Hey, if anyone cares. This is the second chapter, so... yeah. Whee!
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Chapter 2
In the morning Alex awoke to the sounds of the city waking up, shopkeepers yelled at their assistants, vendors haggled with customers, children shrieked, babies bawled, women gossiped, newsies called out the headlines, men made jokes on their way to work, animals neighed brayed and squacked and added to the general confusion.
The city was awake and alive.
The city was also full of money, just waiting to be snatched up.
Alex walked along the streets, smiling, looking for some means of income, she asked a couple of vendors with heavy loads, they took one look at her and passed her off as a weak girl.
She also asked some resteraunts and diners if they needed a serving girl, they looked and saw a dirty street rat.
At the end of the day Alex was left sitting on the curb, dejected and depressed. She realized there was no way she was going to be able to make an honest living.
'Oh well' she thought to herself, standing up ' A dis'onest living's better den none.' She began searching for a target.
She started with too many 'too's'. She'd take on look at someone and say;
"Too old"
"Too young"
"Too sick"
"Too poor"
"Too weak"
But there just weren't enough middle-aged, rich guys out there.
Eventually she only had on 'too'
"Too poor"
That seemed to be all that really counted in this city.
She'd found a couple of people and had picked off fifty cents or so. She bought some boys clothes, realizing she'd never get any respect as a girl.
Then she saw him, this guy was just asking to be targeted! He walked a certain way that brought attention to himself, he was stupid enough to wear his money in a pouch tied to his belt, and he was wearing a cowboy hat! Right in the middle of New York! 'What an idiot' Alex nearly laughed.
There were three phases to pickpocketing; Phase one: The setup. You need to get in position behind your target. Phase two: The snatch. You grab the cash. Phase three: The getaway. You run, simple.
She began, she casually walked up behind him, pretending to study a building in the distance. Done. She reached for his pouch and pulled out her knife to cut the ties... She never got to phase three. She felt something grab her wrist, and jerked her face up to him. He pulled her into an alley and slammed her against the wall with his free hand, and twisted her wrist to make her drop her knife.
"That wasn't real smart boy" He growled.
She was thrown for a loop for a moment 'Boy? what... oh yeah, I'm in britches.' She recovered quickly and glared "Neither was that!" She whipped ot her other knife and slashed at his arm, but he deftly caught her wrist and made her drop that knife too, then pinned her to the wall with both hands above her head.
The brick scratched her back painfully, she thrashed around, but his grip was firm.
She was stuck, trapped in a deserted alleyway, pinned against the wall, faced against an older, much stronger opponant, separated from her blades, with no visible way out. She did the one thing you could possibly do in that situation, she stuck her tongue out at him.
Jack's scowl broke into a dazzling smile "Well, ain't we's mature." And he laughed
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In the Manhatten newsboys lodging house, relaxing in the lounge or playing cards, were the newsies. A dissasembled and ragged bunch, they were enjoying their brief respite from selling papers.
Racetrack Higgins had won yet another game of poker, and was collecting his winnings when he heard from outside what sounded like an air-raid siren, parade, and fire engine all at once. He ran to the door and opened it to see what was going on.
There was cowboy, all but dragging a boy behind him. The boy was short, about 5' 3", with red hair and hazel eyes, though all you could really see was a bunch of thrashing limbs.
The kid was screaming and cursing Jack and yellin profanities to the skies.
"And what 'ave we 'ere?" Racetrack raised his eyebrows.
Jack was smiling in a patient, good natured way, "Li'l pickpocket, Race. He shook Alex lightly "Tried takin' Me earnings pouch din'tcha?"
Race shook his head "Ya can't jus' adopt every stray ya see's, wat's he doin' here?"
"I's gonna make 'im into an honest newsie, Race."
"Honest? Sorry ta burst your bubble der Jack, but der ain't no honest newsies."
That didn't faze Jack. "Well, close enough. Come on, let's introduce loudmouth here to da boys."
They walked inside. Alex, realising she wasn't going to get soaked, just followed Jack.
The newsies all stilled when the saw Alex, Jack announced " Hey boys, dis 'ere is..." he turned to Alex "What is your name anyway?" Alex gulped "Alex" She practically whispered it.
"He's Alex! Now, I don't want no pickin' on him, we's all was new once."
The boys came forward to introduce themselves.
"Hey, I'm Mush."
"I'm Specs."
"Crutchy, nice ta meet'cha!"
"I'm Dutchy."
"Itey"
"Blink."
"Pie-eater"
"Snipeshooter"
"Snitch"
"Boots"
"Snoddy"
"Tumbler"
"Skittery"
"Hello" She replied lamely to each introduction.
She was invited to a game of poker by Race, she was amazed at their poker faces. Her face showed clearly what was going on in her mind. The result was that she lost... Badly.
Soon the newsies all headed up to bed, on her way she asked Mr. Kloppman how much it cost to stay. "Ten cents a week." She paid and thanked him. He seemed shocked at that last part. Was it normal to be rude here?
She ran up the stairs and into the bunkroom, what a mess! It was disorganized and dusty, a mess of clothes and old newspapers coated the floor, there were cobwebs everywhere!
She hesitantly walked up to Cowboy "So, where do I sleep?" He led her to an empty bunk beneath Mush, between Racetrack and Boots, she nervously sat on the matress, jerking at every sound.
"Quit Twitchin' will ya!" Racetrack barked, making her jump and hit her head on the bunk above her. "Dis place is real safe. I don' know what botha's ya on da streets, but it ain't gonna get at'cha here." He lay down and covered his face with his hat.
She lay down on the thin matress, she wasn't really scared of anything in particular, it was this whole situation, she wondered once again how she'd gotten herself into it. She'd never really had much choice.
Dere we's go. chapta' 2... I'm horrible at that accent Sigh
Anyways, please review!