Forgot this before: Disclaimer: Don't own newsies, and kinda happy about it right now.
- - - - - - - -
"Blink?"
The one-eyed newsie blew cigarette smoke from his lips as he leaned on the fire-escape rail.
"Blink?"
"Talk." He took another drag from the cigarette hanging from his fingertips.
Mush sighed and went to lean on the rail next to his comrade. They stood there in silence for a while, sharing the cancer stick in the still of the smoke-laden night. Stars started to emerge overhead as the last rays of the sun left the horizon and the night chill began to creep around their ankles.
Mush took a drag and handed the joint back to Blink. "You ain't been sayin' much today, buddy."
Blink shrugged. "What's there to say?" He sucked on the cigarette as if his life depended on it. An expulsion of hacking started as soon as he took the joint out of his mouth.
Mush regarded the small tube of tobacco and declined. "Somethin' happen today?"
Blink took his time crushing the remains of the cigarette under his thin-soled boot.
"Is it 'cause of your sightin'?"
"Is it your business?" He turned to glare at his best friend.
Mush turned his back to the rail. "Spill, Blink." He glared right back.
"You ain't my head shrink."
"It's a field I'm considerin'."
Blink sighed and copied Mush's position. He haltingly began his tale. "Today…today I thought there was someone followin' me or somethin'. Then a newsie ran into me. I…I ran after him, but as I rounded the corner, no one was there. No evidence of any disturbance…'cept this."
He pulled the hat out of his back pocket. Mush took it from his hands and studied it as Blink continued his story.
"I picked it up and headed back the way I'd been goin'…to the Lodging House. But just as I was about to turn onto the next street…" he stuttered to a stop. Took a deep breath to steady his shaking hands. "There…there came a panic of people. I don't know why. All I knew was…If I hadn't turned around…I would've been trampled."
Mush glanced up. He pushed the hat back into Blink's hands. "Looks a lot like Red's." Before Blink could respond, he continued, "Funny thing happened today. Well, more like weird I guess.
"Ya see, I was walkin' along like usual. Delancys pounced me. Started beating the crud outta me. 'Course I fought back. Just as they were getting the better of me, this lanky kid, he bounces into this, joins in on my side. Soon Morris and Oscar were groaning on the side of the alley, and this kid disappears like that." He snapped his fingers.
Blink shook his head. "Not all that strange. A bit unusual."
They sat out there a few more minutes, soaking in the night air. Blink finally slapped Mush on the shoulder.
"Let's head to bed."
Mush nodded, and they ducked into the window.
- - - - - - - -
"Murderer loose in New York! Good mornin' sir! Care for a pape?"
It was a busy day. Blink had taken a hundred and already sold fifty to the flood of people going to work. He stood on the street corner, hollering with all his might.
"New York's children in danger! Extra! Extra!"
A middle-aged man came by, with a smile on his face and a dime in his hand. "Mornin', Blink! How's it going today?"
Blink grinned at the man. "Better'n usual, Doc Sherman. What can I do ya for?"
"One paper, if you please." They exchanged smiles as Blink handed the paper to the doctor. That smile disappeared as the newsie started coughing. As soon as Blink could cut it off, the doctor started talking.
"Blink…how long have you had that cough?"
Blink shrugged. "Few months."
"And I know you smoke."
He shrugged again. "Yeah, what of it?"
The doctor turned his worried eyes away. "Nothing. I'm a doctor, they pay me to tell you what's wrong. Then you pay me even more to cure you." They shared a short smile.
"Say hi to the missus, Doc. Have a nice day!"
Doc Sherman smiled and hurried away to his clinic. But the smile didn't satisfy his tumbling thoughts inside. Could be chronic bronchitis. The smokes don't help much with this. Might be tuberculosis. Well, it's not like I can do anything anyway. Those newsies…they die fast and young.
Street life can't be easy.
- - - - - - - -
Blink loosely grasped his few remaining papers in his sweating palm. He wiped a bead of moisture off his forehead as he strolled toward the Lodging House, not realizing how deliberate and cautious his gait was.
Honestly, right now, he didn't care about much anyway.
He'd been paranoid the last few days, thinking he saw Red everywhere. I'm really loosing it, he told himself, shaking his head. He took a deep breath. Okay. Go to sleep early tonight. You haven't been getting much of that lately. Food either. Maybe Kloppy has some in the back…No. Not food. Not hungry. Just sleep.
He stumbled up the steps to the door, dropped his papers inside the door, clanked six pennies on the front desk and meandered up the stairs. As soon as he cleared his bed, he was snoozing.
Kloppman took the coins, wrote Blink's name in the book, and started to prepare a sandwich. A little later, several of the boys came in, clinked their pennies on the counter, and signed in before spreading themselves around the small front room in their various activities.
As the proprietor of the establishment sat down to eat his sandwich, Jack burst through the door like he did every night. He dropped his payment onto the desk like every other newsie. As he signed his name, though, he paused a little before retreating from the pen. Jack waved a welcome to the other newsies and headed upstairs to the dorm room.
The old door creaked as Jack pushed it open. He entered quietly and quickly made his way to Blink's bed. He stood there over the skinny boy's sleeping form, contemplating.
Should I wake him? Nah. He hasn't got much sleep lately. I'll tell him tomorrow.
He watched a little longer at the blond newsie's slumber. Blink tossed and turned, still sleeping, so restless. When Blink's face was finally turned to Jack, he saw an expression of hell, honor, and hope. How it was all there…he didn't know.
- - - - - - - -
Blink woke slowly, unusual for him. His eyelids took the liberty of a few minutes between each blink to rest. As he yawned and stretched, he felt the pressure of someone else's eyes on him. He glanced up across the aisle to see Jack staring at him.
"Mornin' sleepyhead," Jack whispered.
"Hey, Jack. How's it been?" Blink grinned.
Jack's face turned serious as he turned on his stomach and rested his head on his crossed arms. "Strange things happenin', Blink."
As Blink's brow wrinkled in confusion, Jack continued. "Just yesterday, I was sellin' near a bar. Drunks are more likely to give up a penny or more to a poor lost soul than people sober. Anyway, I was watchin' this imminent fight across the street, when I thought I heard someone singin'. I turns my head to look, even takes a few steps to see better, an' what do you think I find?"
Jack paused, obviously waiting for an answer.
"Uhm…nothin'?"
Jack grinned. "Well, not quite. I looks and sees this dame, disappearin' into an alley. So I walks over there to make sure she's okay. Well, I go over and finds no one. So I head back. 'Bout five steps before I'm back to my original spot, a knife hits the wall where my head woulda been."
Blink's heart raced. Could it…?
"Uh…Jack?"
"Mm?"
"This dame…she look sorta like Red?"
Jack's brow wrinkled in thought. "Well…now that you mention it…yeah, I guess so. 'Bout her height. The singin' sounded like her. She did have red hair too. Coulda been." He paused a minute. "But she was wearin' a skirt—atypical even if it were."
Blink considered telling his leader the few strange things he'd seen in the past week.
"Other newsies been seein' things too, you know. Ask Snitch or Race. They'd tell ya a thing or two if'n ya wanted."
Blink nodded just as Kloppman came shouting up the stairs. He sighed and rolled out of bed, rushing to a shower, thinking of what Snitch or Race would have to say.
