"Come on wake up! Rise and shine
kids!" A voice boomed above me. My eyes fluttered open and I shoved my pillow
on top of my head. "Come on now 'Fingers…time ta wake up!"
"Go away
Mr. Higgins!" I said groggily.
"Look, you
need ta sell papes to make money, you make money ta pay me for Lodgin'. No
papes no money and no lodgin'"
"Alright!
I'm up!" I shouted as I rolled out of
bed. I was the only girl in the Newsboys Lodging House in Manhattan. Mr.
Higgins never let any girls stay at the house but he let me as sort-a a favor
to my dad. My mom had died giving birth to me and a few years back my dad left
to go out west.
"Hey
'Fingers, sleep well?" Cards asked me. Cards was Mr. Higgins kid. Well one of
Mr. Higgins kids, he had like a million. I must have muttered some sort of
smart-ass remark because Cards just laughed as he went off into the washroom.
I followed
the crowed of boys into the washroom and began to talk about where the best
place to sell papers was. My personal favorite spot was right buy the Brooklyn
Bridge. No one sold there for fear of Rover. Yeah I must admit stupid name but
it was like a Brooklyn thing to have the leader have a doggy name. Go figure.
"So Fingers
where you'se sellin today?" Cyclops asked. He obtained his nick-name from his
dad's old eye patch that he always had on for 'good luck'.
"In
Boston," I said splashing water on my face.
"Umm…wow
dat's a long walk…" Cyclops said his forehead crinkled in thought.
"No you
twit! I'se sellin' where I always do!" I shouted tossing a towel at him.
"Kid's
look! I donno why it takes ya so long ta get ready in da mornin' but you'se
gonna miss getting yer papes if you'se don't shake a leg!" Mr. Higgins shouted
from down stairs.
I pulled on
and old shirt of Cards' over my sleep shirt and hopped into my knickers. As I
walked down the stairs I tied an old rope around my waist for a belt. I never
used suspenders; they just got in the way.
"Hey
Fingers, you got a letter from your Pop an' David wants ta meet you'se for
lunch at Tibby's," Mr. Higgins said handing me a letter as I walked out the
door.
"Thanks Mr.
Higgins!" I shouted over my shoulder. I sprinted down the street towards
Newspaper Ally where I got my papers. My day never started off right if I
didn't get my papers first and if I didn't harass these two cousins. They were
complete idiots! I arrived at the gate just as it was opening and Dumb and
Dumber, my nick-name's for the cousins were heading into the back to help hand
out the papers to the newsies.
"Hiya Mr.
Oscar!" I greeted happily arriving at the counter to purchase my papers. Mr.
Oscar wasn't his real name, actually it was his first name; Oscar. Mr. Oscar
has always had this grudge against me for no real good reason, well other than
the fact I soak his kid and nephew.
"What'll be
ta day Fingers?" He asked dully.
"Aww looks
as if someone got up on the wrong side of da bed dis morning."
"Look I
ain't got all day kid , so how many?"
"I
donno…lemme see…" I said scanning the
paper. "Humor me…the usual," I said grinning placing my money on the
counter.
"100 papes
for Fingers!" Mr. Oscar yelled over his
shoulder. A few seconds later I grabbed my papes and headed out towards my
spot.
As I walked
through the streets of Manhattan I thought about a lot of stuff, my dad mostly.
I still had the letter he sent me shoved in my back pocket. I also thought
about the guys back at the house and myself. Just to amuse myself lemme tell
you a few of my thoughts.
Let's start
off with my Dad. He wasn't a bad parent for leaving me here with Mr. Higgins.
Mr. Higgins and my Dad had both been newsies when they were younger. I don't
remember much about my Dad, only that he told me stories about my mom, this
strike thingy he was in and Santa Fe. He left for Santa Fe through something in
his work.
Now the
boys. There wasn't much to think about them because…well because they were
boys. They treated me like I was one of them and if they didn't I introduced my
fist to their face. I hate it when people are sexist. Most of my friends including
Rover, Cards and Cyclops had homes but just decided to crash with the newsies.
Mr. Higgins had no real problem, with Cards and Cyclops, remember Rover lives
in Brooklyn.
So I've
told you about my Dad, the boys and now I'm gonna talk about my favorite
subject…me! I got the nick-name Light Fingers 'cause I'm the best pick-pocket
around. Cards gave me the name after I took his deck of cards out of his back
pocket with out him knowing. Everyone just calls me Fingers for short. I have
another nick-name people only use when they're mad at my big mouth, my second
nick-name would have to be Smart Mouth or Smart Ass, it all depended on how mad
people were at me. Usually the only people who were mad at me were Dumb and
Dumber, Mr. Oscar and the bulls, who just called me Kid.
My stomach
told me it was about lunch time and I headed towards Tibby's. It was kind-a
creepy, I would just go into this I donno…trance and sell half of my papers
with out even realizing I was doing it. Usually that happened when I was
thinking about a lot of stuff, or was really upset. I soon entered Tibby's and
saw David sitting in our favorite booth.
"Hey Dave!"
I shouted happily waving.
"Hey Kelly!"
He shouted using my real name. David was really nice to me, he was my uncle and
one of my Dad's friends. "Have any news from your father?" My uncle asks me as I
plop in the seat opposite of him.
"Actually I
got a letter from him today," I said reaching into my back pocket and tossing
it onto the table. We both looked at it before either one of us said anything.
"Well aren't
you going to open it?"
"Um…I was
gonna read it in bed tonight?" I said stuffing the unopened letter back into my
pocket. "So how are da papes on your side?" My Uncle was the new owner of the New York Sun, well he had been
for quite awhile now.
"They're
ok, how's the head line today?"
I looked up
from a paper I was reading and grinned. "Headlines don't sell papes, newsies
sell papes." I feed him an old line I kept hearing from Mr. Higgins.
"You know
you remind me of your Dad a lot of the time," Uncle David said smiling. "I know
you know the story of the strike but lemme tell you how your father got interested
in the whole idea…"
We sat
there for two whole hours talking and eating. I soon had to leave to finish
selling ,y papers.
"Well I'll
see you'se later Dave," I said climbing out of the booth with my papers under
my arm.
"Alright,
hey stop by the office tomorrow and tell me the news from your father," Uncle
David said getting out of the booth and tossing a few dollars on the table for
lunch.
"See you'se
den I guess," I said as I walked out of the door. As I shouted the headline I wondered
what news my father had sent me.
