Chapter One
Author's Note: A new story! Yay! Wait...but...but this one...is it possible? Am I really writing a Newsies story that doesn't have Crutchy as the main character? I might have a heart attack and then this will...never mind, it's just shocking. The explanation for this one is that Racetrack, well, mostly Max C. is now on my favorite actors list, (which is like, really, really, really, long,) and so, the character and the actor kind of grew on me, you know? Disclaimer: I do not own any original newsies, I wish I owned Crutchy and possibly a few others, but I do own the non-original newsies or people. This takes place before all mentions of a strike and so forth, about a year earlier. So here we go!
Race had never been a wisher. He didn't agree with wishing. In his mind, it wasn't betting, it wasn't as good as betting, it wasn't good for him. He had to bet. That's all he enjoyed. The rules of his life didn't allow time to wish. Only betting. That was his whole life supply of earnings. For a boy with a short height, an Italian/New Yorker accent, and a history like his, he was doing well.
So wishing wasn't needed. He didn't feel the need to do so. He'd admitted this to Kid Blink many times. Blink had always laughed at him and said that for a newsie who spent his life at the tracks, he didn't need wishing. Even Jack said so. Of course, Jack was a wisher and seemed so unlike Race at some points that the two of them could argue a good bit. But then there was Racetrack's past itself. Interestingly enough, he had once been a wisher. But when something happened that made him never want to wish again, he never did.
But the one day he actually wished again was the day there was a blizzard outside. The problem was that there were several newsies still out in that snowstorm, and noone knew where they were. Jack was out searching. Race was counting off the missing newsies, and grew more worried as he counted off the names.
"So dere's Bumlets, Itey, an' Crutchy." he said.
"An' Crutchy's da one we's gotta worry 'bout. What if da Delancy bruddahs end up findin' him den puttin' him in da refuge?" asked Jack, looking a good bit more worried than normal.
Race knew it was hard on him every time a newsie got lost like that, he took it upon himself to be responsible for all the newsies. And these were some of the youngest, and Crutchy one of the weakest, and less able to move about. Sure, Bumlets and Itey could find some shelter and get there quicker, but even if Crutchy knew of a shelter, he wouldn't be able to get there fast enough, even if he could move pretty darn fast sometimes. Race found himself wondering how they would ever find any of the missing newsies. There were way too many places in New York, and he was pretty sure it would take forever to find any particular person. Hopefully those newsies would come back, but Race doubted it.
And Jack didn't have an inkling of doubt in his mind that the missing newsies wouldn't get back and that they would all die. That's clearly, as Race realized, what Jack was thinking. The leader was worried that they wouldn't get back, and in his mind, had created a mindset that indeed, they would not last.
"Well, dis ain't gonna go well. Dat's all Is can tink." Race thought. He wasn't always trying to put down any of the three missing newsies, but he didn't really feel like going out into the cold and having to suffer like that. And then he realized that the others were suffering more than he was and he should've been glad that he had made it inside. But he also should be helping them out. If Jack went, he went, because he was so close in age to Jack and because every newsie mattered, even if it meant going in a snowstorm and risking their lives because they needed to find them. Of course, this wasn't the way Race had wanted to die, either. But if it was to be, so it would be.
There was a small group that would go, as it was soon decided. The group consisted of Jack, Race, Blink, Mush, Skittery, and then there was silence as Jack stared at the other newsies. He seemed to be amazed that they wouldn't go and help any others. Race just shook his head in disbelief at Jack's amazement. He couldn't believe himself that he was going in the first place.
Finally, Jack just stormed out of the building with the others behind him, obviously ashamed that the rest didn't want to go and extremely worried at the same time. Race took the chance and told Jack that they should go in pairs and search.
"So we's gotta do it dis way 'cause dere ain't no way I be doin' it any oder way round heah, Jack." he said.
"Alrigh', fine. Split inta pairs." Jack gave in, after a long argument over why they should or shouldn't do it in pairs.
Race and Blink set off. Jack was on his lonesome, Mush and Skittery went together. Race didn't care if Jack was alone. He really was only focused on the cold and the horrible storm that he and Blink had to walk through. Where on earth would they find anyone when they could hardly see two feet in front of them?
"Dis is stupid! I ain't able ta see two feet in fronta me, an' we's gotta look for people!" yelled Race to Blink, who only nodded and yelled back his agreement.
"We gotta do dis, Race, bu' Is know how ya feel!" he yelled over the wind. Race just heaved a sigh and kept walking forward.
For boys with little to no coverage like thick winter coats, boots, pants, hats, or anything from thick socks to a horse drawn carriage, this was horrible. The wind was blowing harder than ever, the snow coming down fast and furiously, and every so often Race thought he heard something but it turned out to only be the wind or a carriage driving by with the horse complaining.
Race found himself becoming completely numb. He just couldn't breath anymore. This wasn't the way things were supposed to be. He had to find someone and then get back to the lodging house as fast as he could, but neither him nor Blink were having any luck. Blink's eyepatch was basically frozen over and he seemed to be in pain from it. Race knew that he wasn't very good at seeing anything in the first place, so this wasn't helping. It would be just his luck to have to guide Blink around because he'd go blind in the other eye from this.
And then Race heard it. A cry of help, a plead, and there was terror in the voice. Race couldn't tell who it was, he just had the instinct that it was a boy and a newsie. He didn't know which one, but he wasn't taking any chances and him and Blink made their way over towards the sound.
The building they came upon had fallen down. Someone had been inside it. It was an old building by looks of the wood on the ground, and had fallen from all the snow. Race looked at Blink, who looked back, squinting through his one eye, and the two of them right then and there made an agreement that they would both get whoever it was under there out of there.
Race began to pull away wood, and Blink followed suit. There wasn't much that they could do except this, and the wind was cold and biting, so Race was doing it as fast as possible. He finally found the person, and found that it was indeed a newsie and a boy; it was Crutchy.
Crutchy was unconscious, and he looked cold and nearly frozen to death. Blink gave Race a look that clearly said, "Oh great, the tallest person in darn old Manhattan and we gotta carry him", and Race only could say that it wasn't the greatest set up of his life. But they managed to pull Crutchy out and then Blink volunteered to put him on his back because Race was shorter and he was taller and could somehow manage to drag him. Race only just managed to grab the crutch lying in the snow before they were going back as fast as they could.
The snow was getting deeper in the streets and Race wasn't going too fast. But they ran, if making heavy, fast, steps in the snow can be called running. They managed to get back to the lodging house and the minute Race and Blink stepped in the door, they both collapsed and Race only saw the color black.
Author's Note: Dear me, Race, what have you done now? I don't know, but I'm kinda excited to see what youse all tink of dis! Please review and suggestions/ideas are very welcome! Thank you and please review, review, review!
