast." I inclined my head.
"Let me think about it," I said.... "Okay." I turned back to Dave. "You can tell Jenkins that he'll be looking for Sun," I said.
"You're the leader," Dave said, smirking.
"Apparently."
We met that night at the park it was dark and cold and I was pumped. Harvey had been getting my adrenaline up the entire day, until I was actually looking forward to the fight. True to word, Jenkins was there and every bit as scrawny as Peanuts had said.
"You know," I said to him, before we started. "I feel really bad about beating you up. How about we just call this off?"
"Do not count your chickens before they are hatched," he said, with a Chinese accent.
"Uh-oh," I managed to get out, before I was down on the pavement. Well it didn't go as bad as you might have thought it would. I still couldn't get over the fact that the guy's name was Jenkins. We kidded Peanuts for weeks afterwards about how she had forgot to mention Jenkin's knowledge of karate.
I won anyway. He knew karate, but he was still shorter than me. He probably was a nice guy. I would've stayed to talk, but my lip was bleeding, my eye was swollen, my back hurt, and I could only imagine what I would feel like tommorrow.
Sai supported me as we left the park. "The newsies-- victorious once again," Gigglebug said. I laughed painfully.
Then, suddenly I thought of something. "Guys wait," I said.
"Uh-oh, speech," Skeptic said.
"Just a short one," I said. "I really appreciate the fact that you guys trust me enough to say that I'm your leader, but we're newsies. We stick together and we're all equal. We don't need a leader."
"You're resigning, already?" Neve said. I laughed and then coughed. It hurt.
"Sun," Ton said," I think you don't realize that it really is a big bad world out there and we do need a leader. Even if it seems like we didn't just choose you on the spur of the moment. You need to be the leader, because you think everyone is equal, not resign because of it."
"Ton," I said," If we ever need a leader, if we ever need anyone to do anything, I will be there, but, in the meantime..."
Ton examined me. "Is that a promise?" she asked.
"Promise," I said, giving her my hand. From around us, there was cheering. I never knew sixteen girls could make that much noise.