Chapter 23

Chapter 23

As Sunny and Kid Blink walked down the stairs, they spotted a middle-aged man waiting impatiently at Kloppman's counter, drumming his fingers on the hard wood surface. He was studying the place, and from the look on his face, he didn't seem too pleased.

"You'se Strutley?"

The man took his gaze from a room and looked at the two newsies. He wrinkled his nose slightly.

"Do you know where Katarina is?"

"What's she got ta do wit you?"

The man snorted. "I'm her father, of course!"

Kid stared as Sunny looked at him. He was well dressed and seemed to be from a good family, just as Bristles had been, but Sunny remembered her saying her father was a newsie once. So she asked him a question.

"What's youah profession?"

"I'm a lawyer,"

"And anythin befoah dat?"

"well, I was a newsie,"

His tone didn't sound too convincing. And a former newsie would never have acted the way he did. But Blink seemed pretty convinced.

"Yeah, we do know sumpthin about youah Katarina,"

"Where is she?"

"Now, hold da presses. I'se still ain't trustin you'se. How do we know dat you ain't some mug tryin ta take our friend?"

"Well, how about this?"

The man fished a faded yellow paper out of his pocket. He handed it to them, and they read it over. On it was Bristles' birth date, name, her parents, and the hospital she was born in. Everything seemed to be real, and Sunny had to hand it back over.

"So, you wanna see youah goil?"

"Yes,"

"Do ya have anyway we can contact ya?"

The man eyed them suspiciously.

"How do I know you newsies will reply?"

Blink spoke up. "You ain't got nuthin ta warry about. Just give us da place, and we'll be dere,"

The man finally agreed and gave them an address. He also took out two five-dollar bills and handed them to each newsie.

"Ya know, soir, you ain't gotta do dis for us, weah doin dis for Bristles,"

"I just want to ensure that you'll show up, now, I'll be seeing you soon, I hope,"

As the man walked out, Blink and Sunny stared at him, then at each other. Blink grinned

"Well, just when we thawt dat we'd nevah find a way ta get Bristles' present!"

Sunny stared at the bill. "If we told him that we could be trusted, why did he still pay us? And why didn't he just wait heah til Bristles came back ta see hoir?"

"Aw, stop thinkin about it! At least we got da money foah Bristles' paint set!"

"Yeah, I guess so."