"Goodnight Jack!"
"Goodnight Race!"
"'Night Skittery!"
"'Night Mush!"
"Goodnight Snitch!"
"See you in the morning Specs!"
"Goodnight Blink!"
"Eh, forget the goodnights, let's just hope Snitch doesn't get that gum stuck in his hair tomorrow morning."
"Shut up Jack! Last I checked you weren't me mudda!"
The Next Morning…
The newsies were just waking up from last night's "goodnight" fiasco, and Snitch had been sucking his thumb all night long. When his eyes finally opened that morning, he ended up closing them again as he let out a huge YAWN…
Stretching his arms, hands, and then fingers out (while at the same time bumping his head on the ceiling and wacking Kid Blink in the eye the next bunk over), he didn't notice that the gum he had been chewing had gotten stuck to his right thumb. And instead of doing something about it, he started apologizing to Kid Blink repetitively for the accident and complaining about the height of the lodging house ceiling.
So as Snitch was going through his morning routine, you know - bath, hair, teeth, suspenders – he was kinda messin' around with his hair, trying (and failing) to make it look presentable. As he passed a full-length mirror in the lodging house, he stopped, turned, and shrieked like a little girl.
Now he saw that there was a huge glob of pink crud in his hair. Of course everyone heard his exclamation, and turned to stare at him.
"Jeez Snitch, what's the matta' with you?" said Racetrack.
" I got gum stuck in my hair!" Snitch responded worriedly.
"Here! Lemme at 'im!" Mush practically attacked Snitch trying to wrestle the gum out of his hair. "Aw man! Now I'm stuck!" Mush had one hand connected to the gum, and he really couldn't pull it off! Snitch snickered at Mush with enjoyment. Mush racetracked him with his free hand.
"Eh, you two are just a couple o' big babies!" Jack snapped. "I could get that gum out with my eyes closed! Guaranteed!" So Jack tackled Snitch and wrenched and pulled and yanked, but the gum was just too sticky! Now Mush and Jack were both connected to Snitch by the gum. "Dammit!" exclaimed Jack.
This went on for a while, one by one the newsies tried to get the gum out of Snitch's hair, and eventually they formed a gigantic ball of newsboys!
"Well what're we supposed to do now!"
"How am I supposed to know!"
"I guess we should just – roll." Random voices were coming out of the humongous pack of newsies.
"Where to?"
"I know! The Jacobs house!"
So the newsies rolled through the streets of Manhattan, crushing practically everything in their path. Luckily, most Manhattan people are pretty smart cookies, so they put an egg in their shoe and - beat it.
Finally, the newsboys rolled right in front of the Jacobs' house and came to an abrupt halt. The ball was so big, it reached the second floor of the house! The newsies on the outside could see Sarah, dressed in a lacy white nightgown, her hair in perfect condition even though she had just woken up, coming to the window of her bedroom. She stopped to stand behind a curtain.
"Oh my! Have you boys been out there all night!" Sarah asked innocently.
"No!" the ball cried. "We just need some help!"
"Oh, okay. Just meet me on the roof…" Sarah said as she drifted away from the window.
"We can't go on the roof you dimwit!" someone said. But Sarah was already gone.
"So what do we do now?"
"I dunno."
"To Brooklyn!"
So the newsies rolled through the rest of Manhattan. Past barbershops and bakeries, theatres and shoe stores, restaurants and houses, until they finally arrived at the Brooklyn bridge.
Ah, yes, the Brooklyn bridge. It was a sight to see. Connecting the amazing town of Brooklyn to the rest of the world, the bridge stretched across the sparkling water.
As the newsies made their way across, Spot Conlon and the rest of his Brooklyn buddies came into view. They had obviously known they were coming, though the newsies had no idea how.
"So, it looks like you boys have really got your troubles all rolled into one, if you know what I mean," Spot said with a snicker.
"How did you know we were coming?" the giant ball asked.
"Little boidies, they been chirpin' in my ear. Says dat Snitch had a little bubblegum accident."
"Yeah, yeah, we know. Listen, you gonna help us outta this mess er not?"
"It would be my pleasure."
And then Spot whipped his slingshot out of his back pocket, loaded it with one small, shiny pebble, and got ready to fire.
"No! Wait! What're you do – "
But it was too late. Spot had already flung the pebble smack-dab in the center of the humongous newsie ball, and you could hear random cries of "Ooh!" and "Aah!" and "Oww!" as it exploded into what seemed like a million newsboys. It was raining newsies! And all of the female newsie freaks were very happy. Plus, Snitch never went to bed with gum in his mouth ever again.