Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. Don't sue Disney!!
I'm sitting at the table in my family's cottage. There's nothing to eat, as usual and Mam is trying to comfort Baby Paddy and little Jamie at the same time.
Then Pap comes in and swings Mam into a hug. "Guess what Katie love? I've got us tickets to America. We're going to America!"
"Why James Patrick Finnigan! Do you mean to say we're leaving Ireland? Our homeland?" Mam looks up at Pap with a disbelieving expression.
"Yes, Katie what's Ireland ever done for me and mine? Not a potato in my pot and four kiddies for us to feed." Pap looks sad for a minute.
Then I'm on board a ship rushing through the waves. And there's an important man talkin'. 'Tis the captain.
"And we lay to rest Patrick Finnigan. He is now with the Lord."
Mam screams out, "No! God, no! He's just a baby. Not even a year yet. No!"
"Please, Mam. Come to your bunk. We'll find you a cuppa, we will." Mary Brigid, my older sister says quietly.
Mam nods and allows my twelve-year-old sister to lead her away, sobbing quietly.
"Look at me Sister! Look at me!" It's about two weeks later and I'm supposed to be watching Jamie. I look up from my doll to see him climbing up the rail.
"Jamie, get down this instant!" I cry out and run to him. We have to keep an eye on that five-year-old at all times otherwise he'll be over the edge.
Shh. The captain is speakin' again. "James Finnigan goes to sleep in the waves. Lost may be his body to us, but his soul goes to God."
Then Mam is gone, dead of grief. Next was Pap and Mary Brigid, only a bit before New York.
I'm looking into the eyes of my family, all of them and they're calling to me.
"Katie Rose. We miss you. Join us here. Don't grow older come back to being eight. Baby Paddy's cutting a tooth. Come with us."
Suddenly I'm dropped back in my body. I open my eyes slowly, see the rough wooden ceiling above me, and hear the snores of newsies all around me. I'm safe. Remember? I shake my head. I haven't felt really truly safe since the first few years in New York, when it was only Spot and me.
I met him on my first day in the States. I had heard some of the other passengers talking about what was going to become of me and I heard talk of an orphanage. So I ran and I hid behind some boxes on the docks of Brooklyn.
"Hey you. What're you hiding from?" A boy about my age with a slingshot came barreling through my hiding place.
"They say they're going to put me in an orphanage." I cried out with my thick Irish brogue.
He shook his head. "Naw, now that you're with me they can't do that."
I was a bit surprised by this boy's supreme confidence. "Oh, aye? So what am I to do?"
"Become a newsie, like me. We sell newspapers and someday I'll be the king." Even then Spot wanted to be a leader.
With those words Spot became my best friend, my true leader and new brother and I became Irish, for that's what he called me.
Then one day all that changed. I was eleven years old and I was called into the leader's office. His name was Smithy.
"Irish, you know that once Spot get old enough he's going to be Brooklyn, don' you?" Smithy asked me.
I rolled my eyes. Of course, I knew that. Everyone knew that Dollar was only going to be leader until Spot got big enough to fight him. Except Dollar. Smithy had had to settle for second best with his successor.
"Well, I've noticed that you've got a bit of a gift for hiding and sneaking up on people."
"Well, I always do win if we play hide and seek or bulls and newsies." I said proudly.
"Yes. Spot's got something he wants to ask you to do." Smithy sounded more serious than I'd ever heard him. "Go find him, he's swimming."
I shrugged and walked outside. Finding Spot on the docks he asked me to become his spy. I agreed and went off to Staten Island for years.
I never spoke to Spot once. I talked to Roast Beef once every two or three months but that was it. And when it was over, when Spot threw Dollar out, I went home to Brooklyn. But I wasn't Irish any longer. I was Magic and Spot was different, harder. He beat me up and I took it. Then he fell in love with The Traveler and I was happy. I had hoped that he would become the Spot I became loyal to all those years ago again. But The Traveler disappointed him and then she disappeared and he became worse. After I broke her out of jail I left. I didn't know anyone anymore. And I didn't like being Magic. I want to be Irish again. And I want to be able to go to Manhattan and visit and let people know I exist!!
Maybe here in Boston I'll find Irish and be able to go home again. But for now I've got to go to sleep so I can sell papes tomorrow.
