Chapter 4: Everything You Want...
"Anudda' day, anudda' lame headline," muttered Kid Blink, glancing up at the chalk headline billboard on the side of World building. It was getting into the second week of the trolley strike, and the public was getting tired of the same old headline, "Strike continues as trolley workers demand wage increase." Kid knew that he would have a hard time selling today if he didn't come up with a particularly catchy headline.
"Lookit this," said Race, who had just bought his fifty papers. "'Brooklyn cats attack dog walkers'. Whaddaya expect, it's Brooklyn, ain't it?"
The boys all bought their papers and, as always, started toward the harbor. But after only a minute of walking and shouting, "Mutant cats mutilate innocent civilians and their dogs," Kid Blink suddenly stopped.
"I think I'm gonna sell in da park today," he said when Race and Mush turned to see what had happened. "I did good dere yesterday, I think da eye-patch goes ovah well dere." Race and Mush shrugged and agreed to meet Kid at Tibby's later that evening, and then they continued on their way.
Kid turned and walked in the opposite direction, unsure of why he did what he had just done. In truth, he hadn't sold papers in the park in weeks, hadn't even been by there since he had met Lucy Morningside there three weeks before. He had avoided the place where he and Lucy had met for the second time, especially during the evenings. He didn't know why. He had never cared one way or another about Central Park before, he had always just taken for granted the fact that it was a pretty good place to sell papers. But now, he got an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach every time he passed it, and the once friendly looking trees now seemed threatening, almost as if they were daring him to enter again.
But today, Kid bravely sauntered past the glowering trees and made his way into the center of the park, making up headlines and smiling at passersby. Now he felt silly about the anxiety he had felt for the past few weeks. There was nothing wrong with the park! No bloodthirsty trees waiting to pounce, no muggers or thugs hiding in dark places. Only the memory of Lucy; Lucy giving money to the shoeless orphan, Lucy haughtily questioning Kid's trustworthiness and looking away shyly as Kid began to work with her out of the park, Lucy clumsily inviting Kid to walk with her in the park.
He now knew without a doubt that that was the only possible thing she could have meant by her strange comment. She had invited him to see her again, and he, being the idiot that he was, had let the opportunity slip through his fingers. Oh well, he thought, she was way too upper-class for him anyway. A girl like that would never go for street trash like Kid Blink. And that, Kid thought to himself, is okay, because who needs hoity-toity rich girls anyway?
Kid spent the next several hours consoling himself in this manner, flashing his winning smile to every pretty girl he passed and coming up with headlines even to rival Jack's and Race's. By around four in the afternoon he had sold all of his papers, and, with a start, he realized that he now probably had enough money to buy the book for which he had been saving. Forgetting his promise to meet the others at Tibby's, Kid raced over to Solomona's book shop, where he immediately found a copy of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (he had already scouted out the store and memorized where on the shelf the book was kept). A half an hour later, he was walking briskly back to the park, book in hand, eager to find a bench and do some long awaited reading.
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"...and when I'm finished with law school, I shall join Father's firm and buy a house upstate. After, of course, I have found a wife. Father says that a settled man must have a wife to ensure stability, and, obviously, the continuation of the family line."
Lucy's head was about to burst with boredom. She thought that if she had to hear Robbie Horner's ramblings about his future one more time, she would have to kill them both. Now, however, the lecture was getting even worse because of Robbie's constant and unnerving comments about finding a "nice little wife." She stared miserably at the ducks swimming lazily in the lake, wishing she were anywhere but in the middle of Central Park with Robbie.
"I shall have to find a wife from an upper-class family, someone brought up well with the same tastes and values as mine and my family's," Robbie continued pompously, and was about to continue when Lucy finally interjected.
"Well, Robbie," she said smoothly, "I'm sure you shall have no problem finding someone like that. Manhattan is full of wealthy aristocrats as dull--er, well-bred as you are." Robbie didn't appear to have heard her slip-up, and he preened obnoxiously. In the past few weeks, Robbie had changed from being quietly annoying and clinging to being downright obnoxious. The change, Lucy had to imagine, must have resulted from Robbie's recent acceptance to Harvard law school, his father's alma mater. And ever since, Lucy's walks in the park with Robbie had changed from being boring but fairly enjoyable to downright painful. Today was particularly bad for some reason.
"Well, the city may have many people who call themselves upper-class," Robbie went on, his nose so high in the air that he nearly trod over a little boy who had run in front of him, "but so many of these so-called aristocrats are just new money or foreigners trying to pull themselves off as high class." His nose crinkled unattractively, as though he had something particularly foul smelling underneath it. He then pulled out a pocket watch, consulted it, and said in a bored, superior tone, "Oh dear, I should be getting home. Father is meeting with Mr. Pulitzer today, and you know how important it is that I be there. I should be getting you home."
"Oh don't worry about me," Lucy said quickly, sidestepping Robbie's outstretched arm. "I think I shall stay in the park for a bit longer. You know how I love to watch the sunset."
"Are you sure?" Robbie looked put-out, but Lucy insisted, and soon she was blissfully Robbie-free and circling the lake lazily, watching small children feeding the ducks and listening to the sound of the newbies call out headlines. An hour or so had passed, and she was just thinking about making her way back home when a vaguely familiar voice interrupted her thoughts by saying, "Buy me last pape, miss?"
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Mush and Race were growing restless. They had been waiting at Tibby's for Kid Blink for over an hour. Nearly all of the other newsies had shown up by this time, and the restaurant was crammed with noisy teenage boys sneaking beers, dancing on the table tops, and hanging on the ceiling fan, much to the chagrin of the harried restaurant owner. But one face was still missing, and Kid Blink's selling partners began to worry.
"It ain't like him to bail like dis!" Mush cried anxiously, peering expectantly toward the door.
"Aw kid, he prob'ly picked up some goil an' fahgot about us," Race said blandly.
"Kid wouldn't do that!" Mush was quick to defend his friend, for though he did see the possibility of Race's statement, Mush was always the sort to think the best of everyone, and the idea betrayal was completely foreign to him. "I'm gonna look for 'im," he said suddenly. The others at the table looked at him in exasperation. "He said he'd be in da park! He's prob'ly still deah."
Race rolled his eyes as the younger boy grabbed his single unsold paper and sprinted from the restaurant as though he were being chased by winged harpies. "Po' kid," he said, shaking his head. "Wouldn't see da truth if it danced in front o' him naked and on fiah."
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Mush made his way resolutely toward Central Park, keeping an eye out for his eye-patch wearing friend. Always optimistic, Mush refused to believe that Kid Blink would have blown off his friends for a girl, despite what the more realistic Race thought. He hoped that Kid hadn't had a bad run-in with the Delancey brothers, who were always looking for a fight with a newsie on his own.
Mush reached the park in record time and began to wander in the direction of the lake, which he knew to be Kid's favorite spot. He saw no sign of his friend, however, just couples strolling slowly in order to admire the sunset, and children teasing the ducks. Suddenly, he saw a flash of red hair as a girl in a yellow dress hurried past him, her gloved hands clutching a white parasol that hid her face. His heart raced, remembering the girl he had seen several weeks before, the sweet-faced redhead with the startlingly blue eyes. Of course, he knew it most likely wasn't the same girl, but that didn't stop him from hurrying up behind her and saying in his friendliest voice:
"Buy me last pape, miss?"
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Ten minutes after Mush had left Tibby's, Kid Blink burst through the door, his hair sticking out at odd angles under his eye-patch string, and through heaving deep breaths, managed to say, "Sorry fellas, (gasp) lost track (gasp) o' time." Not able to tear himself away from his book until he had finished, Blink had suddenly realized how late it was and took off at full speed toward Tibby's, knowing that the others would be wondering where he was.
"No problem, Kid," said Race absently, who was now quite occupied in a game of cards. Blink took a seat next to him, and sat for a moment wondering why something seemed missing.
"Hey guys, wheah's Mush?"
"Oh, he went lookin' fo' ya," said Jake, who was studying his own hand intently.
"Dammit!" muttered Kid guiltily. Oh well, he thought, Mush would give up soon and return to Tibby's, and the kid was so easygoing that he probably wouldn't be angry. Kid smiled at the thought of his best friend loyally combing Central Park in search of him, but soon was distracted from his thoughts in favor of watching Race pull off a particularly spectacular bit of bluffing, leaving Jake muttering angrily and the rest of the boys slapping Race exuberantly on the back. No big deal, Kid thought, Mush would be back, no harm done.
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Lucy whirled around to face the owner of the voice, and her heart fell slightly to see that it was not Kid Blink. But it didn't fall far, as the newsie now facing her proved to be in possession of the sweetest smile she had ever seen, as well as deep brown eyes that looked like liquid pools of chocolate. She thought that she must have bought a paper from this boy before, as he looked vaguely familiar. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed how good-looking he was before.
"Is it a good headline?" she asked teasingly, surprising herself with her ease in talking to a stranger.
"Yeah, if ya ain't hoid enough about da trolley strike for da last two weeks," he responded with another heartbreakingly cute smile.
"Oh, well I'm terribly fascinated with the trolley strike," Lucy gushed in an exaggerated voice, handing Mush a coin absently, not caring what it's value was. He didn't seem to care either. "I just can't get enough of it."
"Good," the newsie said, "cuz it looks like dat's gonna be all dat's in da papes for a long time. 'Cept if ya wanna read about some mutant cats in Brooklyn dat attack dogs."
Lucy laughed, unable to tear her eyes away from the newsie's. All disappointment at his not being Kid Blink had vanished, and she introduced herself shyly to the newsie, who in turn told her his own name.
"Mush?" she said quizzically. "Why do they call you Mush?"
He looked a little embarrassed, but responded, "Oh, dey say my skin looks like da color o' porridge, and 'Porridge' ain't much of a name, so dey started callin' me Mush."
Lucy giggled. "That's a funny way to get a name, but it suits you."
Meanwhile, Mush was barely even conscious of what he was saying. He was too busy basking in happiness at the luck of seeing the beautiful girl again. Lucy. Lucy Lucy Lucy. He was vaguely aware that what he was saying must about sounded pretty stupid, talking about mutant cats and the origin of his nickname, but he was lost in Lucy's blue eyes. He had never seen that color blue before, couldn't even begin to describe it.
"You've got really pretty eyes," he said shyly as they sat down on opposite sides of a park bench. She blushed and looked away. "No really," he insisted, "I ain't nevah seen eyes dat color before."
"My mother always said they were the color of sapphires," Lucy said quietly, daring to look back at Mush.
"Sapphires? Ain't dat a kind o' stone?"
"Yes," Lucy said eagerly, "it was my mother's favorite gem, she had so many of them! When she died, I took some of them. In fact I'm wearing one of them now." She pulled a thin gold chain out from under the collar of her dress and showed the small heart-shaped sapphire to Mush. It was the same color as her eyes, and as Mush gazed at it, he could almost see her staring back at him through the gleaming stone.
"Beautiful," he murmured. He glanced back up at her face, which was tilted towards his. For a moment both held the gaze until Lucy hurriedly looked away. Both searched for something to say to break the awkward silence.
"Oh look at the sunset!" Mush finally said. Obviously it was right thing to say.
"Don't you love watching the sun set?" Lucy asked brightly, watching the horizon turn from a bright orange to dusky pink. "I always have. They look so different here than how they did in England."
"Y'know what I like even bettah den sunsets," Mush said, "is sunrises. Dey's so beautiful, and most people don'even see 'em cuz dey's too busy sleepin'." Lucy giggled, and Mush joined in. They sat in silence watching the sunset for several minutes until dusk had settled in and people began to leave the park.
"It's late," Lucy said suddenly, as though she hadn't even noticed that time had passed.
"Yeah, I'd bettah be gettin' back," Mush said, standing up. Almost unconsciously, Lucy held out her hand and Mush took it as she stood. Again a look passed between them.
"Should I walk ya home?" he asked after a slight hesitation.
"Um, yes, thank you, that would be nice," Lucy replied. Mush tried muffle his huge sigh of relief, but Lucy caught it and smiled. She didn't know why she had accepted his offer, but somehow she just couldn't say no. For some reason, an image flashed through her mind, the memory of a similar situation involving a boy with an eye-patch, the boy she had spent the last few weeks daydreaming about. She tried to push the image out of her mind, but it remained stubbornly. Even with the sweet smile she was now receiving from the irresistably cute boy by her side, she couldn't shake the memory of Kid Blink from her mind.
They talked the entire way back to her house. Lucy found herself telling Mush all about her childhood in England, the family manor in the country, winters in London, her mother. Mush listened in rapt attention, taking in every detail of the way her eyes lit up when she talked about somehow that particularly excited her, and the way her lips moved when she spoke. He felt that if anyone had asked him any questions about anything that Lucy had told him about the geography of Derbyshire County, he would be able to repeat it back word for word. He, on the other hand, volunteered very little about himself, though he asked plenty of questions about herself.
Upon reaching her street, Mush looked up in wonder at the fine, no doubt horrendously expensive mansions, and it occurred to him just how different the world he lived in was from Lucy's world. She came from a life in which she had spent her summers on a vast manor in the English countryside, riding horses and attending parties, winters spent in the most posh section of London, attending even more parties and shopping for fine clothes. She had never worked a day in her life. She probably bathed every day in a porcelain tub, had servants to dress her, and patronized the opera and had a private carriage. Mush felt that he now knew everything about Lucy Morningside, and that he would never be able to understand any of it. But God, he wished he could.
Lucy must have sensed what Mush was feeling, because she bit her lip in embarrassment as he surveyed her house with a dark look. "My father is a lawyer," she said, as though attempting to excuse her wealth. Mush said nothing. "Well, thank you for walking me home."
"No problem," Mush said, a smile returning to his face. "Wouldn't want nothing to happen to ya. Da streets can be dangerous at night."
"Yes, I suppose they can." Another awkward silence. "Good night then."
"Yeah, g'night," Mush murmured as Lucy started towards the front door. "Lucy," he called suddenly, unable to stop himself, and causing her to turn her head. "I wanna see ya again."
There was a moment of hesitation in which Mush regretted having opened his mouth. But a moment later, Lucy's smile caused all of Mush's insides to melt into something that must have ressembled his namesake.
"Of course you will," she said softly.
"Tomorrow?" he said impulsively, hopefully, taking a step forward. Again Lucy hesitated.
"All right," she said, a shy smile playing upon her red lips. "I'll be waiting by the lake at four o'clock." Mush was too thrilled to say anything, but with a trembling head gently took her gloved hand and kissed it gently. Blushing profusely, Lucy turn and hurried up the steps and disappeared into the house. It wasn't until she was out of sight that Mush remembered why he had gone to the park in the first place.
"Dammit!" he cried, hitting himself on the forehead. Oh well, he thought, and with a leap of joy and one last longing glance toward Lucy's house, he turned around and started back toward the Lodging House, trying to think how he was going to explain his long absence to the others, and all the while the image Lucy's sapphire blue eyes burning before his own eyes.
Okay now, you can say it...CHEESE! I know, this was the cheesiest thing since Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, but oh well. I'll try to lay off the cheese in upcoming chapter. A big thank you to my signed reviewers: B-Rock, Saibie, Dreamsock, Liddle Scarlett O'Flaherty, Princess MacEaver, Blink's Chick, and Kora :) Keep reading and help keep this silly smile plastered on my face (yes Kora, you did make me smile)