Yeah,
Its been a while since I posted one of these chapters, but here
is the seventh installment. Not too long. Well...here!

Title: Things Change

Author: Stretch

Rating: G...unless otherwise specified. Mostly for language if it
gets higher than G.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"He works here, I'm sure of it," Edmund said to the young man before
him.

"Really? And what makes ya sure of that?" came the younger one, his
eyes piercing mischievously.

"Could you just check?" Edmund was getting annoyed with the young
man's games.

"I could, but it might cost ya."

"How much?" Edmund opened his wallet and began searching through
it. "I don't care what it costs, I want that boy found."

"Sure thing, what's his name?"

"Misha Patrick, but he goes by Specs."
**************************************************************
"THE BWONX ON FIRE!!!!" the tiny girl screamed at the top of her
lungs.

"No, Miette, ya supposed ta say headlines they gonna believe." Specs
said, pulling his youngest sister aside.

"Like this, Miette, look. QUEENS TENEMENT IN FLAMES! ENTIRE BULDING
SMOKIN'! COULD YOUR HOME BE NEXT? GET YA PAPES HERE!" Naeva yelled,
a crowd of people walking up to buy some copies.

"Anja's gonna kill me when she sees how bad I've corrupted you two,"
Specs laughed, lighting a cigarette.

"What's `corrupt' mean?" Miette asked, her big eyes focused intently
on her brother.

"It means he's messed us up," Naeva said simply.

"Then again, I think you was already kinda messed up, Naeva" Specs
said, laughing at older of the two girls.

"Oh, kiss my-"

"Don't finish that sentence if ya wanna live ta see tomorrow," Specs
snapped, his eyes narrowing on his younger sister. He took out his
pocket watch to see that it was well passed noon. "Well, that
explains why me stomach's talkin' ta me. Why don't we go get some
chow?" With that, the three siblings made their way to Tibby's for a
bit of lunch.

"Let's see, how much do I have here?" Specs said to himself, pulling
out the money he had made so far. Taking into consideration the fact
that he had to save some f his money for papers the next day, he
counted a small percentage of his profits and found he only had a
small amount to spend on lunch for three people.

"Uh…one roast beef sandwich and some coleslaw please," he said,
looking up at the waiter.

"Will that be all, sir?"

"Uh…yeah. That's it." Specs finished. He knew that it wasn't enough
to feed three people, even with the size the two girls were.
Sacrifice was a part of life for all newsies, and Specs had to deal
without lunch as he saw his sisters eat the small sandwich and
portion of slaw.

"Don't you want some?" Naeva asked, looking across the table at her
brother.

"Nah, I ain't feelin' much like eatin'. You two finish it off." He
was lying of course, which he was reminded of each time his stomach
grumbled in hunger. In a few moments they returned out into the
scorching streets of Manhattan to finish their job.
**************************************************************
"I need to buy more papes, cause I can't deal with feedin' three
people on the profits of seventy-fiv papes. I could barely feed
myself on seventy-five papes. What the hell am I gonna do, Dutchy?"
Specs said, leaning over the ledge of the lodging house roof as he
often did whenever he had a problem. Dutchy pulled out a foil
wrapped object and pushed it towards his best-friend.

"Ya look like ya need this," Dutchy said. Specs opened it and found
a small sandwich left over from Tibby's.

"How did ya know?"

"I didn' see ya eat at the restaurant, and ya get this weird look in
ya eyes when ya hungry. I was afraid ya were gonna go crazy or
somthin'. In a way, it was more for the well-bein' of the lodging
house. I don' want anyone ta die tonight." Specs laughed as he
slowly consumed the small bit of food Dutchy had managed to save for
him.

Suddenly, Miette and Naeva were pushed out onto the roof by
Racetrack.

"There's someone here looking' for ya," Race said anxiously,
ushering the two little girls towards their brother.

"What's wrong with their bein' someone here for him?" Dutchy asked
Race, thoroughly confused as he saw the apprehensive look on the
small Italian's face.

"'Cause I got a feelin' that it ain't a good thing, his name is
Chase. Edmund I think he said."

Specs's eyes widened as he looked between Racetrack and his sisters,
pulling the two girls closer to him, as if shielding them from some
wild beast.

"How did he know I was here?" Specs began sweating from nerves as he
became suddenly nauseated.

"I don' know, but I suggest ya hide and keep ya mouth shut," Race
said, pulling Dutchy inside through the window, leaving Specs there
with a million thoughts in his head and none of them were looking
promising.
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See, that wasn't too long, was it? It was? Well, BAH! Yeah...HOPE
YOU LIKED IT!!!
Stretch