OE Chapter 4 - Crash And Burn
"I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you / It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold." - Savage Garden
The next morning, when Chance shook her awake, Ocean Eyes wished she could just stay in the bunk. She didn't know how she could handle facing Pie Eater and not talking to him. And how could she ever explain to him her need to have her brother's approval?
Christian had left home when she was six. He had been eight. Their father was a drunk and their mother a coward, which did not equal wonderful parenting. Up until his departure, Christian had BEEN a father to her. It was he who made sure she was clothed, bathed, fed. He insisted that she go to school, while he worked two low-paying jobs (low-paying because he was so young, the bosses took advantage of him) just so the family could keep their dilapidated house. Whenever their dad came home drunk (which was often), Christian would lay over top of her to protect her from his drunken, stinging blows. When he'd left, she had been in hysterics, night and day, until one day he finally wrote, saying he'd found work, better work than he'd ever had before: as a newsie. He kept in touch with her, and the letters that he sent were the only thing that kept her sane as she grew older and her father's ferocity grew stronger. One night he'd finally beaten her mother to death, and Alexandra had lay, paralyzed with fear, until the next morning, when she'd written to Christian as soon as she could. He'd said that if she ever needed to escape for a week or so, to come visit him. So that's what she had done. And there was no way she could abandon her sweet brother now. He'd done too much for her for her to be so selfish.
She needn't have worried about Pie Eater, for as soon as she stepped onto the street, she could feel the buzz of gossip. "Didja heah?" "Heah what?" "Pie Eateh!" "Blink?" There were whispers all around, and Ocean Eyes shivered as eyes followed her.
She found Mush before long, and he grabbed her hand. "Wha's goin' on?" she asked him, barely above a whisper. She hoped to God that Christian hadn't beaten Pie Eater to death the night before or anything.
"Ya didn' heah yet?" Mush asked, looking at her in concern, not sure how she would handle the news. "Pie Eateh left las' night. No one knows wheah he wen' off ta. It wouldn' be so strange it if were Jack or Race, but Pie Eateh? …'E didn' even tell SNODDY where 'e was goin'."
Ocean Eyes worked hard to not let her emotions show, though her heart was breaking from worry and fear. She was MUSH'S girl now, and she knew that she had to start acting like it. "Dat's too bad," she said loftily. "Le's go, shall we?"
Mush looked at her in surprise, then shrugged. "Okay wit' me," he answered. He proudly led her through the streets, while his female admirers looked on in sorrow. Ocean Eyes could feel Snoddy's hate-filled stare, but she didn't lower her head, only pretended to be fascinated in everything Mush said.
Mush was delighted by this attention, though a bit baffled how she could turn from Pie Eater so quickly. He knew that Kid Blink had blackmailed Ocean Eyes into the relationship; however, he knew that she would grow to love him, and had no doubt in their compatibility. HOW she got into his arms wasn't his concern; it was how to get her to stay there that really mattered.
Pie Eater woke up stiffly that morning. The mattresses were torture in the Brooklyn Lodging House. His stiff back aggravated him almost as much as the fact that his sores still hurt from the beating he'd gotten from Kid Blink. He jumped out of bed and walked over to the washroom. Spot was the only other person awake. He'd also been the last one to fall asleep the night before, sitting watch as everyone else slowly drifted to dreamland. Pie Eater found himself wondering if the leader had even slept at all.
Spot dried his hands on a towel and looked up. "Ah, you'se awake," he greeted. "How was yer sleep?"
Pie Eater tried to think of a cheerful answer, but only grunted. "Da woist night of me life," he said, dunking his whole head in the wash basin and emerging sopping wet. Spot laughed.
"Good. We don' want no pansy for da foist day as a Brooklyn newsie," Spot answered. "Dem bruises is startin' ta shine up REAL nice dere, Pie Eateh."
Pie Eater looked at himself in the mirror. He wasn't even recognizable under the dark brown, black, purple, green and yellow tints that covered his skin. He looked like one big bruise. At least the cut on his lip was healing nicely…
"Speakin' a dat… I'se t'ink ya need a new name." Pie Eater looked up sharply. He had had his newsie name since he'd first arrived in Manhattan at age six, when he'd beaten Ice, the then-leader of the Manhattan newsies, in a pie-eating contest. Spot was thinking deeply, his brow furrowed, as he stared at Pie Eater. "How 'bout… well, we'll jus' call ya Bruise. Since you'se one big walkin' bruise anyhow."
"I dunno…" Pie Eater said, looked worried.
Spot rolled his eyes. "C'mon, ya wimp! Be a man. No one ain't gonna be a-feared a' any newsie whose name is PIE EATEH."
'And they're scared of someone named SPOT?' Pie Eater thought to himself, but held his tongue on that thought and only muttered, "Why would they be a-feared a' me, anyhow?"
Spot just gave him an "are-you-kidding-me" look. "Bruise, we'se BROOKLYN. EVERYONE is a-feared a' us. Today, aftah we sell da papes, we'se gonna toughen yous up. Dat is, unless you'd rathah go back to dem Manhattan flowahs…"
Pie Eater thought about losing Ocean Eyes to Mush at the hands of Blink, and one of his hands clenched into a fist. "No way," he managed to growl.
Spot smiled. "Dat's da spirit."
True to his word, after the morning papers were sold, Spot organized a little get-together, grabbing some of the toughest Brooklyn newsies together to face off with the newly-named Bruise. Every time one of the thugs would come at him—and they were all thugs in Brooklyn, except Spot, which was rather confusing, considering he was the leader—Bruise would imagine that it was Kid Blink, tearing Ocean Eyes from his arms. The thought made him angry, and while he got beat some of the time, he also beat down some, too. As the minutes dragged past, he became a better fighter, watching the opponent's moves to guess their next. Soon he was beating everyone effortlessly. Spot couldn't have been more pleased. As they all headed to lunch, he clapped Bruise on the back and congratulated him.
Coming from Spot Conlon, even the slap was a compliment. The congratulations was not even fathomable.
The days dragged past for both Bruise and Ocean Eyes. As he became adjusted to living a fighting life, she settled into becoming Mush's girl. Mush treated her like a princess, and she loved how hard he tried, for her—but she was pretty sure that even he knew that she missed Pie Eater.
One day, about a month later, Spot decided it was time for a little visit to Manhattan. He tried to discourage Bruise from accompanying him, but Bruise had to prove to himself that Ocean Eyes was no longer his—so he could forget about her. When the time came, Spot, Bruise, and two other Brooklyn newsies named Travel and Fever walked over to Manhattan.
The Manhattan newsies were just coming out of Tibby's when Jack spotted… Spot. **A/N: Sorry, didn't mean to be redundant. LOL** He yelled a greeting, and the other newsies turned to say hi, too.
Snoddy let out a snort of surprise at seeing Bruise, and Mush tried to hide him from Ocean Eyes' view. She peeked around him and gasped.
His face, which had always before been covered in a shy smile, now settled into a hard grimace. He had on a new shirt and trousers, and both showed off his newly-acquired muscles that had been obtained from all the practice fighting. He had thrown away his old cap and kerchief and his hair was two inches longer. His hard eyes sought out Ocean Eyes, and when he found her in the crowd, Mush's arm firmly snaking across her shoulder, he nodded to himself. Then he trained his eyes on nothing and made sure not to make eye contact with anybody.
The sight of him made Ocean Eyes almost cry out. Tears formed in her eyes, and she watched Snoddy walk over.
Snoddy was completely shocked. "What're ya doin'?" he asked, picking at the new collar of Bruise's shirt. "What happened to ya, Pie Eateh?"
The name seemed to jolt Bruise; he broke his promise to himself and looked over. "Da name is Bruise," he said coldly. Snoddy's eyes were searching his face, not believing.
"We all t'ought you killed yaself or… or somethin'!" Snoddy exclaimed, now filled with joy that his friend was alive. He went to hug him.
"Well, den, you obviously ain't mournin' enough," Bruise answered. Snoddy paused, uncertain. Bruise reached out and grabbed his shirt, then in a flash had Snoddy down on the ground. "Dere. You kin woiship me from down dere." He looked with scorn on his best friend.
Spot let out a laugh, and Fever and Travel grinned at each other.
"Listen, Spot, wha's da meanin' a dis?" Jack demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.
"We'se jus' come ta say hello, Jackie Boy," Spot answered loftily. "Can't we do dat?"
"Not da way you do it," Jack answered. "Wha's da meanin' a' showin' up wit' one a me newsies, huh?"
"He ain't one a ya newsies no mores, Jack," Spot answered, suddenly serious. "You'se heah in Manhattan treated 'im like DOIT, an' now 'e's one a MY newsies."
Snoddy climbed up off the ground with the help of Jack. "Yeah, well, he's jus' a chicken," Snoddy said, staring at his friend. "Why else'd he run away when somethin' gets a lil hard?"
For a moment, Bruise's manner faltered—he knew that Snoddy had never done anything to him but be a friend. He thought about apologizing. But that wasn't Brooklyn's way—because no matter what, Brooklyn was never wrong. Never.
But Snoddy saw the momentary lapse in his friend's face. He gave a triumphant shout. "Dey don' gotcha all da way yet, Pie Eateh! You'se still partly heah. You'se heart will always be heah in Manhattan."
NOW Bruise had reason to be mad. He threw Snoddy to the ground again. "DA… NAME… IS… BRUISE," he said angrily. "An' me heart? Me heart was taken out and trampled on by dat goil oveh dere. So if you'se wants ta talk abou' hearts, go talk ta her. An' tell 'er ta GIVE MINE BACK." He glared around.
Melody, who was now dating Kid Blink, put her arms around his waist and stared at Pie Eater. She remembered the quiet, shy boy who'd never given lip to anyone, who just wanted to sell his papes and keep his bed in the Lodging House. She looked up at her boyfriend, who was rigid with the urge to hurt Pie Eater, but was restraining himself. How in the world had her sweet Kid Blink caused such a chain of hurt and change in Pie Eater? Kid Blink looked down at her and tried to smile, but the same question was weighing heavily in his own heart. Had he caused all this pain? He looked around for Mush and Alex, to make himself believe that he'd done the right thing. Alex had her face buried in Mush's jacket. Kid Blink smiled to himself a little, glad he'd at least done one thing right—until Alex lifted her head. He then realized with a jerk that she wasn't hiding in Mush's jacket so that he could protect her from the scene. She was hiding because she was scared of Pie Eater. And, as her eyes flickered to Kid Blink, he realized that she was scared of himself, too. He had made his own little sister afraid of him.
**Copyright © 2002 Mondie**