Act Two: Back to the Present, Sort of
"Extra! Extra! 'Blackout Stirs Citywide Confusion!'" I shouted at my usual selling spot. What a headline! We usually didn't get exciting news like this. Most of the time, we had to make stuff up to sell our papes. Boy, I've sold quite a few snoozers since I learned the trick of the trade from Beaver. You wouldn't believe the stuff I had to say just to earn a penny. Reminds me of the time we went on strike, as we were inspired by the trolley workers' story that had appeared in the headline. I'm glad we haven't had to sell the same story for three weeks like we had to that time. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. You see, back in the summer, Pulitzer raised our newspaper price and so we went on strike. At first, it looked like we would never win. There was even a time when Snyder the Spider made us think that poor Crutchie killed himself while at the Refuge, a jail for juveniles. But we discovered the truth, and through a series of events, we came out on top. We also gained friends. Though Les and Davey Jacobs had to return to school, we still stayed in contact through letters. Jack finally won himself a girl, Kathrine or Ace, as we now considered her one of us. And then there was Gabbs. Gabby Jones disguised herself as a newsie so we would accept her into our family. Why she didn't tell us she was a girl in the first place, I don't think any of us knew. Something told me that Crutchie might though. After the strike, those two were acting real buddy-buddy. Too buddy-buddy. Crutchie would sit down and eat the daily moldy bread and Gabbs would always sit next to him. He would whisper in her ear and she would laugh quietly as if she didn't want anyone else to hear. I would dismiss it as pure friendship. But there was always this little voice inside me that said otherwise. I should have listened to it. I mean Crutchie kissed Gabbs after he miraculously survived a fall from the railing. Sure, I knew he liked her, but I was in denial that she liked him back. Especially since...I thought I was the one she liked.
I wasn't really surprised when I found out Gabbs was a girl. It would explain why I thought I was crushing on a guy. It sure made a hell of a lot more sense. I wasn't upset she was a girl. I was upset that she didn't trust me enough to tell the truth to begin with. But I guess things happen sometimes without explanation. Like for instance, a couple of times I've seen Gabbs or Crutchie talking to themselves. But what was really strange about it, is that they seemed to be having a conversation. As if they were talking to someone that I couldn't see or hear. Weird, right? I mean, I would assume they had an imaginary friend or something like that, but that didn't seem to be the case. The way they spoke to these invisible people, it was in a very serious tone. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were talking to ghosts. But, I've never really believed in that kind of stuff.
Anyway, the governor wanted to celebrate our strike's successful victory as a reminder that you can accomplish anything with hard work or something like that. He decided to have a masquerade ball for the city of New York. Course, the only newsies going were the ones with dates. Smalls, a Bronx newsie, was going with Spot Conlon head of the Brooklyn newsies. Davey was going with his girl, Sadie Codwell. A Flushing newsie, Crow, who was released when the Refuge was shut down, asked City. And of course, Jack was attending with Ace. I decided after work today, I would ask Gabbs, still under the impression that she was not returning Crutchie's affections. The ball was this Saturday, so there was no time to second guess myself.
By the time, I sold all my papes, it was early evening. I walked to the lodge house, enjoying the silence, say for the tip-tap of my boots on the stone street. Suddenly, I heard someone yell, "Help! Please, help me!". I immediately recognized the voice as Crutchie's. I followed his terrified pleas until I found him. He was right to be scared. The poor crip's trouser leg was caught in the railroad tracks.
"Hang in dere, pal, I'll help ya's." I said, running to his rescue. I bent down and began fumbling with the stubborn fabric. Then a horrifyingly loud whistle rang through the air. At that moment, I frantically began searching my pockets for the box of matches I used to light my cigars.
"What are ya doin', Race?!"
"Savin' ya life, whatzit look like I'm doin'?" I pulled out a match and lit it quickly, then held it to the bottom of Crutchie's trousers until the threads caught on fire. "A'right", I said grabbing his arms. "I'll pull an you kick wit your good leg, got it?" Crutchie nodded. I looked up and saw the train coming around the bend. "NOW!" We went tumbling backwards away from the tracks. The train chugged off leaving us with an awful ring in our ears. I turned to my left. "You okay, Crutchie?" He lifted himself up with his crutch and checked everything.
"I tink I'm okay; jus has a few bruises is all. What about you?" Then a look of shock came over his face. "Oh my God, you're bleeding!" At that moment, I got the worst headache I've ever gotten. I reached a hand up where I felt warm blood dripping from a bruised bump on my forehead.
"Damn, dat's gonna leave a mark." I said, trying to stand up before falling backwards. "Ow!" I felt extremely dizzy.
"Oh boy, you'se don't look so good, Race. Race? Race?! Crutchie's voice began to echo and I slowly blacked out.
Sorry it's been forever since I posted. My mind has been elsewhere these past few months. Anyways, don't worry about Race too much. I didn't kill him off or anything. This is a different story than the last. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. Don't forget to read, review, follow, and favorite. Keep calm and seize the day!