Author's Note: This story actually has two parts which can be broken into two separate stories. (and are) The first is this one, Changing Names, the second is Taking Care of You.
This story's actual text has not been changed just to try and reduce confusion flashbacks are now signaled by a line of asterisks at their beginning and end. (cuz' i was gettin confused readin my own story, which is very bad)
Changing Names
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Prologue
Ten year old Francis Sullivan picked his way carefully up the rickety steps of the old apartment building. Avoiding drunks and holes in the floor he carefully cradled the slumbering six year old in his arms until he reached apartment 4B. The door to the apartment the Sullivans shared with Mr. Greene and his daughter, the girl Francis now carried, was chipped and badly needed paint. He could hear loud and angry voices from inside the room so he quietly crouched outside the door waiting for it to subside.
"Hi Frankie," the girl said, waking up.
"Shh," Francis said, playfully," We're playing a game whoever can stay quiet the longest wins, okay?"
"Okay."
The voices from the apartment continued.
"You can't go on with this. I won't let you. I'll call the cops." That was Mr. Greene.
"No you won't or you'll regret it Harry." That was Mr. Sullivan speaking.
"You can't...."
Francis slumbered off until he was wakened by his mother gently extracting the girl, Ruth, from his arms.
"Come Francis, time for bed," his mother's gentle voice called......
"What's she doing in here?!" Francis's father said angrily throwing Ruth across the room.
"This is her home. Where else would she be?" Mr. Greene said, gently helping his daughter up and applying a handkerchief to the gash of blood above her right eye..........
"Hold still, Ruthie. I have to stitch this up. Even as it is you'll probably have a small scar," Mrs. Sullivan said. Ruth squeezed Frankie's hand tighter.
"I am holding still, Mrs. Sullivan, still as a mouse...................."
"But Frankie, we're leaving," Ruth said persistently, "I'll never see you again."
"Sure you will. You're my family and remember if anyone even tries to hurt my family their goners............."
Deceased- Mr. Harry Greene was found dead yesterday. He was shot in the alley behind Thurow Street, where he formerly lived. Witnesses described two people fleeing the scene. His daughter, Ruth Greene has not been found.......
"Pack up Frankie," Mr. Sullivan's harsh voice commanded.
"Why?"
"We're leaving," Mrs. Sullivan said motioning to a small shifty man standing against the wall to come and a suitcase.
*********************************8
Part I
Her heart beat wildly and her breath came is short gasps as she crouched against the building, praying the bulls wouldn't see her.
"Please G-d," she said, in her mind," just help me here, please."
She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Okay maybe some other time," she thought and bolted. "This looks like a good place to hide," she said, inwardly, as she darted inside a place, with the sign "Newsboys Lodging House." She crouched in the vestibule until the bulls had passed. She sat resting her tired feet for a while until she heard steps approaching. An old man with stone white hair within two feet of her.
"Look what we have here-"
She ran. Unfortunately right into a boy. He was a tall kid with brown hair and a red bandanna around his neck. Ruth caught a familiar glint in his eyes, but she couldn't place the face.
"Hey we won't hurt ya," he said, turning her around to face Kloppman.
It was a good thing that she just remembered she was in boys clothing. They were easier to run in and she had thought they would be a good disguise from the bulls.
"Three cents a night, the first one's free," a blond boy with an eye patch said, putting his arm around her.
"Um... well," a tongue tied Ruth tried to say something.
"Boys why don't you go upstairs, while I have a talk with our newest newsie," Kloppman said.
"Newsies? uh-oh," Ruth's thoughts warned.
Five or six boys tramped up the steps while Kloppman put an arm on Ruth's shoulder.
"Double uh-oh," she thought.
"Well now, what's your name and where did you come from?" Kloppman said, gently.
"Um.. uh," she stuttered. "Say something," her mind blared at herself.
Kloppman leaned over the desk until his head was close to hers. "I am sevent-- well never mind. I have been around for a long time. Do you think I can't tell the difference between a boy and a girl in boy's clothing?"
Ruth blushed crimson red. "You could tell, huh?"
"Yes, but don't worry. None of the boys noticed."
"So what am I going to do?" Ruth asked, glad to finally have someone helping her and lifting a little bit of the responsibilities off her shoulders.
"First we need to teach you to act like a guy."
"Yeah, but where am I going to sleep?"
"That is a problem. Maybe I'll put a cot for you in the kitchen with a sheet around it. Would that be suitable?"
"That would be perfect."
It had been a long time since Ruth had an adult watching out for her. She compared Kloppman with her father. Ruth had only been six when her father died and her image of him was pristine. She remembered him only as the father who kissed all her scratches and scrapes away and not as....... Well, Frankie didn't get such a good place of honor. He was remembered only as Mr. Sullivan's son, Mr. Sullivan's family.
"Listen the first you need to know is how to carry yourself," Kloppman instructed her.
"What?"
"How to stand and how to walk."
"Okay, I can do that. What's the second thing?"
"You need a name."
"That's a little bit more of a problem," Ruth said.
"You can borrow mine then. It's George."
"Well thanks for the name George, but what should I call you?"
"Kloppman."
"So what's the third thing, Kloppman?"
"You need to learn how to spit, swear, and talk like a boy."
"But, Kloppman, I already know how to do that," Ruth said, grinning.
Part II
Sleeping in Kloppman's kitchen meant getting up at the same time as him, which meant getting up at the break of dawn. It was barely light out when Ruth groped into the darkness of her room for her pants and shirt. She slipped into them carefully. Then, using a broken triangle of a mirror Kloppman had supplied her with, she braided her long, curly, brown hair into two braids and fixed them beneath her hat. She arranged her bangs so that they covered a small scar over her right eye and shaded her clear blue eyes from being recognized.
Her head was still cloudy from last nights lessons from Kloppman. She looked at herself in the mirror.
"Ruthie, if you can make it through this you just might be alright?" she said to her reflection.
"George? That's it just plain, George," a boy introduced as Racetrack was asking.
"Yeah got a problem with that?" Ruth said prickling.
"So George want me and Mush to show you the ropes," the blond boy, now known a Kid Blink asked.
"Yeah," Ruth said grateful for the friendship.
It was morning at the distribution center. All the newsies were lining up to get their papes Ruth....er George included.
"So Kid where is Jack from?" Ruth asked, curious about the stranger with the familiar eyes.
"Uh.. Brooklyn, somewhere, whatever. Why?" Kid Blink asked confused.
"Oh I just thought he looked familiar, but I've probably just seen him around some place."
"So, George how come you slept downstairs in the kitchen?" Mush asked innocently.
Okay she had practice for this question. Now if she could just pull it off without blushing too little or too much. She would be fine. "Well you know," she said," I ain't used to sleeping in the same room as a lot of other people." She hoped she could leave the rest to their imagination of her past troubled life.
Kid and Mush were good teachers. They finished selling their respective papes by lunchtime.
"What do you want to do now?" Mush asked.
"I don't know. You're the ones who are supposed to know what their doing," Ruth said.
"We could go catch Medda's show," Kid suggested.
"Medda? Medda Larkson. Wait Ruth knew her. Okay that would be a great way to get yourself exposed," Ruth cautioned herself. "Naw, is there something else to do?"
"Yeah, but--," Kid started.
"But what?" Ruth asked.
"But the Delanceys are right over there so we better beat it," Mush finished for him.
"Delanceys what?" Ruth said as they pulled her after them.
"Well look at what we have here," Oscar Delancey said, just as Mush ran into him," is this a new guy?"
"Aw how come you didn't stop to introduce us?" Morris said, coming up from behind.
Kid, Mush and Ruth formed a tight protective circle. "Okay there are three of us and two of them," she told herself," so we should be able to fight no problem." She wasn't so sure, though. She remembered Frankie as a kid once trying to teach her how to defend herself. The folly of six year olds, of course she didn't listen. Kloppman had tried to show her how to throw a few punches last night, too, but she had never been in a fight, never.
When it was over and the Delanceys went scampering back to where they came from she realized that she hadn't done so bad for a first one.
"Whoah, where'd you learn how to fight--?" Kid started.
Ruth reached up for hat and realized it was gone and her braids had come down. "I knew I should have chopped these off," she said angrily to herself. She grabbed her hat from where it had fallen during the fight and jammed it on her head, stuffing her braids back into it.
"Please don't tell anyone," she turned to Mush and Kid Blink.
"So that's why you slept downstairs," Kid said, "you had us fooled for a second." He couldn't get the image of her with her braids down out of his head. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce right through him. "A girl. She's a girl," he thought," and a beautiful girl."
Part III
"Hey where's Mush?" Ruth asked Kid the next day at the distribution stand.
"He decided to sell with Racetrack today," Kid said. Actually that was a small lie. He had practically begged Mush to go with Race so he could be alone with-- well the new girl. He still didn't know her name.
"She's gorgeous," Kid had begged," she just has to like me."
"Uh, no she doesn't," Mush had said," and besides what if she turns out to be a real jerk. You've only known her for one day, you know."
"Please." That had been the end of that.
"So it's just you and me today," Ruth interrupted his thoughts. "Did he arrange for that?" Ruth said to herself guessing his plan.
"Yeah, I guess so," Kid said. "Is she smiling because she's or because she knows my plan and is laughing at me?" Kid asked himself.
"So George what's your real name?" Kid asked, as soon as they were out of hearing distance of the others.
"I can't tell you," Ruth said growing secret," I don't want to get you involved, okay?"
"Well that was a 'get out of my face' if I ever saw one," Kid said to himself disappointed.
"What do you mean?" he asked Ruth.
"I have some people looking for me."
"We all have people looking for us."
"Yeah, but mine are looking to me because they want to get rid of me."
"Huh? I don't get it," Kid said confused.
"I was witness to a murder," Ruth clarified," now you see why I can't get anyone involved?"
"Oh," Kid said. This girl was definitely something out of the ordinary.
"Hey you didn't tell anyone about me, right?" Ruth said trying to change the subject. She liked Kid and she didn't want him to get hurt.
"Naw, your secrets safe with me," Kid said. "Hey so... um is there anything you are allowed to tell me about yourself," Kid asked, playfully.
Ruth laughed. "Well I'm fifteen if that will help you with anything."
"Well I'm sixteen. Since I'm older and wiser than you I now declare us selling partners," he said.
"Fine with me."
"Uh, you forgot my spit shake," Kid said.
"Spit shake?"
"Kloppman didn't tell you about the spit shake. Good thing I got to you before the others."
"Hey how did you know Kloppman taught me?"
Kid's eyes flashed mysteriously. "You're not the only one who can keep secrets," Kid said running off with Ruth chasing him.
Part IV
Days passed into weeks. Ruth's friendship with Kid Blink and all the other boys grew. Sometimes she felt a little pang of disappointment at having to lie to all of them, but she couldn't risk getting them hurt.
"She is beautiful and the nicest, sweetest girl you ever met," Kid was saying to Mush.
"Who is?" Jack asked coming into the room, followed by George.
"Uh.. just Blink's newest girl," Mush said, covering up who they had really been talking about.
"Blink has a new girl every other week," Jack explained to George. Ruth felt a pang of disappointment. It wasn't possible that she could like Kid, though. He was just her friend, her really good friend.
"This ones special," Kid said, giving a meaningful glance at Ruth. She hardly seemed to notice it though. "Maybe she doesn't feel the same way," Kid thought to himself. Kid and Ruth each decided to bury all the feeling they had for each other under a good solid friendship.
One night Ruth, Kid, and Mush were sitting in Kloppman's kitchen talking. Ruth had her hair down. At it's full length it fell almost to her waist. Kid couldn't stop staring at her. "She's so gorgeous," he thought. He never should have even considered her feeling special about him.
"So are you ever going to tell the others?" Mush was asking Ruth.
"I don't know. I think I'll lay low for awhile longer," Ruth said.
Meanwhile in another part of the lodging house...
"Full house!" Race yelled, "hand it over."
"Hey no fair!," Snipeshooter complained," you cheated big time."
"Yeah, I that ace up your sleeve," Bumletts said accusingly.
That bunkroom broke out into a fight.
"Alright, alright," Racetrack said," let's go ask Kloppman."
"Kloppman? But he wasn't even here," Snipeshooter said, but no one paid any attention.
They all converged on Kloppman's kitchen at once.
"Hey Kid, Mush! Who's you're friend?" Crutchy said putting his hand on Ruth's shoulder.
Ruth glanced at Kid. That was all it took all three burst out laughing while the newsies watched in bewilderment.
"Gentlemen," Kid said, between laughs," I present to you George."
Ruth stood up and bowed as the newsies stared in shock. They all dubbed her Secret.
"That's not a boy's name," she protested.
"Well you ain't a boy," Racetrack said laughing.
Jack wasn't there he had been at the Jacob's house for dinner that night. He found out Ruth's little secret though the next morning, when she came outside the kitchen to talk to Mush with her hair still down. Jack's mouth dropped open.
"So you were pretty surprised when you found out Secret was a girl huh?" Kid Blink said later.
"Naw, it's not that," Jack insisted," she looks so familiar, like I know her really well..." He wandered off into space.
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"Well hello, little girl, aren't you just the cutest thing there ever was?" a tall red haired lady said to her.
"Ruth this is Medda. Medda this is Ruth," Jack said beaming.
"Well you have just the prettiest eyes I've ever seen, Ruth," Medda said taking the small girl by the hand, "did you know I went to school with your mother?"
**************************************
"Jack, hey listen, give it to me straight. You think I got a chance with her?" Kid asked, breaking into Jack's thoughts.
"Yeah, I think so," Jack said, " has she got any family? Did she say where she was from? Do you know her real name?"
"No. She said she couldn't tell me anything," Kid Blink stopped a second," you know it's funny she asked the same things about you."
"She did," Jack asked giving Kid a sharp look," did she say why?"
"No," Kid said.
Part V
"So you like the nickname Secret?" Kid asked.
"I can take it or leave it. Why?" Ruth asked, swinging her legs off the bed. She had traded her boys clothes for the traditional dress of a girl newsie.
Kid took a deep breath. "Um.. well, I was wondering if you, um, if you." Kid took another deep breath time to try a different approach. "Does it matter to you?"
"Does what matter? My nickname?"
"Do I matter to you?"
Warning lights blared in Ruth's head. Back away from the newsie they commanded. "You know--" she started.
"Because I really like you and if you could give me a chance maybe you'd like me too. And I promise I'd never hurt you......"
Ruth sucked in her breath. "Aw.. you don't want to get involved with me. I'm a nutcase. I can't even tell you my real name. You'd want out as soon as you got in."
"No. I wouldn't and we could call you Forever instead of Secret. That way every time I called your name I would be reminded of my promise."
Ruth shifted. She liked Kid. She really did and under normal circumstances she'd take him up on his offer, but these weren't normal circumstances. She didn't know Kid and he certainly had no idea who she was. Who was she anyway? She had taken on so many names lately she had forgotten whether she was George. Secret, or Ruth.
Kid could see her changing attitudes. He saw at first how she looked like she was going to say yes and then how a strange glint came into her eyes.
"Nothing is forever, kid. It'd be a waste of a name," Ruth said, walking away. She had thought her father was forever. He had died. She had thought Mrs. Sullivan was forever. She died too. She had thought Frankie would be with her forever. Well she didn't even want to get into that...... She still couldn't think of Frankie without angry tears coming into her eyes. She swore if she ever laid eyes on him again she'd kill him.
Part VI
"Hey Secret. What are you doing up here?" Jack said joining Ruth on the roof of the lodging house.
"Thinking," she said, turning away from him. Jack always looked familiar to her and just in case he was someone from her past life she didn't want to be recognized.
"You know why don't you give Kid a chance?" Jack asked.
Ruth groaned. So he'd come up here to protest his friend's case huh?
"I can't alright. I just can't. It's too dangerous," she said, angrily.
"What do you have murderers looking for you or something?" Jack said, jokingly. She gave him a sharp glare. "Is that it? What did you do?" Jack said becoming concerned.
"Look! I don't want to talk about it!" Ruth yelled.
"Well that's the wrong approach. We can help, you know," Jack said.
"No you can't."
"You don't know until you ask."
Suddenly Ruth had an irresistible urge to tell someone her whole story, to remove this big lump off her chest. She would have rather told it to Kid Blink, but Jack was there and something about him was so familiar it made her trust him. It compelled her to tell him.
"These guys, these thugs, they killed my father," Ruth said.
"I'm sorry." Jack put an arm around Ruth.
"I was there. I saw them. I couldn't even do anything." Ruth started to cry. She buried her face in Jack's shoulder.
"How old were you, then?" Jack asked.
"Six," Ruth's muffled voice said. It felt so good to get it off her chest. Jack was the first person she had told ever.
"Hey Secret, I want you to meet someone," Jack said.
"Okay."
The next day all the newsies stood outside the lodging house waiting for Jack's guest.
"Do you know who he's bringing?" Ruth asked Mush. She would have asked Kid, but she hadn't spoken to him since their conversation.
"Of course," Mush said.
A red haired woman could be seen approaching from the distance. In the other direction Jack was running towards the newsies.
"Hey Cowboy! What took you so long?" Race asked.
"I was getting my name legally changed," Jack said," Francis Sullivan is no more."
It was a good thing Ruth didn't hear that. The red haired woman, Medda, came up to Jack.
"Who was it you wanted me to meet, Kelley?" Medda asked.
"This is the newest addition to our lodging house, Secret," Jack said pulling Ruth out from the crowd. Ruth waited to see if Medda would recognize her.
Medda laughed. " I see you mean newest in the looser sense of the word, Jack. I'd know Ruthie Greene's blue eyes anywhere," Medda said, hugging Ruth.
"Ruthie?" Jack stared in bewilderment at the fifteen year old girl if front of him. Could she really be the little six year he had known so well? The newsies stared in bewilderment. They all knew each other? Jack reached forward and brushed Ruth's bangs away revealing a small pink scar above her right eye. Ruth blushed and pushed his hand away replacing the bangs to their original spot. If she was Medda and Jack knew her then who was Jack. She felt like the answer was right in front of her and her eyes just refused to see it.
"You don't remember me," Jack said. Ruthie shook her head. "Well you'll just have to guess who I am," he said, smiling mischievously.
"I hate guessing games," Ruth thought.
"Hey Medda before we go to Irving Hall I left my hat in the bunkroom I'm going to get it," Jack said.
"I'll come," Ruth volunteered, eager to learn Jack's identity.
"So what made you so late," Ruth asked, once inside the bunkroom.
"I was getting rid of a little bit of my past," Jack said.
"What do you mean?" Ruth asked smiling.
Jack leaned close to her. "Well Jack Kelley isn't my real name......"
It hit her in one second. How blind could she have been. She stood there stricken like with a bolt of lightning. "Your real name is Francis Sullivan," she finished his sentence.
"Yes exactly," he said, reaching for her hand. She took a step back. Jack looked confused.
"What you think I don't know?" she said, getting angry and nervous. Why did it have to be Jack? She had thought he was a nice guy.
"Know what," Jack asked.
"About you and your father and my father." Jack continued looking confused. "Let me enlighten your clouded memory," Ruth began," your father was involved in a string of robberies, grand theft, and my father found out and threatened to tell the cops. So you and him decided my father needed to be eliminated and that's exactly what you did."
"Don't lump me in with my father! I had nothing to do with the murder or the robberies."
"Yeah right, Frankie, yeah right. You're the one who said if anyone messed with your family they were goners."
"I never considered my father part of my family. You know that. I was talking about you!"
"I'm not so sure Frankie. I was there. I saw your father and the other man looked an awful lot like you."
"Why would I lie to you?"
"Why wouldn't you lie to me?"
"What happened to the sweet little six year old I took care of? How about some gratitude?! You want the truth! Well here it is, your father was involved in the robberies just as much as mine was. Why do you think they shared the same apartment? Your father was no better than mine and you should be thankful that he left you before you found out who he really was." Jack was surprised at himself. He wasn't this person.
"I hate you Francis Sullivan! And you'll always be Francis Sullivan, the liar, robber, and murderer no matter what you change your name to!" Ruth screamed at him.
Neither he or she could be sure how it happened. Who threw the first punch and who dodged it, but sometime during the scuffle Ruth got thrown on the floor. Her head hit the side of the bunk and the scar above her eye, never fully healed, reopened. She picked herself up and ran from the room. Her life as a newsie was over.
Jack sank to the floor in the middle of the room. He buried his head in his hands and sobbed.
Part VII
"I don't know what to do. What should I do? Please tell me?" Jack was saying to Sarah. They were sitting together in Jacob's apartment. No one else was home. "I feel like I've turned into my father, like I'm following in his exact footsteps." Jack got up and started to pace the room. "I mean that's exactly what I thought I was leaving, thought I was getting away from, when I finally changed my name."
"Well," Sarah said slowly," if you feel like everything you're doing is like your father then you need to do what is like Jack and what is like Francis. You need to stop and think and look for the answers because they're all inside you," Sarah said.
Jack looked at her. "Thanks Sarah," he said. "I know exactly what I'm going to do. But I have to find her first." Jack kissed Sarah on the cheek and ran out the door. It was strange all his life he'd been running from his past and now he was actually going in search of a piece of it.
Ruth sat huddled in her old apartment on Thurow street. It had long since been abandoned. She had spent the night with her nightmares. memories and the rats. A dull ache persisted in her head. She knew she needed to get some food, but she didn't have the will to move. She heard footsteps on the stairs. Suddenly the stupidity of her situation hit her. She was in an old abandoned apartment house. That could be anyone coming up the stairs. It could be Mr. Sullivan. Her fear moved to her get up quickly, but she was too late. The door opened and in walked a man. At first Ruth really mistook him for Mr. Sullivan. Then she looked closer and saw differences the younger face. It was Frankie. Ruth slumped back down in the corner.
Jack went and put his arms around her. "When I said my family I meant you and my mother, not my father. You know that. Why would I ever hurt you?" he said.
Tears streamed down Ruth's face. "I don't know. I don't know," she said," I'm sorry Frankie. I'm sorry." Jack took a handkerchief out of his pocket he wiped away her tears and tried to wipe the dirt streaks of her face a little. Then he moved to try and clean up the gash. Ruth winced from the salt water entering her wound.
"Hold still," Jack said.
"I am holding still....." Ruthie said.
"Still as a mouse," Jack finished for her.
Part VIII
"So you're kind of like Jack's sister," Racetrack said to Ruth.
"Yeah kind of," she agreed. They were all sitting in the bunkroom of the lodging house. Sarah had cleaned up Ruth's scrape and stitched in back up properly this time. The door to the bunkroom opened and was slammed shut by Kid Blink. He made his way past questioning faces to the roof.
"Uh.. my head hurts. I am going to go up and get some fresh air," Ruth made up an excuse to talk to Kid. She quickly exited to the roof. No one followed.
"Kid! Kid! Hey Blink!" she called from across the roof.
"What do you want?" Kid asked her.
"I'm sorry," Ruth said.
"I'll bet."
"Well you don't have to be so rude about it. I did it for your own protection," Ruth said, hurt by Kid's lack of politeness.
"What protection? What is this kind concern you feel for my heart all of the sudden?" Kid asked, bitterly. Ruth turned to leave. "What is up with you anyway?" Kid asked. "First you act like you actually like me. Then, as soon as you find out who Jack is you're smitten with him." Ruth realized it had never been explained to Kid the relationship between her and Jack. She laughed. "I don't think this is very funny," Kid said.
"Your so cute," Ruth said, kissing Kid on the cheek. Kid smiled a little then.
"What?" he asked.
"Jack and I grew up together. Our families shared the same apartment," Ruth said.
"Does everyone else know?" Kid asked.
"Yes," Ruth said. She sighed. "But only that and there's more. Someday I'll tell you, but right now I want to know something else--" She was cut off by Jack and Spot bounding up onto the roof.
"Spot this is the girl I wanted to introduce you to," Jack said putting his arm around, Ruthie.
"Well," Spot said," you know I've heard you called a lot of names. So what do they call you now?"
"Well," Ruth said," I've been a lot of people." She thought of little Ruthie Greene the six year old in Frank's arms and of George the new newsie and even of Secret. "But I think that now," she gave a sideways glance at Kid Blink and he nodded smiling, jubilantly. "I think that now my name is Forever," she said.
"Well Forever, welcome to the club," Spot said.
"Hey Spot you owe us a poker game," Racetrack called.
"Excuse me," Spot said, tipping his hat, he left Jack, Kid, and Ruth up on the roof.
"So now what should I call you?" Ruth said turning to Jack. It suddenly hit him. This is what he had been waiting for. This is why he had taken so long to change his name. He had taken the one good thing left over from his old life and brought it into his new. Now Jack Kelley was complete.
"Jack. Jack Kelley," he said. He hugged Ruth and kissed her on the cheek. Then he went down to the poker game to leave Ruth and Kid alone.
"So what made you change your mind?" Kid asked.
"I realized that what I said before wasn't true. There is something that's lasted forever and that's my friendship with Jack. And if that can go on forever then this one can too," Ruth said.
Kid smiled. " Of all your names and all your people I like my Forever best," he said.
"I do too," Forever answered.
This story's actual text has not been changed just to try and reduce confusion flashbacks are now signaled by a line of asterisks at their beginning and end. (cuz' i was gettin confused readin my own story, which is very bad)
Changing Names
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Prologue
Ten year old Francis Sullivan picked his way carefully up the rickety steps of the old apartment building. Avoiding drunks and holes in the floor he carefully cradled the slumbering six year old in his arms until he reached apartment 4B. The door to the apartment the Sullivans shared with Mr. Greene and his daughter, the girl Francis now carried, was chipped and badly needed paint. He could hear loud and angry voices from inside the room so he quietly crouched outside the door waiting for it to subside.
"Hi Frankie," the girl said, waking up.
"Shh," Francis said, playfully," We're playing a game whoever can stay quiet the longest wins, okay?"
"Okay."
The voices from the apartment continued.
"You can't go on with this. I won't let you. I'll call the cops." That was Mr. Greene.
"No you won't or you'll regret it Harry." That was Mr. Sullivan speaking.
"You can't...."
Francis slumbered off until he was wakened by his mother gently extracting the girl, Ruth, from his arms.
"Come Francis, time for bed," his mother's gentle voice called......
"What's she doing in here?!" Francis's father said angrily throwing Ruth across the room.
"This is her home. Where else would she be?" Mr. Greene said, gently helping his daughter up and applying a handkerchief to the gash of blood above her right eye..........
"Hold still, Ruthie. I have to stitch this up. Even as it is you'll probably have a small scar," Mrs. Sullivan said. Ruth squeezed Frankie's hand tighter.
"I am holding still, Mrs. Sullivan, still as a mouse...................."
"But Frankie, we're leaving," Ruth said persistently, "I'll never see you again."
"Sure you will. You're my family and remember if anyone even tries to hurt my family their goners............."
Deceased- Mr. Harry Greene was found dead yesterday. He was shot in the alley behind Thurow Street, where he formerly lived. Witnesses described two people fleeing the scene. His daughter, Ruth Greene has not been found.......
"Pack up Frankie," Mr. Sullivan's harsh voice commanded.
"Why?"
"We're leaving," Mrs. Sullivan said motioning to a small shifty man standing against the wall to come and a suitcase.
*********************************8
Part I
Her heart beat wildly and her breath came is short gasps as she crouched against the building, praying the bulls wouldn't see her.
"Please G-d," she said, in her mind," just help me here, please."
She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Okay maybe some other time," she thought and bolted. "This looks like a good place to hide," she said, inwardly, as she darted inside a place, with the sign "Newsboys Lodging House." She crouched in the vestibule until the bulls had passed. She sat resting her tired feet for a while until she heard steps approaching. An old man with stone white hair within two feet of her.
"Look what we have here-"
She ran. Unfortunately right into a boy. He was a tall kid with brown hair and a red bandanna around his neck. Ruth caught a familiar glint in his eyes, but she couldn't place the face.
"Hey we won't hurt ya," he said, turning her around to face Kloppman.
It was a good thing that she just remembered she was in boys clothing. They were easier to run in and she had thought they would be a good disguise from the bulls.
"Three cents a night, the first one's free," a blond boy with an eye patch said, putting his arm around her.
"Um... well," a tongue tied Ruth tried to say something.
"Boys why don't you go upstairs, while I have a talk with our newest newsie," Kloppman said.
"Newsies? uh-oh," Ruth's thoughts warned.
Five or six boys tramped up the steps while Kloppman put an arm on Ruth's shoulder.
"Double uh-oh," she thought.
"Well now, what's your name and where did you come from?" Kloppman said, gently.
"Um.. uh," she stuttered. "Say something," her mind blared at herself.
Kloppman leaned over the desk until his head was close to hers. "I am sevent-- well never mind. I have been around for a long time. Do you think I can't tell the difference between a boy and a girl in boy's clothing?"
Ruth blushed crimson red. "You could tell, huh?"
"Yes, but don't worry. None of the boys noticed."
"So what am I going to do?" Ruth asked, glad to finally have someone helping her and lifting a little bit of the responsibilities off her shoulders.
"First we need to teach you to act like a guy."
"Yeah, but where am I going to sleep?"
"That is a problem. Maybe I'll put a cot for you in the kitchen with a sheet around it. Would that be suitable?"
"That would be perfect."
It had been a long time since Ruth had an adult watching out for her. She compared Kloppman with her father. Ruth had only been six when her father died and her image of him was pristine. She remembered him only as the father who kissed all her scratches and scrapes away and not as....... Well, Frankie didn't get such a good place of honor. He was remembered only as Mr. Sullivan's son, Mr. Sullivan's family.
"Listen the first you need to know is how to carry yourself," Kloppman instructed her.
"What?"
"How to stand and how to walk."
"Okay, I can do that. What's the second thing?"
"You need a name."
"That's a little bit more of a problem," Ruth said.
"You can borrow mine then. It's George."
"Well thanks for the name George, but what should I call you?"
"Kloppman."
"So what's the third thing, Kloppman?"
"You need to learn how to spit, swear, and talk like a boy."
"But, Kloppman, I already know how to do that," Ruth said, grinning.
Part II
Sleeping in Kloppman's kitchen meant getting up at the same time as him, which meant getting up at the break of dawn. It was barely light out when Ruth groped into the darkness of her room for her pants and shirt. She slipped into them carefully. Then, using a broken triangle of a mirror Kloppman had supplied her with, she braided her long, curly, brown hair into two braids and fixed them beneath her hat. She arranged her bangs so that they covered a small scar over her right eye and shaded her clear blue eyes from being recognized.
Her head was still cloudy from last nights lessons from Kloppman. She looked at herself in the mirror.
"Ruthie, if you can make it through this you just might be alright?" she said to her reflection.
"George? That's it just plain, George," a boy introduced as Racetrack was asking.
"Yeah got a problem with that?" Ruth said prickling.
"So George want me and Mush to show you the ropes," the blond boy, now known a Kid Blink asked.
"Yeah," Ruth said grateful for the friendship.
It was morning at the distribution center. All the newsies were lining up to get their papes Ruth....er George included.
"So Kid where is Jack from?" Ruth asked, curious about the stranger with the familiar eyes.
"Uh.. Brooklyn, somewhere, whatever. Why?" Kid Blink asked confused.
"Oh I just thought he looked familiar, but I've probably just seen him around some place."
"So, George how come you slept downstairs in the kitchen?" Mush asked innocently.
Okay she had practice for this question. Now if she could just pull it off without blushing too little or too much. She would be fine. "Well you know," she said," I ain't used to sleeping in the same room as a lot of other people." She hoped she could leave the rest to their imagination of her past troubled life.
Kid and Mush were good teachers. They finished selling their respective papes by lunchtime.
"What do you want to do now?" Mush asked.
"I don't know. You're the ones who are supposed to know what their doing," Ruth said.
"We could go catch Medda's show," Kid suggested.
"Medda? Medda Larkson. Wait Ruth knew her. Okay that would be a great way to get yourself exposed," Ruth cautioned herself. "Naw, is there something else to do?"
"Yeah, but--," Kid started.
"But what?" Ruth asked.
"But the Delanceys are right over there so we better beat it," Mush finished for him.
"Delanceys what?" Ruth said as they pulled her after them.
"Well look at what we have here," Oscar Delancey said, just as Mush ran into him," is this a new guy?"
"Aw how come you didn't stop to introduce us?" Morris said, coming up from behind.
Kid, Mush and Ruth formed a tight protective circle. "Okay there are three of us and two of them," she told herself," so we should be able to fight no problem." She wasn't so sure, though. She remembered Frankie as a kid once trying to teach her how to defend herself. The folly of six year olds, of course she didn't listen. Kloppman had tried to show her how to throw a few punches last night, too, but she had never been in a fight, never.
When it was over and the Delanceys went scampering back to where they came from she realized that she hadn't done so bad for a first one.
"Whoah, where'd you learn how to fight--?" Kid started.
Ruth reached up for hat and realized it was gone and her braids had come down. "I knew I should have chopped these off," she said angrily to herself. She grabbed her hat from where it had fallen during the fight and jammed it on her head, stuffing her braids back into it.
"Please don't tell anyone," she turned to Mush and Kid Blink.
"So that's why you slept downstairs," Kid said, "you had us fooled for a second." He couldn't get the image of her with her braids down out of his head. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce right through him. "A girl. She's a girl," he thought," and a beautiful girl."
Part III
"Hey where's Mush?" Ruth asked Kid the next day at the distribution stand.
"He decided to sell with Racetrack today," Kid said. Actually that was a small lie. He had practically begged Mush to go with Race so he could be alone with-- well the new girl. He still didn't know her name.
"She's gorgeous," Kid had begged," she just has to like me."
"Uh, no she doesn't," Mush had said," and besides what if she turns out to be a real jerk. You've only known her for one day, you know."
"Please." That had been the end of that.
"So it's just you and me today," Ruth interrupted his thoughts. "Did he arrange for that?" Ruth said to herself guessing his plan.
"Yeah, I guess so," Kid said. "Is she smiling because she's or because she knows my plan and is laughing at me?" Kid asked himself.
"So George what's your real name?" Kid asked, as soon as they were out of hearing distance of the others.
"I can't tell you," Ruth said growing secret," I don't want to get you involved, okay?"
"Well that was a 'get out of my face' if I ever saw one," Kid said to himself disappointed.
"What do you mean?" he asked Ruth.
"I have some people looking for me."
"We all have people looking for us."
"Yeah, but mine are looking to me because they want to get rid of me."
"Huh? I don't get it," Kid said confused.
"I was witness to a murder," Ruth clarified," now you see why I can't get anyone involved?"
"Oh," Kid said. This girl was definitely something out of the ordinary.
"Hey you didn't tell anyone about me, right?" Ruth said trying to change the subject. She liked Kid and she didn't want him to get hurt.
"Naw, your secrets safe with me," Kid said. "Hey so... um is there anything you are allowed to tell me about yourself," Kid asked, playfully.
Ruth laughed. "Well I'm fifteen if that will help you with anything."
"Well I'm sixteen. Since I'm older and wiser than you I now declare us selling partners," he said.
"Fine with me."
"Uh, you forgot my spit shake," Kid said.
"Spit shake?"
"Kloppman didn't tell you about the spit shake. Good thing I got to you before the others."
"Hey how did you know Kloppman taught me?"
Kid's eyes flashed mysteriously. "You're not the only one who can keep secrets," Kid said running off with Ruth chasing him.
Part IV
Days passed into weeks. Ruth's friendship with Kid Blink and all the other boys grew. Sometimes she felt a little pang of disappointment at having to lie to all of them, but she couldn't risk getting them hurt.
"She is beautiful and the nicest, sweetest girl you ever met," Kid was saying to Mush.
"Who is?" Jack asked coming into the room, followed by George.
"Uh.. just Blink's newest girl," Mush said, covering up who they had really been talking about.
"Blink has a new girl every other week," Jack explained to George. Ruth felt a pang of disappointment. It wasn't possible that she could like Kid, though. He was just her friend, her really good friend.
"This ones special," Kid said, giving a meaningful glance at Ruth. She hardly seemed to notice it though. "Maybe she doesn't feel the same way," Kid thought to himself. Kid and Ruth each decided to bury all the feeling they had for each other under a good solid friendship.
One night Ruth, Kid, and Mush were sitting in Kloppman's kitchen talking. Ruth had her hair down. At it's full length it fell almost to her waist. Kid couldn't stop staring at her. "She's so gorgeous," he thought. He never should have even considered her feeling special about him.
"So are you ever going to tell the others?" Mush was asking Ruth.
"I don't know. I think I'll lay low for awhile longer," Ruth said.
Meanwhile in another part of the lodging house...
"Full house!" Race yelled, "hand it over."
"Hey no fair!," Snipeshooter complained," you cheated big time."
"Yeah, I that ace up your sleeve," Bumletts said accusingly.
That bunkroom broke out into a fight.
"Alright, alright," Racetrack said," let's go ask Kloppman."
"Kloppman? But he wasn't even here," Snipeshooter said, but no one paid any attention.
They all converged on Kloppman's kitchen at once.
"Hey Kid, Mush! Who's you're friend?" Crutchy said putting his hand on Ruth's shoulder.
Ruth glanced at Kid. That was all it took all three burst out laughing while the newsies watched in bewilderment.
"Gentlemen," Kid said, between laughs," I present to you George."
Ruth stood up and bowed as the newsies stared in shock. They all dubbed her Secret.
"That's not a boy's name," she protested.
"Well you ain't a boy," Racetrack said laughing.
Jack wasn't there he had been at the Jacob's house for dinner that night. He found out Ruth's little secret though the next morning, when she came outside the kitchen to talk to Mush with her hair still down. Jack's mouth dropped open.
"So you were pretty surprised when you found out Secret was a girl huh?" Kid Blink said later.
"Naw, it's not that," Jack insisted," she looks so familiar, like I know her really well..." He wandered off into space.
**************************************
"Well hello, little girl, aren't you just the cutest thing there ever was?" a tall red haired lady said to her.
"Ruth this is Medda. Medda this is Ruth," Jack said beaming.
"Well you have just the prettiest eyes I've ever seen, Ruth," Medda said taking the small girl by the hand, "did you know I went to school with your mother?"
**************************************
"Jack, hey listen, give it to me straight. You think I got a chance with her?" Kid asked, breaking into Jack's thoughts.
"Yeah, I think so," Jack said, " has she got any family? Did she say where she was from? Do you know her real name?"
"No. She said she couldn't tell me anything," Kid Blink stopped a second," you know it's funny she asked the same things about you."
"She did," Jack asked giving Kid a sharp look," did she say why?"
"No," Kid said.
Part V
"So you like the nickname Secret?" Kid asked.
"I can take it or leave it. Why?" Ruth asked, swinging her legs off the bed. She had traded her boys clothes for the traditional dress of a girl newsie.
Kid took a deep breath. "Um.. well, I was wondering if you, um, if you." Kid took another deep breath time to try a different approach. "Does it matter to you?"
"Does what matter? My nickname?"
"Do I matter to you?"
Warning lights blared in Ruth's head. Back away from the newsie they commanded. "You know--" she started.
"Because I really like you and if you could give me a chance maybe you'd like me too. And I promise I'd never hurt you......"
Ruth sucked in her breath. "Aw.. you don't want to get involved with me. I'm a nutcase. I can't even tell you my real name. You'd want out as soon as you got in."
"No. I wouldn't and we could call you Forever instead of Secret. That way every time I called your name I would be reminded of my promise."
Ruth shifted. She liked Kid. She really did and under normal circumstances she'd take him up on his offer, but these weren't normal circumstances. She didn't know Kid and he certainly had no idea who she was. Who was she anyway? She had taken on so many names lately she had forgotten whether she was George. Secret, or Ruth.
Kid could see her changing attitudes. He saw at first how she looked like she was going to say yes and then how a strange glint came into her eyes.
"Nothing is forever, kid. It'd be a waste of a name," Ruth said, walking away. She had thought her father was forever. He had died. She had thought Mrs. Sullivan was forever. She died too. She had thought Frankie would be with her forever. Well she didn't even want to get into that...... She still couldn't think of Frankie without angry tears coming into her eyes. She swore if she ever laid eyes on him again she'd kill him.
Part VI
"Hey Secret. What are you doing up here?" Jack said joining Ruth on the roof of the lodging house.
"Thinking," she said, turning away from him. Jack always looked familiar to her and just in case he was someone from her past life she didn't want to be recognized.
"You know why don't you give Kid a chance?" Jack asked.
Ruth groaned. So he'd come up here to protest his friend's case huh?
"I can't alright. I just can't. It's too dangerous," she said, angrily.
"What do you have murderers looking for you or something?" Jack said, jokingly. She gave him a sharp glare. "Is that it? What did you do?" Jack said becoming concerned.
"Look! I don't want to talk about it!" Ruth yelled.
"Well that's the wrong approach. We can help, you know," Jack said.
"No you can't."
"You don't know until you ask."
Suddenly Ruth had an irresistible urge to tell someone her whole story, to remove this big lump off her chest. She would have rather told it to Kid Blink, but Jack was there and something about him was so familiar it made her trust him. It compelled her to tell him.
"These guys, these thugs, they killed my father," Ruth said.
"I'm sorry." Jack put an arm around Ruth.
"I was there. I saw them. I couldn't even do anything." Ruth started to cry. She buried her face in Jack's shoulder.
"How old were you, then?" Jack asked.
"Six," Ruth's muffled voice said. It felt so good to get it off her chest. Jack was the first person she had told ever.
"Hey Secret, I want you to meet someone," Jack said.
"Okay."
The next day all the newsies stood outside the lodging house waiting for Jack's guest.
"Do you know who he's bringing?" Ruth asked Mush. She would have asked Kid, but she hadn't spoken to him since their conversation.
"Of course," Mush said.
A red haired woman could be seen approaching from the distance. In the other direction Jack was running towards the newsies.
"Hey Cowboy! What took you so long?" Race asked.
"I was getting my name legally changed," Jack said," Francis Sullivan is no more."
It was a good thing Ruth didn't hear that. The red haired woman, Medda, came up to Jack.
"Who was it you wanted me to meet, Kelley?" Medda asked.
"This is the newest addition to our lodging house, Secret," Jack said pulling Ruth out from the crowd. Ruth waited to see if Medda would recognize her.
Medda laughed. " I see you mean newest in the looser sense of the word, Jack. I'd know Ruthie Greene's blue eyes anywhere," Medda said, hugging Ruth.
"Ruthie?" Jack stared in bewilderment at the fifteen year old girl if front of him. Could she really be the little six year he had known so well? The newsies stared in bewilderment. They all knew each other? Jack reached forward and brushed Ruth's bangs away revealing a small pink scar above her right eye. Ruth blushed and pushed his hand away replacing the bangs to their original spot. If she was Medda and Jack knew her then who was Jack. She felt like the answer was right in front of her and her eyes just refused to see it.
"You don't remember me," Jack said. Ruthie shook her head. "Well you'll just have to guess who I am," he said, smiling mischievously.
"I hate guessing games," Ruth thought.
"Hey Medda before we go to Irving Hall I left my hat in the bunkroom I'm going to get it," Jack said.
"I'll come," Ruth volunteered, eager to learn Jack's identity.
"So what made you so late," Ruth asked, once inside the bunkroom.
"I was getting rid of a little bit of my past," Jack said.
"What do you mean?" Ruth asked smiling.
Jack leaned close to her. "Well Jack Kelley isn't my real name......"
It hit her in one second. How blind could she have been. She stood there stricken like with a bolt of lightning. "Your real name is Francis Sullivan," she finished his sentence.
"Yes exactly," he said, reaching for her hand. She took a step back. Jack looked confused.
"What you think I don't know?" she said, getting angry and nervous. Why did it have to be Jack? She had thought he was a nice guy.
"Know what," Jack asked.
"About you and your father and my father." Jack continued looking confused. "Let me enlighten your clouded memory," Ruth began," your father was involved in a string of robberies, grand theft, and my father found out and threatened to tell the cops. So you and him decided my father needed to be eliminated and that's exactly what you did."
"Don't lump me in with my father! I had nothing to do with the murder or the robberies."
"Yeah right, Frankie, yeah right. You're the one who said if anyone messed with your family they were goners."
"I never considered my father part of my family. You know that. I was talking about you!"
"I'm not so sure Frankie. I was there. I saw your father and the other man looked an awful lot like you."
"Why would I lie to you?"
"Why wouldn't you lie to me?"
"What happened to the sweet little six year old I took care of? How about some gratitude?! You want the truth! Well here it is, your father was involved in the robberies just as much as mine was. Why do you think they shared the same apartment? Your father was no better than mine and you should be thankful that he left you before you found out who he really was." Jack was surprised at himself. He wasn't this person.
"I hate you Francis Sullivan! And you'll always be Francis Sullivan, the liar, robber, and murderer no matter what you change your name to!" Ruth screamed at him.
Neither he or she could be sure how it happened. Who threw the first punch and who dodged it, but sometime during the scuffle Ruth got thrown on the floor. Her head hit the side of the bunk and the scar above her eye, never fully healed, reopened. She picked herself up and ran from the room. Her life as a newsie was over.
Jack sank to the floor in the middle of the room. He buried his head in his hands and sobbed.
Part VII
"I don't know what to do. What should I do? Please tell me?" Jack was saying to Sarah. They were sitting together in Jacob's apartment. No one else was home. "I feel like I've turned into my father, like I'm following in his exact footsteps." Jack got up and started to pace the room. "I mean that's exactly what I thought I was leaving, thought I was getting away from, when I finally changed my name."
"Well," Sarah said slowly," if you feel like everything you're doing is like your father then you need to do what is like Jack and what is like Francis. You need to stop and think and look for the answers because they're all inside you," Sarah said.
Jack looked at her. "Thanks Sarah," he said. "I know exactly what I'm going to do. But I have to find her first." Jack kissed Sarah on the cheek and ran out the door. It was strange all his life he'd been running from his past and now he was actually going in search of a piece of it.
Ruth sat huddled in her old apartment on Thurow street. It had long since been abandoned. She had spent the night with her nightmares. memories and the rats. A dull ache persisted in her head. She knew she needed to get some food, but she didn't have the will to move. She heard footsteps on the stairs. Suddenly the stupidity of her situation hit her. She was in an old abandoned apartment house. That could be anyone coming up the stairs. It could be Mr. Sullivan. Her fear moved to her get up quickly, but she was too late. The door opened and in walked a man. At first Ruth really mistook him for Mr. Sullivan. Then she looked closer and saw differences the younger face. It was Frankie. Ruth slumped back down in the corner.
Jack went and put his arms around her. "When I said my family I meant you and my mother, not my father. You know that. Why would I ever hurt you?" he said.
Tears streamed down Ruth's face. "I don't know. I don't know," she said," I'm sorry Frankie. I'm sorry." Jack took a handkerchief out of his pocket he wiped away her tears and tried to wipe the dirt streaks of her face a little. Then he moved to try and clean up the gash. Ruth winced from the salt water entering her wound.
"Hold still," Jack said.
"I am holding still....." Ruthie said.
"Still as a mouse," Jack finished for her.
Part VIII
"So you're kind of like Jack's sister," Racetrack said to Ruth.
"Yeah kind of," she agreed. They were all sitting in the bunkroom of the lodging house. Sarah had cleaned up Ruth's scrape and stitched in back up properly this time. The door to the bunkroom opened and was slammed shut by Kid Blink. He made his way past questioning faces to the roof.
"Uh.. my head hurts. I am going to go up and get some fresh air," Ruth made up an excuse to talk to Kid. She quickly exited to the roof. No one followed.
"Kid! Kid! Hey Blink!" she called from across the roof.
"What do you want?" Kid asked her.
"I'm sorry," Ruth said.
"I'll bet."
"Well you don't have to be so rude about it. I did it for your own protection," Ruth said, hurt by Kid's lack of politeness.
"What protection? What is this kind concern you feel for my heart all of the sudden?" Kid asked, bitterly. Ruth turned to leave. "What is up with you anyway?" Kid asked. "First you act like you actually like me. Then, as soon as you find out who Jack is you're smitten with him." Ruth realized it had never been explained to Kid the relationship between her and Jack. She laughed. "I don't think this is very funny," Kid said.
"Your so cute," Ruth said, kissing Kid on the cheek. Kid smiled a little then.
"What?" he asked.
"Jack and I grew up together. Our families shared the same apartment," Ruth said.
"Does everyone else know?" Kid asked.
"Yes," Ruth said. She sighed. "But only that and there's more. Someday I'll tell you, but right now I want to know something else--" She was cut off by Jack and Spot bounding up onto the roof.
"Spot this is the girl I wanted to introduce you to," Jack said putting his arm around, Ruthie.
"Well," Spot said," you know I've heard you called a lot of names. So what do they call you now?"
"Well," Ruth said," I've been a lot of people." She thought of little Ruthie Greene the six year old in Frank's arms and of George the new newsie and even of Secret. "But I think that now," she gave a sideways glance at Kid Blink and he nodded smiling, jubilantly. "I think that now my name is Forever," she said.
"Well Forever, welcome to the club," Spot said.
"Hey Spot you owe us a poker game," Racetrack called.
"Excuse me," Spot said, tipping his hat, he left Jack, Kid, and Ruth up on the roof.
"So now what should I call you?" Ruth said turning to Jack. It suddenly hit him. This is what he had been waiting for. This is why he had taken so long to change his name. He had taken the one good thing left over from his old life and brought it into his new. Now Jack Kelley was complete.
"Jack. Jack Kelley," he said. He hugged Ruth and kissed her on the cheek. Then he went down to the poker game to leave Ruth and Kid alone.
"So what made you change your mind?" Kid asked.
"I realized that what I said before wasn't true. There is something that's lasted forever and that's my friendship with Jack. And if that can go on forever then this one can too," Ruth said.
Kid smiled. " Of all your names and all your people I like my Forever best," he said.
"I do too," Forever answered.