Author's Note: Oh I just can't WAIT to be king! Dude, isn't the Lion King the best movie in the entire universe? No wait. . .NEWSIES is the best movie in the entire universe, but the Lion King is the best ANIMATED movie in the universe. Yep. Man, this chapter turned out weird. Of course, not quite as weird as Chapter 3. . .Sorry if that gave you all a bit of a scare, but what could possibly be more fun that newsies playing truth or dare at night?

Disclaimer: I don't own the song lyrics, newsies, Famous, or anything related to the newsies. I do own the gumdrop, potted plant, and Harriet, though. Ha, I finally own a couple of things! Awesome!

*****

Chapter 4 - Of Potted Plants and Gumdrops

*****

I think the Manhattan Lodging House has magic powers: all who sleep there end up with extremely bizarre dreams. No but seriously, every single time I sleep there I have weird dreams that always seem to end up with someone chasing me around the bathroom with a potted plant.

Tonight was no exception. I fell asleep quite quickly and had one of the most peculiar dreams I have ever had (not counting the time I dreamed David was my long-lost sister and Medda and Jack were my parents. . .Man, that really creeped me out) I dreamed that I was sitting on the Brooklyn Bridge singing, "Heigh-Ho! Heigh-Ho! It's off to work we go!"- except I had no intention of going to work. Yeah, I didn't get it either. . .

Then Race came and offered me a gumdrop, which I accepted. He told me he didn't like the song I was singing, so we started to sing something else instead. "I'm gonna be a mighty king, so enemies beware!" I yelled.

"Well I've never seen a king of beasts with quite so yellow hair!" Race replied. (Man, I dream up really stupid parodies.)

"I'm gonna be the mane event like no king was before! I'm brushing up on looking down, I'm working on my ROAR!"

"Thus far, a rather uninspiring thing," Race mumbled.

"Oh I just can't WAIT to be king!"

The Brooklyn Bridge vanished and I appeared in the bathroom, Race still at my side. "So ya wanna be king, eh?" he demanded in a deadly whisper. He sounded exactly like Spot.

I shook my head quickly, and he smiled evilly and pulled from behind his back a potted plant. "I'M GONNA THROW GUMDROPS AT YOU!" he bellowed, and started chasing me around the bathroom.

It was absolutely terrifying.

I awoke with a start and immediately looked over at Race's bed. He was curled up with his arm hanging over the side. He was still wearing his hat. Strange guy.

Still, it was rather unnerving to see him there. I proceeded to climb off my bunk and poke him a little in the back, just to make sure he wasn't faking and planning on killing me. "Famous!" he groaned, rolling over. "What the hell're ya doin'?"

"Checking for the potted plant," I whispered back.

"Oh, here it is," he answered and handed it to me.

"Thanks. Now you can't throw gumdrops at me."

I was halfway across the room when I realized two things: that I was going in the wrong direction, and that Race really had had a potted plant. I stopped dead in my tracks and spun around to see him standing there grinning at me. "HA!" he laughed. "Man, ya should have seen the look on your face. . ."

"How did ya know I'm terrified of potted plants?" I demanded.

"Ya talk in your sleep, ya know."

"Really?" I said mildly.

"Yeah." He started to laugh.

"And what exactly did I say?" I wanted to know.

"Aw. . .just somethin' about Davey bein' your long-lost sister-" he began, but I almost threw the potted plant at his head. "And- you yelled somethin' like 'NO, RACE, GET THAT POTTED PLANT AWAY FROM ME!!!'"

That set me off laughing too (we laugh a lot. . .too much, probably). "So tell me, Famous," Race continued. "Where exactly are you going?"

I raised and lowered one shoulder (it drives him crazy when I do that). "Outside."

"In the rain?"

"Yeah."

"I'll come with ya."

I shuddered slightly. The image of him chasing me around the bathroom with a potted plant was still fresh in my mind, and the way the moonlight gleaming on his big brown eyes was scaring me. I didn't want him to come. "Alright," I said. "But put on a shirt."

He smiled at me and grabbed his shirt from under his bed, pulling it on over his head. "Happy?"

"Very."

We made our way outside and sat down on the cold, wet pavement in front of the Lodging House. Thunder rumbled gently overhead. "Hey Famous?" said Race.

"Yeah?"

"Are ya still pissed at Spot?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." He leaned back on his arms and lifted his face up to the rain. "Ya know, I think ya have the Italian temper."

"Eh?" I took off my hat and eyed him placidly.

"Yeah," he continued slowly. "Ya stay angry forever. Like me." He sat up and looked at me. I had the sudden urge to throw the potted plant at him, but as I could think of no logical reason to I decided not to. Maybe that's just what he wanted me to do, anyways. Maybe he just wanted to catch it and then chase me around with it. Nah, better keep in safely tucked beneath my arm where he couldn't get at it.

He leaned closer. "Famous, I got sommat to tell you," he said softly. His shirt was slightly open, I noted, as though he had forgotten to button it. I resisted the impulse to close it for him.

Race reached into his pocket. His face was extremely close to mine. Oh Lord, he was taking out another potted plant. What was I going to do? I was going to be attacked by potted plants, and nobody would care because Spot and I were very mad at each other at the moment. People usually tend to take Spot Conlon's side in arguments. It's really funny how such a little guy can intimidate so many people.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I said suddenly, holding up my hands in surrender. "Before ya throw it at me, could ya please just tell Skittery that I'm sorry I lost his special wooden spoon and tell Harriet I say goodbye?"

Race blinked. "Um. . .Okay." He tilted his head to the side and frowned at me.

"You. . .WERE gonna throw another potted plant at my head, weren't you?" I said uncertainly.

"Uh, no. I was just wondering if you wanted a gumdrop," he answered, grinning and pulling one out of his pocket.

"NOOOOO!" I yelled. "NOT GUMDROPS! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME! YA GAVE ME A GUMDROP AND THEN YA TOLD ME YA DIDN'T LIKE THE SONG FROM SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS AND THEN YA TRIED TO KILL ME WITH POTTED PLANTS!!!!" I put my hat back on my head and ran back into the Lodging House, yelling at the top of my lungs.

Race shrugged and ate the gumdrop himself.

*****

Temporary Racetrack's POV

"Hey Famous!" I called out softly, peering into the dark sleeping quarters.

"Yeah?" she answered from the bathroom.

"What're ya doin'?"

"Tryin' to drown myself in the toilet."

"Oh, okay. G'night."

"G'night."

*****

Famous' POV again

I woke up the next morning with the strange urge to wash my face. Looking in the mirror, I remembered that I still had a squiggly moustache drawn over my upper lip. It looked quite nice, though. Maybe people on the streets would think I was crazy and buy papers from me.

"Hee hee, I've always wanted FACIAL HAIR!" Itey giggled as he brushed his teeth with his finger.

"Well at least yours matches the color of your normal hair," Dutchy whined.

"Aw shaddup, ya look fine," Specs answered.

"Thank you!"

"AIN'T IT A FINE LIFE!" Race yelled.

"Alright boys, get the hell outta the Lodging House and go sell your papes!" Kloppman said, smiling and rubbing his temples. "You made a hell of a noise last night. What the hell were you doing?"

"HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU SAY 'HELL' IN ONE SENTENCE!" Itey yelled. "Blasphemy, Kloppman, I'm ashamed of you."

"Saying 'hell' isn't blasphemy," said Jack, frowning. "Blasphemy is like sayin' Jesus and God and stuff."

"AHHHH! YOU SAID THOSE WORDS AND YOU'RE NOT IN CHURCH! Blasphemy, Jack, I'm ashamed of you," said Itey, and he hopped away with a huge grin under his squiggly moustache.

Jack looked at me. "I didn't mean to!" he sobbed. "Am I not gonna go to heaven?" He burst into tears and grabbed me in a hug.

"Don't worry, Jack, you weren't gonna go to heaven anyways," I told him supportively, my voice rather muffled because I was crushed against him.

He sniffed and let go of me. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, good." He tied his bandana around his neck and hopped away after Itey. Race and I looked at each other, then he shrugged and we hopped out of the Lodging House too. Hopping is fun.

We sold together for most of the morning, until we reached Central Park around noon. Race had sold half of his papes. I had sold almost half. Okay. . .not almost half. All right, I admit the image of him throwing potted plants at me was distracting me just a little. . .and I had only sold ten. (The headlines of which ended up sounding like: "Potted Venus Fly Trap in Pulitzer's Bedroom Almost Strangles Him" and "Hearst's Wife Tries To Kill Him By Throwing Potted Plants At His Head". . .but I digress.)

Anyway, when we reached Central Park Mush rushed up to us with Blink right behind him. He grabbed Race roughly by the shoulders and yelled, "WHERE OH WHERE HAS MY BELOVED HARRIET GONE!!!!!"

Race raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"HARRIET!" he screamed. "MY ONLY FRIEND IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE-"

Blink kicked him.

"-except for Blink, of course. WHERE HAS SHE GONE?????" And with that he ran off several feet and flung himself onto the ground.

Race turned to me. "Who the hell is Harriet?" he demanded.

"Oh, and suddenly ya expect me to have a MEMORY!" I said.

"Harriet- you know, the ugly bug he kissed. . ." Blink explained. "Ya know: 'Once a lonely caterpillar sat and cried'-"

"Aaaah!" Race yelled, clapping a hand over Blink's mouth, "NOT AGAIN!"

"Where oh where has my Harriet gone? Oh where oh were can she be? With her brains so short and her legs so long, oh where oh where can she be?" Mush cried, sitting and drawing a rather odd picture of his bug in the dirt.

"EWWWW!" Race yelled suddenly, pulling his hand off Blink's face. "Ack, man, he LICKED ME!"

I started to laugh. (No surprise there, eh?)

"This is NOT a laughing matter!" Mush scolded. "My beloved Harriet the bug is gone, and now I am alone and deserted in this cruel cruel world! My only other friend is off licking Racetrack's hand, and now I am condemned to draw pictures in the dirt of Central Park. OH, DEAR HARRIET, WHEREVER YOU ARE, KNOW ONLY THAT I LOVE YOU MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF! I SHALL FIND YOU IF IT IS THE LAST THING I DO, OR SHALL DIE IN THE PROCESS! THAT IS A VOW!" He then raised his face to the sky and fell backwards.

Blink was looking very concerned. "Ya don't think he'll seriously kill himself if he can't find her, will he?"

"Blink, your best friend is in love with an insect," I said seriously. "Ya know how screwy love can be; haven't you ever heard of Romeo and Juliet?"

"No."

"Oh, well they fall in love and then kill themselves 'cause they're sad that they can't be together."

"Oh. That's lovely."

"Without doubt."

Race seemed to come out of a deep reverie. "So. . .what does 'condemned' mean, anyway?" he said finally.

"Condemned?" I repeated. "Verb: to pronounce judgment against; sentence. I'm not sure Mush used it quite correctly, but I'll lend him my 'Revised Edition of Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary' when he's out of his suicidal frame of mind."

Blink and Race stared at me. Then Race gave me the 'I'm not even going to ask' look and tucked his papers under his arm. "Well, Blink, I hope you find Harriet before Mush goes overboard. And Mush," he called over to him (who was now dancing around central park and singing "NOOOOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLES I'VE SEEN!!!!!" before an ever-growing crowd of onlookers), "take care o' yerself, alright?"

Mush looked straight at him. "NOOOOBODY KNOWS BUT JEEEEESUUS!"

"Hmm, glad Itey isn't here," I said. "Blasphemy. I'm ashamed of Mush."

*****

Shoutouts!!!

ershey: You know, the scary part is Race wasn't even drunk when he ate the caterpillar. Yeah, he's a nutcase. . .I'm glad the ant is gone from your computer screen (lol, that was hilarious!!!). And YES, there were magic markers in 1899!!! lol, thanks so much for the review!!!

ShortAtntionSpaz: I couldn't go to the URL you sent me for some reason. . .my computer hates me, I guess. Pooh. Aaaanyway, thank you thank you thank you for the review! Those little parenthesized things at the end of your reviews are hysterical!!! (And if I had glasses, I'd make sure never to put them in the microwave.)

Trolley: I won't ask about your friend feeling up a mounted fish at Texas Roadhouse. . .Truth or dare is a terrifying game. ;-) Thanks so much for the review, you rock!!!

Sapphy: Well now Skittery is hopping around singing "HAKUNA MATATA! WHAT A WONDERFUL PHRASE!" (That means he's very happy.) And Blink is fighting for control of the computer because he wants to tell you that he'd simply LOVE to give you a squiggly moustache too. Feel honored. My muses usually hate everybody, particularly me, but they adore you! Your reviews are wonderful! Thank you so much!!! (And I like the idea of Twister. . .;-) )

Author's Note: I'm really sorry, I didn't mean for this chapter to turn out this way. I know it ended up being very pointless. . .and the whole "mortally afraid of potted plants" thing was a bit bizarre. . .but I'll try to make the next chapter much more. . .eventful. lol

-Saturday