"Morning, Weasel," said Kid Blink, turning as he blew out a puff of smoke. Wiesel just turned to glare at him.
"How many?" he asked irritably, sighing.
"Mmm…gimme fifty today, alright?" replied blinking, sliding a quarter toward the man.
"Fifty papes for the kid!" Wiesel shouted to the scabbers.
"That's Kid Blink to you," Blink told him, taking the papers that had been slammed down in front of him. He hoisted them onto his shoulder and hopped down the steps.
"Nothin' really good today, eh Blink?" commented Jack Kelly, once Blink had sat next to him and opened a paper.
"Jack, Jack, Jack, you forgettin' the big rule?" laughed Blink cheerily.
"Not at all, Blink." Jack smiled. "I basically made the rule, you kidding?" He took a pull on his cigarette, then looked up, exhaling smoke. He caught sight of a skinny woman walking by, her tiny waist flaunted by the dress she wore.
Blink elbowed Jack in the ribs. "Check out that beauty." Jack let out a low whistle.
"B-e-a-utiful," he said. Racetrack joined them and followed their gaze.
"Oh, my," he said with a smile. "Hey gorgeous! You are an angel!" The woman turned around with a mild smile, then saw who it was and pursed her lips, turning to walk away with her nose in the air. Racetrack snorted.
" 'Course they don't like us." The smile on his face became a slight grimace. "We're dirty, stinking street trash. Street rats."
"'S alright, Race," Jack said. "Least we got ourselves and the papes, right?"
"The papes." Racetrack rolled his eyes. "Sure." Blink half-smiled, half-grimaced. At least those two had a chance. He wore a freaking eyepatch, for goodness' sake. Girls would know there was automatically something wrong with him.
"Let's go," he said, throwing the paper he was reading on the pile and putting them on his shoulder.
"Somethin' up, Blink?" asked Racetrack. Kid Blink looked over, then spat out and stomped on his cigarette.
"Nah," he replied. "Come on, we're newsies. Let's go. Carry the banner."
"Carry the banner," Jack repeated, grinning.