Shoutouts…
Fastdancr :: Thanks the review! And yes, let's start a club called The Newsies Kidnappers and I bet we'll get 'em before too long… ;D
Pegasus :: Thanks Peggy Sue! Yes yes yes! And yes… sorry about killing them off… but it had to happen. I wanted to show how life was sad for Mush when he was younger… and how it'll affect him when he's older.
Blinks-Tiger :: Of course there's more! And I love little Parrot/Mush as well… he turns into Mush in this chappy… :D Wahoo-dee-hoo!
Maniac Conlon :: Thanks Timby! Spot's no longer a camel? What happened? ((I was going to say something dirty about his hump right here, but I'll let it go. LOL.)) I love the name Lucy too… on little kids… like in I Am Sam… she's so cute in that. Sorry I killed off Trickster, but ya know, newsies ::did:: die… don't worry, we don't have any more deaths for a while… I don't think… then again, I wrote this chappy like a week ago, so I don't really remember…
Court Jester :: Yes, I like to quote musicals as well… I love Into The Woods… Into the woods to Grandmother's house and home before dark! LOLOL. Yeah, the ripped pants… I thought that was a cute way to get Mush's identity into the story… and because he idolized Trickster so much, that also shows why he continues to rip his pants into his teenage years…
Dizzy :: Hey, t'anks! Yes, I love writing little Mush… er… Parrot. Who could tell that Mush is my fave newsie and Kid Blink is second?? LOLOL.
Sobe a Lizard :: Thanks Sobes! So you got ICQ? SWEET! What's your number? Send it to me in email ((if you've already done so, excuse me, I haven't checked my email yet today.)) Oooooh, you got a new doggie? My doggie's stupid… her name is Scout… but her namesake ((from To Kill A Mockingbird)) was insightful and smart, particularly for being 8… MY Scout is stupid… even for a dog… she doesn't know anything. It's quite sad.
Lucky aka Raider :: Thanks for the nice review!! Yup, it's Mush and Blink.
Holiday :: THANKS!!!!!!!!! This is a review to print off and stick on my wall when I'm feeling like I can't write worth a crap. Thanks so much! And aloha to you too. :D
Growth - Chapter 3
Summer, 1892
"C'mon, Lucy! You'se sellin' wit' me an' Kid ta-day," Parrot told Lucy, who ran over as fast as her little legs could handle. Nine-year old Parrot smiled. Today they were going to surprise Lucy, because it was three years ago today that they'd adopted her into their Lodging House. But that meant that while everyone else set up, he and Kid Blink had to go selling. Lucy never went anywhere unless Parrot was going, so it was impossible for him to stay. Lucy also liked being around Kid Blink, so he had been nominated as the other one to go selling.
Kloppman was the one to always help Lucy get ready in the morning, and this time her fine, straight blonde hair had been pulled back into two braids. She owned two dresses: one pink and one blue. Today she wore the blue. It was Parrot's favorite, because it matched her big eyes.
"Wheah is we goin' sellin' ta-day?" Kid Blink asked, after they'd bought some papers from Mr. Wiesel, a man who'd just started working at the Distribution Center. He was beefy and large for his young age (early twenties) and didn't seem to like kids at all.
"Why don' we go down ta da Sheepshead Races?" Parrot suggested. "We's haven' been dere in a while." Lucy, clutching three papers which Parrot had given her in one hand and holding Parrot's hand with the other, smiled.
"Wheah's Cowboy an' Specs?" she asked in her little voice, naming two of her other favorite newsies after Parrot and Kid Blink. They'd come about a year after Trickster's death and were both a year older than Parrot and Kid Blink.
"Dey ain't selling ta-day," Kid Blink told her. "Oh, look! Dere's our carriage." He ran and caught onto the back of it, and Parrot lifted Lucy onto it before leaping on himself. He was just in time, too—the carriage started rolling nearly the instant after he'd gotten on.
They jumped from carriage to carriage, and soon got to the races. Standing outside, they began yelling headlines. Lucy yelled whatever Parrot yelled, holding her three papers. She wouldn't sell them, though, even if someone would come up to her. She didn't seem to understand the concept of selling. She'd take the person's pennies, sure, but she wouldn't give up the papers. She'd scream and clutch them instead.
"Heya, I ain't seen you boys aroun' befoah. An' what's wit' da kid?" a sarcastic, high voice said from Parrot's left. He looked over, and there stood a short Italian kid, with his hands on his hips and the stump of a cigar perched in his mouth.
"I'se Parrot an' dat's Kid Blink," Parrot answered cautiously. "An' da kid ain't nunya business."
The kid put his hands in the air. "I didn' mean nuttin'," he said. "Name's Mario Higgins."
Parrot had only known one other Italian, and that was California. California used to tell stories of growing up in Little Italy. "You live in Little Italy?" he asked Mario.
"No. You live in Stupidville?" Mario shot back.
Parrot laughed. "Ya heah dat, Kid? I ast Mario if he lived in Little Italy, an' he ast me if I lived in Stupidville." He laughed some more. Lucy watched him, then laughed too, even though she didn't understand what was going on.
Mario stared at him. "Jesus, it wadn't dat funny."
Parrot shrugged. "I t'ought it was. Say, Mario, you a newsie?"
"No," Mario answered. "Is it a good job?"
Parrot shrugged again. "Good 'nough, I s'pose. It gives ya money an' dere's dis real nice place, da Lodgin' House, wheah some 'a us live. An' ya get lotsa friends."
Mario thought for a moment. "Well, I'se jus' ran away from home, so maybe I'll become a newsie," he decided. "Jus' try it out, at leas'."
"Come back wit' us aftah we's done sellin', den," Parrot told him. "Da foist two nights in da Lodgin' House is free."
"A'right, I will." Mario sat down and watched Kid Blink and Parrot sell the rest of their papers.
On the way back to the Lodging House, Parrot gave Lucy a piggyback ride. He and Kid Blink asked questions to get to know Mario better.
"D'ya go to da tracks lots?" asked Parrot, bouncing more than he normally would as he walked to make Lucy squeal with happiness.
"Ev'ry day," Mario answered, with a touch of pride in his voice. "Wheah do you fellas usually go?"
Parrot shrugged. "Wheahever we wants ta," he said. "If you'se gonna be a newsie, Mario, you needs a newsie name."
"I do?" Mario asked.
"Well, ya didn' t'ink dat me real name was Kid Blink, didja?" Kid Blink asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Kid, I says we'se call 'im … Racetrack. Since 'e goes ta da tracks all da time an' all." Parrot smiled at his cleverness.
Kid Blink smiled at Parrot's suggestion. "Sounds good ta me, Parrot."
"Racetrack." Mario tried on his new name, and grinned. "I like it." He thoughtfully chewed on his unlit cigar.
The group of now four walked into the Lodging House, where every newsie jumped out and screamed "SURPRISE LUCY!" Lucy screamed in excitement and Parrot helped her slide off his back.
She opened all the little homemade gifts and when she sitting happily with a little piece of cake in front of her that Cowboy had stolen from a bakery, Parrot took to introducing Racetrack around the room. Kloppman wrote his name in the little book on the counter, and it was official that he would now be a newsie. Everyone smilingly accepted Racetrack, and before the day was over, Race had even gotten his first hug from Lucy.
That night, Lucy sat out on the roof with Race, Parrot, Kid Blink, Cowboy, Specs, Snoddy, and another nine-year old, Swifty. She sat quietly while the boys talked amongst themselves.
"Dere's a new kid in Brooklyn, an' he's startin' all kinds a' trouble, but he ain' even ten yet," Cowboy said, stretching out and looking up at the stars.
"Wha's 'is name?" Parrot asked, adapting a similar stance.
"Somet'in' like a dog. Fido? Fluffy? Oh, I dunno. Somet'in' like dat. If he don' watch 'is back, Challenge is gonna soak 'im." Challenge was very-feared, being the Brooklyn leader.
"Spot Conlon?" asked Racetrack, staring at Jack.
"Hey, dat's it. Wha', d'ya know 'im?" Cowboy answered, propping himself up on his elbows and looking over at Racetrack in interest, his eyes glittering below the brim of his large black cowboy hat.
"I met 'im me foist night on da street, las' week. 'E said 'e was gonna take oveh Brooklyn. I laughed at 'im, cuz he's dis liddle scrawny t'ing who didn' look like 'e could even walk as far as Brooklyn. Den 'e punched me so I had ta go runnin' ta find me anuddah place ta sleep fer da night."
All the other newsies laughed at the story, and Racetrack smiled. It had been a long, lonely week for someone who is used to having ten siblings screaming all the time. Now he finally felt as if he had friends again, and the thought warmed him up a hundred percent.
"Hey, didja see dat new goil dat woiks down in da flowah shop?" Parrot asked, pointing across the street to the little flower shop that sat there, Duane Street Flowers.
Everyone laughed but Racetrack, who didn't see what was funny. "Why're y'all laughin'?" he asked.
"Parrot's always goin' on abou' some goil," Kid Blink answered.
At this, Lucy finally got rid of her silence. "Mush! Mush! Mush!" she screamed, pointing at Parrot.
All the boys again began to laugh. "Whene'er 'e talks abou' a goil, Lucy goes nuts an' screams 'mush,' because dat's what Quarrel taught 'er ta do. Lucy's a jealous liddle goil, an' she don' like Parrot t'inkin' 'bout any goil but 'er."
Parrot had pulled Lucy, who was getting tired from her long day, into his lap. He kissed the top of her head lightly. "Ah, Lucy'll always be me goil," he said. She yawned.
"In fact, it's gettin' so bad, we'se keepin' a tally dis week 'a how many times 'e's called Parrot, an' how many times 'e's called Mush," Kid Blink said, pulling a piece of newspaper out of his pocket. He pulled a little file out with it, and scratched three little holes on the Mush side, and one on the Parrot side. "Whiche'er one wins is gonna be 'is name."
"How much longeh is dis goin' on?" asked Race, peering at the paper.
"It ends tamorra at lunch."
Racetrack grinned. "So, Mush, how ya doin', Mush? D'ya like da weaddah, Mush? Mush, why's yer hair coily? Mush, d'ya like me callin' ya Mush?"
Parrot laughed, and Kid Blink scratched six more Mush's.
Kloppman came up at that moment to get Lucy. She only protested until Parrot gave her the every-night occurrence of her goodnight kiss, then she went happily to bed.
"So why's Lucy neahly all yours?" Race asked, watching Lucy and Kloppman leave. "Is she you's sistah or somet'in'?"
"No, she's all a' ours liddle sistah," said Specs. "It's jus' dat she likes 'im da bes', fer some reason."
Parrot smiled, because it was true; he was Lucy's favorite, and he didn't know why, either. Then the conversation turned to another topic.
The rest of the night, all the newsie boys on the roof called Parrot, Mush, and by the time lunchtime rolled around, it was already official in their minds that he was now Mush. Every newsie agreed that the name fit. Mush celebrated the event by kissing Shal, a girl newsie. Shal slapped him and Lucy screamed in fury, but all the boys generally decided it was a good and right thing to do.
Racetrack grinned. He knew he'd like it just fine around here.