"Crutchie!" Les grinned as he yanked open the door to his tenement, welcoming the older newsie inside.
Davey ran over to meet his brother, subconsciously wrapping his arm around his shoulders. He eyed Crutchie, a tiny bit wary and very apologetic. As it turned out, so was Crutchie.
"Dave," Crutchie began, "I'm sorry fer what I said earlier. Jack an' I—"
He took a deep breath.
"Please, can I stay 'ere for the night?"
Davey nodded. "What about the Lodging House?"
Crutchie took off his hat and hung it on a pole, limping past his friend. "They….they want to shut me away. In some asylum."
Davey went pale. How had Crutchie found out? He stuck his hands in his pockets.
"I'm sure they think it's for your own good," he said, quiet. Too quiet. Crutchie didn't hear him.
"Can you believe it?" Crutchie turned to him. "They've been plannin' this behind my back fer days—months, even!" He stopped, suddenly looking at Davey in a newfound light. "You—you didn't know, did you?"
Davey opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by his mother hurrying into the front hall.
"Davey, who is out there with you—oh. Crutchie! What a pleasant surprise! Come in—did David offer you any dinner?"
"No, ma'am."
"Well come on in, I have just the thing for you. Do you like soup?"
"I'll eat anything, ma'am!"
"Good, good…."
Les looked up at his older brother, and leaned over to whisper. "Davey, why didn't you tell Crutchie that you knew?"
Davey glanced at him. "Les, you weren't supposed to find out about that!"
"I couldn't help it, Race talks really loudly—"
"Look," Davey lowered his voice, bending down to put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "We can't tell Crutchie. Okay? This…this has to be a secret."
"But why?"
"Because—"
"David? Les?" Mrs. Jacobs returned to the front hall. "Are you going to leave your friend to suffer through my company?"
"Sorry, Ma," Davey responded, and walked into the small kitchen. "Crutchie, I'll set you up somewhere to stay the night."
"Thanks, Dave," Crutchie looked at him far too gratefully, and Davey felt a pang of guilt enter his chest. "Ya don't gotta waste too much space on me. I'm small, ya know."
"Yeah, yeah, well…."
Crutchie returned to his soup, and Davey began to fix the blankets and a pillow so his friend would have a place to sleep. He'd….he would tell him in the morning. Sooner or later, the other newsies would come looking for him. Surely Crutchie would see that it's all for his own good, right?
That night, Davey tossed and turned in the bed, straining not to wake up Les, who was sleeping beside him. He froze, hearing a voice from the kitchen. There was only one person in the kitchen, and that person was supposed to be sleeping.
"Jack, I know. They all kept secrets from me, but I can trus' Dave, right? He's always honest…..now be quiet, okay? I'm tryin' to sleep. Jack, shush!"
Davey rolled back over, guilt covering him like another blanket.