His New Santa Fe
Katherine Ella Pulitzer was one hell of a woman. She had a voice that could strike as quick and hot as lightning. She had bright eyes that sucked up words and ideas and reflected memories as she grew. Her hands were slender and could murder a typewriter and one of those new-fangled "automobiles." Best of all, under that voice, above those hands, and behind those eyes, there was her mind.
Darkness, light, and layers of that good stuff in between twisted and danced like fire in there. The dreams of a child mixed with the ambitions of a seventeen year old. Small samples of nostalgia stereotypically found in old people kept the engines of her brain moving.
That mind was the reason New York's high society automatically kicked her out. It served as a proper excuse for the publisher of the Sun to push the reporter off to the side. That led her to reporting on vaudeville and burlesque shows. Which somehow lead to a newsboy union. That mind was the reason Jack Kelly married her.
Any human who could shut down New York City and dethrone Pulitzer and Hearst in one night with a printing press and a piece of paper was fine by him. Fine? Quite an understatement. More like one of them big words she used…like incredible. Formidable. Irreplaceable. Extraordinary.
Sometimes Jack wondered what this girl did to him. Here he was, sleeping in a slum and selling papes. He was alright with slums. But this slum was special. 'Cause it was his and wife's slum. And they shared it gladly with any of the newsies when the papes would sell. They made it cozier with a homemade quilt that kept them warm at night. They made it joyful with a little boy called Jackie and a baby girl called Kathy.
Five years ago Jack Kelly would've died laughing to hear he'd be married, a father, and voluntarily staying in New York City. But that rubberneck of a girl changed all that with one strike. With fierce arguments, explosive actions, and those rare gems of tenderness, she made the curtain of poverty disappear so that he could see.
Without the curtain, he saw his brothers, not just orphans and runaways selling papes. He saw women, not ladies in black and white that passed out free food. He saw humans, not classes. He saw a picture in his head, not the solution to everything wrong in his life. And her… he saw Katherine, his new Santa Fe.
That was just a hint of the mumbo-jumbo going on in his head when he put that crackerjack ring on her finger after she shouted "Yes!" and kissed him. Weeks later, she promised him, several newsboy witnesses, and God himself that she'd stick by his side even after that other illusion called death tried to wedge between them. The tough Jack Kelly let out all of that mushy stuff. He was full of it. But then again, all the best people are.
She caused all of this. She destroyed the newsie Jack Kelly and brought him back to life a little wiser. She conquered him and his dream. She was one hell of a woman. Katherine, his new Santa Fe.