Marble had been in Manhattan for two weeks and had finally made a place for herself, without fighting. Dutchy had gotten a weekend job at his girlfriend, Angela's, restaurant so he only sold papers four days a week, leaving Marble alone the other three. She was usually alone with Ashes or spent the day with Crutchy, but after she finished selling she would always go to the track and pick horses with Race. She wasn't the best, but compared to him anything was an improvement.
"Two dollars, two whole dollars, I's nevah had dis much money in me life. I'm buyin' everyone dinnah tanite."
"Now that's what I like to hear. I'll race you there."
The two excited newsies ran as fast as they could to Tibby's. Marble got there first and gasped out, "Race has a huge surprise."
He burst through the door out of breath and exhausted, but laughing, "What's goin' on Race? Marble says yous gotta surprise fa us."
He nodded and shook his head at the same time, still too out of breath to speak. Everyone looked at him confused for a minute until Snipeshooter caught on.
"He wants to wait for everyone to get here." Race nodded and collapsed in to a chair still laughing.
He would jump out of his seat and recount the boys in the room every time anyone came in. After an hour only one person was still missing but Race was out of patience, "I won two bucks at da track taday!"
The entire room froze and stared at him. Jack had just opened the door when Race spoke and he just stood there until someone else pushed him through. Spot broke the silence as he came in, "So how much ya givin' me?"
The whole room exploded. "I'll tell ya me secret sellin' spot fa a dollar."
"I'll give ya me goil."
"I'll be ya slave."
"I'll do anything you ask." Even Ashes was trying to get his attention by pawing at his leg and mewling. Marble pushed her way through the mob of boys to where Race had been forced back into a chair and knelt down beside him. One hand slid around his neck and the other cupped around his ear so she could whisper and not be heard. His smile quickly turned to a look of complete shock and he tried to look at her, but she held his head still and kept talking. The other boys got quiet and leaned closer to hear what she was telling him as his eyes widened and his mouth fell open.
He suddenly jerked his head free and stared at Marble, "Can yous actually do dat!?"
She nodded and winked at him. Race looked at her for a minute then at the hand he was holding the money in then back to her. Girl, money, girl, money, girl, money, his eyes stopped on Marble then he said, "Nah, I like me money bettah."
She smacked him on the back of the head and stood up, "Damn, well I wasn't actually gonna do it anyway."
Race smiled, "I know."
Marble went to sit with Spot and Jack and all of the other boys crowded around Race to find out what she had said but he only shook his head and laughed. After he got then calmed down Race ordered dinner for everyone and they stayed there talking and eating for hours.
* * *
"Jacky-boy, walk wit me." Spot left Tibby's and waited for Jack to get free of Race's party.
When he was outside Spot started walking in the general direction of Brooklyn. He was staring at the ground and Jack could tell that he had something on his mind. He seemed miserable and it would be a while before he would bring himself to say why, "Ya know, I've known dat goil fa ovah ten yeahs now."
Jack glanced at Spot out of the corner of his eye and pulled his hat onto his head. For some reason knowing that Spot was dwelling over Marble made Jack a uncomfortable.
"I 'member we met on da Brooklyn Bridge."
* * *
He was running. Running from the past, running from the future, but mostly running from the present. His ears echoed with the snap and crackle of the fire, the screams of women and all of the crying. Tears blurred his vision so he didn't see the little girl sitting in the road until he tripped over her.
"Hey, watch where you're goin'." For a six year old there was enough force in her voice to stop the him from just taking off again. Instead he stopped and looked at the small person he had tripped over. She was wearing a ragged skirt and had dirt smudges on her face, like she had been living on the streets for a while.
"You should watch where ya goin' when ya run, specially in da dark. Hey, why's ya cryin'?" She had noticed the tears running through the soot on his face.
With tears still streaming down his cheeks he snapped, "I ain't cryin'."
"Yes you is, and you're dirty, what happened to ya?"
Visions of his house on fire, people screaming, firefighters running, yelling and blackened bodies came back in a rush and he collapsed into a ball, sobbing. He heard a soft gasp and felt her small arms wrap around him. A tiny, cool hand stroked the sweaty hair back from his face and she held him until he had cried himself out completely.
"Are you ok? What happened?" He looked up into her concerned little face and saw her soft blue eyes encouraging him to tell her.
He sniffed a few times and started, "I was comin' home from the park an' I was really late and I was runnin', cause I didn't want mommy to worry. When I got home people were screaming and crying and the apartment was burnin'." He almost started crying again but he held back the tears, "One a the firefighters tried to keep me from seeing but I saw. There were bodies in the street, all burned up and I knew they were me parents. I ran away and I ain't goin' back or they're gonna put me in an orphanage and I ain't wanna be in an orphanage."
"They're tryin' ta put me there too but I have a place to hide. Wanna see?"
He sniffled again and nodded, "I'm Ben Conlon."
He stuck out his hand and she laughed, "I'm Margaret O'Reilly, Maggie. You're awful scrawny Ben, do you eat enough?"
"I eat plenty and I ain't scrawny." He was very sensitive about his size.
"Sure you are but that's ok I still like you."
He looked at her askance, but she started walking towards the Manhattan side of the bridge and he had to follow or be left alone. They went to what looked like a warehouse and slipped into a basement window. There was old cloth all over the floor and it smelled like mold and coal. It was the basement of an unused textile mill. Maggie led him to a corner where some rags had been piled into a bed. She kicked some more onto it so it would be big enough to fit both of them.
When Ben settled down Maggie asked him, "Do you think you can sleep? 'Cause if you can't I can sing, my mommy used to sing to me when I couldn't sleep."
He was tired and confused and sad so he just nodded and let her sing. He fell asleep listening to a lullaby and thinking of his parents.
* * *
"You know shes nevah told me nothin' about her family and I've nevah really asked her. I guess it was nevah important, or mebbe it jist nevah came up, but eithah way I don't really know anythin' 'bout her." They had just turned onto a street where they could see the Brooklyn Bridge and they were slowly walking towards it through a rising fog.
"We's was togetha fa a coupla months den da folks from da orphanage caught up wit us. She helped me git away but dey got her. A while latah she found me an' said dat she had escaped, but she had ta leave New Yawk. She asked me ta go wit her but I was a newsie an' I had friends I didn't wanna leave. She left without me but she promised ta come back when it was safe again. Now she comes back every coupla months or weeks or whenevah. Marble jist ain't da kinda goil who sits around, she hasta be movin' an' doin' stuff. She's always singin' an' messin' around and pissin' people off. She always treated me like I was a little kid. She t'ought I couldn't take care a meself witout 'er, until jist t'ree years ago.
* * *
Spot had just finished selling his papers when Maggie jumped on his back. She always did something completely unexpected to get his attention. So he wouldn't feel too safe she had said.
"Heya Scrawny."
"Hey goilie, yous back again?"
"Just for the week."
"Great, so what a we gonna break, da law, some windows, my head?"
"That's what I'm tryin' ta do." She laughed and dropped off of his back, ruffling his hair on the way down. He grabbed at her but she dodged an ran down the street swerving between people and wagons with Spot close behind.
When they were nearing the Brooklyn Lodging House Spot slowed down, "Hey, mebbe we should go somewhere else."
"Like where? Out ta dinner, a movie, the track, or a secluded area of the park." She gave him a suggestive wink and laughed at the disgusted look on his face.
"Naw, jist somewhere where ya can't mess up me stuff, again."
"Hey that wasn't my fault, and your door got fixed, what more could ya ask?"
He sighed, "From you, nothin'. Come on, I guess I'll buy ya dinner."
She gasped and spoke in a breathy lisp, "Spot Conlon, is this a date?"
He rolled his eyes and ignored her. They went to a small Italian restaurant and stayed until closing. Because it was too dark to do anything else Spot gave in and let Maggie come to the lodging house.
"Jist remembah, if yous break anything dis time yous nevah coming back."
"Whatever you say Scrawny."
"And quit callin' me dat. It's Spot."
"Alright, Scrawny." She slipped through his door and flopped onto his bed, "So where you gonna sleep?"
"On me bed. You ain't stayin'."
She sat up with a mock hurt expression on her face, "But Scrawny, who's gonna tuck you in and keep the monsters away."
"I don't need tuckin' in." Spot couldn't keep a growl of irritation out of his voice, "An' keep it down, yous gonna wake da boys."
"What, are you afraid that they're gonna find out about me." The amused look melted from her face and it became suspicious and angry, "Is that why you didn't want me to come here when they were still awake? God forbid the mighty Spot Conlon have a girl in his room without sleeping with her. I wouldn't want to hurt your precious reputation by letting the boys know that there is one girl you can't get."
Spot's temper suddenly flared, "No it's da one goil I don't want. An' I don't need you heah tellin' me what ta do an' treatin' me like a baby. You ain't me mutta or me sista or any part a me family so jist stop."
"Fine Spot," She spit his name out like it was poison, "I'll leave you alone but you'll be sorry and I ain't forgivin' ya until you figure it out."
She got up and left, slamming the door on the way out, leaving Spot alone and completely confused.
* * *
"I's didn't think she'd evah come back afta dat, but she did and she acted like nothin' evah happened. 'Cept she nevah sings anymore an' she always calls me Spot. I still don't know what she wants from me."
Jack looked at Spot from under his hat, he was still walking with his head down, watching the dust he was kicking up. They were good friends but Jack was worried by this sudden openness. He couldn't tell exactly what Spot was trying to tell him and he was about to ask when Spot started talking again.
"Ya know she's nevah missed my boithday, an' I sweah I nevah told 'er when it was. Sometimes she only shows up for da day, but she's always heah, 'cept last year she almost missed it."
* * *
Spot had been prowling the Brooklyn Bridge all day. He hadn't even gone to sell papers in the morning. He was waiting for Maggie to come. She was usually there waiting for him at sunup, but it was almost sunset and there was no sign of her. By the time it was completely dark Spot had come to the conclusion that she wasn't coming. It was the first time she had missed his birthday.
Spot was tired and depressed when he went back to the lodging house for the night. He was about to open his door when he heard a sound from inside his room. He froze and listened but he didn't hear anything else. He slowly pushed the door open but he didn't see anything unusual in the dark.
"Heya Scrawny."
Only one person had ever called him that, "Ain't breakin' an' entry illegal goil?"
He heard a harsh laugh as he lit a candle. Maggie was sitting on the floor leaning against his bed, but he wouldn't have recognized her if hadn't called him Scrawny just a second ago. Her face was covered in bruises and blood and one eye was swollen almost completely shut. There were large rips in her clothes, like someone had been trying to stab her but there were no major cuts underneath.
Spot rushed to her side, "What happened?"
"Oh you know, the usual. Some guys wanted my money, among other things, and I wanted to keep it. As you can see they were pretty thorough in arguing their side of the case. It's a good thing that I know this city inside out and was able to lose them, right?" Spot gently brushed the dark purple welt on her cheek, she winced an pulled away from his hand.
"Sorry, maybe yous should lie down." He carefully took her in his arms an lifted her onto his bed. She gasped when he touched her and he saw more cuts and bruises through the holes in her clothes. He could also see a lot more than cuts.
Spot blushed and turned away, "Mebbe I's should getcha some new clothes."
He could tell that she was smiling behind his back, "Yeah, Maybe."
He went to the chest at the foot of his bed to get something that didn't fit him anymore. While he was going through the chest he could hear Maggie taking off her torn clothes.
She laughed when he kept his back to her and asked, "Spot, are you going to be alright?"
"Yea, jist hurry up and get changed." He handed her the new clothes behind his back and he could tell that she was silently laughing at him now. He left the room so she could change and so he could get his thoughts together, without a half naked girl a few feet away. When he went back in with a washcloth and a small tub of water he found her sitting up in his bed, leaning against the headboard. She tried to take the cloth away from him, but he wouldn't let her
"Yous proba'ly too weak to do dis yaself." He started wiping some of the dried blood and dirt off of her.
"I'm not weak," she gasped when he pushed a little too hard on a cut, "just hurtin'."
"Do ya want me ta let ya do it?"
She closed her eyes and let her head fall back with a sigh, "No."
She stayed like that even after he finished and had put everything away. He sat down in a chair across the room and watched her for a few minutes.
She opened her eyes and smiled at him, "Come here."
"Huh?"
"Come 'ere."
He walked over to the bed and she spread her arms, almost like she wanted a hug, "Come 'ere."
He leaned over a little and her arms shot out and wrapped around him, pulling him onto the bed next to her. He squirmed for a few seconds but she took his face in her hands and kissed him gently on the forehead.
"Happy Birthday."
She lay her head on his chest and closed her eyes. Spot rested his head on his pillow contentedly, Maggie hadn't missed his birthday and she was going to be fine. Everything would be alright, "Spot?"
"Yeah." He looked down when she didn't say anything. She just stared at him quietly for a minute then rested her head back on his chest and fell asleep.
* * *
"I started teachin' 'er ta fight more den one person afta she was feelin' betta. She didn't want somethin' fa nothin' so she taught me how ta run an' hide anywhere in da city. Dats saved me more den once. She was a newsie wit me fa a while den I's had ta send her ta Queens. Da owner of da lodgin' house died an' she got kicked out so she came back ta me. Den dere were some fights again an' I's sent her ta you." They were almost across the bridge by now and Spot stopped to look out over the water. He leaned against the railing for a while, staring out onto the water with his back to Jack.
He spoke over his shoulder, "Yous know dat I's coulda handled da fightin' roight?"
Jack nodded, "Yea, Spot, I know."
"An' you nevah asked why I was givin' her ta ya?"
"No."
"Well I's gonna tell ya," Spot paused for a minute and looked up at the sky, "If I'd kept her I woulda messed everythin' up, she's my best friend. I wouldn't be able ta stop meself from tryin' somethin'"
"What'd ya mean try sumpthin'?" Jack whispered the question, hoping it wasn't what he thought.
Spot was quiet for so long that Jack thought he hadn't heard but he finally spoke, "I'm fallin' for her an' I's gonna do sumpthin' stupid if I'm alone wit 'er."