*~Shoutouts~*
Gypsy … Sorry I make you sad! Erm… this chappy might make you sad too. Sorry. :/ Then again… nope, you'll prolly be sad.
Pegasus … Thanks!! Peggy Sue, you're freakin' awesome.
Dizzy … Erm… you'll find out who dies next in this chappy. Well, some of them are not elaborated on and I'm not sure if anyone'll catch who actually dies or not… but yeah. There is one big death…
rumor … Wahoo, you've won the "chapter 6 longest review" award!! :D Oh, and who needs a semblance of maturity?? LOLOL. YOU HAVEN'T SEEN A GOOFY MOVIE?! LOL I have the soundtrack. Okay, so my brother got it back when the movie first came out and we were little youngins, but I stole it this past summer so now it's mine. *sigh* I heart Aaron's voice. "They've been laughin' since I can remember, but they're not gonna laugh anymore… no more 'Maxy-the-geek', no more 'Goof-of-the-week' like befoooooooore!" What great lines are those! MIGHTY DUCKS ROCK!!!!!!!!!! Well, okay, so the Bash Brothers rock. Tonight at work I spilled a bucket of water everywhere… maybe I should've sang with the mop like Aaron lol! Yeah, I know, it annoys me that he's not all the way throughout D3… :( Oh well.
misprint … Wahoo! I heart Six Strings too. He's now on Vaudeville. LOL! He's coming more in the next chappy… just cuz I can. Yes, I love little Boots too. :D Cutieness. UPDATE ECLIPSE!
shade … DANG! You shoulda written me another review! LOL so I could be up to 80 right now. But it's okay, I still love you. :D I'm not killing Six Strings. He actually survives. It's amazing. I love him too much. He's immune as if he were Mush. **Mush picks up a leather loveseat from Kimi's house and throws it on Six Strings** MUSH! NO! HEY SHADE, UPDATE ECLIPSE!
Raider … Thanks! :D I'm having oodles of fun with this story. Which I probably shouldn't, since everyone's dying. Eep.
Moon*Star … WAHOO FOR CHOCOLATE COVERED, CREAM-FILLED ((You're right, that *is* really dirty! HAHAHA oh well I don't mind!!)) MUSH! MMMMMMMMM I love him.
Gwen … Thank you!!!!!!!! You're too kind to me. Mush *is* adorable in this, isn't he??? **Mondie huggles Mushy** Thanks for reviewing!
Moody … Thanks Moods! Any new stories?
Blinks-Tiger … Well, the chappy story of your songfic is the plan… let's see if it works out. LOL. ;D What with school and work, I'm kinda out of time at the moment. But yes, I'll try.
bittersweet … I don't put you to shame! Your story rocks too m'dear. LOL! :D
Sobe a Lizard … Sobes! I can't raise one eyebrow either. My friend Ox can. It's very interesting. LOL I laugh at him lots. Caroline's welcome! I don't have much time to review lately. :(
kimimay85 … Guess I don't have to worry anymore about how I spelled Cyle's name as Kyle, since he GOT FIRED! LOLOLOL. Now there's only Kyle and KP to remember. LOL I'm glad Spot's not a killer but a lover. Su-u-u-ure.
Maniac Conlon … Do you have ICQ now? ((Did I add you to my list? I added someone without finding out who they are… LOL… I'm a dork.)) Okay, your name is now Holden. Hiya, Holden. **Spit-shake** Luv ya too, talk to ya latah! :D
Holiday … ALOHA!!!!!!!!! I love Six Strings too. He's sooooooooooooo cute. I heart him. HAHA! ALOHA AGAIN!
lange … WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you soooo much for all your reviews!!!!!!!!! You are waaaaaaaaay too nice to me! I've reaaaaaaaaaaaaally appreciated them. I'm glad I finally got to write a shoutout to you. It boggles my mind how you read so many of my stories!!! Thank you soooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're a total sweetie.
Growth – Chapter 7
Summer, 1898
"G'mornin', fellas!" Mush's morning call was met with groans.
"Shaddup, Mush," Blink moaned, burying his face in his pillow.
Mush looked at his best friend, then sighed and turned away. The last few years, their friendship had started to fade. Mush wasn't sure why this was happening, but he had a strong notion that girls were much to blame. As he himself had begun spending more and more time with Seraphim, Blink had done the same with Otter.
He forced himself to smile as he entered the washroom. The only other one in there yet was a new boy, only six years old, named Slider. He had a head of thick dark brown hair, and big brown eyes that took in everything. Mush didn't want to become known to him as a grouch.
"Heya, Slidah. Ya gonna come sellin' wit' me an' Lucy ta-day again?" Mush asked him, pumping water one-handed into his other hand and splashing it onto his face.
"I t'ink dat Rudolph wan'ed me ta sell wit' 'im," Slider answered, trying to copy Mush's actions. He wasn't strong enough for the pump though, so Mush, smiling, pumped it for him.
"Oh. A'right. Have fun!" Mush went back into the bunkroom, Slider behind him, and found it now slowly creeping to life. He pulled on his trousers, as always torn at the knee, and a white shirt under a green one. Then he went down the stairs.
Lucy, her blond hair pulled up onto her head fashionably, though with not as much skill as the older girls could, was wearing a lacy white dress, white button-up boots, and an all-knowing smile. She had lace gloves covering her hands, which had been a present the day before from a rich gentleman who always bought papers from her.
"Ya know dat dose gloves is gonna be ruined from da papah ink?" Mush said, raising an eyebrow at her.
Lucy drew herself up as high as her nine-year old stature could stretch, glaring. "I wants ta wear 'em," she said deliberately, and Mush had to grin, for her street accent completely ruined the wealthy look she was trying to establish for herself. "Who says I'se gotsta sell ta-day?"
Mush shook his head. "Fine, doll." He chuckled. "But I'se gonna sell."
"Fine. I'll stand next to you." She said this with such determination that Mush wondered what was going on in her mind.
The pair headed out of the building, next to each other, but strangely apart. Lucy was only noticing the passerby who smiled at her, thinking to themselves how darling she was in her outfit. It was what Lucy thrived on, attention. Mush, however, was thinking of himself and Blink. He remembered when they'd been Parrot and Pirate, alone in the world except for each other.
Mush bought his papers, then headed out onto the street with Lucy marching next to him. He looked across the street, where Blink stood with Otter. They were talking, and Mush looked the other way quickly, so he didn't have to acknowledge Blink's annoyance with him.
But the feeling of eyes on his back made him turn back. Otter and Blink were both looking at him sadly, and Blink motioned him over.
Mush shoved his papers in Lucy's arms, who screamed in outrage. He didn't seem to hear her screeches as he jogged across the street, his heart pounding in his ears as he realized Otter was crying. He knew that it was something with Seraphim.
"Sera?" he asked, when he reached them.
Blink looked into his eyes, and for a moment the familiar flicker of fraternity flashed in Blink's eye. "She's gone, Mush," he said.
"Whaddya mean?" Mush asked, looking, panicked, from Blink to Otter.
Otter thrust a piece of paper at him. In Seraphim's untidy lettering (for she, like most every newsie, had never been schooled and could only write primitively) was written,
Otter,
I'm leafing. I have to. I don't know wear or when I'll be back. Tell Mush I's sarry. I didn't meen to hert him or you. Don't firgit me.
Love,
Sarafim
Mush didn't register the spelling mistakes, or the fact that she couldn't even write her name. The only thing he knew was the loud thumping of his heart in his ears, the lump that came to be in his throat, and the hot tears that burned as they danced down his cheekbones. Even Lucy, still screaming from her side of the street, quieted as she watched Blink hug Mush, and Mush cling to his best friend, much as he had at Trickster's death… it was as if no time at all had gone between them.
Slider and Rudolph were the last two to come home that night to the lodging house. Rudy was only back for a few minutes, before he announced, business-like, that he had to leave again. "Dere's been a fight between Queens and Brooklyn," he said. "Spot an' Tri are meetin' down in our lobby in a few minutes ta discuss t'ings." Spot was, of course, Brooklyn's leader, while Tri led Queens. "I'se gotsta make shoah t'ings don't get outta hand, because Kloppy won' be lookin' oveh it. He's not to know anyt'ing's goin' on. So keep it down up heah, an' don' make me come up. Lights out in ten minutes." He hustled back down the stairs.
Mush didn't need to be told to be quiet. He was lying on his bunk, staring up at the ceiling. He'd recently acquired a top bunk, now that he was fifteen. Though it had been a crowning effect on proving he was now one of the oldest, it had moved him across the bunkroom, almost as far away from Blink's bunk as was possible. This had only further led to their separation, he now discovered.
But now he wasn't alone.
Blink sat on the bunk next to him, which belonged to a newsie who'd come the year before, fifteen-year old Itey. Sitting next to Blink were Racetrack, Specs, and Snoddy, who were trying to bring up Mush's spirits.
Mush was tuning them out and focusing on other things in the room, so that he was the only one who noticed the window leading onto the fire escape easing open. His breath caught for a moment, and then he couldn't help but offer a small smile. "Cowboy!"
Sure enough, the lanky, sixteen-year old youth was climbing through the window. He wore a grin, and pressed a finger to his lips. "Dere's somet'in' goin' on downstaihs," he informed them. "I had ta use da fire escape."
"Oh, it's a meetin' wit' Spot an' Tri," Blink answered, letting out a loud guffaw. "Cowboy, what da hell is you weahin'?"
Cowboy laughed too, turning and modeling for them a long white cotton nightgown. "It's da latest fashion at da Refuge," he answered. "Luckily I got me hat from Snydah befoah 'e knew what was happenin'." With a grin, he plunked his black cowboy hat onto his head.
Racetrack jumped down from the bunk and walked over, giving Cowboy a spit-shake when he got to him. "Put 'er dere, Francis Sullivan," he laughed.
"Ah, shut yer trap, Mario Higgins," Cowboy answered. "An' me name ain't Francis Sullivan no mores. Snydah keeps findin' me undeh dat name. Now I go by Jack. Jack Kelly."
"Aw, dat's a sissy name!" protested Specs. "Cowboy, you should go by… David. We could call ya Davey. Davey Jacobs."
"David Jacobs!" Now it was Cowboy's turn to chuckle. "What kinda pat'etic name is DAT!"
Other newsies jumped from bunks to go greet him, and it wasn't long before Cowboy realized that Mush wasn't among them. "Mush? Wha's wrong?" he asked, breaking out of the circle and going over to the boy's bunk.
"Nuttin', Cowboy. It's jus'… Seraphim left New Yawk ta-day. An' I'se don' know when she'll be back, or wheah she is."
"Aw, Mush, it's okay," Blink said quietly, looking at his friend helplessly. "She'll come back. You's been tageddah t'ree yeahs. She loves ya."
"Or so I t'ought," Mush said bitterly.
"No." Blink said this forcefully, and Mush looked a bit taken aback. "She does love ya, Mush. An' you's love 'er. An' da res' a' us fellas… well, we loves ya too. You ain' gonna be unhappy oveh dis. It ain' woith it, Mush. Cuz she'll come back."
"Hey, we's all s'posed ta be in bed," Skittery said suddenly, and everyone hustled to get into their bunks. Scales went around blowing out the candles, since Rudolph wasn't there to do it, and then Mush's voice rose quietly into the suffocating darkness.
"Deah God, please, foist a' all, take cares a' Cali, Tricksteh, Spunky, Chesteh, Tree, Terrain, Tweedle, Chahlie, Monsteh, an' Freckle up deres in heaven. Please bless Dafty, wheah'eveh da heck 'e is. An' I t'ink dat ta'morra, da travelin' team a' Six Strings an' Chocolate is comin' ta Medda's, so… let all a' us newsies be able ta get in an' see 'em. It's been weihd since dey lef' da lodgin' house. Please bless Seraphim…" Mush's voice trailed off for a moment, and he swallowed hastily, but found he couldn't continue. In the silence that followed, loud screams from the lobby downstairs suddenly swelled up the staircase.
"Wha's goin' on down dere?" asked Dutchy, sitting up in concern. He swung his legs out of his bed, forgetting that Mush was in the middle of a prayer. "I'se gonna go down an' see wha's wrong."
But then there was complete silence from downstairs. Everyone looked at each other in surprise. Then came the unmistakable sound of the front door creaking open and slamming, and a pair of boots on the stairs.
Scales hurried to light a candle, and everyone was surprised when the thin frame that entered their room was not Rudy, but Spot Conlon.
"Rudolph is dead. Tri killed 'im." Spot's voice was, as usual, detached and unemotional. He turned to leave.
"Wait! You fuck!" screamed Kid Blink. "Whaddya MEAN, Rudy's dead?!" Anger took hold of him, and he leapt halfway across the bunkroom, landing at Spot's feet. Spot looked up at him, the faint light from Scales' candle barely licking the side of his face. Emotional detachment and an almost bored look covered Spot's face. "How d'we know dat YOU didn' kill 'im?" Blink asked, desperateness creeping into his voice. "…Like you killed Challenge?"
Spot, who had been slowly turning to go, whipped back around and got into Blink's face. "I didn' kill Challenge," he said deliberately, sparks shooting dangerously from his eyes. "Challenge killed hisself."
Then Spot Conlon turned and ran.
Scales, Snoddy and Pie Eater went downstairs to the lobby to dispose of their leader's body. Mush took up his prayer again, his voice shaking.
There were so many falterings and stoppings in it that he wasn't finished by the time the three came back, the smell of death clinging to them. "An' please… please protect, us, Lord," Mush said finally, exhaustion filling his voice. "Amen."
"A-men," all the newsies answered.
There was usually hardly a beat between that and the leader's call, but tonight it seemed to stretch for infinity. Then, as if planned, every single newsie voice in the bunkroom said at the same moment, "God bless Mush. Amen."
And the answer, in the form of a small, little girl's voice, came from the doorway: "A-men." Then Lucy, scared by the night's events, ran into the bunkroom and climbed into bed with Mush.
And Mush knew that he had to get his little Lucy out of this pain, out of this hurt. Out of the newsie life. Once and for all.