Newsiesettes - Chapter 11

"Yeah, well it's sumtin' I'd never told nobody before." Blink said shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Aww, Blink..." Glitz stood up and hugged him, "You have a father! Don't you want to know him?"

"No!! The creep killed my mother! I hate him! Do you hear me? I HATE HIM!" He yelled at Glitz and at the rest of the newsies at the table at Tibby's.

The blow hit Glitz so hard she nearly fell onto the table. She collected herself and quietly sat down.

"Who is he?" Lisa asked quietly.

"He's some doctor...after he killed my mother, I ran away, I don't really remember him all that well, but he's new to these parts, he just moved here from our hometown in Pennsylvania."

Glitz looked to Lisa with wide eyes. "Peterson?" she asked softly to Blink.

"Do you think that's his name?"

Blink stared at her and narrowed his eyes. "How did you know?" He whispered the words so they were barely audible. It got dead silent.

Spot elbowed Race, "I gotta get back to Glam, its her birthday, y'know..."

"Uh, yeah, yeah me too."

"Yep...so...we'll see you guys around..." Spot looked from Lisa to Blink to Glitz. Glitz and Blink were staring each other down and Lisa was staring at the two of them, crouched down in the seat, looking scared to death. "Oookay." he said sliding out of the booth and he and Race practically ran out the door.

*****

Race and Spot bounded up the stairs, talking about the usual events of their day when Spot suddenly stopped just a few feet from the girls bedroom door.

"What is it?" Race said sharply, "Can't you warn a guy before-" Spot cut him off.

"Shhh!" he hissed, "Listen..." He said with a finger to his lips. He took a few steps closer and leaned against the door. He was so shocked to what he heard. "Race...Race listen, do you hear it? Do ya? What's goin' on...well don't look at me like that, I know what's going on...Oh my God, I don't believe it, I just don't believe it. It's Glam! She's in there with Jack...***my girl is in bed with my best friend." He carried on with Race just staring at him, facing him, listening to what was on the other side of the door, eyes wide. He turned the doorknob with such force that the door nearly flew out of his grasp. Suddenly one arm, belonging to Race came clamped tightly around his mouth. The other flew to the door just in time before the two moaning and groaning lovers could notice.

Race dragged the arm-flailing, bug-eyed Spot down the stairs and out onto the street. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Spot shouted and as soon as Race let him go, he charged back up to the lodging house.

Race grabbed his arm. "You were getting hysterical!" he shouted and hit him in the shoulder.

"OW!" Spot yelped. After a few seconds of recollecting everything and rubbing his shoulder, "Thanks...I think I needed that."

Race nodded.

Spot thought for a moment. "Come on." He ordered Race.

"Where are we goin' now?" Race whined.

"To Tibby's. I've gotta find Glitz, I've got to tell her, she has to know..." He jumbled the words together.

"Now?"

"When do you want me to tell 'er? Tomorrow? Yes now! Get ova here, your comin' in here with me." Spot said marching up to the door that led inside Tibby's. He reached for the door handle but the stopped midway and turned to Race. "Uh, Race...well, when I tell her...do you mind if we're alone?"

Race thought a minute. It hurt him in the slightest way, after all he was a witness of the whole awful scenario just moments earlier. But he realized and understood that they needed to talk about this in private and he nodded.

"Okay...here goes nuttin." He said reaching for the handle again. This time he successfully opened the door and searched the room for Glitz. He found her in the same spot he and Race had left her not too long ago. He rubbed his hands together and approached her cautiously. He didn't think he'd ever felt this nervous about any woman and a wave of nausea passed through him. He crouched down next to her, taking her by surprise.

"Oh, hey there, Spot!" Being the observant person she was, she noticed his face and eyes told her he was distraught about something. "What's wrong?"

"Uh...Glitz, we need to talk." He said seriously.

"What happened?" She asked, jumping up suddenly.

Spot stood up and scanned the restaurant quickly. "Not here, come on." He grabbed her hand and led her out the door.

After walking for at least 40 minutes, Glitz began to get cranky. "Spot!" She stopped dead in her tracks.

"What is it?"

"I am not walking any further. What is it you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh, come on, its just up to the bridge...it's important enough. Jack's important enough to you isn't he?" Spot retorted, bitterly.

"Jack? This involves Jack?" Glitz said, sounding surprised, even though she knew that was what it had to do with, she just never really wanted to admit it to herself.

"Yeah, it does, now come on." Glitz sped up her pace. Jack was more important to her than anything in her life right now, and there was no way she was going to blow Spot's temper by refusing to walk a few yards more. Finally they arrived to a small port on the side of the harbor, just below the bridge, overlooking the ocean. "This is my favourite spot in all of Brooklyn. This how I got my name, y'know? I used to come down here all the time, just to think. Whenever one of the fellas needed me they'd say 'he's at his spot...' or 'he's down at the spot..'. It kinda stuck, y'know?"

Glitz nodded, thoughtfully. The boy has a soul...whoever would've guessed. "Is that what we came her for?"

Spot shook his head. "Listen Glitz, I don't really know how to tell you this..." he pondered for a moment, picked up a pebble and threw it out to sea.

"Tell me what, Spot?" Glitz said softly, beginning to really wonder and worry about all the possibilities that could've happened.

"Well, see...Race and I, well we went to see Glam, y'know...it being her birthday and all..."

"Okay...?"

"And, well, when we got to the room. Well, Glitz, don't you understand what I'm trying to say?"

Glitz stared at him, blankly. "Umm..."

"Me and Race, well we caught them together..."

"Who, Spot? Glam and Jack? So? They're friends, they can be...oh." She said as realization hit of what he meant by "together". "You mean...together-together."

"As in, in bed, together."

"IN BED?! I don't believe it...I will not believe it. No, Jack wouldn't...he just wouldn't do that to me!" She screeched. Now normally, Glitz wasn't one to lose her temper easily, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She thought for a minute. "They were are friends." She said just barely above a whisper. She saw a simple tear roll down Spot's cheek as he nodded and turned away from her. "Oh, Spot..." she moved in front of him to face him. She slumped onto a crate sitting behind her. "God, it's real isn't it?" She'd ever seen him cry. If it weren't true, he wouldn't ruin a life-long reputation just to keep her going...