I walked all the way from my house to the lodging house. Kloppman almost stopped me on my way in, but when he realized it was me, he let me go on upstairs. None of the guys had reason to keep me out, and Kloppman knew I would leave when I was told to.

Race was lying on his bunk, cigar in his mouth, reading the day's paper. He jumped up when he saw me. "Alys! How's 'attie?"

"She loves da house an' all da attention she's gettin'." I said, "Can I talk tah ya fah a minute?"

"Shoah." He pulled me through the open window and up onto the roof. Nobody was up there at the time, so we were guaranteed at least five minutes until someone came looking for us. "Wha's up, Alys?"

"Apparen'ly, I'm an embarrassmen' tah me fam'ly." I said. "'avin' 'attie callin' me mum 'n all." I sat down on a box. "I was wond'rin'… Do ya t'ink, if I paid well enough, Kloppman'd let me stay heah? An' bring 'attie wid me?"

Racetrack just stared. "Ya an embarrassmen' jus' cuz ya have a li'l goil dat like tah call ya mama?" He just couldn't believe how stupid it was. "Ya gotta be kiddin' me. She's seven, an' ya sixteen. Dey gotta know dat it's kinda impahssible fah 'er tah be ya daughtah."

"Yeah, well, apparen'ly, ev'rybahdy in me neighbahood's an idiot." I said. "Can ya ask fah me? I'm not plannin' on movin' in anytime soon. Jus', make shoah 'e keeps a place open fah us?"

He grinned. "Shoah," he said. "Wha're friends fah?"

I smiled, and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Ya's a good friend, Race. I gotta get home. 'attie wan's tah mahdel all 'er new clothes fah me. Ya wanna come?"

"Shoah. Jus' lemme ge' me ha', an' we'll be on our way." He grinned.

Race grabbed his hat off his bunk, told Jack he'd be out for awhile (to which a few of the other newsies snickered, and got hit in the face with a well-aimed hat from Blink's bunk), and we left. He was so excited about seeing Hattie in her new outfits that he tried to run halfway there.

We got to my house as soon as we could, and Hattie met us at the door. When she saw Race, her face lit up. "Daddy!" she yelled, and launched herself into his arms. He almost fell over because he wasn't expecting it.

"Well, wheah's dis fashiahn show we was prahmised?" I asked. "Come on, 'attie. Ya got plenty a' time tah hug 'im latah."

Hattie jumped up, and I helped Race up as she bounced back into the house. "Mama an' daddy're heah!" I could've hit myself for telling her to call Race "daddy," because as soon as my sisters heard that, they sprinted towards us to see who it was.

"Oh, hey, Race." Natalie said, "How're ya?"

"I'm doin' good." He said. "So, how's 'attie treatin' ya house?"

Mom answered his question. "She's been a li'l angel. Now, she said she wan'ed tah mahdel 'er new clothes fah ya. Come si' in da livin' room. I'll send 'er in in a minute."

I sat next to Race on the couch, and we waited for quite awhile before Hattie swung the door open and paraded in. She was wearing a dark blue skirt and a white shirt with little blue shoes. "How do I look?"

Race smiled. "I like da shoes." I laughed.

"I love it, 'attie." I said. "Show us anothah?"

While she was out changing, Race and I had a bit of a talk. "I'll ask Jack an' Kloppman, bu' I don' know how it's gonnah go ovah wid dem." He said, "Jack didn' wan' 'attie in dere anyways. Havin' YOU theah migh'… Well, cause biggah prahblems."

"Whaddaya mean, Race?" I asked. I seriously didn't know what he could be talking about.

He just stared at me. "Alyssa. Ya gottah know dat half da guys in da house like ya." I had no idea. "Ya a pretty goil. Some a' da guys migh' try tah… Well…"

"Race, ya don' gottah worry about me. I'se a big goil." I said, "I ain' gonna let nobahdy do nothin' tah me dat I got a prahblem wid, okay?"

Racetrack smiled. "I know. Dat's wha' I like about ya, Alys. Ya gaht somethin' about ya dat I jus' like."

I blushed. I knew he didn't think about me the way I thought about him, but that was as good as telling me that he loved me, in my book. "T'anks, Race." I said, still blushing. "Ya real sweet."

"I know." He laughed. "Well, tell 'attie I'm sahry I couldn' stay longah. If ya wan' dat spaht in da house, I gottah talk tah Kloppman as soon as pahssible." He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "I'll see ya tamarrah?"

"Shoah." I said, "I'll bring 'attie by ya cornah tamarrah mornin'." I could feel my face slowly turning brighter shades of red. "Bye, Race."

"Bye, Alys." He walked out the front door, and I watched him walking down the street from the window in the living room.

Hattie walked in and asked where "daddy" had gone, and I told her he had to go home. "We bettah get tah bed, darlin'." I said, "We'se gonnah go see Blink an' daddy tamarrah mornin'. An' we gottah get up oily if we'se gonna get a pape befoah da mornin' rush."

She was so excited about seeing "daddy" and "big brother" that I had to force her out of my bed to put on her pajamas.