I looked around the busy street of this new and strange city. It had only
been three days since we had all escaped, but none of us had gotten much
sleep since we were all so nervous of being caught again. Our escape had
been practically a miracle, and there must have been a search party made
not two hours after we had left. Would there be someone in this town
looking for us? All the way over here in Manhattan?
My mind was riddled with questions and worries. There was just the six of us, and we had no place to go. What were we going to do?
A loud voice came bellowing through the streets, calling some headline about the attempted murder of the major's cousin. I grinned to myself, knowing that in truth, the major's cousin had probably tripped and scratched his knee or something like that. The sound of the headlines being called out by that boy reminded me of the year before I had been put into that foster home. I had been a newsie myself in that one year, as had most of us who were put into the foster home. All of my friends had been.
That's when the idea hit. I smiled with relief, and went to look for the boy who had called out the headline. It wasn't hard to find him. He had a pointed face and his light brown hair was slicked back with some cheap hair grease. He wore a ridiculous looking cowboy hat around his neck. Well, at least he would be easy to keep track of. As he sold his last paper he went off at a slow pace talking every now and then to some other random boy that he met along the way. They were probably his fellow newsies. A few in particular stood out to me, one with blonde hair and an eye patch, one with black hair with a cigar in his mouth, and one with curly brown hair. I watched as he talked to all of them for a few minutes, and then finally we ended up at a building with a sign that said NEWSBOYS LODGING HOUSE. I looked carefully at the building and then headed back the way I had come. Finally we might have something go right since our escape.
* * *
When I arrived at the meeting place we chose only three of the girls were there. They all smiled and said hello, even though I had only been gone a few hours. We were all like sisters, and we had all suffered the same fate at the foster home. I turned to Lashes, a girl my age, about 14, with straight blonde hair and hazel eyes, like my own, that were shadowed by her thick long eyes lashes.
"Did you guys find anything out about the foster home? Are they gonna come looking here in Manhattan for us?"
She smiled sadly at me and said, "No we couldn't find out anything besides that they didn't notice we were gone until the next morning."
At that we all smiled. We had hoped that we would have a few hours to run as far as we could without them noticing our absence, but all night!!!! That at least was some good news.
"Well I've got some news too. I think I may have found a place for us to stay, and a way to get some income as well."
"How?" asked Rae as she and Hades came back from their search for food. Now all of us were here. With Lashes, Singah, Rabbit, Rae, Hades, and me there were six of us. We all started walking as I explained what I had seen and how I had followed the boy to the lodging house. They all caught on to my idea immediately.
"Of course! We were all newsies before we came to the foster home, why can't we be newsies again?" Singah pointed out. She, like Lashes, had blonde hair, although hers was curly and slightly longer. She had ice blue eyes and was known for her beautiful voice. Thus the name Singah.
"So all we have to do is go to the lodging house and ask if we can join." Said Lashes.
"It probably won't be that easy. Boy newsies are known for being sexiest towards girls who want to be newsies." That was Rabbit. She didn't say much, but when she did it always had wisdom behind it. She was a little shy of strangers, and the foster home hadn't helped that. The foster home hadn't helped any of us.
"We'll just have to make them see our point then won't we?" said Hades. She was completely different from Rabbit in that she was outgoing and didn't like it when people told her she couldn't do something. She was known for causing trouble.
We all grinned at that, some of us nervously, some of us mischievously. We would see what the boy newsies said, and only after that could we decide what to do next. Silently we walked into the growing dusk and headed toward the lodging house.
My mind was riddled with questions and worries. There was just the six of us, and we had no place to go. What were we going to do?
A loud voice came bellowing through the streets, calling some headline about the attempted murder of the major's cousin. I grinned to myself, knowing that in truth, the major's cousin had probably tripped and scratched his knee or something like that. The sound of the headlines being called out by that boy reminded me of the year before I had been put into that foster home. I had been a newsie myself in that one year, as had most of us who were put into the foster home. All of my friends had been.
That's when the idea hit. I smiled with relief, and went to look for the boy who had called out the headline. It wasn't hard to find him. He had a pointed face and his light brown hair was slicked back with some cheap hair grease. He wore a ridiculous looking cowboy hat around his neck. Well, at least he would be easy to keep track of. As he sold his last paper he went off at a slow pace talking every now and then to some other random boy that he met along the way. They were probably his fellow newsies. A few in particular stood out to me, one with blonde hair and an eye patch, one with black hair with a cigar in his mouth, and one with curly brown hair. I watched as he talked to all of them for a few minutes, and then finally we ended up at a building with a sign that said NEWSBOYS LODGING HOUSE. I looked carefully at the building and then headed back the way I had come. Finally we might have something go right since our escape.
* * *
When I arrived at the meeting place we chose only three of the girls were there. They all smiled and said hello, even though I had only been gone a few hours. We were all like sisters, and we had all suffered the same fate at the foster home. I turned to Lashes, a girl my age, about 14, with straight blonde hair and hazel eyes, like my own, that were shadowed by her thick long eyes lashes.
"Did you guys find anything out about the foster home? Are they gonna come looking here in Manhattan for us?"
She smiled sadly at me and said, "No we couldn't find out anything besides that they didn't notice we were gone until the next morning."
At that we all smiled. We had hoped that we would have a few hours to run as far as we could without them noticing our absence, but all night!!!! That at least was some good news.
"Well I've got some news too. I think I may have found a place for us to stay, and a way to get some income as well."
"How?" asked Rae as she and Hades came back from their search for food. Now all of us were here. With Lashes, Singah, Rabbit, Rae, Hades, and me there were six of us. We all started walking as I explained what I had seen and how I had followed the boy to the lodging house. They all caught on to my idea immediately.
"Of course! We were all newsies before we came to the foster home, why can't we be newsies again?" Singah pointed out. She, like Lashes, had blonde hair, although hers was curly and slightly longer. She had ice blue eyes and was known for her beautiful voice. Thus the name Singah.
"So all we have to do is go to the lodging house and ask if we can join." Said Lashes.
"It probably won't be that easy. Boy newsies are known for being sexiest towards girls who want to be newsies." That was Rabbit. She didn't say much, but when she did it always had wisdom behind it. She was a little shy of strangers, and the foster home hadn't helped that. The foster home hadn't helped any of us.
"We'll just have to make them see our point then won't we?" said Hades. She was completely different from Rabbit in that she was outgoing and didn't like it when people told her she couldn't do something. She was known for causing trouble.
We all grinned at that, some of us nervously, some of us mischievously. We would see what the boy newsies said, and only after that could we decide what to do next. Silently we walked into the growing dusk and headed toward the lodging house.