Ch.8 Back to Brooklyn
Pulitzer's office had to be one of the fanciest, ritziest buildings I've ever been in. The desks were all made from fine woods like mahogany and rosewood. The rugs were plush with such beautiful designs that I hated to walk on them. The office had green plants in every corner ones that I had always imagined would be found in rain forests. It was hard to take in all that extravagant richness. The receptionist's harsh glare brought me back to reality. It made all three of us feel, I'm sure, like we were dirt not even fit to grace the bottom of their shoes. Jack coughed and regained confidence saying, " We need ta talk ta Mr. Pulitzer." The receptionist said in clipped snooty tones, " You need an appointment to talk to Mr. Pulitzer. I don't believe that you have one, be gone." Such arrogant talk obviously offended Jack, which caused him to react in such a way that got us quite roughly thrown out of the office. David and the rest of the newsies stared at us because both Jack and Les were yelling, " Tell Mr. Pulitzer he's gonna need an appointment with me!" David laughed like he knew this was going to happen. The crowd broke up when everyone went to be ambassadors to the rest of the New York. David told Les to go on home, because he didn't want him going to Brooklyn. Then Jack, David and I started on our way to see the famous Spot Conlon. This time the trip was much more fun. I had to two people to keep me company and to joke around with. Things were great. David acted a little nervous and asked once while we were walking if Spot was really dangerous. Jack laughed and so did I, but not out loud cause they didn't know I'd already met Spot. They both tried to ask me questions about where'd I been yesterday afternoon, I didn't answer them. It wasn't any of their business. By late afternoon we were in Brooklyn and Spot's newsies were swimming and playing around on the docks. The leader himself met us, " Hey ya Jacky boy! Hey Mouth!" Then he saw me and said with a smirk, " Just couldn't stay away from ole Brooklyn could ya. I got some business with ya, so don't run off like last night."
The boys both stared at me with confused expressions on their faces. Spot broke the silence by saying that he had heard that we were going on strike. David and Jack tried their best to convince him that the Manhattan newsies weren't just playing around and that we were very serious. He didn't believe us yet. I was very impatient. What did Spot want with me? He was still talking to them, I began to get bored. I took to looking at the Brooklyn newsies that surrounded us. I turned in a circle passing my eyes over the lot of them when I saw something so familiar it made my heart stop. I caught a fleeting glimpse of short, red curly hair that matched my shade exactly, in the distance. Not thinking, I shouted out in an agonized voice, " JAMES!!" I kept my eyes keenly focused keenly on the red headed figure, and ran after him. I yelled out his name a couple more times, completely interrupting the little meeting that was going on. Now all the newsies were staring at me running like a crazed fool. Barreling through people, I made my way to where he was standing. James stood stock still not even turning around to face me. " James, turn around its me!" I said, trying not to cry. Normally I am not big on crying in front of other people or even crying in general, but I'd been worrying about him for so long. I couldn't wait any more and I tackled him in a big bear hug. Then I did start crying right onto his dirty shirt. I made sure that no one else saw I was bawling like a baby, 'cept my brother. He patted my back, ruffled my hair and said " God, I missed ya Molly." I stepped back, wiped my eyes and began to pelt him with a barrage of questions. " How are you? Where you been? Where'd you go? How did you get to Brooklyn? What happened back at the train station? Have you been eating well? How long have you been a newsie? Did you know I'm a newsie too?" I would have gone on and on but he clamped his hand over my mouth and said, " Hey slow down, I'll answer them all, just slow down." I took his hand and dragged him over to where Spot and the others were standing, gawking at us.