Chapter Four
Author's Note: Here I am again, yes, that's right, two chapters in one day. I think I'm excited to see what happens with the now proclaimed "Dr. Downing", and anyone who read the last chapter probably is as well. So let's get on with it!
After making the plan, I needed to go through with it. At about 4 in the afternoon, I sold my last paper, somehow, and made my way to the residence in which I would find Mr. Downing, or Dr. Downing, depending on how you see it.
After finding the address and finding that they lived in a very large house, I knocked on the door knocker, old school, but I found it fascinating. A butler answered, and asked me who I was and to state my business.
"I be Micky, an' I'm heah ta get Mr. Downing for a medical case dat he said he'd attend ta." I explained. The butler nodded and went to tell Mr. Downing.
When the man spoken of before appeared, he looked quite pleased that I had gotten his attention on this so early. The kids appeared as well, and listened to the conversation between me and their father.
"Is gonna tell youse ta follow me. I ain't lettin' youse in at first 'cause I gotta make shore Blink ain't dere or ain't gonna blow up on me." I told him.
"Very good. I will go get my bag and we will be off." he said, and ran to get it. When he returned, the other kids looked up at him.
"Can we go too, daddy?" asked Jerry.
"Is it okay if they go? I mean, I let them go on some of my adventures, but if this isn't kid safe for Jerry and Liz..." he asked me.
"Is suppose dey can go. Bu' it ain't pretty, Is already told ya so, so don't expect nothin' nice." I gave in, almost scared of what would happen if they went, but giving in because I knew that they could behave themselves.
"I'll stay if you don't want me to go." said Liz, looking almost alarmed at the idea of seeing this.
"No, it'll be a learning experience for you all. Maybe you'll want to follow me in my profession after seeing a few cases." replied Mr. Downing, looking at her. Isabella looked alarmed as well.
"But father, I don't want to see anything..." she trailed off.
"Don't be afraid, Isabella, I'm telling you, it's good to see these things early on, so you get a grasp on it." was her father's reply. I waited until both girls were finally convinced to go; Jerry, Mark, and Tom didn't mind, they seemed to want to see something drastic.
"Follow me." I said, and so they did.
We walked all the way around newsies square so none of the other newsies got suspicious, and then made our way to the lodging house. I instructed the family to act normally as if they had just stopped there, which worked well because Jerry wanted to look at a sign across the way. Then I went in.
When I reached Blink's bedroom, I didn't bother to knock. Crutchy was awake, Blink was nowhere to be found. I walked up to Crutchy, trying to ignore his pale skin and feverish face.
"Where's Blink?" I asked him.
"He went...went ta...ta sell a few...few more papes an' den...den eat wid da oders." was Crutchy's painful reply. I nodded. I knew words tired him, but I needed to tell him what was going on.
"Is told Mr. Downing ta come down 'cause he be a doc, an' da kids are wid him. Youse okay wid dat, right?" I asked him, and his only reply was a very slight nod.
I went to get them, worried for Crutchy and scared of what the family would do when they went in. They followed me through the rooms; Mr. Downing had a face of only what could be called a nostalgic moment face, as I called it. Then we arrived at the doorway to the small room, and I told them not to speak until I told them they could, which I warned them wouldn't happen for a while.
In we went, and Crutchy only looked at me and the people behind me. I wondered if he'd recognize them at all. He did, though, with only a slight nod of the head, which I knew was an acknowledgment that they were there and that he knew them. But they didn't speak, they seemed too shocked to talk.
"Heya Crutchy, heah dey are." I said. He once again only nodded, and smiled slightly.
Mr. Downing was watching with pain on his face, clearly sad and as if he was remembering something else from his past. Jerry was staring, as were the rest of his siblings. The girls had looks of pain on their faces, the boys looked almost fascinated with the idea.
"So, what happened and how?" asked Mr. Downing after a while of silence.
"Is don't know dat well. Wes don't really have a clue. He ain't gonna tell ya, dat I know." I replied.
"What symptoms?"
"Well, coughin', mostly a fevah, an' seems ta be sick in da leg joints too." I said, as I had noticed that his bad leg was turned in farther than normal and the other one seemed to be fighting to stay normal.
"Dat's true...true 'nough." said Crutchy, staring at the roof of his bunk. "Both legs hu-hurt, an' ...an' dat's not...not normal."
"Sounds like polio, but I don't know about the coughing exactly. Tuberculosis or pneumonia, maybe. But I'm not terribly sure." said Mr. Downing in a rather confused voice. "Did it rain? Or did someone weaken you and then it rained?"
"Dat's...dat's close. Bu' I ...I ain't..." Crutchy trailed off, and I saw a tear go down his cheek. I suddenly wondered if something horrible had happened.
"You don't have to explain it to me. But that's about all I can guess." replied Mr. Downing. Crutchy replied in the form of another coughing fit.
The fit went on for a while. I didn't think it would ever end, it just kept on, racking his whole body and making him look weaker and paler than before. Mr. Downing was watching, and I could see his eyes looked sad, and his mind seemed to be trying to search for whatever this was. There was silence after Crutchy finally stopped coughing. Mr. Downing suddenly looked alert, and rather alarmed.
"Maybe, but no, I don't know." he said, and the idea died with that sentence. I nearly started crying, thinking all was hopeless.
"Da ya got a clue?" I asked him, too hopefully.
"No, I don't really know what to think. This is rather dreadful, it's like two sicknesses mixed together, because I've seen this before in another case with different diseases and it wasn't pretty either." was the reply.
It wasn't until I heard the footsteps coming into the bigger room that I suddenly became aware of the possibility of Blink coming back sooner than I thought he would. I tried to make it to the door, and nearly did, when Blink walked in. He stared for a second, then snapped out of it, and stared at me, with that horrible one eye look that could make anyone a coward faster than seemed possible.
"Explain dis." he said.
"Mr. Downing, he be a doc, an' I told him he coul' come, an' dere ain't nothin' against it Blink." I said as fast as I could, lowering my eyes from his face.
"Look at me. I ain't gonna have dis, I already told ya. I don't need da help, dere ain't nothin' worth it now. Da doctors already have told me 'nough, so I don't need no more help. What were youse tinking?" he asked me, already angry enough that I could basically see the storm clouds above his head.
"Well, see, dere was hope for a proper man ta do da job, Blink. An' I took it. He forced me ta do it. I had ta do it, Blink, it was for our's an' Crutchy's sakes, Blink, I had ta." I said, feeling like I was losing it. I knew I was, because I could feel the tears threatening to burst out of my eyes.
"Dere ain't nothin' I gotta get from a doc who don't know nothin' 'bout dis. You nose dat." said Blink. "I ain't trustin' noone, 'cause dere ain't noone ta trust."
"Dere are people out dere who wanna help, Blink, an' he wanted ta do so, so I let him."
"Alrigh', well, don't do dat or I'll beat ya for it."
"Blink, it ain't fair. Jus' let 'im do it, he's a guy wes can trust, I nose it." I said, and Blink sighed. I could see all the worry and confusion in his face in that moment. "Let me introduce ya to dese guys."
Author's Note: Chapter five will pick right up after this, don't worry, but there is chapter four. I would like to share a cool piece of information I found out about last night in case some of you fansies out there, who like me at one point, didn't know this, but Max Casella, (Racetrack, if you didn't know, I don't know why you wouldn't, but it's okay if you didn't) played Timon on "The Lion King" on Broadway in the original Broadway cast in 1998, I think that's the year. And the man who played Pumbaa was Tom Alan Robbins who played Theodore Roosevelt in Newsies on Broadway. It's pretty cool, I bet that the cast of Newsies asked Tom at least once what it was like to work with Max, because I would've done so because of Max being an original movie Newsie. Do you think they did? Tell me if you think they did when you review, because I think they probably did. Anyway, speaking of which, please review, review, review!