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After the sun light stopped shining through the small windows of the kitchen and Alex took the final taste of her soup to ensure it was perfect, she lightly treaded out of the small kitchen. She carried the large pot in her hands; it's weight almost sent her toppling to the floor. Leaving the room behind, she listened to the steadily growing noise level coming from the main room. Nearly dropping the pot, she gasped at the sight that welcomed her to the Lobby. Boys filled every inch of the space, all holding their bowls and spoons.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, trying to regain her composure.
Roller walked up to her and smiled.
"All a' da Brooklyn newsies heard youse was cooking and came over to see if youse was any good."
When she didn't move an inch, the little boy became frustrated. He tugged at the skirt of her dress anxiously.
"Come on!" he implored.
Silently praying that there would be enough food to feed everyone, Alex set the pot down on the reception desk. She sprinted into the kitchen and pulled out all the bread she could find, quickly bringing it out to the boys. Slicing it up and putting it with the soup, Alex groaned under her breath. Back in Queens, people had the common decency of telling her how many newsies were coming for dinner, so she would always have enough for everyone. But Spot Conlon has no common decency, she argued with herself, smirking.
Boys began to line up, holding their bowls. The rag-tag group nearly made Alex laugh out loud. Each boy had his own personality, and she marveled at how anyone could call them all the alike. Jazz, toward the back of the line, held his barrel under his arm, tapping out a quick rhythm out of boredom. Some random newsie casually shuffled a deck of cards. Hayseed was lighting up a cigarette for Dealer. Roller showed off his marble bag to some other newsies around his age. But they all kept their hats off in respect of the lady, and they all laughed and joked with each other as they waited somewhat impatiently for the supper Alex had prepared. Their clothes rarely matched and almost all had holes in them. It made her think of her newsies back in Queens.
She thought of Bear, with his big smile and his humongous frame. She remembered how he could sleep for days on end and how he wouldn't wake up even if she yelled in his ears for hours. The girl mused if any of these boys were like Bear, or if they were all hard and rough like Conlon. When Roller came up to get his dinner, she thought of Rabbit, the little boy who tagged along at her heels and never gave her a moment's rest. As the line got shorter, she remembered Rusty, the tiny but fiery boy who taught her to fight. Would any boy here try to help her like he did?
Then Spot came to the front of the line. He was nothing like West. Alex tried not to think too much about him, because her heart broke at the thought of her leader back in Queens. But looking at Spot, she couldn't help but remember the boy who had taken her off the streets and into the Lodging House to take care of the Queens newsies. He was her best friend, the only one she could tell everything to. Spot handed her his bowl frustratedly. So she shook West out of her head, dismissing all memories of him for the time being. Alex smiled a sad smile and Spot moved along without a word.
"Heya, Queenie! Smells good!" Dealer said, offering his bowl to her.
Alex took it from him, smiling and ladled out some soup.
"I hope you like it," she responded, giving the bowl back to him.
He winked at her.
"I'm sure I will,"
Jazz came up behind Dealer.
"Don't mind 'im. He's a bit loony. Thanks for supper, Queenie."
Dealer reached behind him and slapped Jazz's arms, nearly knocked the bowl to the floor.
"See, what'd I tell ya, Queenie? He's crazy."
Alex laughed at the two boys and rolled her eyes.
"Move along," she told them, waving them away with a smile.
Ghost sulked in a corner, watching her interact with them as though they were best friends. Spot looked on as well, wishing he could act so freely with her. The rest of the boys came and went, thanking her as they walked away. After they were all happily slurping their the soup up, she scraped the last drippings from the bottom of the bowl for herself and went to sit by Roller, who had saved her a large armchair next to Spot.
"Queenie! Queenie! Queenie!" He said, bouncing so much that he nearly spilt the last of his supper across the floor she had cleaned only that afternoon.
Alex placed herself in the armchair, gently asking him to calm down.
"Sorry," he said, sitting still in his chair once more.
The girl nodded and smiled at him.
"Dis is da best soup Ise ever had in my life! It's just likes…."
He lifted the bowl to his mouth and gulped the last drops of soup from the bottom of it.
"It's just likes da most delicious thing in da world. And I loves food, Queenie. A lot. Ise know what good foods are. Well, Ise means, we didn't eats too good for a while durin' da strike, 'cause no one had any moneys. But anyway, I once had dis stuff over in 'Hattan, and it was dis fluffy stuff dat we got from Medda's, and-"
Spot threw a fed up, annoyed glance at the little boy, effectively shutting up the younger boy's rambling.
"Could use a little salt," Spot commented, taking a large spoonful into his mouth.
Alex knew by now he just said those things to get to her.
"There is some in the kitchen. You are more than welcome to it," she said, nonchalantly.
"On second thought, it doesn't need any salt."
Lazy boy, Alex thought to herself. The room was quieted for a moment as everyone ate. Finally getting to begin her dinner, Alex realized just how hungry she was. She almost inhaled her soup, all the while ignoring the whispers and stares that came from every corner of the room. Suddenly, Jazz appeared in front out of nowhere, making himself comfortable on the floor in front of her.
"Heya, Spot," he said, nodding to his leader.
Spot nodded in recognition, continuing to eat his meal. Alex put her supper to the side, not caring when Roller picked it up and scraped what was left into his mouth.
"Bonjour, madamoiselle."
Giggling at how the French word sounded in New York accent, Alex attempted to swallow a mouthful of water.
"Hello, Jazz."
Jazz sat there for a moment, and looked at something over Alex's shoulder before chuckling under his breath and rolling his eyes.
"Somma da boys been wonderin' some things, and I didn' want any a' dem to spoil ya gleaming reputation, so I figured I'd come over heres and ask ya myself."
Nodding cautiously, Alex said,
"Go ahead."
She didn't notice how the entire room shifted around her. The clinking of silverware against bowls and the quiet chatter ceased entirely, and everyone's attention shifted her way. Jazz noticed it and began smiling at how oblivious she was to everything.
"Well, da first one's not so bad, ya see."
The girl nodded for him to continue.
"How long ya gonna be stayin' with us?" he asked.
Alex laughed.
"I'm stayin' here 'til Christmas," she said, smiling sadly.
Jazz counted on his fingers, doing the math quickly.
"And dat's what? Two months?"
Boys around them gasped quietly, either surprised that Queens would give her up for that long, or upset that they would only have her for that short period of time.
"Yes, I believe it was two months that the boys agreed on."
Jazz nodded and leaned forward toward her.
"And dis is da one youse gotta be real honest about, yeah?"
The girl nodded, still completely unconscious to the attention she was getting from the rest of the room.
"What's da deal with you and West? I mean, are youse two togeda, or what?"
Spot's gaze snapped over to the girl, who said nothing for a moment. Finally, she took in a large gulp of air.
"Well, you see, West and I-"
Just at that moment, The door to the Lodging House swung open.
"Spot!" a voice called.
Everyone's gaze snapped to the door. A boy stood there, soaked to the skin from the rain that began to pour outside the Lodging House. He was thin and scrawny with captivating blue-green eyes that matched the color of the ocean. His red-brown hair told Alex he was Irish. She noticed that he held his cap in his hands and he didn't wear suspenders like the rest of the male population of New York did. Alex fought off a smile as he pulled his pants up. I will have to find him some suspenders, she thought to herself.
"Heya, Queenie," the boy said cheerily, an endearing blush creeping across his face as he made eye contact with the girl.
Dropping his cheery attitude for a serious one, he leaned down toward Spot and began to rapidly whisper in his ear. The room went quiet, as though they were trying to catch bits of their conversation.
Leaning over to Jazz, she whispered,
"Whose that?"
"Dat's Cutter…. He's one a' Spot's little birdies. I thought he was gonna be in Harlem dis week…" he trailed off.
Alex looked at Cutter and Spot, flashing back to the conversations she had with West and Bear not even a week before.
"Up in Harlem, dey's getting restless," Bear told West.
West sighed and rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. Confusedly, Alex asked,
"What do you mean by that?"
Both boys looked at her.
"It means dey aren't liking dere new management, so's to speak," Bear said.
"Paris ain't doin' too good a job as dere leader, and some a' da guys is getting antsy for a new one."
A long silence fell between the three.
"What do you think will happen, then?" She asked the two boys.
Bear and West looked at each other for a long time.
"Well, If dey'se smart, dey'll talk to da leaders of the other boroughs fors a formal renaming of a leader."
"And if they're not smart?"
"Dey'll try to take him out demselves."
The Brooklyn Lodging House was silent. All the boys sat and waited for the word from Spot.
How was it? Please, please review! And please don't forget to nominate me for the New York Newsies Awards!! I posted the link on my profile. (The link to my twitter account is on there, too.... If you're interested. :)