I do not own any part of Newsies, including characters, sayings, etc. Skip/Leech/Firefly, Patches, Sparks, Fish, Slick, Baby-Face, Dash, Mits, Fly, Ace, Bull, Ash, Dodge, Boxer, Spits, Fin, and Henry are mine though!
Enjoy!
Chapter 28: Birdies
Little Henry Fuller was not a particularly social child. He was far too quiet to have any real friends, and he still had the apparently bad habit of sucking his thumb even when at school. That was why he had run away. He was being tease at school and his papa couldn't help him because he had to work bringing all the stray orphans of New York into the refuges. So he had run away, thinking of how he'd leave and never come back until he found a way to make his papa proud.
Needless to say at the ripe old age of six, this was easier said than done. He had become hopelessly lost trying to find one of the 'trains' his father always spoke of. He'd some how ended up at the docks and cried himself to sleep there that night. The next day was when he had met her. Firefly. The Queen of Brooklyn.
When Gabby had showed up to pick pockets and spotted Henry crouched in a coil of ropes, he'd immediately taken him up the docks to Spot. The King of Brooklyn had been lounging in his thrown with his Queen by his side. When Gabby explained the situation, it seemed like the young queen had instantly taken a shining to Henry.
In all honesty, Henry recognized her as soon as he saw her that day at the docks. She was the pretty girl he'd bought a pape for his papa from all those weeks ago. He hadn't known then if he'd ever see the nice girl again, but there she was. She took him back the lodging house after that, doing her best to find out where he came from. He was a boy a few words, so besides his name she didn't get much from him, other than the fact that he liked to suck his thumb. But still, she was good to him, favoring him over all her other boys, much to Spot's displeasure. She was the closest thing he'd ever had to a mama.
And now she was in trouble. Henry stopped running to get his bearings. Not that a six year old really needed to do such a thing, but he was waiting for something. Something that probably should have happened already. His brow puckered as he glanced up at the roof tops. Nothing was happening!
When he was first moving into the lodging house, Firefly had explained to Henry the roles of each and every newsie. He never seemed to see the same newsie twice so it was hard to keep track of who did what, but one thing was certain. One job was always easy to spot from all the others.
The birdies.
Firefly had explained these newsies to him the first time she took him for a breakfast of flap jacks. She'd carried him, pointing her long arms up at the roof tops of almost every building and pointing at the little shadows that at first seemed like part of the building. But as if sensing their Queen's reasoning, they would stand in plane sight as Firefly pointed them.
"Dey watch out fa us," she'd explained in her funny accent that Henry loved. "If we's was eva in trouble, dey would run and get Spot and he'd come and save us."
"Really?" he'd asked in a rare moment of a thumb free mouth before replacing it. She'd chuckled, tugging at his elbow to get him to stop before nodding.
"Yep," she'd sighed. "S'long as dey're dere, we's aint gotta be afraid a nothin."
"Even the dark?"
"Even da dark."
Little Henry Fuller felt his lip start to quiver now as the darkness of the streets started to catch up with him. There were no birdies here. No Spot to save them, and certainly no Firefly to protect him. He hiccupped, hands fisting in his pants as tears leaked down his eyes. He was lost again.
He eased himself onto the sidewalk, full on sobbing now as he tried to decide which way to go. He wanted to go back to Firefly now. To go back and tell her he had tried his best. She wouldn't care if he'd failed. She'd still love him. He wanted her back.
"Mama," he cried, dirty fist rubbing roughly at his eye as he wept.
The street was quiet except for his pitiful whimpers. He'd buried his head in his knees and didn't even hear the sound of boots thumping against a fire escape before landing on the ground of the alley of to his left. The little boy jumped as a large hand came down on his shoulder. Looking up he rubbed his eyes and saw the face of Slick. The older child frowned at him in confusion.
"Henry?" he said confusedly. "I's thought yous was wit-"
He was cut off as Henry launched himself forward and latched himself onto the newsies front. He'd found one! He'd found a birdie! He cried in happiness and bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly. They were going to save his mama!
"Whoa dere!" Slick said, prying Henry off of him, he crouched to be eye level with the boy and spoke seriously. "What're yous doin all da way ova hea? I's thought yous was with Firefly and Spot at Medda's."
Henry more or less realized at that moment that he had no sense of place. He didn't have a clue as to where they had been or where he had come from or how to get back there to save Firefly. They were still in Brooklyn weren't they? Slick saw the boys eyes start to grow wide in fear and clapped a hand to the back of his neck, pulling his forehead to his own as if the kid were his own brother.
"Henry," he said seriously, locking eyes so that he knew he had the boy's complete attention. "What happened?"
Henry fidgeted, forehead sweaty against Slick's as he tried to find the right words. His innocent mind had no words to voice what he had seen those bad boys doing to Firefly. He had never seen anyone hit like that before and didn't want to talk about it. But they were running out of time!
His eyes watered and he felt Slick squeeze his neck a bit tighter as he looked for the words to send him racing off to Spot and warning all of Brooklyn.
"The Queen's in trouble," he whispered as if sharing a dire secret. Slick's eyes searched his for some sort of joke before he straightened to his full height. He looked around, chest already rising and falling faster than it had two seconds ago.
After a minute of contemplation he nodded in finality and reached his hand out to Henry. The young boy took it and curled his legs up as Slick flung him onto his back where he then wrapped them around the older boy's stomach. Slick glanced back to make sure he had a firm grip around his neck.
"Hold on, kid," he warned before taking off at a full sprint. Henry clutched at his shoulders, wind whipping away from his forehead as they raced to warn Brooklyn. His head perked up a bit as Slick suddenly lifted two fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle without breaking stride. Within seconds a chorus of whistles was going off from every direction and Henry beamed. The birdies had come through.
Don't know what made me think of this but I just thought it'd be a nice touch to have something from Henry's point of view and sort of explain where he came from while still moving along with the story [which is very close to being over fyi!] But yes, he's the little boy from the seventh chapter, did anyone see that coming? Be honest! Sorry it's a bit on the short side, but hope you still enjoyed this!
Thanks for reading!
~monie
p.s. didn't realize it until just now, but the next chapter might just be the last chapter before the epilogue! oh god! I cant be sure!
