DISCLAIMER: I don't own Newsies or my friends.
AN: OK, here's another chapter. Please review, and the song I quote from in here is by Steven Sondheim. Please understand that the play it is from is NOT supposed to be taken seriously, so don't get really disgusted or anything. It's meant to be a dark comedy. I hope you all enjoy this!
HAVE TIME MACHINE: WILL SELL PAPES
CHAPTER 3
The newsies and the four girls all sat on the floor of the boy's bunkroom. All, that is, except Jack. He was pacing around the room, complaining that they still had papes to sell. The other newsies ignored him while Race dealt out the cards. "So do you four know how to play poker?" Race asked.
Liz nodded while Natalie, Eronn and Moni shook their heads. "Natalie, I thought you knew how to play –" Moni started to say, but was cut off when Natalie jabbed her elbow into Moni's side.
"I do not know how to play poker," she told her. "I asked because I wanted to learn." She smiled at Crutchy who was sitting next to her. "Do you think you could help me?" she asked him sweetly.
Eronn gaped while Liz tried to turn her laughter into coughs, unsuccessfully. Moni merely rolled her eyes. "Of all the hot newsies she could've picked" Eronn whispered to Liz, "she picked Crutchy!"
"For some reason, that doesn't really surprise me" Liz replied.
Eronn shrugged. "So how do you play poker?"
Race launched into a long, complicated explanation that Eronn and Moni didn't understand (Natalie *did* already know how to play poker), but they shrugged and started playing on the stipulation that they weren't betting money. Eronn gave up halfway through the game and Moni stuck it through. Natalie did pretty badly because she was so wrapped up in Crutchy, but Liz surprised everyone but winning hands down.
"Can't we play with money this time?" Liz complained.
"Liz, you don't have any money," Eronn reminded her.
"Oh, that's true." Liz shrugged. "Who wants to lend me money?" she yelled. "Oh, come on" she said when no one answered. "You guys are no fun," she muttered.
"It don't matter" Jack said. "We have to get back to selling our papes!"
"Oh lighten up Jacky-boy" Moni told him. "Live a little."
Jack sighed. He wasn't liking these girls too much at the moment. "Listen up boys!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "We can't go ta Medda's tonight until youse guys sell all your papes! So you'd better get to it!"
It was amazing how fast the newsies scattered. Racetrack had the presence of mind to go into the boy's room and get some clothes for the girls to wear.
The boys went downstairs while the girls changed their clothes. "At least we get to wear pants," Moni said.
Once they were dressed, they went downstairs to the main room.
"Can I tag along with you, Crutchy?" Natalie asked, smiling at him. "I've never sold papes before."
"Well sure" Crutchy agreed, smiling so widely that his tongue was nearly hanging out of his mouth.
Moni shook her head at this, and Liz whispered to Eronn "Why have we never seen this side of Natalie before?"
Eronn shrugged. "I don't know, but she's going to make me sick if she keeps it up much longer."
"Do you think you can walk?" Blink asked Eronn.
"Well, considering I just walked down the stairs, I think I can."
"Oh good. Do you want to sell with me?" Blink asked.
Eronn smiled. "I'd love to."
"C'mon you guys!" Jack yelled again. "We have to go!"
"We're coming" Moni grumbled. She grabbed Natalie by her collar and pulled her away from Crutchy, as everyone headed out the door.
They all split once they reached the street. Natalie and Crutchy headed off right away. Liz and Eronn went with Blink. Moni decided she was going to sell with Jack, since he was fun to annoy. Jack, needless to say, was not happy with this arrangement. All the other newsies headed off by themselves, or in groups of two or three.
Crutchy hadn't taken that many papes that morning at the Distribution Office, so he and Natalie sold his fairly quickly. After they were done, they sat in front of Irving Hall, where they would meet all the newsies later, and talked. Or rather, Natalie talked and Crutchy listened.
She told him about her family, about how she wanted to get a new cat since her old one, Pumpkin, had died. She told him what she liked to read, who her favorite author's were, what she liked to write about. She was a very literary person, so they were still talking about her writing much later when the rest of the newsies arrived.
Meanwhile, with Blink, Liz and Eronn were having a good time exploring New York City in 1899. Eventually, they started to help Blink sell his papes. He had taken a lot, but they weren't even halfway through yet. 'How about I sing to attract customers?" Eronn suggested.
"I don't think that's such a good idea-" Liz started to say, but she was cut off by Eronn, who started singing "King of New York."
She got really into it. By the time she reached "And there I be, ain't I pretty? It's my city, I'm the King of New York!" she was dancing along with it.
Liz and Blink stood along the side of the road, just watching her. A crowd had also gathered around her. Liz went up to one of the on-lookers and asked if he wanted to buy a pape. "All our money is going towards trying to put her in a mental institution!" she said sweetly. Without thinking twice, the man gave her a nickel for the pape. Blink started doing the same thing, and by the time Eronn had sung "Go Go Go Joseph" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and "I've Got a Theory" from the musical Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, Liz and Blink had managed to get rid of all their papes. By then, it was almost time to go to Irving Hall, so they headed there.
Moni was probably having the best time of all the other girls. She discovered that Jack hated being asked questions. So she asked him why he was wearing a cowboy hat and bandanna. When he told her he wanted to go to Santa Fe and become a cowboy, she asked him why he wanted to do that. When he answered that, she asked how he knew that everything was "different" in Santa Fe. When he answered that, she asked why he though he could trust those dime-novels that he had read about Santa Fe in. Moni managed to go on like this for about two hours. She distracted Jack so much that when they headed off to Irving Hall, he still had twenty papes left.
They walked up to the front, where the other newsies were now waiting. "Hey Jack, why do you still have papes left?" Race asked, taking a cigar out of his mouth. Jack just glared and pointed at Moni.
"Who me?" Moni asked innocently.
Jack chose to ignore her, and moved over to talk to Blink. The four girls congregated together to talk about their day. "So, how'd it go?" Liz asked everyone cheerfully.
"Great!" Natalie said in a very chipper voice.
"Mar-velous" Moni said, grinning wickedly. "Jack is fun to annoy."
"You know how bad mine was" Eronn pouted.
"Oh, what happened?" Natalie asked.
"Blink told her that she reminded him of his sister" Liz said, trying not to laugh.
"I don't want to discuss it" Eronn said, walking away. She managed to pass Jack just as he asked Blink when the others would arrive. "What others?" she asked.
"Just some boys from Brooklyn and Midtown" Blink told her.
"Really?" Eronn asked, practically jumping up and down, but trying to contain herself in front of the boys.
"Uh, yeah" Jack told her, looking at her strangely.
Eronn walked away and hopped over to her friends. "Hey guys! Brooklyn's coming!" she practically squealed. She grabbed Liz's arm and continued bouncing. "Isn't that great?"
"Calm down" Liz told her.
"So someone has a crush on Spot, huh?" asked Race, coming up to them. "I couldn't help overhearing" he added.
Eronn looked like a deer in the headlights. "Don't tell him!" she told Race, terrified.
Moni rolled her eyes. "You've never even met him Eronn."
Eronn stuck out her lip and gave Moni her best pouty expression. "Don't tell Spot what?" Race said loudly, as he saw Spot walk up to Jack.
Spot turned when he heard his name. "Tell me what?" he asked, walking over to Race.
"Oh, nothing" Natalie said, covering. "We were just joking around."
Eronn jabbed her in the ribs, but it was too late.
"Joking? About me?" Spot asked, trying his best to be intimidating to the four girls.
"You never make fun of Spot Conlon!" Eronn whispered to Natalie.
"Well, at least someone treats me with respect" Spot said. "What's your name?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, you."
"Well, my name is Eronn, and these are my friends Moni, Liz and Natalie. We just became newsies today."
"It's fun," Moni added, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "I got to sell with Jack. Hee hee."
Spot looked at her a little strangely. "Glad to hear it" he said, still eyeing Moni. "So Race, how's it going?" he asked, turning towards him.
"Hey, you guys!" Jack yelled. Moni immediately started talking.
"Oh, stop it Moni" Natalie whispered to her.
"Let's go inside!" Jack said, after sending a glare to Moni.
"Are you coming?" Spot asked, turning towards Eronn.
"Of course" Eronn said, smiling. She walked in next to Spot, and Crutchy offered his free arm to Natalie. Moni began asking Jack questions again, and Liz walked along next to them, feeling highly entertained by all her friends.
The show began soon, and the girls were polite and didn't say anything bad about it during the show, but afterwards they began criticizing it immediately. "They call that music?" Moni asked, snorting.
The other girls nodded. "She's kinda old too," Liz pointed out.
"Hey, maybe Moni and Eronn should start their own show" Natalie said to Liz. "They can both sing."
"Yeah – how about the song from Sweeny Todd?" Moni asked.
"The Demon Barber of Fleet Street?"
"Yup."
"I don't know all the lyrics."
"Neither do I."
"OK, lets start then." And off they were down the street, singing with very bad cockney accents:
"Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd,
His skin was pale and his eye was odd.
He shaved the faces of gentle men,
Who never thereafter were heard of again.
He trod a path that few have trod,
Did Sweeney Todd…
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
He kept a shop in London Town,
Of fancy clients and good renowed.
And what if none of their souls were saved,
They went to their maker impeccably shaved.
By Sweeny,
By Sweeny Todd…
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."
"I don't know them," Liz said, cowering.
"Why did I suggest this again?" Natalie asked.
"Hey, they're good, so leave them alone" Spot said, coming up from behind them.
Eronn and Moni had by this time run out of lyrics and rejoined the group. "Thank goodness you stopped" Liz commented.
"You didn't like my singing?" Eronn asked, pouting.
"I like your singing. It's just sometimes I wish you had a mute button."
"Well I liked it" Spot told her.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you guys were pretty good, but that story sound a little weird" Race broke in. "Who ever heard of a demon barber?"
"He's not really a demon," Moni explained. "He just kills his customers and the lady who lived below him makes them into meat pies."
There was a chorus of "Ewws" from everybody else. "It's a comedy" Eronn explained. "We didn't expect you to understand," she said, with the air of a martyr.
Soon after, however, she and Moni were laughing and joking again. They reached the Lodging House and all the Manhattan newsies headed inside, while the other newsies left to go back to their territories. Eronn nearly swooned when Spot winked at her and told her he'd see her soon. And it was all she talked about that night. About two hours later, Eronn finally fell asleep, which allowed the other girls to sleep as well.
TBC…
And next time, we pretty much start the movie! Please review, pretty please!
One person mentioned that they were having trouble keeping the characters straight, so here's an overview:
Natalie: likes to talk, is incredibly cheerful, likes Crutchy
Liz: the most sensible of all the girls, but still fun-loving, best at poker,
Moni: odd in the best sense of the word
Eronn (the author): likes Spot and singing wacky songs with Moni
You can post any more questions about the characters in your reviews, or email me with ?s!