Chapter 10. ENJOY My Fellow Peeps!
Ok. So. Since the last chapter took FOR FREAKING EVER to get up on here, I made sure to make this chapter extra special and longer! I hope you will enjoy it...I was up late (again) Yeah I have a sleeping problem and writing helps me, plus the sleepy time tea workds like magic XD hah! So yeah. I made this longer for you girls. When I was typing it it came out to be 7 seven pages...almost 8...So there ya are! Enjoy your read :) Please R&R
Sophia held her fist up at the King of Brooklyn. Her eyes furrowed and the cool hair blew back her long brown hair.
"C'mon, Smalls. Show me what youse got!" he said to her. Sophia took in a deep breath and ran at Spot, swinging her right fist at full speed. Spot easily dodged it and grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her. "Is that youse got, Smalls? C'mon. If youse wanna walk 'round Brooklyn alone ya gotta show me that youse got what it takes, goily." he said to her in her ear and then released her.
Sophia stumbled off a bit then spun around fast to face Spot again. She was bound and determined to give him one good hit to the face if it were to be the last thing she'd ever do!
"Relax, Smalls. It's just me." He then held his arms a little ways from his side and bent over a bit, getting ready for Sophia to charge again. As this was happening, the Brooklyn newsie boys watched the two wrestle each other on the dock. They had to admit that Smalls was a pretty good fighter...for a girl anyway.
Sophia took in another deep breath and released it. She Took a step forward and then went at him in full speed. Spot dodged her attack but that was exactly what she was planning for and took a step back, spun around and slammed Spot with her fist in his gut.
"Oooh!" were the words that spat out of the newsie boys' mouths as Spot fell to one knee. Sophia took a few steps back brushed some hair out of her face.
"How's THAT for a hit?" she said looking down at him.
Still holding on to his gut he answered her, "N-not bad at all, Smalls." he then looked up her and smirked. That wasn't the end of their little practice fight. Spot shot up and ran himself into Sophia and the two of them fell into the water. SPLASH!
Sophia came up, gasping for air, while Spot laughed his ass off.
"That wasn't funny, Spot Conlon! You know I can't swim that well." She yelled at him while struggling to swim to the dock and hold on to it.
Spot rolled his eyes. "Chill out, Smalls." he swam up to her squirted water out her mouth on top of her head.
"Ew! That's gross, Spot!"
Spot mocked her words. "Ew! That's gross, Spot!" he said in a girly tone.
Sophia growled and pulled herself up on to the dock.
Later on that day, as Sophia dried her off and got into more new clothes, she walked down stairs to find Jack there. All the newsie boys, including Spot was there, crowded around him. When Jack saw Sophia walk into the room he stopped talking and looked over at her. The rest of the newsie boys and even Spot turned around and then looked back at Jack.
"So youse was sayin' Jack?" said one of the newsie boys.
Jack ignored the newsie boys' words and told everyone goodbye. After that everyone scattered about and the room was quiet. Even Spot seemed a little concerned.
Sophia was worried and walked over to him and asked, "Spot, what's going on?" He only shook his head. "Tell me Spot!" but he would not.
"Sorry, Smalls. There's somewhere Ise has ta go. You keep me newise boys in tip top shape will ya?" with that Spot left the lodging house.
Spot walked outside of the lodging house and saw Jack heading towards Manhattan. "Eh jacky boy! Wait up will ya?" he ran to catch up to Cowboy. "What do ya mean theres somethin' wrong with Tom Tom?"
"Youse heard me Spot. He's sick."
"Yeah? Sick with what?" he asked.
"The Doc says he's got somethin' called...T-Tu-Tuber- Tuberculosis, I think."
"And what hell is that?" said Spot.
Cowboy shrugged. "I gots no idea, Spot. He's just really sick and hasn't been able to sell papes lately so he's was kicked outa the lodhing house."
"What?" Spot couldn't believe this.
"Don't worry though. He's oveh at Medda's right now."
"Ah shit! Smalls is gonna be pretty upset 'bout this." Spot crossed his arms as her walked. He felt bad for Sophia. How could this happen to her? it just wasn't fair. "I gotta go see 'em." said Spot.
Jack stopped. "What? Youse crazy? He's sicker than a dog oveh there!" He grabbed on to Spot's arm.
Spot yanked his arm back and glared at Jack. "Don't try ta stop me Jack boy. Ise gotta see 'em with my own two eyes." Spot changed directions and started to walk to Medda's.
Medda's place was quiet tonight. She was taking a break from all that singing and dancing, but she mostly just wanted to take care of Tommy. Spot knocked on the door a couple of times and when no one answered he let himself in.
"I'm tellin' ya, Spot. Youse don't wanna do this."
Spot stopped and turned back to at jack. He was about to say something until Medda came walking into the room.
"Boys?" she said.
Spot turned back around and walked up to her. "Medda! Youse gotta let me see Tom Tom."
Medda's face went from a small smile to a sad look. "So you know?" he nodded. "Does Sophia know?"
"Nah. That's why I'm here. I need ta see for me self."
Medda sighed and moved to the side. "He's right in that room, Dear."
"Don't Spot!" yelled Jack, but Spot ignored him and closed the door in his face and locked it.
When Spot turned around he laid eyes on a sick Tommy. He's sick was as pale as ever and his hair was wet from all the sweating and his clothes stuck to his skin. He turned his head and smiled a little when he saw that Spot conlon was there.
"Eh Spot. How's it rollin'?"
Spot laughed a little. "That's my line." he then got a look of concern. "I hear ya sick Tom Tom."
Tommy's smile fadded. "Yeah. Looks like it. The Doc says he can't do much for me. Guess I'll have to wait it out then." he then started to cough. It was a loud raspy sound. It was then when Medda and Jack came running through the door.
"How ya two get in?" asked Spot.
"I've got keys, Spot." explained Medda. Everyone's attention then went back to Tommy who started to cough again. Medda swooshed Spot out of the way and she got down on her knees and put a wet cloth to Tommys head.
"Is he gonna make it?" asked Spot. Jack seemed interested to know and waited for Medda's reply. She did not turn around though, instead she picked up Tommys head slightly and slipped some water down his mouth. The water seemed to be too much though as the outcome of it was him puking it all out and with blood to go along with it. Spot couldn't stand it anymore. He ran out of the room Jack hot on his heels.
Spot put his hands up against the wall, trying not to puke himself.
"Youse ok, Spot?" asked Jack.
Spot pushed back Jacks hand that reached for him. "Ise fine, Jacky boy...just...don't touch me." Spot then left Medda's. The cool air hit his face when he walked down the streets and heard Jack call after him. He ignored him though and walked back to Brooklyn.
When he got back to the lodging house he noticed that most of his newsie boys were gone but he didn't care, he had too much on his mind to care about where they were at the moment. He started to walked up to his room when Sophia called to him, but he didn't care to hear what she had to say. When he got to his room he instantly fell flat on his back on to his bed. Sophia followed after him though and walked up to the bed, looking down at him she said, "What's the matter?"
"Go away, Smalls." he told her.
Sophia kicked the side of the bed, trying to get Spot's attention better. "I want to know, Spot. Tell me."
He then shot up out of his bed. Sophia moved back a little. She was taken aback by Spot's fast movement. He took her by the shoulders and looked her straight into the face. "Do you REALLY want to know, Smalls?" She slowly nodded. "What I am about to tell is going to be really hard for you to understand." Sophia waiting for Spot to continue. "Tom Tom is sick, Sophia."
Sophia's eyes grew wide. "What?" she said in a quiet voice.
Spot loosened his grip on her shoulders. "He's coughin' up blood and puking. I have no idea what's wrong with him."
Sophia looked down at her feet. "He's...sick?" Spot didn't say anything. Sophia stepped away from Spot and walked to the door.
"Smalls?" Spot called out to her, but she didn't stop and left Spot alone in his room.
Sophia sat down on a chair. He's head hung low as she looked down at her palms. She then started to play with the ends of her hair. Why Tommy? She thought. Why my family? She then picked up her head.
"I can go buy medicine for him." she aloud to herself, but she slipped back into her chair and sighed. She had no money, at least not as much as she would like to have. Sophia continued to play with her hair and then suddenly stopped. She stood up fast and grabbed a scarf to protect her from the fall winds. Sophia then headed outside and was well on her way to the Brooklyn streets.
Sophia stopped in front of a salon, taking a deep breath she stepped inside. She walked up to the counter and undid the scarf a little from her neck.
"What can I do for you, young lady?" asked the salon man. I need you to cut my hair."
The salon man looked at her, surprised that such a pretty young girl would want to cut her long beautiful hair. "Are you sure, sweetie?" she nodded. "Alright then. Follow me." Sophia followed the man further into the salon and sat down on a plastic, yet comfy chair. "Let me take a good look at your hair now." said the man. He looked her hair over and over again for about a minute and then said to her, "I'll give you five bucks for it. How does that sound?" Sophia thought about it for a while and then nodded. The man then started up some water in a sink and placed Sophia's hair under it, getting all wet and then added a nice lavender scented shampoo to it. It had been months since her hair was this clean and she was getting paid for it!
After her hair was washed the man slowly and carefully combed out her hair so that it was nice and straight. He then brought it all together and grabbed for the scissors. "Are you sure about this?" he asked her one last time. There's no backing out now, she thought to herself.
"I'm sure." she told the man. CHOP! With that, Sophia's long hair was gone. Sophia's heart sank, her eyes stung from the tears that wanted to escape, but she held them in. The man then handed her the money and Sophia wrapped her scarf around her again.
"Wait!" called the man. "Take this. It's rather cold out there." The man tossed her a dark blue knitted hat.
Sophia rubbed the top of the hat with her thumbs and then looked up at the man. "Thank you so much, sir." The man smiled and waved her off.
It was hard for Sophia to get used to the feeling of having short hair. She felt it brush up against her neck at the cold wind blew. Sophia quickly pulled the hat on to her head for warmth. On her way back to Brooklyn the Delancy brothers spotted her. Surprised by her new look they walked up fast to her.
"Hey Smalls!" said the oldest brother. She shot them each a nasty glare.
"No need to be like that." said the younger one. "we'se just wanna see yet knew hair do."
"Go away." She told them, but they wouldn't listen. Soon the youngest brother yanked off her hair and waved it into the air. "Give that back!" she yelled.
"Nah. Ya gotta jump for it foist." he held her hat up high into the air. Sophia glared up at him and then jumped. The two brother laughed at her. She was being completely humiliated by these jerks!
Sophia had just about enough of it and needed to get to a store to find some medicine for Tommy. "You son of a bitch!" she yelled and punched the youngest brother in the stomach. He dropped the hat and Sophia quickly picked it up and started to run for it.
Just as she was about to reach the Brooklyn bridge, the oldest Delancy brother grabbed on to her short hair and yanked her back so hard to fell flat on her back. He then took her by the arm and dragged her to an alley. There she met up with the younger delancy brother. They shoved her around a bit, back and forth and then started to check her pockets. What had she ever done to those boys to deserve this? The oldest Delancy brother then grabbed out her five dollar bill.
"Well looky here. Seems like dis young lady cut her hair her money. That's too bad. You looked better with your long hair. Now ya just look ugly." The words shot deep into her skin but not as bad when he started to rip up the bill in tiny pieces.
"No! Stop it!" when she tried reaching for it he let go of the money and it blew away with the wind. Sophia dropped to her knee's. Tears forming in her eyes. The youngest brother then dropped Sophia's hat and it plopped on her lap. The two brother then walked away, leaving Sophia there in the alley. When they were gone she picked herself up and put on her new hat and ran all the way back to the lodging house without stopping.
when she got back all the newsie boys were gone. She sat down in a chair and removed her scarf. She was completely hopeless now. She had no money. Her beautiful hair was gone and the word 'ugly' rang through her ears over and over again.
"Where have you been?" Spot asked her, walking into the main room.
"I took a walk."
"Hmm. Where ya get the hat then?"
"Nowhere that concerns you." she placed the scarf on the back of the chair.
Spot ignored her rude brush off and walked up to her. "Let me see ya hat then."
"No!" but it was too late, Spot had pulled it off her head. Silence filled the room for a moment.
"What the HELL did you do to ya HAIR?" he yelled.
Spot's hard words was what did her in and she fell to her knee's and cried her eyes out. "I'm sorry, Spot. R-really. I am. I o-only wanted t-to get some medicine for Tommy." Spot instantly felt terrible for yelling at her. He knew how bad she felt. Spot picked her up bridal style and carried her to his bed room and placed her on the bed. He sat down next to her waiting for her sniffles to subside and then spoke.
"So how much money did ya get?"
"Five dollars..." she answered, hardly making a sound.
"Really? Well that's great, Smalls!" he rubbed her soft little hand that was closest to his. "So where is it?" he then asked and that was then when her bottom lip started to shake and the tears formed in her eyes and thus she began to cry again. She covered her face and turned away from Spot. Spot leaned his head over her and rubbed her shoulder.
"Hey tootsie. What's da matteh?"
Sophia controlled her crying long enough to get three words out. "T-the Delancy brothers."
Spot then said, "What did they's want with ya?"
"They...they t-took the money, Spot...and ripped it u-up."
Spot sat up straight. "What?" he was furious. He stood up fast and started walking towards the door.
Sophia realized this and sat up quickly. "Spot! Where are you going?" she called out to him.
Spot stopped and walked back to her, grabbed her chin with his pointer finger and thumb, pulled her face in and kissed her hard. "Ise gonna go give those damn Delancy brotheh's what they deserve fer messin' with my woman! Youse got that, babe?" with that, Spohia was left speechless and watched as Spot left the room.
By the time Spot got out of Brooklyn it was just about dark. The wind was colder and it stung his cheeks a little, making them turn pink. He kept his eyes wide open for those damn Delancy brothers. He was gonna make them pay for what they did to Sophia. He checked some of the bars but didn't see them there, but he was about to give up. Spot walked to the street where had his newspaper shop. He circled the block a couple of times, and sure enough he caught sight of one of the brothers. It was the younger one. He made his way over there in long strides and soon the oldest appeared. Great. He thought. I gets ta soak 'em at the same time. A smirk appeared on his face.
The youngest Delancy brother turned and saw Spot coming. "Oh hey. It's Spot Conlon." The oldest then turned around and nodded his head with a little sly smile on his face. This didn't scare Spot one bit though. He grabbed out his cain and quickly hit the oldest brother in the face with it. The youngest was about to punch spot right then, but Spot was too fast and kicked him the knee. He fell to his knees and Spot raised his Cain and hit the youngest Delancy brother's back with it, making him fall the rest of the way.
"You BASTARDS got SOME nerve messin' 'round with MY woman!" Spot yelled at the top of his lungs and started to kick the crap out of them and occasionally he would hit them with his Cain again to keep them down. By the these two bone heads woke up after getting a beating from Spot they wouldn't remember that he was the one responsible.
Not all the luck was on Spot's side though. A whistle sounded through the air. A police man had caught him. Spot cursed and quickly searched through all the brothers' pockets and found a good wad of cash and went on running.
"Stop!" the police man called out. Spot wasn't stupid though and kept on running and made his way on to the Brooklyn Bridge, but as dumb luck would have it, more police man made they're towards him on the bridge.
"Ya gota ta be kiddin' me!" he yelled. Spot was now trapped on both side. He couldn't run back and he couldn't run forward. The police came closer and closer. Spot then ran to the side of the Brooklyn Bridge and jumped off.
"No!" yelled one of the police.
"That's suicide!" yelled another.
"He's long gone now boys. It's best we forget about him for good." said the fattest one of all of them.
Spot reached the surface and gasped for air. The current was strong and water kept splashing into his face so it was hard for him to get a good look at things or even get a good enough breather and the cold fall water wasn't helping at all. He followed the motions of the water to figure out where he was going. He then started to swim to his left, the side where Brooklyn was. It was a long swim, but he did it and just about passed out when he reached land. He never thought that running from the cops would be so difficult.
Spot picked himself up and walked the rest of the way back to the lodging house. When he got there his newsie boys were already asleep. It was high time for him too to get to bed and he slugged the rest of the way upstairs.
"Spot? What happened to you? Why are you all wet?" asked Sophia, running up to him and helping him walk the rest of the way to the bed. Spot flopped down and started taking off his wet clothes. Soon he was only in his underwear. Sophia couldn't help but blush.
"Smalls." he said quietly. "Look in my pants pockets."
"Why?" she asked.
"Just do it goily."
Sophia sighed and picked up his wet pants and started searching through the pockets. She then grabbed out a whole thing of cash. She gasped. "Spot, where on earth did you get this?"
A smile crept on his face. "Delancy brothers sure carry a lot of money on 'em." he then turned over and fell fast to sleep.
There in Sophia's hands was twenty dollars in cash. "Spot." she said softly. "I think I really do love you." but he was too deep in sleep to hear her words.
The next day, Sophia and Spot went to the store to find some good medicine for Tommy. All they could find were some ointments. All in all, everything ended up costing them five dollars. They then made their way to medda's by slipping in through the back door. Sophia walked up to a man who was cleaning the floor and said, "Sire. Could you tell me where Medda is? It's very important that I see her."
"Here I am child. What do you need?" asked Medda coming down the stairs from the stage.
"Oh Medda! Thank goodness! I need to know where Tommy is. I have stuff for him that can help him get better."
Medda looked down at the poor girl who wanted so desperately help her older brother. Medda looked past Sophia and at Spot. When he nodded Medda looked back at Sophia. "This way child."
The two followed Medda to where Tommy was being kept. Sophia's heart just about broke when she saw the condition her brother was in.
"Hey Tommy." she said softly, walking up to him and taking a seat on a chair next to the bed.
"A lot of newsie boys keep coming by to see how he's doing." explained Medda. "Racetrack, Blink, jack, David and even less come by every single day. Everyone is so worried about him."
"What did the doctor say?" asked Sophia.
"He didn't say much."
Tommy then opened his eyes, seeing his little sister next to him warmed his heart and brought him joy. He had wanted to see her the most. "Anna Sophia." he said slowly as he reached out his hand. Sophia quickly grabbed it and rested his hand on her lap. It was so cold. His whole body seemed to be shivering, but it looked like he had plenty of blankets. "Medda? Could you get me some warm water and a rag, please?" asked Sophia.
"Sure darling." with that Medda left the room to get the water and rag. A few moments later she came back and placed the tin bowl on the bed with the rag inside it.
"Hand me the medicen gab, will you Spot?" Sophia asked him. Spot handed her the bag and Medda and him watched and she went through it and put little droplets of clear medicine in the water and then crunched up some dry leaves and sprinkled it all in there. She let it set for a while and then took the rag and squeezed it. She placed it on Tommy's forehead.
A few knocks then sounded on the door and Medda went to open in it. In came jack, Racetrack, Blink, David, Less and even Boots and Crutchy and Mush. They all gathered around him. Tommy started to breath harder and his voice was still raspy. The feeling in the room was heavy and a dark feeling swam over everyone. Tommy looked up at Spot and said, "Spot...you keep a safe eye on her will ya. Make sure that she's always safe and with you." Spot knew why he was saying this but didn't want to admit it to himself. Tommy then looked over at his little sister. "Sophia...I'm real sorry."
Sophia shook her head. "No. Don't be. This isn't your fault at all."
Tommy smiled and shook his head. "I'm sorry I took you so far away from home."
A few tears fell down her cheeks. "No, no, Tommy. Don't apologize for that. It's alright. Really. My home is where ever you go, so don't worry about it, kay?" she gave him a small smile and rubbed his cold hand. The air was now thick. Tommy smiled back at his sister but then started to cough up blood again. The tin bowl spilled over as Sophia tried to help her brother, but there was not much she could do for him. He started to breathe hard now. His chest raising up and down within seconds. More tears fell from Sophia's eyes and on to her brothers pale face as she looked down at him.
"It's ok, Tommy. It's ok. You can go now. You can go home and see mom and dad and even our little baby brother. You don't have to suffer anymore." with that Tommy's breaths subsided as he heard the words of his sister. "Thank you...I love you, Sophia." he said and with that Tommy's breaths stopped coming and Sophia looked deep into her brothers dark, colorless eyes. Tommy was dead.
I feel as if I did a major bitch move with Tommy's death...BUT...you girls will just have to see what happens next! :D