No Newsie Likes a Delancey
Chapter 1:
I climbed off of the train and entered the chaos of Grand Central Station. The crowd that lingered around blew my mind. So many people, so many different ethnicities. I lugged my bag after me and glanced at the paper in my hand. I was supposed to go to 5th street. Pulling confidence I didn't feel around my shoulders like a cloak, I walked into the streets of New York City.
"Watch it, missy!" yelled a coarse man when I ran into him.
I clutched my bag to my chest and muttered my apologies. Then I trudged on, dodging pedestrians, wagons, newsboys and other such workers, animals, and vendors, without a clue as to where I was going. After about a half-hour of fruitless wandering, my stomach growled at me. I took the last penny to my name from my pocket and looked at the vendors peddling foodstuffs. Yes, I would use it to buy something to eat.
"Mayor murders mother! Read all about it!" I heard behind me.
My eyes widened in surprise and I turned to see who had screamed such a startling headline. There stood the handsomest young man I had ever seen, amidst a crowd of four or five anxious buyers. I wondered if he was honest about his headline, or if he was like all the newsboys in Ohio, and stretched the truth to line their pockets. But that concern was little in distracting me. Short in stature, and dark-haired- probably Italian-, he was too good-looking not to stare at. I shook myself out of my dazed staring only to realize he was approaching me.
"Buy me last pape, miss?" he asked in his rhythmic New York accent, a lopsided grin appearing on his face. "Only a penny."
I worked my jaw but nothing came out. Embarrassed, I looked down at my shoes and finally managed to stammer a "sure". 'Get a grip. He's just a newsboy.' I looked up and handed him my coin.
He took the coin and handed me the paper. "Thank ya for ya business, miss."
I nodded dumbly as he turned to walk away. "Wait, wait!" The way he glanced back at me, with such a guilty face, proved that he had indeed made up the headline. He made a move to start running. "No, wait, please... Can you... can you tell me where 5th street is?"
He stared at me for a moment, almost as if in shock. "Oh, oh, sure." And then he began pointing down the street, tossing street names and directions left and right. I stared at him blankly. When he finally caught sight of my expression, he burst into laughter. I could tell right away, just by his laugh, that he was a very good-natured person. "Ya ain't from around here, are ya?"
I nervously tucked a strand of blond hair behind my ear and shook my head. "Well, no... I mean yes, but I haven't been here for at least ten years."
"Well, I'll be glad t' show ya 'round." He scrubbed his ink-stained hand on the leg of his pants, a futile attempt to clean it, and then held it out to me. "Racetrack Higgins, at ya service, Miss. Call me Race."
I tentatively gave him my hand. "Katelyn," I murmured, blushing hotly when he kissed my hand. Oh, he was a charmer all right. I studied him for a moment as we began walking. "Your last name is Higgins?" Hesitantly, he nodded, eyeing me suspiciously. "But you don't look Irish, you look-"
"Italian?" He chuckled. "I get that all th' time. Me mother was Italian, an' me pop was part Irish. I take after me mother," he said proudly. Taking a cigar from the breast pocket on his patched-up vest, he inquired, "So, Miss Katelyn, ya say ya ain't been here in ten years? Why?"
"Oh, my father sent me to a school in Ohio when I was seven." After a moment's pause, I added, "And call me Katie, please."
"Katie," he repeated with a bright smile. "Okay, will do.' We walked leisurely down the street as Race pointed out what he called 'the sights'- a horseracing track, a rundown lodging house, and some building called Irving Hall included. After a few minutes, he thumped his stomach and asked if I wanted any lunch.
"Oh, no," I said, blushing fitfully. I felt like such a little girl. "I can't. I ... well I spent my last penny on this paper." I waved it in the air a little. "Thank you anyway."
He laughed again. "Ya spent th' last of ya money to buy me last pape?" With a shake of his head, he said, "That's somethin' else, Miss... I mean Katie. Not many folks'll do that." He chuckled again. "Don't worry though, I'll pay for ya lunch."
"Oh, I couldn't. I don't want to put you out-" I began, unable to believe what was coming out of my mouth. Spending a few extra minutes with Race was exactly what I wanted, and yet I was trying to convince him otherwise?
He grabbed my hand and pulled me across the street. "I made a nice profit t'day, and then some from th' tracks. An' since ya bought me last pape an' you's new in town, I can't just leave it at that. So don'cha worry about it." His slim hand flew up towards the sign as we entered a small restaurant. "This's Tibby's. All of us come here. Heya fellas!" he shouted cheerfully.
"Heya Race" came a few replies.
"She ya new girl, Race?" a blond boy with an eye patch teased from a couple of tables away. I ducked my head and blushed.
"Naw. This girl bought me last pape today!" The comment was met with a scatter of cheers and clapping. "And I decided t' be gentlemanly and buy 'er some lunch. Boys, this is Katie. Katie, th' boys."
The blond yelled, "Why, if a pretty girl like her bought me last pape, I think I'd take 'er out t' lunch too!"
"An' then some!" another boy hooted.
Laughing, he came up to me and took my hand. "The name's Kid Blink," he said, kissing my hand similarly to the way Race had. "Pleasure t' meet'cha, Miss Katie." His eyebrows danced.
I slowly pulled my hand from his, unsure of how to react. I couldn't tell if his flirtations were serious or not. But the other boys laughed, and even he cracked a grin.
Race put an arm around my shoulders and, after placing orders for some food, guided me to a table partially full of boys. "Katie, that's Cowboy, Crutchy, Skittery, Bumlets, and Itey. Boys, as I b'lieve I said b'fore, this's Katie."
They nodded towards me, and simultaneously removed their hats. I had to giggle at the effect. Hats disappearing just because I was present?
"What?" Skittery, the first to swallow his food, demanded.
Biting my lip, I shook my head and sat down next to the one introduced as Crutchy. Race squeezed in next to me.
"So, Katie, ya new t' New York?" Crutchy asked, shyly peering at me.
"Um, well, I haven't been home for ten years, so I guess-"
"Didja run away or somethin'?" one of the others interrupted.
"Well, no, I was-"
"Were ya kidnapped?" another asked.
Flustered, I shook my head. "No, I-"
"Were ya run out by th' mob?" a third demanded.
"Fellas, give the lady a chance t' talk! Ain'cher mothers ever taught ya any manners?" Race intervened, holding up his hands to silence the table.
All of them offered sheepish apologies. "So, Katie," a boy wearing a red bandana around his neck began, "as Crutchy was askin': ya new here?"
"Well, ah..." I paused, squinting at him. "I'm sorry, what's your name again?"
"Jack."
I didn't remember Race ever introducing a Jack, but I dismissed it. Everything had become a sudden whirlwind, - of meeting people, at least- the moment I met Race anyway, so it was a wonder I even remembered my own name! "Well, Jack, I don't know if I'm allowed to answer that, since every time I begin, I'm interrupted."
The group laughed as if I had just told them the funniest joke. Jack waved his hand about. "Okay, no one says nothin' 'til Katie here is done."
I blushed when he gestured to me and everyone focused all attention on me. "Well," I began, and then paused when a chesty waitress placed a bowl of soup before me. Again, the boys laughed. Taking a spoonful, I continued, "I was sent to school in Ohio when I was seven... My father didn't want me growing up around here, I guess because I'm a girl... and now I'm coming home."
After a brief, thoughtful silence, another boy asked, "Are ya a scab?"
"Itey!" the others exclaimed.
"What?" he yelped in surprise. "I's just askin'!"
I arched an eyebrow, confused. I was pretty sure they didn't mean scab in the sense that I knew it. "What's a scab?"
Race put his arm around me and hugged me quickly, with a smirk on his face. I almost died, right there. "Don'cha worry. Ya ain't a scab."
"Ya wanna know a pair of scabs? Wait'll ya have a run in wit' th' Delancey brothers," Crutchy announced with a deep shudder.
My heart went out to him. "Delancey brothers?"
"Oscar an' Morris Delancey- the biggest scabbers of them all. We's all got stories t' tell." Jack rolled up his shirtsleeve and showed me a cruel pinkish white scar that ripped down his arm. "That happened a month ago."
I gasped. "They did that? Why?"
He shrugged, rolling the sleeve back down. "'Cause no Delancey likes a newsie, an' no newsie likes a Delancey."
* * *
I stood on the corner of 5th street, with Race, waiting for my father to arrive. "Thank you for lunch, Race. That was kind of you." I wanted to hit myself. 'Kind of you'? I sounded like something from an etiquette text.
He shrugged nonchalantly, rolling a cigar butt between his fingers. "It was nothin'," he replied with a cocked grin. Pulling a tarnished gold watch from his pocket, he murmured softly to himself, before turning to me. "Hey, I hate t' leave a lady all by herself, but I's gotta get to the distribution office. Papes to sell, y'know? See ya 'round, Katie." He kissed my hand again, and then left.
I nodded mutely, watching him trot away, as I absently rubbed the hand he kissed. A few minutes later, my father's cart rattled up, and to my surprise, and delight, my brothers were with him.
"Baby Katie!"
I laughed at the nickname. I hadn't been called Baby Katie in such a long time. My father climbed down and helped me into the cart. "It's so wonderful to finally have you home, sweetheart," he said, kissing my head. My brothers pulled me back from him into tight embraces. I was so glad to be home.
"You's grown so big!" my eldest brother observed, patting my head.
"Well, that's what happens when a person is away for ten years!" I teased.
"Aw, c'mere you!" He laughed, giving me another bear hug. I giggled. "We's missed ya at home."
"I missed you too."
"A lots changed since you've been gone," my father commented, looking fondly upon me.
I nodded. Boy, did I know. Suddenly 'filthy street ruffians' were very attractive.
I leaned around my brothers' shoulders and took in the sights we passed. "Wow, is that Central Park?" My brother nodded, gently pushing my shoulders down as I had unknowingly rose to a stand, so I wouldn't fall from the wagon and kill myself. I leaned back, staring at the park as we passed it. "It's beautiful! We should all go there sometime."
"Sure. We'll take ya there," my other brother told me.
I hugged him. "Thanks."
NNLD Index | Chapter 2 | Library
E-mail Rabbit
