Irony
It's ironic really. I think that's the word. Yeah, ironic.
You see, when I told the lie I didn't expect people to take it seriously. I mean who would actually believe that my eye was missing? They did. Obviously. I don't even know why I said it. It just sorta slipped out. Guess I'd been lying a lot and it was normal for me. Maybe I thought if they believed it then it would make everyone else believe it even more.
I found the patch in the street, just lying there. No one around to claim it. I don't know why I picked it up. Well, actually, I do. See, I'd sold bad that day. Didn't even have enough to try getting a bunk in Duane Street. I'd heard the other newsies talking about it like it was the best thing in the world. Guess it is when you've been sleeping on the streets for weeks. And it was.
By the next day of selling I'd figured out exactly what I was going to do. The patch wasn't too uncomfortable if I took it off sometimes. Never did it in front of people and the selling improved. People just couldn't wait to buy from the kid with a patch. Within hours I had enough for a bunk and knew I would for a long time.
That's when I made up the story. Something about my father having a disagreement with me and ripping my eye out in the process. Can't remember exactly. I only told it once or twice. The story spread and soon I heard hundreds of different versions. Well not hundreds but you know what I mean. None of the stories ever seemed to be the same. People had things they wanted to add to make the story more interesting. I don't remember half of them.
When I got older, things changed. People weren't so interested in buying from the kid with a patch. I mean I was nearing eighteen and was just another newsie. I thought about taking it off. Admitting to everyone that I lied. Then I changed my mind. That was going to do more harm than anything. All these new boys had come along. They'd been fed some version of the story and everyone believed it. I was Kid Blink. The kid with the patch that hid a missing eye.
This is where we get to the irony. You see, everyone believed this story, so one day, when I got into a fight with a bunch of guys from another territory, they ripped the patch off expecting to see a gaping hole or something. When they didn't, they just got angrier. Don't know why. Maybe they thought they'd been taken for a fool. Which they had. A bit. But everyone had. Not just them.
Skittery said afterwards that they "took an eye for a metaphorical eye". I don't even know what he's talking about. Don't think he does either. Just wanting to sound clever. That's Skittery for you.
Anyway, I guess there's some sort of moral to this story. Don't lie about missing an eye cause someone'll come along and rip it out for you? I doubt that's it. But it's something. This ain't really the kind of story you tell to your kids before bed. Maybe it don't need a moral. I never did see the point in morals. Well not morals as in how you behave. Morals as in...forget it. I'm just talking for the sake of it now.