In the faint sunlight coming in from the windows, Sarah lie undisturbed in her bed. Les crawled across the room on all fours. He felt like one of the soldiers who had charged up San Juan hill. He was on a mission, David as his captain. He reached his sister's bed and looked at her for a minute. She was talking in her sleep. He had noticed changes since her return a month ago: she looked sick from the moment she woke to the late afternoon, and bought twice as much at the market. Two bits worth of bread and other necessities. Les and David had talked about this last night, how they were going to make up headlines to keep the family going.

That was the mission, Les remembered. Just find it and get out. The tiniest bit of nerves came over him as he quietly laid down and fingered around under her bed. He quickly found an old hairbrush and one of Jack's bandanas. Forearms covered with dust, he silently went through her bedside table. There he found Jack's old Western Joe comic, the one he had shown to the boys when he first talked about Santa Fe. Les opened it and there he found it. A photograph dated two months ago, black-and-white. The moment captured was Sarah and Jack beside a horse with an Indian in the background. It was the kind of thing you could get for 50 cents at carnivals. They were both looking at each other with broad smiles and flushed faces. Les gasped as he turned to put it away. Sarah began to sit up.

He thought maybe she didn't see him. He stayed still long enough to see her roll over and go back to sleep, whispering a Western tune as she did so. Then he ran out to the fire escape, where David was waiting.

"You got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Les presented the photo to his brother, frowning. "I don't like digging through her stuff."

"Last time, I promise." David wasn't proud of it either. He didn't think asking her was a good idea. This was the only way, and he was too concerned to feel guilty.

"If we ask Jack, do you think he'll tell us?"

"No. It's his business."

"Her business too."

"It's different with her. She's our sister." David examined the photo, noting how they were looking at each other. He had seen Sarah look at the leader before, her eyes sweet and cheeks rosy from blushing too often. A thought came to his head and he instantly regretted it. "Maybe they had-"

He didn't get to finish that sentence Sarah had appeared on the escape too, holding her basket of doilies. Her face was gray from fatigue, but her smile was still sweet. She smiled as her brothers stammered awkwardly.

"Mornin'." She said brightly. "What are you boys reading?"

"Uh-" stuttered David, still holding the photograph and in awe of how sick she looked. "Sheepshead tallies."

"Oh."

There was a moment of silence as Les stepped forward. "You OK?"

"I'm fine." She kissed them both and started to go back inside. "Tell Racetrack I said good luck."

David knew something was the matter. He had a clue, but never did Sarah get up this early. Both he and Les stood silent as children began to walk the streets on the way to work.

"What now?" Les asked.

"I guess we should forget about this."

The two proceeded back inside, and then headed down to the streets. They knew they weren't going to forget about it, but they might as well leave it alone, until it was brought up again.

Back at the alleys between the loading docks and the lodging house, Jack Kelly hitched a ride to the World building. Along with him were two of his friends, young boys people called Mush and Crutchy. Once they were on the wagon, they got to talking about the past year. Mush still repeated everything, his voice significantly deeper. Crutchy noted to Jack about how the boys in the Refuge had nicked the copy of the Sun out of Snyder's back pocket. Almost every newsboy picked up that skill from the pickpocket people called Swifty.

"It was the best thing, they couldn't get over your picture – everyone was smilin' all around, even Ten-Pin…"

"Ain't that nice." Jack commented.

Mush laughed and patted his leader on the back. "Whaddya know, what's nicer: gettin' your picture in the papes or Sarah?"

"Sarah."

"You had a real nice time with her months ago, didn't you?"

Jack told them everything. Everything the Jacobs couldn't know. He went on for about four or five blocks before Mush interrupted,

"What was it like?"

"Better than the Meadowlark on a free night."

They jumped off the wagon at the gates and walked in. All the things he had just said, they never got old, Jack thought. And all the newsboys could tell what he was thinking about, for there was a huge grin on his face. Racetrack Higgins laughed and with open arms he went to Mush.

"Tell me I won. Did I win?"

Mush smiled and flipped him two bits. The boys had bet on the outcome of Jack's story.

"How was it?" Kid Blink asked, fixing his hat. "Everything in that old comic of yours was true?"

"It was all worth it." Jack lit a cigarette and taking his papers, he walked down the steps. "Worth every cent."

Nobody seemed to notice the two boys at the counter, eavesdropping on them. It was David and Les, still on that mission of theirs. It was Snipeshooter who pointed them out to Jack, who quieted all the others down. As they came through the crowd, they all pretended to adjust their caps so they wouldn't spill the secret. Kid Blink scrunched his nose up, Mush rubbing his forehead, and Racetrack puffed on his cigar.

"Everything all right here?" David asked, more to the air than to people. He stared at Jack, pulling Les away from greeting Blanket.

"Ain't nothing to worry about." Chorused the newsies. Jack stared back at his friend. This was his business, something to do with love. Yes, David had proved himself last year…but on this topic, he might as well still be a schoolboy.

"What's the matter?" David pushed on, his tone slightly sarcastic. "You look like you've seen a book."

Jack lunged forward, but Itey and Bumlets held him back.

David rolled his eyes and moved forward. Les was hesitant on following. It was almost as if he had to pick sides. But after all he was Jack's selling partner, and he stayed with him. After being patted on the back by Racetrack and Blanket, the boy turned to Jack, who bent down to him.

"Why are youse keeping secrets?"

"'Cause, kid, this is between Sarah and me. It's hard to explain, but you're gonna understand one of these days."

Les looked around at the newsboys surrounding him and Jack. "Them too?"

"Them too." He felt guilty for keeping Les out of it, for lying to a ten-year-old.

"You said we were family. You just disappeared. Me and David's real worried about Sarah."

Jack's stomach dropped. He was also wondering why Sarah was acting like that last night, and he hugged the little boy. "We just went away for a few weeks. But don't worry, Les. I was good to her."

It worried the newsboys to see Les upset like this. He looked like he could cry at any moment, but he kept a smile on. He and David were also brothers to the newsies. They knew if one of them got hurt, they all got hurt. They suspected it worked the same way in a real family as well.

But they couldn't say anything, for Jack had banned them from doing so. They carried on like normal, filling the streets of New York City with their voices, hawking the headlines for a penny a pape.