"Finished!" Sprints exclaimed holding up her now corrected and rewritten story for, what they decided to call, the Newsie Banner.
"Good, now let's get this moving," Abram told them, "We have a deadline." The four teenagers nodded.
It was a few hours into their printing, and moments into Sarah's embrace of Jack from behind, when Sprints saw Jack realize something, "There's change comin' once for all. You makes the front page, and then you'se is major news."
David joined in on his revelation, "Tomorrow they'll see what we are, and sure as a star, we ain't come this far…to lose."
Sprints went back to her process of counting out a hundred papers, stacking them up in a straight stack, and then tying them up with some string that was strong enough to hold all the paper. "This is the story we needed to write as we're kept outta sigh, but no more." The two boys continued.
"In a few hours by dawn's early light we'll be ready to fight us a war." Sprints remarked as she joined in. 98…99…100. Stack, straighten stack, tie up.
"This time we're in it to stay," Jack remarked determinedly.
"Talk about seizing the day." David added.
"Write it in ink or in blood, it's the same either way." Sprints remarked. The four other occupants of the Distribution Center's basement of sorts looked up at her in slightly frightened confusion, "They're gonna damn well pay." She told them in rhythm. They went back to doing their work in silence for a few more hours.
They stopped though, when they heard it, "So, uh, Jackie-boi," the voice of Ractrack remarked from the window that was at the top, "I hear ya need a pape'a distributed."
"Yeah, we do Race, wanna help?" Sarah remarked with a smile.
Racetrack looked over at Sprints his facial expression asking "is she for real?" He then turned to Jack and remarked, "Give me some, and be prepared for da rest 'a' Manhattan ta come down ta help." Jack smiled grandly at Ractrack before he passed up a stack that Sprints had made.
It was three hours later, after all of the papes they had printed were handed out to be distributed, that they were allowed to crawl out. Abram went first, after a hug and a good bye from Sprints, and was followed by David, who said, "It was awfully kind of Pulitzer to let us use his press."
"Yeah, I just hope we get the chance to thank him someday." Jack chuckled.
Sprints stood flanked by Jack and David as they walked from door to door in a neighborhood until they came to the end of the street that led back into the main part of the city. At the end was a blacksmith workhouse. Most of the boys in there, Sprints knew, were around the age of her, David, and Jack. She glanced to both of the boys that stood on either side of her. She then took a deep breath and walked in. "Sprints!" Jack exclaimed in astonishment running after her, "What the hell do ya think yer doin'?" he asked her.
"Distributing," she told him as she knocked on the door to get the boys' attention. "How many of you, or which one of you, knows how ta read?" she asked them.
"I do," a boy remarked coming up to them. Sprints grabbed a paper with her ink stained hands and handed one to him, pausing when she saw his face.
"Clarence?" she asked in astonishment.
"An–" she cut her older brother off with a shake of her head.
"It's me," she told him, "Just know dat it's me."
"What are you doing with a bunch of newsies?" he asked her in response.
"Tryin' ta win a strike, you wanna help us out?" she asked him kind of angry that he was judging her.
"Yeah," he remarked.
"Then read this, and read it to ya cowoikas." She told him, handing him the paper they had printed.
"Will do," he told her, squeezing her in a tight hug burying her in his large muscles from working as a blacksmith. "I'll see ya around," he asked.
"Hopefully," she smiled at him.
Now, having seen her older brother that was only older than her by three years, making him nineteen and younger than Abram, Sprints was fueled with more confidence about their strike. "See old man Pulitzer snug in his bed, he don't care if we're dead or alive," she heard Jack remark in rhythm.
"Three satin pillows are under his head, while we're begging for bread to survive." Sprints added.
"Joe, you can stop counting sheep, we're gonna sing ya to sleep! You've got your thugs with their sticks and their slugs, Yeah! But we got a promise to keep!" The newsies that were spread all over New York sang out.
X
Sprints stared up at the large building nervously before heading up the steps. She had split off from Jack, David, Sarah, and Les after they had come out of the sweatshop. Seeing her brothers made her think of an old friend of her father's. She took a deep breath when she came to the door, and then pushed it open.
She walked over to the tall desk. "Get outta here, kid." The woman working the front desk snapped.
Sprints stood her ground with a sneer, "Tell the govena that Anna Richardson is here to see him."
The woman studied Sprints for a long while, staring her down to get her to leave. When she finally realized that Sprints wasn't going to she reached for the phone and called someone. "Sir," she remarked, "There's an Anna Richardson here to see you." she rolled her eyes at Sprints when the governor didn't answer.
The woman was about to call the police, Sprints could tell, but then she heard the voice of the governor through the phone. The woman's mouth formed an O and then she allowed Sprints to go up.
She stood in front of the governor's office door and smoothed out her ratty clothes and took off her cap, tucking it into her back pocket. She knocked on the door, "Come in." his voice called out.
Sprints pushed open the door and walked in. "Well, Anna, you've changed a lot since I've last seen you." the man chuckled.
"I would assume so," Sprints remarked awkwardly standing there in front of her father's old friend.
"Well, sit down. Tell me what I can do for you, Anna. I owe your father at least that."
Sprints pulled one of her papers from her stack and handed it to him. Mister Roosevelt took the paper and read over it. "Disgraceful!" he exclaimed when he was finished reading. Sprints nodded in agreement, "And I did nothing." He muttered to himself, "Until now."
The governor of New York stood from his desk and walked towards the door grabbing his top hat and cane. "You go on ahead, Anna. I'll be there soon, don't you worry."
"Of course, sir." She remarked before hurrying down the steps and out of the large building. She breathed a sigh of relief afterwards and booked it towards The World building.
A/N: The song in this chapter is the first half of "Once and for All" from the Broadway production of Newsies.