Thanks for all the reviews, guys. Sorry this took so long to update! I tried to last Thursday, but ff.net was being a jerk and wouldn't let me even log on. Then I lost the floppy disk. But I found it now, so away we go!
Cards * I agree. Poor Mushy Darling! :( He's crying on the inside right now as he sits next to me. **Mondie hands Mushy Darling a cookie** He's so cute! Thanks for the review.
misprint * Mush says it's all right that you called him fat and he accepts your toaster. ;D Yay for Spotness and his high-water pants. HAHAHA! Ahhhh Spot makes me giggle. The term "liquid elegance" that you liked… LOL I definitely wrote that in my Lit paper like two days before, describing how kids moved through the halls of school. Then I was like, THAT SOUNDS LIKE SPOTTY! Hahaha. I enjoyed the last line of your review—"But hey. He's Jack." Ain't that the truth!!! Hahahaha. UPDATE ECLIPSE!!!!!!! PLEASE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Sobe a Lizard * Thanks hun!!! I miss talking to you. :( But the review was fantabulous! Go go you for getting D2… I heart that movie. I heart Aaron Lohr. I heart Mush. I heart… eh… Mush Lohr. Yeah. That's it. ;D
Gypsy * Good news! This chappy doesn't end quite so dappily. Yay yay yayness! Thanks so much for your reviews, dear. I heart you muchly *mushly* for them. :D
Blinks-Tiger * **Mondie glomps back** I miss you muchly doll! No, no AIM or AOL… even if I did have them, I'd never be on anyhow… ::ahem:: Anywayz. Thanks for the sweetie review! Talk to ya soon.
Raider * Thanks hun!!! Keep reviewing! Heh heh… not that I'm desperate for reviews or anything… ::ahem:: *Mush gives Mondie a dubious look*
Maniac Conlon * Grrrr, I hate when ff.net eats reviews. AKA Cha Cha the review-stealing duck! ((Sorry, something I came up with in a review for Mis Hun)) I have good fun writing Spot… he's an interesting guy. Kinda mysterious but at the same time, definitely, definitely not. Wonderful of him, really. I heart that. No no no, you and Spot aren't allowed to hurt Lucy! She's gonna change eventually. Hold your horses. *Spot protest that he doesn't OWN any horses* Ah well. Thanks for reviewing!!!
kimimay85 * Cheer loudly Kimi dear, I'm gonna start writing the next chappy or two of Spotty Horror tonight. *Sigh* Mrs. Decker's gonna KILL me, I don't have tomorrow night off and no one can cover since it's such short notice. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I think I'm gonna go have to pick up the Hairspray CD, it's tres fun! LOL. TWO HOUR DELAY TOMORROW MORNING! I THINK I MIGHT DIE OF HAPPINESS! Oh, and I'm sorry I didn't wait for you after perc practice today. My mind was totally going work-work-work-work-work and HOLY COW I got there like two seconds in time. Dang I hate perc practice… SICK. SICK SICK SICK SICK SICK. LOL but hey, we've got coats at the school for tomorrow already… LOL! :D I hope you get to lock your door tonight so your mother doesn't make you get up at 7. That would suck majorly! Almost as much as Mrs. D strangling me tomorrow… Talk to ya later chica!
asp * Wow! Thanks!!!!!! You're too kind to me, asp, too kind. Haha, that's one of my favey-davey quotes from the movie. Yeah, Lucy's a bit of a meanie right now… but don't you worry, I've got all sorts of stuff up my sleeves. HOO HA! ^_^
rumor * I think you're always in a talkative mood, rumor! LOL not that I mind, I find your reviews fun. :D That's one of my favey-davey lines in D2 too—the ice cream line. Aaron is so freakin' cute he should be outlawed. **Mondie huggles Mushy** I enjoy the Spot-Holier-Than-Thou Conlon name. Too cute. :D Yay for Spot! **MONDIE SHRIEKS AS SHE THINKS OF MUSH'S CUTEY CUTE CUTE CUTENESS WHEN HE SAYS "Hey! Who ast you?" in CTB since you mentioned it** I love that part… then he's all like threatening, then he takes two steps and then he's all smiles as he jokes with Jackie Boy. MUSH, YOU ARE MY IDEAL MAN. Yeah, Lucy's grown up… but I kinda figure that these kids HAD to be grown up. I often make them older intellectually than kids today would be, because they would have learned it on the streets. They couldn't have afforded to have all fun and games. ((Also, I've read too much Anne Rice lately in which Claudia is a woman in a child's body and is way mature.)) Thanks for the review!!!!!
((Some of the interaction between Mush and Phantom is derived from a song in Rent, and I particularly love the line "I'm a New Yorker. Fear's my life." from it, so I of course chose to incorporate that. I hope you enjoy it. :D))
Growth Chapter 10
"Mush!"
The excited announcement of his name caused Mush to look up hopefully for a moment, before realizing Cowboy was alone and without Lucy.
"Whaddya want?" Mush asked glumly, staring down into the bottom of his empty glass. He'd been waiting for Lucy in Tibby's for three hours already. He couldn't afford to buy anything else, and it was only out of pity that Mr. Tibby had agreed to let him stay and wait for her. He and Lucy always had dinner together. It was a custom they'd always shared, and panic was now setting in. She was still so young, and the thought had crossed his mind millions of times already that she'd been hurt somewhere in the city. Why had he let her leave his side?
"I'se been lookin' all oveh fer ya. C'mon. I'se need ya ta come wit' me. Me an' Spot is meetin' in a bit."
"But I can't find Lucy," Mush answered.
Cowboy shook his head impatiently. "She's prob'ly back at da lodgin' house, Mush. Now c'mon! You know as well as I do dat Spot don't like ta be kept waitin'."
"But…" Mush protested. He didn't get the time to finish his whining complaint. Cowboy strode over, his long legs cutting the length in two steps, and, grabbing Mush by the arm, hauled his night's counterpart out the door.
"Why is you takin' me?" Mush asked halfway to the bridge, when his curiosity finally won out over his brooding. "Why not Specs or Pie Eateh or somethin'?"
Cowboy glanced over. "Spot wan'ed you. Now come ON!"
"Me?" Mush asked incredulously, doing the opposite of Cowboy's wishes and coming to a complete halt. "'E don' wanna soak me, does 'e?"
"NO! Now get movin'!" Cowboy grabbed Mush's arm and pulled him, stumbling, along.
The pair fell into silence again, and Mush thought again of his little Lucy, lost and alone in the vast city. Tears sprang to his eyes, but he angrily wiped them away. He tried to tell himself Cowboy's thoughts from earlier: that she was back at the lodging house, playing with her dolls, oblivious to his personal agony. Yet he knew, somehow, that she was not at the lodging house.
But if not there, then where?
Mush bowed his head, and tripped. Cowboy scowled. Mush sighed and quickened his step.
When they reached the edge of the bridge, Cowboy grinned in relief. Spot wasn't there yet. He and Mush sat down to wait, and Mush watched the passerby, keeping his eyes peeled for a blonde girl. He only saw two; one was highly overweight, with one hand clutching her large mother's beefy one and the other wrapped around the leash of a poodle just as fat, and the other was wearing rags and so emaciated that her brown eyes seemed twice their normal size. Mush began to pray for Lucy's safety.
"Well, if it ain't Jackie-boy." The delight in the otherwise cold voice wasn't hard to place. Cowboy and Mush turned to see Spot looking self-satisfied. Phantom stood at his side.
"Don' even start wit' da noisery rhymes, Spot," Cowboy said warily.
Spot stopped smiling and, rolling his eyes, nodded curtly. "A'right, den. Wheah can we's go in Man'attan ta get away from ev'ryone?"
"How about the square?" Cowboy suggested, and in a while the four found themselves in a deserted square. All of the Manhattan newsies had seen Spot coming and had scattered.
"A'right. I'se gonna talk ta Jackie-boy heah, an' you two is gonna stand oveh dere an' not listen," Spot said, narrowing his eyes at Phantom and Mush. He pointed a finger towards the perimeter of the square, as he hoisted himself onto the statue of Horace Greeley. Cowboy jumped up beside him. Mush and Phantom took to lazily patrolling the exterior of the square.
"A'right. So you's wanna know abou' Challenge." Spot was looking off at the skyline and the setting sun, and seemed deep in thought.
"Yeah," Cowboy answered, trying to sound as confident as Spot was. "So wha' da hell didja mean?"
Spot never moved his eyes, only let them dance over the rooftops of New York. "I'se didn' kill 'im," he said softly, almost dreamily. "Dat joik Pirate killed 'im. Not me."
Cowboy shook his head. "No. Dey said dat you killed Challenge along wit' Pirate."
"Dey didn' know what dey was talkin' about." The absolute positivity in Spot's voice made Cowboy second-guess himself. "I was jus'… I was jus' standin' dere. Challenge had wan'ed me ta come wit' 'im ta Harlem ta talk ta Pirate that day. I dunno why 'e wan'ed me… ta get ta know me betteh, I s'pose. But when we got dere, Pirate wasn' in da mood ta talk. 'E ordered all 'is newsies ta leave 'im, an' dey did, an' then 'e came oveh an' stahted soakin' Challenge. I yelled an' tried ta divert 'is attention, 'cause what else could I 'ave done? I was on'y nine yeahs old. I'se always had dis reputation dat I can fight, but le's face it, we all know I ain' neveh been made a' muscle. Ta make a long story short, Pirate killed Challenge while I was standin' there. Da Harlem newsies heard me yellin' an' mistook it fer battle cries, an' when they came runnin' I was standin' there wit' jus' as much a' Challenge's blood on me as Pirate had on 'im. Pirate told them that I had helped kill Challenge, an' dey immediately placed glory on me. Foist a' all, I was in shock. Second a' all, da glory I always wan'ed was now heah for me. I let myself get swept into it, let the Harlem newsies tell ev'ryone else dat I had helped kill Challenge. I got hold a' Brooklyn. Now it's mine. An' because I went along wit' Pirate's story and took some a' da blame from 'im, I got a powerful ally oveh dere."
"But you said dat Challenge killed 'imself," Cowboy pointed out quietly. "What didja mean? Pirate killed 'im."
Spot scowled. "'E was too stupid. Dat's how 'e killed hisself. 'E shoulda known not ta go ta Harlem! Dat back den was like… like one a' you Man'attan'ers comin' ta Brooklyn ta-day. It's not safe."
Spot and Cowboy fell into silence. However, on the outside of the square, still walking about it in circles, Mush and Phantom, who had been silent before, picked up a conversation.
"Why is you so sad ta-night?" Phantom asked.
Mush quietly told him about Lucy, and the fact that she was missing.
"But people leave all da time. Why's dis diff'rent?" Phantom wanted to know.
"Because she's mine!" Mush answered. "She's too liddle ta survive out dere. She's too spoiled ta survive out there." Despite himself, he had to allow himself a rueful smile on this note.
Phantom smiled. "Mush, you's can't count on ev'ryone. You're da on'y one you can count on, an' da people dat share you's feelin's. This is all there is. Neveh regret anyt'ing, or you'll miss yer whole life."
Mush shook his head, and tugged self-consciously at his green shirt. "I guess I'se jus' afraid fer her. An' fer me. I haven' been wit'out 'er since I was six."
"Why is you afraid?" Phantom wondered.
Mush snorted. "I'm a New Yawker. Fear's my life."
Phantom laughed. "You's got dat right."
"I'm used to goin' wit' what I loined on da streets, but I do try ta loin new stuff dat I don't know. Dis life is so fickle. Ev'ryt'ing I believe in says I should have died yeahs ago."
Phantom just smiled. "You's can't just believe dat, Mush. If you t'ink dat way, you'll neveh survive."
"I know." Mush fell silent. "I jus' can't stand da t'ought dat she's out dere, maybe hoit, an' I can't help 'er."
"You'se too damn sensitive," Phantom laughed.
Mush sighed. "Tell me about it."
Mush and Cowboy didn't get back to the Lodging House until late that night, and when they did stumble in, Cowboy was drunk and Mush was a little woozy from his alcohol. Spot had insisted they all drink.
When Mush realized that Lucy was in fact missing from the lodging house, he went into near-hysterics. "Wheah is she? Wheah is she?! Someone's gotta come wit' me ta find 'er!" he said, his eyes wild.
"Mush, if anyone can survive out dere in dat street, it's Lucy," Specs said sleepily from his bunk. "Jus' let it go. I'se sure she's fine."
Mush remained standing in the middle of the bunkroom, and then his shoulders slumped in defeat. Every other newsie was already in bed and stripped down to his underclothes.
Then a stirring came from the other corner of the room. Kid Blink shifted out from under his sheet and began to pull his pants on. "I'll go wit' you, Mush," he said.
Mush didn't even bother to hide his amazement. "You will?"
"Yeah. C'mon." Kid Blink grabbed a shirt and threw it on over his body, then walked out of the lodging house. Mush followed, in a bit of a stupor.
The two combed the streets of New York City, to no avail. As the sun began to rise again, Mush felt the bitter taste of defeat fill his mouth. "She's not out heah, is she." It wasn't a question, but a statement.
"No," Kid Blink agreed.
Mush looked over at him sharply. "Den why did you come out heah wit' me ta-night? You knew we wouldn' find 'er."
Kid Blink shrugged. "Remembeh what we used ta do ev'ry night befoah we went ta sleep ta show we was bes' friends?"
"Touch our feet togetheh," Mush answered, looking at his friend a little oddly.
Kid Blink reached out and grabbed ahold of Mush's wrist. He forced Mush's hand upright and put his own palm to Mush's. "We's too big ta push ours feet tageddah, but dat doesn't mean we's too big ta be bes' friends." He smiled a little serenely, then took his hand away.
"T'anks, Kid," Mush said, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, a real smile flitted across his face.
When they got back to the lodging house, they were shocked at the sight they saw. Every newsie was still in his bed, but was wide awake. Slider was so tired he nearly cried with happiness.
"Why're you all up?" Kid Blink asked in astonishment.
Cowboy shrugged. "None 'a us could sleep wit'out heahing Mush's prayeh foist."
Mush nearly laughed out loud. He and Kid Blink climbed into their beds, and the other boys all nestled down into the bunks and let Mush's lilting voice wash over them. "Deah God…"