Spots Gone Bonkers
By:
Queenie 77
The
newsies were waking up to Kloppman's ritual calls an slaps when Spot Conlon-
the fearless leader of the Brooklyn newsies- came through the door in a bright
red an short dress and black high heels. He was wearing lots of make-up and
giant dangly earrings.
"Oh! Goodness- excuse me boys" he said
twirling his dark blonde hair around his little finger. He glanced around,
pausing to wink at Mush- who was half-naked next to his bed- and left.
Everyone just stood there looking at each other,
not knowing how to react- well Mush threw up.
"Ya'all saw dat too right?" asked
Racetrack, frightened for his sanity. Everyone nodded and he looked relieved.
"That's some freaked out stuff" said
Skittery as he headed for the washroom, followed by other newsies.
The door opened again, everyone turned hoping it
wasn't Spot again, but sighed relief when they realized it was just Davey in a
pink tutu.
"Heya Dave" Jack said, welcoming his
selling partner. He eyed him, concerned "I know ya gots dat recital
tanight, but ya ain't gonna wear dat during sellin' are yas?"
Dave looked hurt. "Is it the wrong color
for me?"
Jack just shook his head "No Davey, its
fine, come on, lets head out" He glanced around "Where's Les?"
David thought for a second "oh yeah, him,
oh he's dead" he said without emotion. Jack looked up completely
surprised.
"What?!"
David looked confused at his friends reaction an
remembered something "oh, well. He's not really dead" Jack looked
relieved "but he's gonna be" Jack's surprise returned "well
that's my bet, got 5 bucks ridin' on it, Dad says he'll last the night, but
nah, not from the way he looks, wanna bet me? Good odds goin' by the doctor's
words"
Jack stared at David, not knowing what surprised
him more, that Les is supposedly dieing or that Davey was gambling.
"Davey, you got the strangest family, come on, lets get our papes"
By now all the other newsies had made their way
over to the distribution center and were buying their stacks. Jack walked up to
the front of the line an grinned at Weasel. "Heya Weasel how ya doin'
taday?" he said expecting a remark from him.
Weasel mumbled something along the lines of,
"Just wonderful, Mother told me I should have been a banker, yeah well I wanted
to be a writer I told her..." He continued as Jack picked up his papers and
left. Jack wanted to sit down and think but then he also knew he would never
recover from seeing Spot in a dress and the image would repeatedly play through
his head.
David bonked himself in the head with his hand
"Gosh darn it! I almost forgot to ask- have you by any chance seen Spot
today?"
"Yeah..I um, think so" Jack noticed
the similarities in Dave's ways and the way Spot was this morning an hoped
there was a connection "Do you know what happened to him??"
Dave stomped his foot in frustration "I
missed him! Gosh. I had better see him before my recital, what do you mean what
happened to him? He's not hurt is he? Or dirty, please don't say he's
dirty!"
"Davey what are you talkin' 'bout?"
"He borrowed my shoes last night and
haven't returned them! I have to have them for the recital tonight! If he
ruined them I'll soak him! I don't care if he Is Spot Conlon!"
David was throwing air punches imagining what he'd do to anyone that messed up
his precious high heels. Dave looked at Jack an stopped, his face turning
serious "You Are comin' to my recital aren't ya Jack?"
Jack looked around nervously; he needed a good
excuse to not watch Davey make a fool of himself in a ballet recital. "um,
I dunno Davey I.."
"What?!" Davey interrupted before Jack
had a chance to finish "you have to come Jack! No excuses, I've been
working so long for my gracefulness and I think I got it now" Davey began
fluttering down the street but bumped into someone an fell down, he got up apologizing
to the victim "did I look graceful?" He asked Jack eagerly.
"Sure Davey, very..graceful."
Davey smiled "all my life, all I ever
wanted was to be a perfect ballerina" his head was in the clouds imagining
who knows what when Jack hit his back.
"Come on, we'se gotta get sellin' 'fore the
crowds go away"
~*~
Jack was thinking bout Spot while hawking the
headlines. He wasn't having much luck; he couldn't concentrate on the headlines
very well. "Children becoming obsessed with an imaginary fat, flying old
man!" he called out, he didn't like that headline much, afraid it would
get him lumps of coal in his stocking around Christmas time, so he moved on to
the next page. "Mayor lit Human Torch!" he yelled among the crowds
"Watched him burn all night!" He thanked many buyers and made a note
to go see the miniature statue of liberty the mayor had built, with a real fire
for its torch.
Jack sat down next to a brick building and
thought long and hard about Spot he finally concluded- his friend had gone bonkers.
He decided he'd better head off to Brooklyn to see if he could help. He spotted
Dave scaring off some people while demonstrating some ballet move and ran up to
him. "Hey Davey, I'se gonna head off ta Brooklyn to see about Spot, tell
Blink I might not be able ta make it to da show tanight, k?"
"Sure Jack, oh and ask him about my
shoes!"
Jack nodded and headed for Brooklyn.
~*~
Jack continued thinking of what the cause could
have been for Spot's problem. He really hoped David's..condition, wasn't contagious.
But that wouldn't make much since, since Spot rarely hung out with Davey,
actually Spot really didn't really like Dave now that he thought about it. He
also realized that if it was in fact contagious, he would have caught it by
now, an that would be a complete disaster, he's very clumsy in high heels, and
he doesn't think he has the legs for short skirts.
He arrived in Brooklyn and headed towards the
docks, since that's where the Brooklyn Newsies usually hung out. Right before
he arrived, Frick- one of Spot's closest friends- ran up to Jack. "Cowboy!
Ya gotta help us, Spot's gone nuts and if he isn't fixed by tanight Brooklyn's
done for!"
"Yeah I saw him this mornin', wheah is
'e?"
"He's, um, well he's back at the lodgin'
house..painting 'is nails"
"Le's go, I'll see what I can do" They
headed towards the lodging house while Frick explained his condition.
"We tried everything! We talked to him,
insulted him, even punched him, but with no result- well 'cept his cryin'"
"Ya punched Spot?" Jack was surprised,
not even he would have the courage to do that, even when he was in this
condition.
"Yeah, we had to draw straws ta do it, no
one would volunteer, but he didn't fight back, he just..sobbed" Frick
shook his head worriedly.
They walked in the lodging house and Frick
pointed to the washroom. Jack slowly made his way over there, not wanting to
see Spot like this. Sure enough, there was Spot- doing his toenails with a
pretty bright pink polish. He was now wearing a yellow dress and wearing dark
blue eye shadow and bright pink lipstick.
Frick walked up behind him, looking at Spot
sadly "canya try ta git 'im back Jack? Some guys from Queen's are comin'
ovah heah tanight, we challenged them, we can beat them easily with Spot- heck
half the guys from Queens wont even fight when they know Spot'll be there, but
witout 'im, were dead ya know?"
"I'll see what I can do Frick" Jack
headed over to Spot an sat down next to him.
"Hey Jacky-boy! Nice ta se yas- hey can I
ask ya somethin'?"
"Shoah Spot"
"Should I go with the purple polish or
pink? I personally like the pink, but the purple looks better with my eye
shadow ya know an.."
Jack couldn't take this "Spot!" Spot
looked up at him.
"Yeah Jacky-boy?"
Jack could hardly think of what to say.
"Spot..look at yourself! Look in the mirror!" Spot glanced into the
mirror in front of him.
"Oh you so right Jack! I Knew I shoulda
used darker lip stick, it just doesn't go with my hair." Jack sighed and
put his face in his hands thinking.
Jack looked at Spot an did the first thing that
came to mind, regardless of what Frick had said- he socked Spot right in the
jaw and stood up, expecting Spot to soak him now.
Instead, Spot started sobbing "Why
Jacky-boy? Why?" he continued sobbing at Jack banged his head against the
wall in frustration. Then Jack got another idea.
"Spot lissen...no...quit sobbing" Jack
looked up waiting for Spot to finish. Finally Spot looked up at Jack with teary
eyes. "Spot, your the leader of the Brooklyn Newsies, do you know
that?"
"A' coise I know dat Jacky-boy although I
don't undistand how the place got so dioty" he said looking around.
"Spot! You're a tough, fearless, and feared
leader, you fight and get all the goils, you Don't wear dresses and dangly
earrings and high heels, and you especially don't cry!"
"Jack?" Spot said sadly "are you
tryin' ta tell me ya don't like my shoes?"
Jack just looked at him, got up and left the
room.
~*~
Frick ran up to Jack "didya fix 'im??"
he asked eagerly. Jack's expression had the answer.
"I tried everything, he's..he's gone"
Jack said sadly. "lissen, I'll see if Manhattan can help ya'all out
tanight with Queens, I'se no Spot Conlon but ya know strength in numbers an
all"
"Thanks Cowboy"
~*~
Jack walked back to Manhattan, he knew the guys
wouldn't like having to fight for Brooklyn, even if they are close friends
Manhattan didn't like how Brooklyn was run. Too much fighting they though, and
they wont like having to fight off a challenge Spot made himself.
Jack just hoped Spot would get well before
evening came.
But back in Brooklyn time was passing fast
without any progress. They even had Davey talk to him, since he came over there
to pick up his shoes and he might be able to understand him. But they ended up
exchanging recipes and beauty tips and recipes.
Jack explained the situation to his newsies and
they all agreed they had to help their friends and headed off for Brooklyn.
~*~
Over in Brooklyn, unfortunately the guys from
Queens arrived much earlier than expected. Before anyone was warned, Scotch-
the Queen's leader- burst into the lodging house, followed by his guys. He saw
Spot and walked towards him, but stopped suddenly as soon as he got a good look
at him.
Spot had changed into a beautiful pink evening
gown an had curled his hair. When Spot saw him he smiled "Oh my! I wasn't
expectin' visitahs" he began picking some things up "the place is a
dreadful mess!"
Scotch was speechless. He looked around at the
other newsies for clues of what was happening, they all seemed to be avoiding
his gaze. He became angry suddenly and
grabbed Spot by the front of his dress. "Lissen Conlon, if this is some
kinda sick trick, give it up! Youse not gettin outa dis fight!" The
Brooklyn newsies looked away, expecting Spot to cry again, but instead he smiled.
"Youse so cute when yas mad Scotch" he
said and kissed him on the lips.
~*~
The Manhattan newsies were about to enter the
Brooklyn Lodging House when a stampede of Queens's newsies ran out hysterical
and screaming, drenched in water. They also noticed that each of them was
wearing make-up and their hair was done up. Manhattan looked at each other and
ran in all at once.
Spot was holding one of his high heels and
laughing uncontrollably with the others.
Frick ran up to them. "Hey Cowboy! Looks like
we din't need your help afta all!" Frick noticed their confused looks and
decided to explain." Spot came out of his trance thingy when he kissed
Scotch" Jack's eyes went wide, he was very happy he wasn't here for that
"and ya think Spot's dangerous normally, imagine what a guy can do with a
high heel and make-up" Jack wasn't really sure he knew what, but nodded
his head understanding what happened. "After each of them was knocked out we
decided to have some fun. That's how they ended up wit the make-up, then we
threw water over them ta wake 'em up and when they saw themselves in the mirror
they ran out screaming, it was really entertaining"
"So Spot's normal again?"
"Yeah, we think so, he seems ta be, an he
seemed to have no idea how ta put make up on the guys correctly, so yeah, I
think he's k."
Since Manhattan was all there they decided to
have a party to celebrate their victory. They were all having a good time when
Spot entered with popcorn balls an said in a high pitched voice "I made
all you strong men some popcorn balls after your fight wit those big bad
boys" they all looked at Spot horrified.
Then Spot grinned "Kidding!" The guys
sighed and grabbed the popcorn balls to throw at him.
The End
