The Human Spirit: The Philadelphia Newsies
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Wiesel
Author's note: Just to give you guys an edge, since this is an entirely new cast of characters, I've included a list of my newsies and thing you might need to know. Oh speaking of which, the first thing you need to know is that all the Philadelphia newsies are girls...
My Philadelphia Newsies
Smudge- The Russian whose family has come to America looking for a better life. They run the lodging house.
Sai- The responsible one, who tends to look out for all the other newsies.
Sun- Sai's best friend and irresponsible counterpart. The tounge-in-cheek, smart addition to any situation.
Shisha- A hyper individual, who always promises to add spice and fun to a situation.
Baasa- The mischievous cousin of Smudge, also from Russia, and constantly complaining about not knowing English
Neve- The loud, but cute, street smart, but not so smart, Philadelphia native.
Peanut- The slightly clueless, but loveable one.
Gigglebug- Another Philadelphia native, not to be confused with giggles, a fiery orator who believes in what she says and says what she believes.
Skeptic- The sarcastic one, who is always ready with a comeback.
Giggles- Skeptic's sidekick, and the name says the rest.
Lion or Li for short- Smudge's sidekick, a second generation immigrant who has replicated the Russian life on American soil, more recently from New York.
Harvey- A girl, who is a tomboy, always ready for a fist fight.
K'ton Ton- A girl who believes in the beauty of her dreams and won't stop until she speaks up for them.
Laconic- The quiet one who no one ever listens to, but frequently has the answers.
Dixie Kracinsky- The south obsessed anti social one.
Mendak- The appearance obsessed one.
Chapter One: A New Day A New Dream
Thump! "Ow!" Sun said half- heartedly. Sun never said things whole- heartedly in the morning.
"If you didn't insist on rolling out of the top bunk and you just climbed down like a normal person then you wouldn't get hurt," a reproachful Sai said.
"I try not to think that much in the morning," Sun said, going off to wash her face.
"See that," Shisha said, pointing out the window, where the girls had a marvelous view of city hall.
"Yeah that's city hall," Baasa said.
"Wow, you memorized a landmark. Of course we only see it everyday, but I guess for people who "can't" speak English it's hard to memorize English landmarks," Skeptic said, in her characteristic manner.
"I'm gonna live there one day," Shisha said.
"Don't be ridiculous people don't live there," Sun muttered, her towel up against her face.
"I'm going to."
"Wait people don't live there?" Peanuts asked.
"What are you talking about the mayor lives there?" Neve said honestly.
"Oh boy..." Sun said, under her breath.
"Wait you guys didn't know that no one lives in city hall?" Sai asked.
"Well I mean I just never thought about it," Peanuts said.
"Do you think about anything else?" Skeptic asked.
There was a blank space in the conversation.
"Insert your comeback there," Smudge prompted.
"Grrr!! I can't!!!" Peanuts exclaimed.
"Irk!" K'ton Ton said loudly.
"What's wrong?" Laconic asked.
"You see this? People need to hang their towels up when they're finished with them, Sun!" Ton said loudly.
"That's what I tell her," Sai muttered.
In the other part of the room Dixie, Laconic, Gigglebug, Li, and Harvey were conversing about shoes and ships and sealing wax and the other marvels of why, as Dixie put it, Lewis Carrol really was one of the greater poets."Dixie Kracinsky, Dixie Kracinsky," Laconic, chanted just to annoy her friend.
Dixie promptly ignored Laconic. "You see Jabberwocky for instance---"
"Jibber what?" Giggles asked whizzing bye.
"Jibberish," Skeptic filled in.
"Who's speaking jibberish?" Neve asked.
"Just because I can't make a comeback doesn't mean I speak jibberish!" Peanuts exclaimed.
"What's going on?" Sai asked.
"The process of rumor evolution in play," Sun said, simply.
"Girls!" They could hear Smudge's mother call.
"We'll be down in a second," Smudge yelled.
"I need a drink of wuter, first," Gigglebug said.
"Wuter, what's wuter?" Giggles asked giggling.
"Don't you mean wa-ter?" Li asked.
"Wuter for Philadelphians," Sai said.
"Watah for New Yorkians," Sun said, throwing Li (the former New Yorker) a look. "Vater for our foreign friends," Sun continued." Water," she said with a southern drawl," for Dixie Kracinsky over here."
"And water for all of us normal people," Sai said, laughing.
"Girls! The papers are waiting," Smudge's mother called again.
The girls filed out of the bunk room to begin their day at work.
The City of Brotherly Love is Now Accepting Brothers
"Hey Ton is something wrong?" Sai asked her friend, concerned.
"Not really."
"So not really would mean that there is something a little bit wrong, right?"
"A little bit."
"Would you like to talk about it?"
"Not right now, kay?" Sai turned away and went back to selling papers. K'Ton Ton had just joined the newsies and no one knew anything about her past, so it was a little hard to guess what was going on with her. Sai shrugged and then sighed. They would all just have to wait for Ton to tell them.
Meanwhile in another part of the city...
"EXTRA! EXTRA! GIANT SEA MONSTER IN SCHUKHILL RIVER!!!" Sun yelled.
"What?!" Smudge exclaimed. "Whose gonna believe that?" Sun smirked as a couple of people ran up to buy papers. Smudge rolled her eyes. "Okay I think the city has hit its all time low."
"Not really," Sun said. "Considering..."
"Considering what?"
"That you live in it," Sun said, bolting away across the marketplace. Smudge ran after her, hot on her heels. And the passerby and peddlers shook their heads and consoled themselves about how much worse it would be with boy newsies.
"Hey Dix, how's it rollin?" Sun said, sitting down beside her friend on a bench in Fairmount Park, slightly out of breath.
"Rolling smooth Sun, rolling smooth," Dixie responded.
"A little out of breath?" Gigglebug, who having the benefit of arriving early, was comfortably situated munching on her roll.
"Just a little," Sun said, as another out of breath Smudge joined her on the bench.
"Philadelphia is going to hate newsies by the time we're finished here," Smudge said.
"Nonsense they love us," Dixie said. "If we left they wouldn't have anybody to bother them anymore."
"And everybody loves being bothering by newsies running through their market and upsetting everything in their path," Smudge said, sarcastically.
Sun shrugged and bit into her sandwich. In moments the four girls were join by the rest of their newsie group. Sai sat down next to Sun.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Sai said.
"Sure, let's take a walk." Sun and Sai got up and wandered over to a shady tree.
"Something's up with Ton," Sai said. Sun looked across to where she could see the rest of the newsies gathered.
"Hmmmmmm," she said, meditatively.
"Are you listening to me?"
"Yes! You said you thought something was wrong with Ton."
"Right, so what should we do?"
"I don't know."
"You're so helpful."
"Your welcome."
"Seriously, Sun."
"Let's talk to Peanut and Neve. They've known her for longer than we have and maybe Peanut or someone can talk to her."
"Sure, remind me tonight."
"Okay," Sun said, heading back to where the other newsies were.
"Sun, Sai," Li said, as soon as they had sat down," don't you think we should be called newsettes and not newsies."
"Why on earth would we want to do that?" Sun asked.
"So people know we're girls," Li said.
"No, but newsettes is such a girly name," Harvey said.
Smudge rolled her eyes. "Why don't you institute it?" Sai said. "I think it's a good idea."
"Why do we always have such weird conversations?" Gigglebug asked.
"We all come from dysfunctional families," Sun said.
"We don't come from families," Skeptic said. "Except Smudge."
"We do come from a dysfunctional family," Dixie said, under her breath," it's one of all girls."
"And when you consider who the girls are it's no wonder we're all nutcases," Neve said, smirking.
"You just dissed yourself," Skeptic said.
"Yeah, but it was worth it just to diss you," Neve said, jokingly.
"Heh, heh, you're funny... funny looking."
"And you're pretty... pretty ugly."
"Americans are so weird," Baasa said.
"Awww... you wouldn't love us if we weren't so quirky," Gigglebug said.
"Ow!" The newsies heads snapped in the direction of Shisha, who was brushing Mendak's knotty hair.
"Why are you brushing your hair at lunchtime?" Giggles asked.
"Because it's all knotty," Mendak said.
Sun rolled her eyes. Pretty soon the group broke up with Sun and Sai headed in the direction of city hall. They had arranged for Peanuts and Smudge to go with K'Ton Ton and figure out what was up.
"So anything doing lately?" Peanuts asked.
"Same old, same old," Smudge said.
"Actually," Ton started," you remember my brother Walter?" Peanuts nodded. "Well he's back," Ton said.
"Is that good or bad?" Smudge asked.
"It's neither. Only he needs a place to stay and I was wondering if he payed for his board then maybe..."
"Maybe mother and father can clean out that little room and he can stay there," Smudge filled in the sentence.
"Do you think so?" Ton asked, hopefully.
"I don't see why not." Peanuts breathed a sigh of relief. If only all problems were that easy to solve.
Author's note: Okay guys this is still dedicated to all you former classmates, but the similarities have stopped, kay? Do not, I repeat, do NOT take anything literally. Thanx. Enjoy the story...
Enter Walter and Isaac
"This is my brother Walter," Ton gestured to a tall boy. He looked very much like his younger sister with brown hair and hazel eyes. He was slightly unkept which was to be expected from some one living on the streets the past couple of days and his hands looked as though they were smudged with dirt from his work in the coal mines. He had obviously scrubbed his face to get all the black off of it and Ton wondered with slight dread and apprehension if the dirt on his hands was going to be a permanent reminder of his coal work.
"Hi Walter! I'm Shisha." She was the first to come forward. The others despite their relaxation in front of each other were slightly uneasy with a newcomer. "This is Smudge, her parents own this place," Shisha began introducing the newsies. "And this is Lion or Li as we like to call her. Over there with her nose just dived into a book is Sun and right next to her is Sai. Mendak and Laconic are over there in the corner. This is Harvey," Shisha gestured towards the redhead standing next to her. "Skeptic and Giggles are over there and that's Dixie and that's Gigglebug."
"And you already know Neve and Peanuts," Ton, finished for Shisha.
Walter nodded solemly. After a few whisphers with Sun, Sai got up and crossed the room. "We're all going to a concert in the park. Do you want to come with us?"
Walter smiled. "Ummmm sorry," he said. "I really can't."
"C'mon it's Bach, you can't resist Bach," Sun said, smiling.
"I can't. I can't be tired out for work tommorrow."
The newsies nodded understandingly. It was tough working in the coal mines. All of your strength was needed and maybe Walter didn't have any to spare for going to a concert.
"I'll show you your room," Smudge offered, and she, Ton and Walter went downstairs.
"If he works in the coal mines we really won't be seeing much of him," Gigglebug said, after they left.
"I wonder why he doesn't want to be a newsie?" Shisha pondered aloud.
"He can't," Skeptic said," Philadelphia is a girl newsie town."
"Newsettes, newsettes!" Li said.
Sun sighed and leaned back. It was nice sitting up on the lodging house roof. The sky was amazing and she felt like she hadn't a care in the world. Well almost, there was that nasty little fight that they'd gotten into. She still didn't know quite what started it. She smirked at the thought of Smudge's mother's expression when she, Sai, Smudge, and Harvey had come in.
"You shoulda seen the other guy," Harvey had said.
She smiled again. The lights in all the houses were so peaceful. Tommorrow they would all go to work, but for tonight everyone was united in blissful rest.
"Sun?" It was Ton. Sun turned around smiling.
"Hey Ton, what's up?"
"Well you weren't inside and my brother wanted you to meet his friend."
Two more figures came up on the roof. Sun smiled. She prefferred meeting people under the cover of darkness. That way neither her first impression or their's was based on looks.
"Hey Sun," Walter greeted her. "This is Isaac."
Sun gave a little wave and said," hi guys." Even in the darkness she could see the white flash of Isaac's smile. "So do you work in the coal mines with Walter?" Sun asked.
"Yes," Isaac said. "Actually that's what I came to talk to you about."
Coal mines? Faint perplexion registered in Sun's mind.
"Can we talk?" Isaac asked. "I have sort of a business proposition."
"Yeah sure," Sun said. "Let's all go inside though. This night air is numbing my brain."
She saw another flash of white, which she assumed meant he was smiling.
Enter A Problem
Sun sighed and let the warmth of the loding house engulf her. She shivered slightly from the sudden change of tempature. She let her eyes run over the new boy. He had light brown hair and dark eyes. He towered over her and Sun was sure he was atleast seventeen, a year older than her.
Ton and Walter made brother and sister talk for awhile, while Sun eyed the newcomer. Then as she realized that he was giving her the same perusal, her face grew slightly red. She thought about how he must have been seeing her messy hair, whose curls she was sure were even more out of place than usual. Her face was always an unusual color of red from the windburn or sunburn that she always seemed to be getting and she was absolutely positive that her cheap and well worn newsie garments made her look like a ten year old. She didn't even want to think about what that bruise on her cheek looked like. Unconsciously she hid her hands behind her back, aware of that fact that they were perhaps her ugliest feature.
Isaac coughed lightly and brought Sun's attention back. She suddenly remembered that Isaac worked in the coal mines and probably had Black Lung Disease.
"So anyways we'll leave you two to talk over business now." Sun caught the tail end of Walter's conversation. In a minute he and Ton were gone.
Isaac walked over to the window and Sun noticed how his shoulders were slightly stooped as if they were permanently hunched from being that way for such a long time. She was reminded of her own ache in her shoulders from her previous fist fight. She smiled unconsciously and was suprised to find Isaac smiling back. Then he turned serious.
"Have you ever been to the coal mines, Sun?"
"No." And I hope never to, she added in her mind.
As if reading her thoughts Isaac said," it's a terrible place to have to work."
"Hmmmmm."
"I mean it's too bad that so many children have to work there to make a living." He waited for a response, but was rewarded with none. "I've been working there since I was ten," he said, following with a short cough. Sun looked up sharply. A ten year old in that horrible place?
"Do you get that cough from the coal dust?" Sun asked, abruptly. Isaac looked surprised. "I'm sorry, keep going."
"Yeah, I get it from the coal dust. It's called Black Lung Disease," Isaac said. "All miners get it and a lot of them die early because of it. That's what I came to talk to you about. Like I said I've been working in the mines since I was ten and it's never occured to me to do anything about what goes on down there. But I'm just," Isaac paused. Sun thought he was going to start crying. "I just can't take this anymore. I don't want to see little kids working, sorting coal and dying young from caveins and stuff when they should be in school learning," Isaac said. "Just today there was a little kid who died......" His voice trailed off and he bit his lip and closed his eyes. Then he opened them. "I'm not putting up with it anymore. I heard about some newsboys in New York who went on strike, because the price of their paper was raised, and they won the strike."
"Isaac the price of a paper is a lot different than emptying all the mines of children."
"But if we get everyone, all the kids in the city to help than we can do it."
"We?"
"That's what I wanted to ask. Will you help? Will the newsies strike with us?"
"I can't make a descision for everyone."
"No, but you can make it for yourself and they listen to you. If you go along with it. They'll come to."
"Listen Isaac, I'd really like to help, but I can't." His face fell. "The newsies don't have a reason to protest. We're not being treated unfairly. If we weren't here we would be on the street. This job is the best thing that's ever happened to us, ever happened to me. I'm sorry I can't join."
"But don't you see, you are being mistreated a city should not use kids to run it. Every child deserves a childhood and every child that works in the coal mines, or the factories or even as a newsie," Sun shook her head," is being deprived of theirs." She disliked being called a child it rubbed her the wrong way. Isaac could see his argument wasn't moving her. So he tried a different tact. "Have you ever seen the hand of someone who wasn't a person who worked in physically grueling labor?"
"Huh?"
"It's all white with no cuts or scrapes, perfect." Isaac held up his hand. It was black from dirt and coal dust. There were tiny nicks and scratches all over it, several over them were even still open and probably infected. He reached for her hand and brought it out. "Is your hand all white?" he asked. Sun looked down at it. It was red and covered in sores from the cold. Around several of the knuckles and joints there were hard lumps from times when she had broken her fingers and they had never fully healed. She pulled her hand away.
"I'm sorry, Isaac. I just can't. I have to think about the future of all the newsies. What happens if we go on strike? We'll be turned out onto the streets and never let back in. I can't."
"But don't you see this is thinking about the future. What kind of future is one where an entire world is supported on child labor?"
"I can't." Sun ran up to the bunk room. She was so afraid that tears would start coming before she could hit the pillow. She didn't even know Isaac and she only knew two people who worked in the coal mines. But their plight had touched her and she couldn't help feeling bad that there was no way to help them.
Sun was agitated. Anyone could tell it. She was trying to absorb herself in her book, but she couldn't. She felt, rather that knew, the distinct pressure of Ton's eyes watching her and her sores itched intolerably. She reached down and rubbed her knuckle against the wood of the bunk bed. Ow! Sun looked at her hand. One of the raw sores had opened and was bleeding. She got down quickly and went to a sink to wash the blood off.
She let the water run and just stuck her hand in it. The water turned a pinkish color and her hand began to get numb. Suddenly she began crying. Sobs racked her shoulders and she couldn't stop. She turned the water up higher so the others couldn't hear her. She needed to get out of the loding house fast. She'd go for a walk. Quickly she dried her eyes and her hand and went down the steps.
Her feet shuffled and she watched them curiously as they tripped down the stairs. When she got to the platform she looked up. There was an amused Isaac watching her. The door to Walter's room was open as if he was about to go in. From the light that emanated from Walter's room, Sun could see Isaac's face. It was black. He wasn't smiling either. To Sun he looked almost as if he were the grim reaper making his rounds.
The sensible thing would have been to make a little conversation with him and then go on her walk. The next best thing would have been to wave goodbye and then go on her walk. A little rude, but still a valid option, would be to just go out on her walk, without saying anything. But did Sun do this? No. She did the immature and childish thing. She turned and ran back up the stairs. She ran into the bunkroom and threw herself on her bed, much to the shock of the other newsies.
With her face buried in her pillow, she waited for the tears to come. They didn't and wouldn't. Then she sat up and smoothed back her hair.
"Guys," she said, adressing the bunkroom. "What do you think of the coal mines?"
Five minutes later she was back downstairs and ready to see Isaac. Walter's door was closed. Softly she knocked on it.
"Come in," she heard Walter call.
Cautiously she pushed the door open. Walter was sitting on his bed and Isaac was at the other end of the room, hunched over a wash stand, towel in hand. He straghitened when he saw Sun in the mirror. He turned to meet her and Sun could see that she interupted him in the middle of his washing. Half of his face was still black.
"I've come to tell you that I talked it over with the other girls and we've decided to join you when you strike," Sun said. Isaac nodded.
"Good," he said. There was nothing else. Sun stood another moment, shifting her weight, waiting for Isaac to say something, hoping he would so she could. He didn't, though. So, she turned and left.
Enter A Solution
Isaac watched Sun move through the strikers. They had been going for a week now, the coal workers, the newsies and some factory children. He never tired of watching her. She would move through the lines, or ranks as she like to call them, and say a word or two to each individual, even those she had only just met or didn't know yet. Then she would finally reach her newsies and a smile would play slightly across her lips as she whisphered a joke to someone and that would be followed by a burst of laughter. Sometimes she didn't joke, she just sat down solemly. That's when they would come to her and ask what was up. She would tell them everything that was going as they crowded around her and others who weren't even newsie would come to hear her speak. Sometimes Isaac joined the crowd. Even when she was tired and her shoulders sagged under the weight of responsibility her voice carried this strain of stubborness, letting the world know she wasn't cracking.
Sometimes he asked her what made her so tough. She laughed and said this wasn't the hard part. That would come when they tried to negotiate. Isaac had smiled and tried to avoid looking straight into Sun's eyes. They were a mixture of emotion and the painful bags under them only highlighted the color. Isaac thought she could have almost been a saint from one of Vermeer's painting with the way the light played off her face.
One day the big test came. Isaac thought it would never happen. He had certainly been waiting long enough. He and Walter were brought into the mayor's office. Yeah, the mayor had finally gotten involved. They began to speak. Gradually the volume of their voices grew louder and louder and then Isaac realized he was loosing. He was going to loose.
"Mister Mayor?" he suddenly said. His voice had returned to normal level. "Can I bring in a third person."
"A leader?" the mayor asked. These kids were tough, but he knew he could crack them. Another coal miner wouldn't scare him. They were big burly guys, but that didn't frighten him, after all he was the mayor of Philadelphia. That's why he was suprised to see them bring in a tall girl. She was unkept and disheveled and looked like she had just pulled an all- nighter, but really she had just pulled a week of all nighters. "Who are you?" the mayor asked gruffly, surprised at this change in events.
The girl shifted on her feet and seemed uncomfortable. "I'm a newsie, sir."
"What's your name?" his voice didn't change.
"Sun."
"That's not your real name. What name did your parents call you?"
"Sir, I don't have any parents and that's as real a name as I'll ever want."
"Who raised you?"
"The city raised me."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"But it did. It taught me everything I know and not just Philadelphia all the cities across America."
"Did it teach you how to strike?"
"No, but it taught me fight for my rights."
The mayor glanced over the girl. She stood tall, proud and defiant. He could remember a a time when he was like that. "What rights are you fighting for?"
"The right to a childhood, the right to be treated as an equal, the right of an education."
The mayor stood up. "You know your numbers are dwindling. In a couple more weeks there won't be any of you left." Sun looked back to Isaac and Walter and they gave defeated nods. "I'll make you a deal. I will open an education center in City Hall. It will be opened at night and that will give you all your right to an education."
Isaac sighed. It wasn't what he wanted. But people were leaving and it was all he'd ever get. "We'll take it," he said.
Sun sighed. She found she had been doing that a lot, since the strike started. She frowned and pursed her lip and now the strike was over. Looking over at Isaac she carefully examined him to see how her was doing. His shoulder were bent, Sun noted. Then again his shoulders were always bent she told herself.
Was that a sigh she just saw? Sun shook her head. She hardly knew Isaac and he certainly wasn't sending out signals that he wanted to get to know her, an immature sixteen year old. Sun thought ruefully of the night in Walter's room when she had told Isaac she was joining the strike. Then, she shook her head again. It was no good to do this.
From across the room she was being watched by Sai. Sai looked at her friend. It was no secret that the strike had take it's toll on Sun. There were bags under her eyes and she always seemed to walk with a shuffle. But they didn't see what Sai saw. That it was something more. Sai followed Sun's gaze across the room to Isaac. She might have guessed it. She sighed. Now they were both in trouble, Isaac and Sun, and it was going to take a major miracle to pull them out of their pits. But then again Sai had a little experience with miracles.
She sauntered casually over to Sun. "It's amazing," Sai said, breaking into Sun's thoughts.
"What?" Sun asked. The hollows under her eyes were particuarly evident in the strong light and Sai could see that she hadn't been eating enough either. She made mental notes to press that.
"The human spirit," Sai said. "It shows up in the strangest places..."
"At the darkest hours," Gigglebug said.
"Like a tiny glimmer of light," Ton said.
"Inside every soul," Walter finished.
"You guys are so corny," Sun said. That produced a laugh, but Isaac's face remained unchanged.
"Seriously," Sai said. Sun sighed, again, and Isaac escaped to the roof. Then Sai turned specifically to Sun and lowered her voice. "Conquer the world piece by piece," Sai said," and the puzzle will fit. Try to do it all at once and you will fail."
"Huh?"
"Your second piece just went up on the roof," Sai said. Sun grinned and followed Isaac.
"Isaac?" He turned around. It was Sun. She stood with her back towards the sunset and Isaac paused to consider how like her name she was. Then, he turned back to his view of the street. Sun drew in her breath. She walked to Isaac's side. Who's roof was this anyways?
"I," she started and then stopped. She really had nothing to say. Nothing was prepared in her mind. Isaac looked up towards the darkening sky and then down at his shoe. He kicked the building. "Watch it that's my house," she said.
Isaac finally smiled and then turned serious again. "I thought we would win," he said.
"We did win." Sun put her arm on his shoulder.
"Not like I wanted to," Isaac said.
"Rome wasn't built in a day." Isaac looked at her. "It's the first piece," she continued," you've given them a way to get an education and now they have a voice."
"Yeah one that won't be listened too."
"It will be and it was," Sun said, forcefully.
"What's my second piece?"
"I don't know."
Suddenly Isaac seemed to let out his breath that he had been holding for days possibly weeks. "You know who I thought I was going to see when I came to meet you?"
"Ummm.. not really."
"A ten year old."
"Oh gee," Sun said, wondering if he still thought that about her. Then she got her answer. Very slowly he leaned down closing the gap that was between them and leaned his head on Sun's shoulder. She reached up and encircled him with her arms. She thought she could really get used to having that weight there.
Suddenly he coughed and Sun could feel the violence of it rack his body and then her mind flew back to the present. "Isaac," she said. "I think I know what my second piece is."
"Hmmm," Isaac said.
"I may not be able to affect all the coal miners, but I can help two. You and Walter are not going to go back to the mines."
Isaac lifted his head up and examined her as if checking for her sanity. "How are you going to do that?" he asked her, smiling.
"You are going to become newsies."
"I thought that Philadelphia was an all girl town."
"I think they're ready for some boys."
Isaac smiled and Sun smiled back. Then he leaned in to kiss her and she inclined her head, but something stopped him and he pulled away from her.
"Well I have to say... thanks for the help," he said. She faked a small smile and then he went down the steps into the lodging house and left Sun on the roof, alone.
Author's Note: Alright Buddy, If you'd like to hear more I'm gonna want some feedback, buster!
(no seriously, pretty please with a cherry on top)
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Wiesel
Author's note: Just to give you guys an edge, since this is an entirely new cast of characters, I've included a list of my newsies and thing you might need to know. Oh speaking of which, the first thing you need to know is that all the Philadelphia newsies are girls...
My Philadelphia Newsies
Smudge- The Russian whose family has come to America looking for a better life. They run the lodging house.
Sai- The responsible one, who tends to look out for all the other newsies.
Sun- Sai's best friend and irresponsible counterpart. The tounge-in-cheek, smart addition to any situation.
Shisha- A hyper individual, who always promises to add spice and fun to a situation.
Baasa- The mischievous cousin of Smudge, also from Russia, and constantly complaining about not knowing English
Neve- The loud, but cute, street smart, but not so smart, Philadelphia native.
Peanut- The slightly clueless, but loveable one.
Gigglebug- Another Philadelphia native, not to be confused with giggles, a fiery orator who believes in what she says and says what she believes.
Skeptic- The sarcastic one, who is always ready with a comeback.
Giggles- Skeptic's sidekick, and the name says the rest.
Lion or Li for short- Smudge's sidekick, a second generation immigrant who has replicated the Russian life on American soil, more recently from New York.
Harvey- A girl, who is a tomboy, always ready for a fist fight.
K'ton Ton- A girl who believes in the beauty of her dreams and won't stop until she speaks up for them.
Laconic- The quiet one who no one ever listens to, but frequently has the answers.
Dixie Kracinsky- The south obsessed anti social one.
Mendak- The appearance obsessed one.
Chapter One: A New Day A New Dream
Thump! "Ow!" Sun said half- heartedly. Sun never said things whole- heartedly in the morning.
"If you didn't insist on rolling out of the top bunk and you just climbed down like a normal person then you wouldn't get hurt," a reproachful Sai said.
"I try not to think that much in the morning," Sun said, going off to wash her face.
"See that," Shisha said, pointing out the window, where the girls had a marvelous view of city hall.
"Yeah that's city hall," Baasa said.
"Wow, you memorized a landmark. Of course we only see it everyday, but I guess for people who "can't" speak English it's hard to memorize English landmarks," Skeptic said, in her characteristic manner.
"I'm gonna live there one day," Shisha said.
"Don't be ridiculous people don't live there," Sun muttered, her towel up against her face.
"I'm going to."
"Wait people don't live there?" Peanuts asked.
"What are you talking about the mayor lives there?" Neve said honestly.
"Oh boy..." Sun said, under her breath.
"Wait you guys didn't know that no one lives in city hall?" Sai asked.
"Well I mean I just never thought about it," Peanuts said.
"Do you think about anything else?" Skeptic asked.
There was a blank space in the conversation.
"Insert your comeback there," Smudge prompted.
"Grrr!! I can't!!!" Peanuts exclaimed.
"Irk!" K'ton Ton said loudly.
"What's wrong?" Laconic asked.
"You see this? People need to hang their towels up when they're finished with them, Sun!" Ton said loudly.
"That's what I tell her," Sai muttered.
In the other part of the room Dixie, Laconic, Gigglebug, Li, and Harvey were conversing about shoes and ships and sealing wax and the other marvels of why, as Dixie put it, Lewis Carrol really was one of the greater poets."Dixie Kracinsky, Dixie Kracinsky," Laconic, chanted just to annoy her friend.
Dixie promptly ignored Laconic. "You see Jabberwocky for instance---"
"Jibber what?" Giggles asked whizzing bye.
"Jibberish," Skeptic filled in.
"Who's speaking jibberish?" Neve asked.
"Just because I can't make a comeback doesn't mean I speak jibberish!" Peanuts exclaimed.
"What's going on?" Sai asked.
"The process of rumor evolution in play," Sun said, simply.
"Girls!" They could hear Smudge's mother call.
"We'll be down in a second," Smudge yelled.
"I need a drink of wuter, first," Gigglebug said.
"Wuter, what's wuter?" Giggles asked giggling.
"Don't you mean wa-ter?" Li asked.
"Wuter for Philadelphians," Sai said.
"Watah for New Yorkians," Sun said, throwing Li (the former New Yorker) a look. "Vater for our foreign friends," Sun continued." Water," she said with a southern drawl," for Dixie Kracinsky over here."
"And water for all of us normal people," Sai said, laughing.
"Girls! The papers are waiting," Smudge's mother called again.
The girls filed out of the bunk room to begin their day at work.
The City of Brotherly Love is Now Accepting Brothers
"Hey Ton is something wrong?" Sai asked her friend, concerned.
"Not really."
"So not really would mean that there is something a little bit wrong, right?"
"A little bit."
"Would you like to talk about it?"
"Not right now, kay?" Sai turned away and went back to selling papers. K'Ton Ton had just joined the newsies and no one knew anything about her past, so it was a little hard to guess what was going on with her. Sai shrugged and then sighed. They would all just have to wait for Ton to tell them.
Meanwhile in another part of the city...
"EXTRA! EXTRA! GIANT SEA MONSTER IN SCHUKHILL RIVER!!!" Sun yelled.
"What?!" Smudge exclaimed. "Whose gonna believe that?" Sun smirked as a couple of people ran up to buy papers. Smudge rolled her eyes. "Okay I think the city has hit its all time low."
"Not really," Sun said. "Considering..."
"Considering what?"
"That you live in it," Sun said, bolting away across the marketplace. Smudge ran after her, hot on her heels. And the passerby and peddlers shook their heads and consoled themselves about how much worse it would be with boy newsies.
"Hey Dix, how's it rollin?" Sun said, sitting down beside her friend on a bench in Fairmount Park, slightly out of breath.
"Rolling smooth Sun, rolling smooth," Dixie responded.
"A little out of breath?" Gigglebug, who having the benefit of arriving early, was comfortably situated munching on her roll.
"Just a little," Sun said, as another out of breath Smudge joined her on the bench.
"Philadelphia is going to hate newsies by the time we're finished here," Smudge said.
"Nonsense they love us," Dixie said. "If we left they wouldn't have anybody to bother them anymore."
"And everybody loves being bothering by newsies running through their market and upsetting everything in their path," Smudge said, sarcastically.
Sun shrugged and bit into her sandwich. In moments the four girls were join by the rest of their newsie group. Sai sat down next to Sun.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Sai said.
"Sure, let's take a walk." Sun and Sai got up and wandered over to a shady tree.
"Something's up with Ton," Sai said. Sun looked across to where she could see the rest of the newsies gathered.
"Hmmmmmm," she said, meditatively.
"Are you listening to me?"
"Yes! You said you thought something was wrong with Ton."
"Right, so what should we do?"
"I don't know."
"You're so helpful."
"Your welcome."
"Seriously, Sun."
"Let's talk to Peanut and Neve. They've known her for longer than we have and maybe Peanut or someone can talk to her."
"Sure, remind me tonight."
"Okay," Sun said, heading back to where the other newsies were.
"Sun, Sai," Li said, as soon as they had sat down," don't you think we should be called newsettes and not newsies."
"Why on earth would we want to do that?" Sun asked.
"So people know we're girls," Li said.
"No, but newsettes is such a girly name," Harvey said.
Smudge rolled her eyes. "Why don't you institute it?" Sai said. "I think it's a good idea."
"Why do we always have such weird conversations?" Gigglebug asked.
"We all come from dysfunctional families," Sun said.
"We don't come from families," Skeptic said. "Except Smudge."
"We do come from a dysfunctional family," Dixie said, under her breath," it's one of all girls."
"And when you consider who the girls are it's no wonder we're all nutcases," Neve said, smirking.
"You just dissed yourself," Skeptic said.
"Yeah, but it was worth it just to diss you," Neve said, jokingly.
"Heh, heh, you're funny... funny looking."
"And you're pretty... pretty ugly."
"Americans are so weird," Baasa said.
"Awww... you wouldn't love us if we weren't so quirky," Gigglebug said.
"Ow!" The newsies heads snapped in the direction of Shisha, who was brushing Mendak's knotty hair.
"Why are you brushing your hair at lunchtime?" Giggles asked.
"Because it's all knotty," Mendak said.
Sun rolled her eyes. Pretty soon the group broke up with Sun and Sai headed in the direction of city hall. They had arranged for Peanuts and Smudge to go with K'Ton Ton and figure out what was up.
"So anything doing lately?" Peanuts asked.
"Same old, same old," Smudge said.
"Actually," Ton started," you remember my brother Walter?" Peanuts nodded. "Well he's back," Ton said.
"Is that good or bad?" Smudge asked.
"It's neither. Only he needs a place to stay and I was wondering if he payed for his board then maybe..."
"Maybe mother and father can clean out that little room and he can stay there," Smudge filled in the sentence.
"Do you think so?" Ton asked, hopefully.
"I don't see why not." Peanuts breathed a sigh of relief. If only all problems were that easy to solve.
Author's note: Okay guys this is still dedicated to all you former classmates, but the similarities have stopped, kay? Do not, I repeat, do NOT take anything literally. Thanx. Enjoy the story...
Enter Walter and Isaac
"This is my brother Walter," Ton gestured to a tall boy. He looked very much like his younger sister with brown hair and hazel eyes. He was slightly unkept which was to be expected from some one living on the streets the past couple of days and his hands looked as though they were smudged with dirt from his work in the coal mines. He had obviously scrubbed his face to get all the black off of it and Ton wondered with slight dread and apprehension if the dirt on his hands was going to be a permanent reminder of his coal work.
"Hi Walter! I'm Shisha." She was the first to come forward. The others despite their relaxation in front of each other were slightly uneasy with a newcomer. "This is Smudge, her parents own this place," Shisha began introducing the newsies. "And this is Lion or Li as we like to call her. Over there with her nose just dived into a book is Sun and right next to her is Sai. Mendak and Laconic are over there in the corner. This is Harvey," Shisha gestured towards the redhead standing next to her. "Skeptic and Giggles are over there and that's Dixie and that's Gigglebug."
"And you already know Neve and Peanuts," Ton, finished for Shisha.
Walter nodded solemly. After a few whisphers with Sun, Sai got up and crossed the room. "We're all going to a concert in the park. Do you want to come with us?"
Walter smiled. "Ummmm sorry," he said. "I really can't."
"C'mon it's Bach, you can't resist Bach," Sun said, smiling.
"I can't. I can't be tired out for work tommorrow."
The newsies nodded understandingly. It was tough working in the coal mines. All of your strength was needed and maybe Walter didn't have any to spare for going to a concert.
"I'll show you your room," Smudge offered, and she, Ton and Walter went downstairs.
"If he works in the coal mines we really won't be seeing much of him," Gigglebug said, after they left.
"I wonder why he doesn't want to be a newsie?" Shisha pondered aloud.
"He can't," Skeptic said," Philadelphia is a girl newsie town."
"Newsettes, newsettes!" Li said.
Sun sighed and leaned back. It was nice sitting up on the lodging house roof. The sky was amazing and she felt like she hadn't a care in the world. Well almost, there was that nasty little fight that they'd gotten into. She still didn't know quite what started it. She smirked at the thought of Smudge's mother's expression when she, Sai, Smudge, and Harvey had come in.
"You shoulda seen the other guy," Harvey had said.
She smiled again. The lights in all the houses were so peaceful. Tommorrow they would all go to work, but for tonight everyone was united in blissful rest.
"Sun?" It was Ton. Sun turned around smiling.
"Hey Ton, what's up?"
"Well you weren't inside and my brother wanted you to meet his friend."
Two more figures came up on the roof. Sun smiled. She prefferred meeting people under the cover of darkness. That way neither her first impression or their's was based on looks.
"Hey Sun," Walter greeted her. "This is Isaac."
Sun gave a little wave and said," hi guys." Even in the darkness she could see the white flash of Isaac's smile. "So do you work in the coal mines with Walter?" Sun asked.
"Yes," Isaac said. "Actually that's what I came to talk to you about."
Coal mines? Faint perplexion registered in Sun's mind.
"Can we talk?" Isaac asked. "I have sort of a business proposition."
"Yeah sure," Sun said. "Let's all go inside though. This night air is numbing my brain."
She saw another flash of white, which she assumed meant he was smiling.
Enter A Problem
Sun sighed and let the warmth of the loding house engulf her. She shivered slightly from the sudden change of tempature. She let her eyes run over the new boy. He had light brown hair and dark eyes. He towered over her and Sun was sure he was atleast seventeen, a year older than her.
Ton and Walter made brother and sister talk for awhile, while Sun eyed the newcomer. Then as she realized that he was giving her the same perusal, her face grew slightly red. She thought about how he must have been seeing her messy hair, whose curls she was sure were even more out of place than usual. Her face was always an unusual color of red from the windburn or sunburn that she always seemed to be getting and she was absolutely positive that her cheap and well worn newsie garments made her look like a ten year old. She didn't even want to think about what that bruise on her cheek looked like. Unconsciously she hid her hands behind her back, aware of that fact that they were perhaps her ugliest feature.
Isaac coughed lightly and brought Sun's attention back. She suddenly remembered that Isaac worked in the coal mines and probably had Black Lung Disease.
"So anyways we'll leave you two to talk over business now." Sun caught the tail end of Walter's conversation. In a minute he and Ton were gone.
Isaac walked over to the window and Sun noticed how his shoulders were slightly stooped as if they were permanently hunched from being that way for such a long time. She was reminded of her own ache in her shoulders from her previous fist fight. She smiled unconsciously and was suprised to find Isaac smiling back. Then he turned serious.
"Have you ever been to the coal mines, Sun?"
"No." And I hope never to, she added in her mind.
As if reading her thoughts Isaac said," it's a terrible place to have to work."
"Hmmmmm."
"I mean it's too bad that so many children have to work there to make a living." He waited for a response, but was rewarded with none. "I've been working there since I was ten," he said, following with a short cough. Sun looked up sharply. A ten year old in that horrible place?
"Do you get that cough from the coal dust?" Sun asked, abruptly. Isaac looked surprised. "I'm sorry, keep going."
"Yeah, I get it from the coal dust. It's called Black Lung Disease," Isaac said. "All miners get it and a lot of them die early because of it. That's what I came to talk to you about. Like I said I've been working in the mines since I was ten and it's never occured to me to do anything about what goes on down there. But I'm just," Isaac paused. Sun thought he was going to start crying. "I just can't take this anymore. I don't want to see little kids working, sorting coal and dying young from caveins and stuff when they should be in school learning," Isaac said. "Just today there was a little kid who died......" His voice trailed off and he bit his lip and closed his eyes. Then he opened them. "I'm not putting up with it anymore. I heard about some newsboys in New York who went on strike, because the price of their paper was raised, and they won the strike."
"Isaac the price of a paper is a lot different than emptying all the mines of children."
"But if we get everyone, all the kids in the city to help than we can do it."
"We?"
"That's what I wanted to ask. Will you help? Will the newsies strike with us?"
"I can't make a descision for everyone."
"No, but you can make it for yourself and they listen to you. If you go along with it. They'll come to."
"Listen Isaac, I'd really like to help, but I can't." His face fell. "The newsies don't have a reason to protest. We're not being treated unfairly. If we weren't here we would be on the street. This job is the best thing that's ever happened to us, ever happened to me. I'm sorry I can't join."
"But don't you see, you are being mistreated a city should not use kids to run it. Every child deserves a childhood and every child that works in the coal mines, or the factories or even as a newsie," Sun shook her head," is being deprived of theirs." She disliked being called a child it rubbed her the wrong way. Isaac could see his argument wasn't moving her. So he tried a different tact. "Have you ever seen the hand of someone who wasn't a person who worked in physically grueling labor?"
"Huh?"
"It's all white with no cuts or scrapes, perfect." Isaac held up his hand. It was black from dirt and coal dust. There were tiny nicks and scratches all over it, several over them were even still open and probably infected. He reached for her hand and brought it out. "Is your hand all white?" he asked. Sun looked down at it. It was red and covered in sores from the cold. Around several of the knuckles and joints there were hard lumps from times when she had broken her fingers and they had never fully healed. She pulled her hand away.
"I'm sorry, Isaac. I just can't. I have to think about the future of all the newsies. What happens if we go on strike? We'll be turned out onto the streets and never let back in. I can't."
"But don't you see this is thinking about the future. What kind of future is one where an entire world is supported on child labor?"
"I can't." Sun ran up to the bunk room. She was so afraid that tears would start coming before she could hit the pillow. She didn't even know Isaac and she only knew two people who worked in the coal mines. But their plight had touched her and she couldn't help feeling bad that there was no way to help them.
Sun was agitated. Anyone could tell it. She was trying to absorb herself in her book, but she couldn't. She felt, rather that knew, the distinct pressure of Ton's eyes watching her and her sores itched intolerably. She reached down and rubbed her knuckle against the wood of the bunk bed. Ow! Sun looked at her hand. One of the raw sores had opened and was bleeding. She got down quickly and went to a sink to wash the blood off.
She let the water run and just stuck her hand in it. The water turned a pinkish color and her hand began to get numb. Suddenly she began crying. Sobs racked her shoulders and she couldn't stop. She turned the water up higher so the others couldn't hear her. She needed to get out of the loding house fast. She'd go for a walk. Quickly she dried her eyes and her hand and went down the steps.
Her feet shuffled and she watched them curiously as they tripped down the stairs. When she got to the platform she looked up. There was an amused Isaac watching her. The door to Walter's room was open as if he was about to go in. From the light that emanated from Walter's room, Sun could see Isaac's face. It was black. He wasn't smiling either. To Sun he looked almost as if he were the grim reaper making his rounds.
The sensible thing would have been to make a little conversation with him and then go on her walk. The next best thing would have been to wave goodbye and then go on her walk. A little rude, but still a valid option, would be to just go out on her walk, without saying anything. But did Sun do this? No. She did the immature and childish thing. She turned and ran back up the stairs. She ran into the bunkroom and threw herself on her bed, much to the shock of the other newsies.
With her face buried in her pillow, she waited for the tears to come. They didn't and wouldn't. Then she sat up and smoothed back her hair.
"Guys," she said, adressing the bunkroom. "What do you think of the coal mines?"
Five minutes later she was back downstairs and ready to see Isaac. Walter's door was closed. Softly she knocked on it.
"Come in," she heard Walter call.
Cautiously she pushed the door open. Walter was sitting on his bed and Isaac was at the other end of the room, hunched over a wash stand, towel in hand. He straghitened when he saw Sun in the mirror. He turned to meet her and Sun could see that she interupted him in the middle of his washing. Half of his face was still black.
"I've come to tell you that I talked it over with the other girls and we've decided to join you when you strike," Sun said. Isaac nodded.
"Good," he said. There was nothing else. Sun stood another moment, shifting her weight, waiting for Isaac to say something, hoping he would so she could. He didn't, though. So, she turned and left.
Enter A Solution
Isaac watched Sun move through the strikers. They had been going for a week now, the coal workers, the newsies and some factory children. He never tired of watching her. She would move through the lines, or ranks as she like to call them, and say a word or two to each individual, even those she had only just met or didn't know yet. Then she would finally reach her newsies and a smile would play slightly across her lips as she whisphered a joke to someone and that would be followed by a burst of laughter. Sometimes she didn't joke, she just sat down solemly. That's when they would come to her and ask what was up. She would tell them everything that was going as they crowded around her and others who weren't even newsie would come to hear her speak. Sometimes Isaac joined the crowd. Even when she was tired and her shoulders sagged under the weight of responsibility her voice carried this strain of stubborness, letting the world know she wasn't cracking.
Sometimes he asked her what made her so tough. She laughed and said this wasn't the hard part. That would come when they tried to negotiate. Isaac had smiled and tried to avoid looking straight into Sun's eyes. They were a mixture of emotion and the painful bags under them only highlighted the color. Isaac thought she could have almost been a saint from one of Vermeer's painting with the way the light played off her face.
One day the big test came. Isaac thought it would never happen. He had certainly been waiting long enough. He and Walter were brought into the mayor's office. Yeah, the mayor had finally gotten involved. They began to speak. Gradually the volume of their voices grew louder and louder and then Isaac realized he was loosing. He was going to loose.
"Mister Mayor?" he suddenly said. His voice had returned to normal level. "Can I bring in a third person."
"A leader?" the mayor asked. These kids were tough, but he knew he could crack them. Another coal miner wouldn't scare him. They were big burly guys, but that didn't frighten him, after all he was the mayor of Philadelphia. That's why he was suprised to see them bring in a tall girl. She was unkept and disheveled and looked like she had just pulled an all- nighter, but really she had just pulled a week of all nighters. "Who are you?" the mayor asked gruffly, surprised at this change in events.
The girl shifted on her feet and seemed uncomfortable. "I'm a newsie, sir."
"What's your name?" his voice didn't change.
"Sun."
"That's not your real name. What name did your parents call you?"
"Sir, I don't have any parents and that's as real a name as I'll ever want."
"Who raised you?"
"The city raised me."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"But it did. It taught me everything I know and not just Philadelphia all the cities across America."
"Did it teach you how to strike?"
"No, but it taught me fight for my rights."
The mayor glanced over the girl. She stood tall, proud and defiant. He could remember a a time when he was like that. "What rights are you fighting for?"
"The right to a childhood, the right to be treated as an equal, the right of an education."
The mayor stood up. "You know your numbers are dwindling. In a couple more weeks there won't be any of you left." Sun looked back to Isaac and Walter and they gave defeated nods. "I'll make you a deal. I will open an education center in City Hall. It will be opened at night and that will give you all your right to an education."
Isaac sighed. It wasn't what he wanted. But people were leaving and it was all he'd ever get. "We'll take it," he said.
Sun sighed. She found she had been doing that a lot, since the strike started. She frowned and pursed her lip and now the strike was over. Looking over at Isaac she carefully examined him to see how her was doing. His shoulder were bent, Sun noted. Then again his shoulders were always bent she told herself.
Was that a sigh she just saw? Sun shook her head. She hardly knew Isaac and he certainly wasn't sending out signals that he wanted to get to know her, an immature sixteen year old. Sun thought ruefully of the night in Walter's room when she had told Isaac she was joining the strike. Then, she shook her head again. It was no good to do this.
From across the room she was being watched by Sai. Sai looked at her friend. It was no secret that the strike had take it's toll on Sun. There were bags under her eyes and she always seemed to walk with a shuffle. But they didn't see what Sai saw. That it was something more. Sai followed Sun's gaze across the room to Isaac. She might have guessed it. She sighed. Now they were both in trouble, Isaac and Sun, and it was going to take a major miracle to pull them out of their pits. But then again Sai had a little experience with miracles.
She sauntered casually over to Sun. "It's amazing," Sai said, breaking into Sun's thoughts.
"What?" Sun asked. The hollows under her eyes were particuarly evident in the strong light and Sai could see that she hadn't been eating enough either. She made mental notes to press that.
"The human spirit," Sai said. "It shows up in the strangest places..."
"At the darkest hours," Gigglebug said.
"Like a tiny glimmer of light," Ton said.
"Inside every soul," Walter finished.
"You guys are so corny," Sun said. That produced a laugh, but Isaac's face remained unchanged.
"Seriously," Sai said. Sun sighed, again, and Isaac escaped to the roof. Then Sai turned specifically to Sun and lowered her voice. "Conquer the world piece by piece," Sai said," and the puzzle will fit. Try to do it all at once and you will fail."
"Huh?"
"Your second piece just went up on the roof," Sai said. Sun grinned and followed Isaac.
"Isaac?" He turned around. It was Sun. She stood with her back towards the sunset and Isaac paused to consider how like her name she was. Then, he turned back to his view of the street. Sun drew in her breath. She walked to Isaac's side. Who's roof was this anyways?
"I," she started and then stopped. She really had nothing to say. Nothing was prepared in her mind. Isaac looked up towards the darkening sky and then down at his shoe. He kicked the building. "Watch it that's my house," she said.
Isaac finally smiled and then turned serious again. "I thought we would win," he said.
"We did win." Sun put her arm on his shoulder.
"Not like I wanted to," Isaac said.
"Rome wasn't built in a day." Isaac looked at her. "It's the first piece," she continued," you've given them a way to get an education and now they have a voice."
"Yeah one that won't be listened too."
"It will be and it was," Sun said, forcefully.
"What's my second piece?"
"I don't know."
Suddenly Isaac seemed to let out his breath that he had been holding for days possibly weeks. "You know who I thought I was going to see when I came to meet you?"
"Ummm.. not really."
"A ten year old."
"Oh gee," Sun said, wondering if he still thought that about her. Then she got her answer. Very slowly he leaned down closing the gap that was between them and leaned his head on Sun's shoulder. She reached up and encircled him with her arms. She thought she could really get used to having that weight there.
Suddenly he coughed and Sun could feel the violence of it rack his body and then her mind flew back to the present. "Isaac," she said. "I think I know what my second piece is."
"Hmmm," Isaac said.
"I may not be able to affect all the coal miners, but I can help two. You and Walter are not going to go back to the mines."
Isaac lifted his head up and examined her as if checking for her sanity. "How are you going to do that?" he asked her, smiling.
"You are going to become newsies."
"I thought that Philadelphia was an all girl town."
"I think they're ready for some boys."
Isaac smiled and Sun smiled back. Then he leaned in to kiss her and she inclined her head, but something stopped him and he pulled away from her.
"Well I have to say... thanks for the help," he said. She faked a small smile and then he went down the steps into the lodging house and left Sun on the roof, alone.
Author's Note: Alright Buddy, If you'd like to hear more I'm gonna want some feedback, buster!
(no seriously, pretty please with a cherry on top)