chapter4
note: for purposes of this chapter only, i am changing the rating from pg-13 to an R.why? i hope i don't pre-empt anything but there will be alcohol and some substance abuse in this chapter. don't kill me, i am not promoting drug abuse!!!! i just wanted to see what the newsies are like when they're...well, you know.so one caveat: this is rated R, okay?
chapter 4- highs
" 'eya david!" pagan called out. "wait up!"
"hey stranger, " david said, as she fell into step alongside him.she sure looked happy these days, at least, when david did see her. she and jack were spending so much of their time together, it was like they've created this bubble around them.
" lissen, i really feel bad about not bein' able to go wit'chu tah see cynthia pahfawm," she said.
"oh, don't feel bad," david said. " i had a great time. i even met her in fact."
pagan's eyes grew large. she whacked. " no way!" she said." and...?"
" she was so... modest," david told her. " like she isn't aware about this huge talent that she has. she's really beautiful! but she's older than i thought."
"what'chu doin' tahnight?" she asked." ya wanna hang wit' us?"
"oh i don't want to be a third wheel," david said, thinking pagan meant her and jack.
"i meant with me, race and skittery," pagan said. " wes goin' tah harlem tahnight. wanna join us?"
david thought about this. "what's in harlem?"
"you'll see," pagan said mysteriously. "so, you comin'?"
"okay," he found himself saying.
"great!" she said. " ya won't be dissappointed!"
So it was david, pagan, racetrack, skittery and kid blink. Pagan told david the meeting place would be at the square just after dark. Kid blink and racetrack were already there when david arrived.
"whoah, davy!" kid blink yelled. "ya comin' tah harlem wit' us?" he was incredulous. He'd always thought david was well... a serious fellow with not much of a social life.
"pagan invited me," david said. "unless you don't want me around."
Racetrack put on a shocked face. "davy! Davy! Davy!" he said." We's always tawt it was you who don't want US around." He punched david jokingly in the arm. "ya ready fah some sweet action?" and he wiggled his eyebrows crazily as he puffed on his Havana. Racetrack looked around for an absent skittery and pagan. " wheah are does two?" he asked to himself. " 'ey, blink, ya seen pagan?" hm. Lately he seemed to be asking that question a lot.
"dey'sll be back," kid blink said, yawning. " but deys bettah hurry up."
"so where exactly in harlem are we headed to?" david asked, settling near blink.
Before anybody could answer that question, they heard a sharp whistle come from the distance. Soon, skittery and pagan came into view.
"davy!" pagan said." Wasn't sure yah was gonna be heah!"
"toinin' ovah a new leaf, david?" skittery asked.
" I know someone who's toinin' ovah SOME leaf," racetrack commented to kid blink from the corner of his mouth. Blink covered his mouth with his cap to stifle his laughter. "sssshhhh!" was all he said, as racetrack and him shared a private joke.
David wondered what was so funny, but he had a feeling that before the night was over, he would find out.
" I like this music, " david said, as the newsies sat around a dark alley in harlem, behind what he assumed to be a bar. Throught the dirty window, they were able to peer inside; people were dancing to balmy, warm strains of music that reverberated with energy but whispered secrets at the same time.
" jazz, davy," pagan said. "dat's what it's cawled."
Skittery took out a bottle wrapped in brown paper from behind him.
" 'ey where'd yah get dat?" racetrack asked.
" ise savin' it," skittery said. He scratched the back of his ear. "eh...les' jus' say dat tahnight's a special occasion."
"two actually," pagan said, smiling at david. " you okay, so far, mouth?"
"what's da udda one?" kid blink asked, eager to get at some of the whiskey.
"me boithday," skittery admitted.
"well, why dincha say so?" racetrack said. Well wishes went around.
"too bad we ain't got nuttin faw yah," blink said with regret. "how old are youse anyway?"
"eighteen," skittery said.
"on secand tawt," blink said, with a wicked gleam in his eye. " we DO got sometin faw yah!"
racetrack and pagan caught on. " I say we get six licks each!" race said, lunging forward towards skittery.
"oh no!" skittery said, getting ready to run away. The newsies were too fast for him and clobbered him on each side. They pinned him in no time and lovingly gave him a birthday soak.
"hope yah likes yah present!" blink said, punching skittery.
"yeah, t'anks yah bums," skittery said dryly. "best evah."
" 'ey it's da tawt dat counts," racetrack said.
"here's one to grow on, "david said, giving skittery an extra punch.
Skittery straightened his cap and rubbed his "bruised" muscles. " youse'll get yaws someday!"
The bottle was uncorked. Before anybody could drink from the bottle, pagan spilled some of it on the pavement.
"what'chu do dat faw?" racetrack protested. " yah wastin' it."
"it's customary faw da spirits to have some before we do," pagan said. Racetrack rolled his eyes, as if to say, "oh, boy here we go again." Pagan winked at him, took a swig and passed it on to him.
Racetrack sniffed at it. " oh yeah!" he said. " this stuff's enough tah make yah go blind!" he turned to kid blink. "no offense, though."
Blink waved it away. "none taken."
Racetrack pushed the bottle to david. At first he just stared at it. "well?" race asked. " yah gonna be starin' at it or yah gonna drink it?"
What the hell, david thought. When in rome. He raised the bottle to his lips and took a sip of the bitter liquid. Arg! That tastes putrid, he thought, forcing the stuff to go down. The whiskey left a burning trail in his throat.
Kid blink laughed, slapping david on the shoulder. "hey!" he said. " youse alright david."
What's one little sip going to matter anyway? David thought. Around him, the newsies were starting to loosen up a bit because of the whisky. Kid blink and race were exchanging dirty jokes, trying to outdo each other. David settled back and let the music from the bar sooth him. Above him, stars glittered and he felt a soft breeze ruffle his hair. Every part of him was aching for some kind of release from the normalcy of his life. Hearing Cynthia was like a wake-up call to him. It said, "you're young yet, don't miss out on life." It was true, with everything that's happened- the strike, his family's situation, having to stop his schooling for a while, it was all catching up on him, making him feel old before his time. It's not fair, he thought. I always have to be the responsible one. I never get any fun. But what about his newsie friends? Hard luck was always beside them, and david knew life had not been the least bit easier for them as well. But they carried their burdens with them like it was a fact of life. Choosing to live with, and not die from, a life of hard knocks. Sure they complained, but they never whined about not having any fun, did they? it was still a very fine life for them all, despite trials. For once, David didn't feel like criticizing them for not being as smart as he was.
Take race for example. For him, gambling was everything , because that's what life really was, in the grander scheme of things. Life is a gamble. You play the game, you never know what's gonna happen, sometimes you lose and sometimes...well, in racetrack's case, he hardly won. But this fact never deterred him. Racetrack had pluck. He rolled with the punches life dealt him everyday. It wasn't very hard to make him happy- just a cigar and a day at the track were enough to make his day.
Jarred from his thoughts by the bottle coming his way again, david took another sip, a bigger one this time. Funny, but the second time around, it didn't taste so bad. His thoughts continued to reel out before him.
Kid blink, blind as a bat in one eye. David's father had injured his hand not too long ago, and david couldn't imagine what it was like losing an essential part of his body. Yet here kid blink was, always laughing, always making jokes. Sure he was wild, but david suspected the guy had brains as well. If kid blink had had the same advantages david had, he was sure blink would have been a fine student. Disruptive, and probably an antagonist to authority, but fine nonetheless.
David took another sip from the bottle. The whisky was warm on his lips and strangely...sweet. This wasn't sweet before, haha, he thought. Maybe it's a new bottle. Wow, this stuff is great. He glanced at skittery, who was busy rolling a cigarette with adept skill.
"here's one way we don't gotta eat what we don't sell," he said, licking the joint sealed." We smoke em."
Mother's gonna kill me for sure, david thought. This is just the thing she's been warning me about ever since I joined the newsies. Now here it is staring at me in the face. Skittery passed him an already lit cigarette. "here, hold dis. It's a decoy, so's not tah look suspicious."
Daivid panicked in his head, but his expression remained sedate.No! david thought. I refuse to be an accessory to this! His conscience screamed at him, but to his horror, found himself taking the stick. I'm just going to observe, that's all, he said, justifying his actions.
Skittery lit the joint and inhaled. There is something very lonely about this guy, david thought. He must be burned out by selling papes for years. Maybe that's all he can do, david realized sadly. Of all the newsies, it was skittery who always looked like he had a shadow over him. Always cynical, always the one to disagree. Even in happier times, such as his birthday, he seemed glum. Or numb. If it weren' t for pagan, he'd- oh, here comes the bottle again...wheeee, better take another sip or two.
-He would have killed himself. Pagan. Who is she anyway? David thought, as he watched pagan smoke the same joint. What do we really know about her? She 's the only one skittery seems to identify with. David picked up on loneliness, but pagan was hardly someone he could describe as angsty, really. She'd always been sweet to him, but what was she hiding? And why did she always wear that coat? Even on the hottest days, he'd never seen her take it off. She had so much light inside her, but at the same time, had the same haunted look skittery had in his eyes. Like time bomb just waiting to go off. Being with jack removed some of the madness in her eye. The only time she really looked calm. Oh goody, here comes the bottle again, oh boy. ohboyohboy...
"looks like somebody's enjoyin' hisself," kid blink observed, indicating david, who was laughing at all his thoughts. Blink waved a hand in front of david. " youse a'right, david?"
david turned his head toward blink and sighed. "yup!" he said, raising the bottle of whisky over his head. " this one's for you, blink!" and he took a gulp. hooooooweeeeee....
racetrack took out his harmonica and began playing along to the tune inside the bar. Skittery and pagan passed the joint back and forth amongst themselves. Race and blink had declined it. Pagan was sitting stock-still watching blink. Then she started laughing uncontrollably. Skittery looked at her and started laughing in turn. Racetrack stopped his playing long enough to roll his eyes and say, " here we go..." like he was sitting on some carnival ride that was about to start.
"youse laughin' at me!" kid blink said, pouting comically, which made pagan laugh harder.
" I ain't laughin'! who's...laughin'?" she said, verrrrry slowly. "how come it took me so long to say that?" she collapsed against skittery, then snapped right back up, like she got burned. " don't sit so close tah me, skittery."
Kid blink was watching, bewildered. So was david. They exchanged "huh?" looks and shook their heads. The air had grown thick and pungent.
" so, uh," david began. " how come you ain't, I mean, you aren't, smoking that stuff?"
kid blink shrugged. " don't like it," he answered simply. " nevah did."
David figured blink was crazy enough without it anyway. " you've tried it?"
Blink gave him a look that said, " of course I have!" . "jus' didn't sit well wit' me."
"race," david said. Racetrack stopped playing momentarily. " have you tried it?"
"would it matta if I did?" racetrack answered. David shrugged. "been known to, on occasion. And dis ain't one'a dem." He went back to his harmonica.
"would I like it?" he asked in no one in particular.
" doubt it," racetrack and blink said at the same time. Case closed.
Pagan was hitting skittery in the arm and kept laughing when race and blink said "doubt it" at the same time.
" laugh it up!" racetrack said. Despite himself, a smile was threatening to turn into a full blown laughing fit. "'ey, doncha t'ink pagan looks funny every time she laughs like dat? Lookit, her eyes dissappeah!"
david noticed the bottle had not left his hand. He took his...ooops, he's lost count sip. He attempted to stand up. Okay, he thought. I'm not drunk! I'm not drunk. Wow, the sky sure is pretty...and huge.
David closed his eyes and let all the sounds around him- from racetrack's sad wailing harmonica, to skittery and pagan's mad giggles, to blink singing quietly to himself, to the songs being played inside the bar wash into his senses. He was in a happy buzz state of mind, not too drunk that he was crying for mercy, but tipsy enough to feel great about everything. His world was spinning slightly, but he just laughed and marveled at it. " is that building tilted?" he asked.
" no," blink said. "even I can see dat."]
"race, is that building tilted?"
"wanna bet on it?" race asked.
"it's tilted!" david insisted. "look! It's like...the leaning tower of pisa!"
"it ain't davy, " racetrack said.
"it is, too!" david said.
"it ain't!" blink and race chorused.
Skittery and pagan laughed even harder when race and blink chorused for the second time. Pagan was close to tears. " why do dey keep doin' dat?" she howled, as if it hurt to laugh.
Hahahaha, david was laughing inside his head. "hahahaha!" then it wasn't in his head anymore. He was laughing for real, he didn't know why, but he didn't care. the world was so big, and he was so small, compared to everything else. Just a speck, really. Just a speck. Then his world tipped a little bit more, and suddenly it didn't feel too great .
Racetrack and blink were on both sides of david as they assisted him home to the lodging house. Once skittery and pagan were sober enough to talk in straight coherent language, it was decided that david was too drunk to go home to his own house. He would be taken home to the lodging house, and return to his own home in the morning. He would have to face the consequences the next day.
"oh, man," blink said, huffing and puffing up the stairs as they struggled to get david up. " come on, davy, one leg afta da udda! Tawt he was a bag' a bones! He's heavy!"
david groaned.
"shhh!" race scolded. "ya wanna get us soaked?"
david groaned again. Bed. He just wanted to lie down.
Pagan and skittery led david toward someone's bed to lay him down.
"take off his shoes," pagan said.
Racetrack grumbled something, but bent over to take the shoes off.
"ow!" he yelped, as david's foot accidentally kicked racetrack in the eye.
"okay, david," blink said. "lay down, dat's it, it'll be okay in da mawnin." He sounded like he was talking to an overgrown baby.
Finally, they were able to get david settled in. in no time, he was snoring.
The exhausted newsies fell quiet, watching him.
"t'ink he'll remembah dis in da mawnin?" skittery asked.
"he bettah!" racetrack said. " he gave me a black eye!"
note: for purposes of this chapter only, i am changing the rating from pg-13 to an R.why? i hope i don't pre-empt anything but there will be alcohol and some substance abuse in this chapter. don't kill me, i am not promoting drug abuse!!!! i just wanted to see what the newsies are like when they're...well, you know.so one caveat: this is rated R, okay?
chapter 4- highs
" 'eya david!" pagan called out. "wait up!"
"hey stranger, " david said, as she fell into step alongside him.she sure looked happy these days, at least, when david did see her. she and jack were spending so much of their time together, it was like they've created this bubble around them.
" lissen, i really feel bad about not bein' able to go wit'chu tah see cynthia pahfawm," she said.
"oh, don't feel bad," david said. " i had a great time. i even met her in fact."
pagan's eyes grew large. she whacked. " no way!" she said." and...?"
" she was so... modest," david told her. " like she isn't aware about this huge talent that she has. she's really beautiful! but she's older than i thought."
"what'chu doin' tahnight?" she asked." ya wanna hang wit' us?"
"oh i don't want to be a third wheel," david said, thinking pagan meant her and jack.
"i meant with me, race and skittery," pagan said. " wes goin' tah harlem tahnight. wanna join us?"
david thought about this. "what's in harlem?"
"you'll see," pagan said mysteriously. "so, you comin'?"
"okay," he found himself saying.
"great!" she said. " ya won't be dissappointed!"
So it was david, pagan, racetrack, skittery and kid blink. Pagan told david the meeting place would be at the square just after dark. Kid blink and racetrack were already there when david arrived.
"whoah, davy!" kid blink yelled. "ya comin' tah harlem wit' us?" he was incredulous. He'd always thought david was well... a serious fellow with not much of a social life.
"pagan invited me," david said. "unless you don't want me around."
Racetrack put on a shocked face. "davy! Davy! Davy!" he said." We's always tawt it was you who don't want US around." He punched david jokingly in the arm. "ya ready fah some sweet action?" and he wiggled his eyebrows crazily as he puffed on his Havana. Racetrack looked around for an absent skittery and pagan. " wheah are does two?" he asked to himself. " 'ey, blink, ya seen pagan?" hm. Lately he seemed to be asking that question a lot.
"dey'sll be back," kid blink said, yawning. " but deys bettah hurry up."
"so where exactly in harlem are we headed to?" david asked, settling near blink.
Before anybody could answer that question, they heard a sharp whistle come from the distance. Soon, skittery and pagan came into view.
"davy!" pagan said." Wasn't sure yah was gonna be heah!"
"toinin' ovah a new leaf, david?" skittery asked.
" I know someone who's toinin' ovah SOME leaf," racetrack commented to kid blink from the corner of his mouth. Blink covered his mouth with his cap to stifle his laughter. "sssshhhh!" was all he said, as racetrack and him shared a private joke.
David wondered what was so funny, but he had a feeling that before the night was over, he would find out.
" I like this music, " david said, as the newsies sat around a dark alley in harlem, behind what he assumed to be a bar. Throught the dirty window, they were able to peer inside; people were dancing to balmy, warm strains of music that reverberated with energy but whispered secrets at the same time.
" jazz, davy," pagan said. "dat's what it's cawled."
Skittery took out a bottle wrapped in brown paper from behind him.
" 'ey where'd yah get dat?" racetrack asked.
" ise savin' it," skittery said. He scratched the back of his ear. "eh...les' jus' say dat tahnight's a special occasion."
"two actually," pagan said, smiling at david. " you okay, so far, mouth?"
"what's da udda one?" kid blink asked, eager to get at some of the whiskey.
"me boithday," skittery admitted.
"well, why dincha say so?" racetrack said. Well wishes went around.
"too bad we ain't got nuttin faw yah," blink said with regret. "how old are youse anyway?"
"eighteen," skittery said.
"on secand tawt," blink said, with a wicked gleam in his eye. " we DO got sometin faw yah!"
racetrack and pagan caught on. " I say we get six licks each!" race said, lunging forward towards skittery.
"oh no!" skittery said, getting ready to run away. The newsies were too fast for him and clobbered him on each side. They pinned him in no time and lovingly gave him a birthday soak.
"hope yah likes yah present!" blink said, punching skittery.
"yeah, t'anks yah bums," skittery said dryly. "best evah."
" 'ey it's da tawt dat counts," racetrack said.
"here's one to grow on, "david said, giving skittery an extra punch.
Skittery straightened his cap and rubbed his "bruised" muscles. " youse'll get yaws someday!"
The bottle was uncorked. Before anybody could drink from the bottle, pagan spilled some of it on the pavement.
"what'chu do dat faw?" racetrack protested. " yah wastin' it."
"it's customary faw da spirits to have some before we do," pagan said. Racetrack rolled his eyes, as if to say, "oh, boy here we go again." Pagan winked at him, took a swig and passed it on to him.
Racetrack sniffed at it. " oh yeah!" he said. " this stuff's enough tah make yah go blind!" he turned to kid blink. "no offense, though."
Blink waved it away. "none taken."
Racetrack pushed the bottle to david. At first he just stared at it. "well?" race asked. " yah gonna be starin' at it or yah gonna drink it?"
What the hell, david thought. When in rome. He raised the bottle to his lips and took a sip of the bitter liquid. Arg! That tastes putrid, he thought, forcing the stuff to go down. The whiskey left a burning trail in his throat.
Kid blink laughed, slapping david on the shoulder. "hey!" he said. " youse alright david."
What's one little sip going to matter anyway? David thought. Around him, the newsies were starting to loosen up a bit because of the whisky. Kid blink and race were exchanging dirty jokes, trying to outdo each other. David settled back and let the music from the bar sooth him. Above him, stars glittered and he felt a soft breeze ruffle his hair. Every part of him was aching for some kind of release from the normalcy of his life. Hearing Cynthia was like a wake-up call to him. It said, "you're young yet, don't miss out on life." It was true, with everything that's happened- the strike, his family's situation, having to stop his schooling for a while, it was all catching up on him, making him feel old before his time. It's not fair, he thought. I always have to be the responsible one. I never get any fun. But what about his newsie friends? Hard luck was always beside them, and david knew life had not been the least bit easier for them as well. But they carried their burdens with them like it was a fact of life. Choosing to live with, and not die from, a life of hard knocks. Sure they complained, but they never whined about not having any fun, did they? it was still a very fine life for them all, despite trials. For once, David didn't feel like criticizing them for not being as smart as he was.
Take race for example. For him, gambling was everything , because that's what life really was, in the grander scheme of things. Life is a gamble. You play the game, you never know what's gonna happen, sometimes you lose and sometimes...well, in racetrack's case, he hardly won. But this fact never deterred him. Racetrack had pluck. He rolled with the punches life dealt him everyday. It wasn't very hard to make him happy- just a cigar and a day at the track were enough to make his day.
Jarred from his thoughts by the bottle coming his way again, david took another sip, a bigger one this time. Funny, but the second time around, it didn't taste so bad. His thoughts continued to reel out before him.
Kid blink, blind as a bat in one eye. David's father had injured his hand not too long ago, and david couldn't imagine what it was like losing an essential part of his body. Yet here kid blink was, always laughing, always making jokes. Sure he was wild, but david suspected the guy had brains as well. If kid blink had had the same advantages david had, he was sure blink would have been a fine student. Disruptive, and probably an antagonist to authority, but fine nonetheless.
David took another sip from the bottle. The whisky was warm on his lips and strangely...sweet. This wasn't sweet before, haha, he thought. Maybe it's a new bottle. Wow, this stuff is great. He glanced at skittery, who was busy rolling a cigarette with adept skill.
"here's one way we don't gotta eat what we don't sell," he said, licking the joint sealed." We smoke em."
Mother's gonna kill me for sure, david thought. This is just the thing she's been warning me about ever since I joined the newsies. Now here it is staring at me in the face. Skittery passed him an already lit cigarette. "here, hold dis. It's a decoy, so's not tah look suspicious."
Daivid panicked in his head, but his expression remained sedate.No! david thought. I refuse to be an accessory to this! His conscience screamed at him, but to his horror, found himself taking the stick. I'm just going to observe, that's all, he said, justifying his actions.
Skittery lit the joint and inhaled. There is something very lonely about this guy, david thought. He must be burned out by selling papes for years. Maybe that's all he can do, david realized sadly. Of all the newsies, it was skittery who always looked like he had a shadow over him. Always cynical, always the one to disagree. Even in happier times, such as his birthday, he seemed glum. Or numb. If it weren' t for pagan, he'd- oh, here comes the bottle again...wheeee, better take another sip or two.
-He would have killed himself. Pagan. Who is she anyway? David thought, as he watched pagan smoke the same joint. What do we really know about her? She 's the only one skittery seems to identify with. David picked up on loneliness, but pagan was hardly someone he could describe as angsty, really. She'd always been sweet to him, but what was she hiding? And why did she always wear that coat? Even on the hottest days, he'd never seen her take it off. She had so much light inside her, but at the same time, had the same haunted look skittery had in his eyes. Like time bomb just waiting to go off. Being with jack removed some of the madness in her eye. The only time she really looked calm. Oh goody, here comes the bottle again, oh boy. ohboyohboy...
"looks like somebody's enjoyin' hisself," kid blink observed, indicating david, who was laughing at all his thoughts. Blink waved a hand in front of david. " youse a'right, david?"
david turned his head toward blink and sighed. "yup!" he said, raising the bottle of whisky over his head. " this one's for you, blink!" and he took a gulp. hooooooweeeeee....
racetrack took out his harmonica and began playing along to the tune inside the bar. Skittery and pagan passed the joint back and forth amongst themselves. Race and blink had declined it. Pagan was sitting stock-still watching blink. Then she started laughing uncontrollably. Skittery looked at her and started laughing in turn. Racetrack stopped his playing long enough to roll his eyes and say, " here we go..." like he was sitting on some carnival ride that was about to start.
"youse laughin' at me!" kid blink said, pouting comically, which made pagan laugh harder.
" I ain't laughin'! who's...laughin'?" she said, verrrrry slowly. "how come it took me so long to say that?" she collapsed against skittery, then snapped right back up, like she got burned. " don't sit so close tah me, skittery."
Kid blink was watching, bewildered. So was david. They exchanged "huh?" looks and shook their heads. The air had grown thick and pungent.
" so, uh," david began. " how come you ain't, I mean, you aren't, smoking that stuff?"
kid blink shrugged. " don't like it," he answered simply. " nevah did."
David figured blink was crazy enough without it anyway. " you've tried it?"
Blink gave him a look that said, " of course I have!" . "jus' didn't sit well wit' me."
"race," david said. Racetrack stopped playing momentarily. " have you tried it?"
"would it matta if I did?" racetrack answered. David shrugged. "been known to, on occasion. And dis ain't one'a dem." He went back to his harmonica.
"would I like it?" he asked in no one in particular.
" doubt it," racetrack and blink said at the same time. Case closed.
Pagan was hitting skittery in the arm and kept laughing when race and blink said "doubt it" at the same time.
" laugh it up!" racetrack said. Despite himself, a smile was threatening to turn into a full blown laughing fit. "'ey, doncha t'ink pagan looks funny every time she laughs like dat? Lookit, her eyes dissappeah!"
david noticed the bottle had not left his hand. He took his...ooops, he's lost count sip. He attempted to stand up. Okay, he thought. I'm not drunk! I'm not drunk. Wow, the sky sure is pretty...and huge.
David closed his eyes and let all the sounds around him- from racetrack's sad wailing harmonica, to skittery and pagan's mad giggles, to blink singing quietly to himself, to the songs being played inside the bar wash into his senses. He was in a happy buzz state of mind, not too drunk that he was crying for mercy, but tipsy enough to feel great about everything. His world was spinning slightly, but he just laughed and marveled at it. " is that building tilted?" he asked.
" no," blink said. "even I can see dat."]
"race, is that building tilted?"
"wanna bet on it?" race asked.
"it's tilted!" david insisted. "look! It's like...the leaning tower of pisa!"
"it ain't davy, " racetrack said.
"it is, too!" david said.
"it ain't!" blink and race chorused.
Skittery and pagan laughed even harder when race and blink chorused for the second time. Pagan was close to tears. " why do dey keep doin' dat?" she howled, as if it hurt to laugh.
Hahahaha, david was laughing inside his head. "hahahaha!" then it wasn't in his head anymore. He was laughing for real, he didn't know why, but he didn't care. the world was so big, and he was so small, compared to everything else. Just a speck, really. Just a speck. Then his world tipped a little bit more, and suddenly it didn't feel too great .
Racetrack and blink were on both sides of david as they assisted him home to the lodging house. Once skittery and pagan were sober enough to talk in straight coherent language, it was decided that david was too drunk to go home to his own house. He would be taken home to the lodging house, and return to his own home in the morning. He would have to face the consequences the next day.
"oh, man," blink said, huffing and puffing up the stairs as they struggled to get david up. " come on, davy, one leg afta da udda! Tawt he was a bag' a bones! He's heavy!"
david groaned.
"shhh!" race scolded. "ya wanna get us soaked?"
david groaned again. Bed. He just wanted to lie down.
Pagan and skittery led david toward someone's bed to lay him down.
"take off his shoes," pagan said.
Racetrack grumbled something, but bent over to take the shoes off.
"ow!" he yelped, as david's foot accidentally kicked racetrack in the eye.
"okay, david," blink said. "lay down, dat's it, it'll be okay in da mawnin." He sounded like he was talking to an overgrown baby.
Finally, they were able to get david settled in. in no time, he was snoring.
The exhausted newsies fell quiet, watching him.
"t'ink he'll remembah dis in da mawnin?" skittery asked.
"he bettah!" racetrack said. " he gave me a black eye!"
