Epilogue

Jack laced up his boot. He stared determinedly at his shoes, trying to avoid the innocent but unwanted gaze of Mush.

"You know what I heard, Jack?"

Jack grimaced, but braced himself. Here it comes again, he thought. He knew only too well that Mush didn't need an invitation to start talking. He gave him one anyway.

"Whad'ja hear, Mush?"

"I heard that Skittery's real far away, now," he began, looking down at Jack through sheepish eyes. "I heard he's all the way to Virginia, getting work as a Newsy down there."

"Yeah, well, best 'a luck to 'im."

Mush fidgeted.

"But do y'think he'll ever come back?"

"I don' think so," Jack sighed. "I thought he might after Oscar hanged his'self, but I guess it don' matter now. I'm sorry, Mush," he patted his friend on the shoulder, "but I think he's really gone for good."

It had been a long few months after the death of that girl. None of them had suspected that Skittery had had such a deep connection with her until he left unexpectedly a few days later. In a way, they all felt betrayed. He said nothing to them in parting – just left under cover of darkness. And they had heard nothing from him directly since. The reason for his nickname showed itself at last in its ugliest form, and he skittered away. Jack had watched for a few days, to see if maybe his friend only wanted some time away from the prying eyes and ears of the other Newsies, but after two weeks it became apparent that it was more than that. After Oscar hung himself, leaving behind a suicide note chronicling his part in the murder and his later inability to live with himself, Jack was sure that Skittery would show up at the boardinghouse, slouching against a pole and smoking a bummed cigarette. Mush hung on even longer, looking for the missed Newsy long after the others had become resigned to his absence, and hoping he might return. No such luck. Jack pulled on his coat and sighed once more for his friend. He knew firsthand how life could really mess with a man, leaving a trail of carnage in his life behind its wake of destruction, and he pitied Skittery. But he knew that somewhere, someday, Skittery would heal and maybe he would even make it back to them one day, years from now.

And then he turned and left to go carry the banner.