After my mom said I was allowed to stay in my "pretend world," I stayed in my room for weeks. She'd bring me breakfast, and then go to work. For the rest of my meals I would have to go downstairs.
I'd go to sleep with Mutt in my arms, wake up early, complain about paper prices, hawk the headlines to anything in my room, complain about my earnings, then go back to bed.
About a month later, while my mom is at work, the doorbell rings, and I'm the only person home to answer it. I go downstairs, opened the door, and there was the new guy from across the street.
"Hello." he said, "I'm looking for Angel?"
"'At's me." I said, "Why're ya lookin' fah me?"
"Well, your mom said you're at home alot, and so am I," he said, "So, I figured you might like some company sometimes."
I looked at him intensely. I had to know where I had seen him before. He seemed oddly familiar. "Did she tell ya I'm insane?" I asked, "Cuz I'm not. I acidentally time-travelled to da yeah 1899 an' spent 2 months wid da New York newsies."
"That's amazing." he said, "Will you tell me what it was like?"
Either the guy was a good actor and was secretly bored to death, he was pranking me, or he was really dumb. I figured it was the first one.
"Shoah." I said, letting him inside, "Whaddaya wanna know foist?"
"How'd you end up with that interesting accent?" he asked.
"Livin' wid da newsies." I said, "If ya don' pick up on it, ya gotta be crazy."
We sat and talked for hours about the newsies and New York when, suddenly, he stood up. "I completely forgot about my dog." he said, "I was supposed to let her out hours ago. You want to come with me?"
"Shoah." I said, "I love dogs."
So, we made our way across the street to his house, and when he opened the door, there sat a slightly bigger Mutt. "Mutt?" I whispered, "Is dat you, goil?"
"'Er name's Angel." he said, "Mine's Jordan, by da way."
"Jordan..." I said, "Why does that name seem so familiar?"
"Cuz it's me, Angel." he sadi, "It's Blink. Don'tcha remembah me?"
"That's impossible." I said.
So he explained how I had gotten to New York in the first place whille I sat with Mutt. "Ya house was built on a burial ground for indians." he said, "Indians dat knew da secret tah time-travellin'."
"So dat's how I got dere." I said, "But how did I get back?"
"Apparently, all ya gotta do is think, more like focus really really hard, completely on wheah ya wanna go. Ya missed home, I guess, an' ya got heah."
"So, how'd ya get heah, Blink?" I asked.
"I came tah Colorado tah find ya." he said, "I looked forevah. Finally, I just decided tah look fah ya house. Ya told me what it looked like, so I figyad it'd be theah. I found about wheah it would be, but all dat was deare was an ancient indian burial ground dat people were too scared tah get neah. I just stood dere, thinkin' of ya, and I really wanted tah see ya. I ended up heah, in ya back yard."
"Why didn't ya let me know?" I said, "I really really missed ya."
"I wanted ya tah figyah it out by ya-self." he said, "Ya saw Mutt, an' remembahed 'er. Why didn't ya remembah me?"
"It's been so long since I saw ya last, Blink." I said, "In my dreams, ya looked different. Like, diffrent clothes, an eye-patch..."
"'At's all heah." he said, "I jus' didn't wanna make it dat easy fah ya."
I ran over and hugged him. "I missed ya, Jordan." I whispered.
"I missed you too, Angel." he said.
Mutt came over and nudged us with her nose, and I leaned over and gave her a HUGE hug. "I missed ya too, Mutt."
