February 1895
Emily recognized the paperboy immediately.
Charlie was half a block ahead of her, crutch under one arm and waving a newspaper with the other. She let go of her father's hand and ran in front of him, dodging around a couple stepping out of a shop.
"Emily! Where are you going?" Her parents shouted. She heard them this time, but didn't turn around. She barely glanced over her shoulder as she crossed the street.
Charlie didn't notice her until she was right in front of him. "Holy smokes!" He said. His mouth fell open, then spread into a slow smile. "Never thought I'd see ya 'gain."
Em was grinning. "My sisters and I come to the city every year for our birthday." She said. "I turned ten last week."
"Emily, what in the world were you thinking?" her father said as her family swarmed behind her.
"I...I wanted to buy a paper." She said. "I guess I got excited. Sorry."
"We're in a big city. We have to stay together." her mother said. Her father reached into his pocket and handed Charlie a penny.
"Mama, this is Charlie." Emily said. "Remember, we were in the hospital together?"
"Oh." She said. She gave Charlie a thin, wavering smile. "How nice to run into you."
"Nice to see you too, ma'am." he mumbled.
Emily's mom touched her husband's arm, whispered something to him, and Em's dad pulled out another nickel.
"Here, honey," Emily's mom held it out to Charlie.
"Wow, thank you." he said. "Thank you so much."
Em's sisters, one blonde and one brunette, stood on either side of their dad, pulling on his hands and complaining about the cold.
"Let's go." Her father said.
Emily and Charlie still stood on the sidewalk, close against the building, staring at each other.
"Emily." her father repeated. "It's cold. Let's go get something to eat."
Charlie was sure that was the last he'd see of Em. In a big city like New York, what were the odds of running into each other anyways? He watched Emily, her sisters, her mom and dad-a whole family, moving as a pack-disappear into the crowd and around the corner.
Charlie set his papes down and leaned against the brick wall behind him to try to stretch out his hip. His useless right foot inside beat up shoes flopped at an awkward angle.
Two ladies with big fancy hats paused at his corner. "Oh, you poor thing." One of them said. She stuck out her lip.
He positioned his crutch back under his arm and straightened up. "Hullo, ma'am."
"Look at his leg." The other woman pointed.
Charlie grabbed a pape from his bag and read a headline. "Wanna buy a pape, ma'am? Says there was a big fire in midtown apartments." Neither of them had taken their eyes off of his leg or his crutch.
"Of course." the lady who'd pointed reached for her purse. "You must be such a brave boy."
"Thanks ma'am." He said.
Charlie sold them both a pape, then sold a few more. He wished there was a way to hold onto his crutch and keep his hand in his pocket at the same time-his left hand was okay, but his right was red and numb with cold. The boys checked the church's donation box often, but no one had given up gloves.
"Charlie!"
No one called him by his real name anymore. He turned around, and Emily was hurrying towards him. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"What?" She asked as she got closer. He hair was pulled up in a red headband that matched her thick red coat.
"What are you doing?" Charlie said. "I thought you left."
"We were in a shop, but it's not fair." She said. "It's not right you're still out here."
"I'm a'ight, Em." He said automatically.
"Come on." She said. "There's a cafe right here. Come with me."
They ended up in a cafe Charlie could've only dreamed of entering, with tall metal stools and paintings of bright flowers and sleek women in profile on the walls. Emily marched right up to the counter, pulled a coin out of her coat pocket, and ordered two hot chocolates.
"That was really sweet of ya to get me somethin'" Charlie said. "Ya didn't have to."
"No big deal." Em said, cupping her own hot chocolate between her hands. "I got a dime for my birthday and I haven't spent it yet."
While Charlie tried to figure out to balance his crutch under his arm without spilling any of his drink, Em was already halfway across the room. She climbed into a tall stool and hooked her feet around the bars. Charlie followed her and motioned to a regular table. "Um, do you mind if we sit here, actually?" He said. She was looking into her hot chocolate. "Em." he said. "Em!"
She looked up and saw him gesturing at normal-sized chair. "Can we sit here?" he said.
"Oh." she said. "Oh yeah, sorry." She followed him and sat across from him, underneath a drawing of a lady in a big black hat.
"Your folks won't care you're gone?"
Em shook her head. "They'll miss me eventually, but we're right down the street. I'll go back as soon as we're done." She took a sip of her hot chocolate, and so did Charlie. It was creamy and comforting. Charlie couldn't remember the last time he'd had anything so nice. He took another tiny sip, trying to savor it. "I've missed you, Charlie. How have you been?" Emily asked.
Charlie smiled. "I've missed you too." He said. "I'm a newsie now. I...I was homeless for a while. All summer an fall after wes got outta da hospital, actually." Emily nodded. "And I met my brothers. My buddies Jack and Albert found me in my hiding spot."
Em had her elbows on the table, staring at him. "S-s-sorry," she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't get the end of that. You were homeless, and then how'd you become a newsie?"
"My friends." He repeated. "A couple of guys found me where I used to hide from kids who beat me up."
Emily took a drink of her hot chocolate. "I'm so sorry." She said. "That sounds awful. Good you've got friends now."
He nodded. "Yeah. They're great. We all live together in a lodge house."
"You live together?" she said. "I'd love to live with my friends! I mean, my sisters and I share a room so it's like living with friends, but living with a bunch of friends would be wonderful!"
When Emily pictured the lodge house, she probably wasn't picturing thin mattresses in a single chilly bedroom, and boys too tired most nights to do anything but eat, shower, and go to bed. "It is fun." he said. "They's good pals. We take care of each other."
"Yeah." Em said. "That's great. What's being a newsie like?"
"Better than the streets all the time, that's for sure." He said. "It's tough and long. Hot as Hades in da summer and cold as anything in the winter, but we real proud, Em. We make a livin' for ourselves and we don't need charity all da time."
She was frowning, shaking her head. "I...I'm so sorry, Charlie. I couldn't understand a word of that. It's getting kind of loud in here." She pulled a stubby pencil from her pocket and found a wide margin in the pape she'd just bought. "I...Can you write it down?"
Charlie had hated school when he was littler, but now he was thankful he was one of the newsboys who knew how to read and write. About half of his brothers couldn't. He squeezed his words in between a perfume ad and
Weather crummy. i luv macking my own $$ and freinds
Em nodded. "I'm glad you have each other."
"They takes care of me." Charlie said. "We takes care of each other."
"Can...can I ask you something, Charlie?" he said. "I don't want to-"
"I don't mind." he said. "What?"
"How are you doing? Like...with ya leg?"
He took a deep breath. People always wanted to stare at his leg and ask him what happened, but no one but Em ever asked how he felt about it. "Ya know what's strangest?" he said. He rubbed the grain of the table with his thumb, the other hand wrapped around his half-empty mug.
Emily reached across the table and put her hand next to his. He looked up. "Would...would you look at me? It...I can understand you a little better when you do. But we don't have to talk about this if you don't want to."
Charlie looked up into her dark eyes. Her headband made her face look narrower than it even was. "My brothers all meetin' me after I got sick. They thinks I always been this way. Some of 'em do." He said. "I...I want 'em to know I can fend for myself. They don't treat me too much different, ya know?"
"They do, or they don't?"
"Don't." He said. He tried to pronounce it a little more crisply. "Most of the time they soak me jus' like any of da others. Jack treats me like a little kid sometimes. He 12, and his best buddy Race is 12. They think I their baby doll or somethin'. I cain't walk so good but I ain't a baby. I ain't helpless." Then he looked back down at the paper. Did she need him to write this all down?
"Yeah." Em said. "I get it...ya wanna be taken care of, but ya still 10, and you're still a normal kid. And just cause you need help with some things doesn't mean you need help with everything, right?"
"Yes!" he said. "Yeah, just that. I want them to just see me. But I used to the crutch, and I gives some fellas a good wack with it when they's foolin'."
Em smiled.
"How're ya?" he said. "Are ya alright? Like since ya been so sick?"
She licked her lips and looked into her hot chocolate. "I guess." She said. "I've been sick another couple times since we were together, and I can't hardly hear in my right ear at all."
"Are ya totally deaf?" He asked, and then he felt stupid. Obviously not, or she wouldn't have been able to talk or have this conversation.
"No." She said. "But...you can surely tell talking to me now I don't hear perfectly. It feels like everyone is mumbling all the time."
"How'd ya find out?" His hot chocolate was almost gone, and getting cold, and he never wanted to leave.
"What?"
"Did you hear normal before last year?"
She put her chin on her fist. "I guess." She said. "Everybody started saying I was just daydreaming and lazy and disrespectful for not listening, but even when I tried to listen words were getting lost. My mother was the only one who believed I wasn't the same."
Charlie nodded. "Ya seem sad and mad about it. Smad."
Emily shook her head. "I'm what?"
He wrote on the bottom edge of the paper
Sad + Mad=Smad
She giggled and nodded. "Yeah." She said. "It's nice to have a friend like you, Charlie. I missed you."
"You too." He said.
He wanted to say something else but the door flew open and every head turned. It was Emily's family.
"Young lady, you come here right this minute." her father said. "Get over here."
Emily jumped up. She stood between her parents as both of them, stern and serious, close to her face, told her again how foolish she'd been for wandering off, how dare she just disappear into a store without them in a big city. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She repeated. Her dark eyes were wide and brimming with tears.
Charlie fumbled for his crutch. With every eye on Em, everyone was watching him too. The server in his bowtie, and a couple tables of young couples that looked like the beautiful women on the wall, dressed in more money than Charlie would ever know. He didn't belong.
...
Ahhh it's been forever friends! I picked up a school-year job and I'm hanging onto my summer job, so I've been busy! Hope you liked this one...Trying to fictionalize my family was weird so I just...didn't. Thanks for reading and reviewing! 3