Chapter
12
As
I rubbed my eyes and looked up, I saw Racetrack's face peering down at me. I
was so startled that I screamed. He jumped back quickly and stared at me, then suddenly
burst out laughing. I threw my pillow at him in anger. But he quickly dodged it
and looked at me.
"So,
you think you're tough eh?"
He
disappeared into the bathroom, and thinking that I had gotten him off of my
back, I laid back down and closed my eyes again. Suddenly, I felt cold water
come down on me. I screamed again and jumped out of the bed. I saw Racetrack
standing in front of it with an empty bucket and a huge grin on his face.
"You
idiot! Look at what you did! I'll get you!"
I
chased him around the bunkroom for a few minutes, but finally stopped when I
realized that I was still soaking wet and needed to get changed. Since
everybody else was changed, I went into the bathroom and put on a pair of brown
pants, a plaid shirt and a cap. I could hear Racetrack saying, "It was the only
way I could make hoir get up! Besides, it's time ta carry da bannah!"
I
sighed and walked out of the bathroom, where Jack was waiting for me. He was
smiling and said, "You alright?"
"Yeah,"
I said, "but Racetrack won't be after I find him." Jack laughed and said that
it was normal. And we set off to get our papes and start selling.
All
along the way, Jack told me about the strike that he held because Joe Pulitzer
had raised the prices of the papes for the newsies. The Brooklyn newsies had
joined forces with them, and so did Queens, Harlem, and every other newsie in
New York. There had been tough times along the road, but they finally made it.
Of course, I had heard the story a million times since I met Jack, but I always
listened with enthusiasm, since the story was very interesting to me. I had
read about it in the papers before in Brooklyn, but had never paid much
attention to it.
Thinking
about Brooklyn, my thoughts suddenly turned to Spot. How was he? Had I hurt
him? I felt bad about leaving without letting him give me an explanation for
what he did, but what hurt me even more was what I did to Sunny and Hope and
all of the other girl newsies in Brooklyn. I hadn't told them where I went, or
why I left. But would they care if I was gone or not? But I quickly put this
out of my mind as I got my papes.
"Awright,
ya think youse can handle sellin on your own taday, Bristles? Cuz I got sum
business ta take care in Brooklyn,"
"Yeah,
sure, Jack."
I
resisted asking him why he was going Brooklyn, because I was afraid about what
he was going to answer. So I bid him goodbye and headed off to Central Park.
