Mush wiped the shaving cream off his face and hat, "thanks Jack," he muttered, chuckling.
Blink came busting out of the bathroom, "it's going to be a good day!" He said confidently.
"Hey Blink, I met this girl last night." Mush said, putting his hat back on.
Kid Blink grinned, "Was she pretty?" He asked, washing his hands quickly.
"Oh yeah, she was pretty alright. Bluest eyes you ever saw, and dark brown hair." Mush picked up his shirt, "Great to see something nice, after seeing your face all day!" He pushed Blinks face playfully, laughing as Blink grabbed the shirt from his hands and dropped it on Mush's face.
"Put your shirt on ya bum!" Blink rearranged his eyepatch, which sat crooked after Mush's shove.
Mush pulled the shirt over his head, and thought back to the night before.
He had been walking down some street near Central Park, only two papers left to sell, when he had noticed a girl on the street opposite him about his age. He barely had time to notice her bag before a young boy rushed by, knocking it out of her hands. Red juicy apples went spilling into the street. The girl made a noise in exasperation as she dived after the apples, dodging the carriages. Mush promptly ran across the street and setting his papers down, began to help her.
"Such a shame." He thought, as he examined a bruise on a large apple. They looked particularly delicious after a long day, with lousy luck selling papes.
"Here you are ma'am," he said, offering the armful of apples he'd collected. "Not badly damaged."
She looked up at him and smiled, "You're so kind to help." She held open the burlap sack as he poured in the remaining apples. She plucked one without bruises from the sack, and offered it to him. "Please, take this as a thank you." She smiled again, her delicate hands wrapped around the apple.
Mush took it from her, their hands brushing. "Thank you, miss. I was glad to help." He smiled back. As she started to hoist the bag up, he quickly took it from her. "Here I'll carry that, you lead the way."
She bit her lip, hand still outstretched to the sack. "Oh no! You've already done enough. I don't want to put you out of your way."
"It's no trouble." Said Mush, gazing at her sapphire blue eyes. She looked down shyly, her dark eyelashes brushing her cheeks.
"Thank you." She said. She noticed the two newspapers on the ground and picked them up, "Are these yours?" He nodded, and she tucked them under her arm. "I'll carry these then!" He laughed and she stood beside him. "I live down that street." She pointed, and he set off, both walking together.
"What's your name?" He asked her,
"Angela. And yours?"
Suddenly his nickname seemed silly. "Uh, the boys call me Mush."
"The news boys?" She asked, no apparent reaction to his name.
"Yeah, the other newsies."
She shifted the papers in her hands, briefly reading the headlines. "Carnation processes its first can of evaporated milk? How do you sell a headline like that?"
Mush glanced at her in surprise. "You're telling me! I'd never've sold a pape if I'd said that headline. Who cares about milk?"
Angela laughed. "No one who buys papers. What do you even do with evaporated milk?" She returned to the front page and folded the paper. "Is it hard to sell newspapers?"
Mush smirked, "not if you know what you're doing. Helps if the headlines good."
"And if it's not?"
"You make it good. Or you look pitiful, so they feel sorry enough to buy one. I'm a little old for those gags now."
Angela's brow furrowed, "so you lie?"
Mush scrambled for an answer, "nah, you just rearrange the words a little."
"I see," She stopped in front of a building. "Here we are," she took the apples from him, "thank you so much for carrying them. You are very kind." She smiled sweetly at him.
Mush smiled back, taking off his hat and offering a bow. "For a lady like you? Anytime."
Angela curtsied in return, before opening the door and stepping inside the stairwell. "Goodbye,"
"Goodbye." Mush held his hat to his chest.
With a small wave and the squeak of a hinge, she was gone.
And gone was the daydream. "Mush, get a move on!" Specs shoved his shoulder, and grabbed the hat off his head "What're you doin' just standin' there?"
"Ay! Gimme that!" Mush grabbed it back, putting it on his head. "I's just thinking."
"About what?" Boots grinned at him, "that was an interestin' look on yer face!"
Mush grabbed him and knuckled his head, "about breakfast of course! What else?"