Chapter 5:
"UP AND AT 'EM!" bellowed Hades, walking around the boys' bunkroom.
Chris groaned and crawled from his bunk. He had been here two weeks already, but he still wasn't used to the early mornings. He was a bit relieved when a few other newsboys didn't seem to be either.
"Get a move on it, kid," Blank said, shoving his bunkmate toward the washroom.
"Hey, hey, watch it," he grumbled, jerking his undershirt around. Somehow, during the night, it had turned backwards on him.
"Watch how you talk to me, boy!"
He sighed. "All I said was watch it! I wouldn't think you'd like being shoved around either!"
"I don't like being shoved around and the last person who did, ended up in bed for two weeks."
"Well, I don't like it either." But he wasn't about to try his luck beating Blank up. He tried sometime the week before, and it landed him with two black eyes, a bloody nose, and a lot of scratches.
"You're looking a little green, Chris," Molly said with a smirk as she met up with Chris and her brother at the bottom of the stairs.
Again, he sighed, but otherwise kept quiet.
"Lighten up, Chris. I was just teasing," Molly said.
"I never can tell with anyone anymore."
She rolled her eyes. "So when are you going home?"
He shrugged. "Probably never. They probably forgot I'm here."
"I somehow doubt that."
"I don't know..."
"You never did tell me why you got sent here in the first place."
He reddened, a bit embarrassed. "I'm not totally sure... I guess irresponsibility. ... That, and I don't get on well with Spot."
"If you two tried a little harder you would get along fine...Just look at me and Rae...we used to butt heads something awfully those first few weeks I was there."
"But Rae is easier to get along with," he pointed out.
Blank snickered. "So you think. You haven't gotten on her bad side yet."
"I probably don't want to either..." he admitted.
"It would be a good idea not to get on her bad side."
"Trust him," Molly said. "I was on her bad side for a little while...."
"Will you two be alright selling by yourselves for the day? I have some things to take care of." Blank said.
Molly and Chris looked at one another and then at Blank.
"I suppose so," Chris said.
Molly nodded.
"You do anything to my sister, kid, and I will soak you," Blank threatened.
"I'm not gonna do anything to her, jeez!" Chris exclaimed.
"I still don't trust you, kid."
He gave an annoyed sigh. "Then why have us sell together?"
"Because I don't trust her alone either."
"Andrew!" Molly hissed.
"What? I don't."
She growled in frustration and stalked off.
"I see the resemblance in you two now," Chris commented, heading off after her.
* * *
Spot stood in the doorway of the room where Rae was sleeping, watching as the early morning sun cast shadows upon her. He couldn't believe that she had said that to him. But it only proved that what he thought was true. She didn't really look past the scars.
She rolled onto her side and buried her face in her pillow. He sighed heavily. He never would have thought she'd think that way... but... well, she did, apparently. How many times had she said that she didn't care about the scars? Lies! All of them. How could she sleep knowing she told him such tales? Didn't the guilt weigh her down? Or had being a newsie in New York make her immune to the consequences of lying?
Kendra sat up and rubbed her eyes. She caught sight of him and smiled. "Daddy!" she exclaimed, reaching for him. He quickly turned and disappeared back down the stairs, as her cries filled the air.
Rae stirred and opened one eye sleepily. "Whadizzit?" she murmured, looking at Kendra. "What's the matter, sweetie?"
"Daddy," she sobbed, pointing to the door.
She rubbed her eyes and looked at the door. No one was there. "Do you want Daddy?" she asked.
Kendra nodded as huge tears rolled down her cheeks.
Rae stifled a yawn and picked her up. "Come on then."
She carried her downstairs and knocked on the door to the study. "Spot?"
He replied with a gruff "what?"
Rae shifted Kendra onto her hips. "Kendra's crying for you."
"Well, what do you want me to do?"
She sighed. "Will you please try to calm her down?"
"Won't my freakish face just scare her more?"
Frustrated, Rae set Kendra on the floor next to the study door and ran back upstairs. Kendra opened her mouth and wailed loudly, plopping onto the floor.
After a few moments, Spot threw the door open, ready to yell at Rae, but found only the baby girl sitting on the floor screaming. She simply lifted her hands and made grabbing motions at him, bawling. He picked her up and held her close. Boy was he going to give Rae a piece of his mind later. She buried her face in his shoulder and whimpered, sniffling.
While he really wanted to get as far away from Rae as possible, he wasn't about to leave these kids. They deserved a momma and a daddy, even if they weren't speaking to each other. "It's okay," he murmured, patting her head gently.
After another moment or two, her whimpers became hiccups as she fell back asleep. He stood holding her, not certain what to do with her. He couldn't just keep her in his arms all morning until she woke up again.
He finally carried her into the living room and left her sleeping on the couch, before he locked himself in the study again.
Back up in her room, Rae laid in bed, staring at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity, waiting for sleep to come. But come, it wouldn't, and she finally decided to get up.
She reached into the wardrobe for a dress and pulled out the green dress that she had worn the first day they found the house. That was the first time Spot had told her she looked pretty. With a strangled sob, she threw the dress across the room and reached for a pair of pants instead.
She wrestled into them and shrugged on an old blouse. Yanking her hair into a braid, she headed downstairs to start breakfast, trying to forget their argument.
* * *
Molly walked slightly ahead of Chris as they sold their papers. She turned around to talk to him. "I've been in New York for almost two months now and I haven't seen anything besides Brooklyn."
"Well, Brooklyn can't be ALL that great..."
"I want to go to Coney Island...or Sheepshead..."
"Why don't we?"
"You mean it?" she exclaimed happily.
Chris shrugged. "I don't think it'd hurt anyone... and they can't MAKE us stay in the area..."
"Right...so where to?"
He shrugged. "You've been here longer than me. You decide."
"Umm....Sheepshead...no wait...Coney Island!"
"All right then, Coney Island here we come."
* * *
Ann crept down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen. She snuck up behind Rae and wrapped her arms around Rae's legs. "Mornin' Momma."
"Morning, Annie," she said wearily, cracking some eggs into a frying pan.
Ann frowned slightly. "Is Daddy still in a bad mood?"
With a sigh, she gave a little nod. "He seems to be that way." Ann's frown became a pout and she sat on a chair at the table. "What's the matter?"
"I don't want Daddy to be in a bad mood. He won't play with me and Andy when he's in a bad mood."
Rae stabbed at the eggs. "Maybe he'll feel better later?"
Ann sighed. "I hope so."
"Me too."
"Will you go check on Sam for me?" Rae asked.
She nodded and headed out of the room.
Rae sighed and went back to her breakfast preparations. "I hope we settle this soon."
A moment later, Julie joined her. "I think something is burning," she murmured drowsily.
"Shoot..." Rae muttered, tossing the pan of burning eggs into the sink and dumping water on them.
Julie rubbed her eyes and seemed to gain a little more consciousness. "Want any help?"
"No, thanks. I think I can burn breakfast on my own."
She frowned. ".... All right."
Rae sighed. "I'm sorry, Julie. I'm just a little frustrated."
She nodded a little.
"Do you mind taking over? I think I want to start this day all over again."
"Sure."
"Thanks," Rae muttered, leaving the room.
With a frown, Julie began breakfast again. Whatever was going on between Rae and Spot was starting to put pressure on the odd family. She only hoped it would be resolved soon.
* * *
Molly looked around at the unfamiliar buildings. "Where are we?"
Chris gave her a look. "I thought we were heading to Coney Island..."
"This is the way that the cab driver said to go..."
"Something tells me he didn't know or just lied to us."
Molly shivered in the lengthening shadows. "I don't like the looks of this."
"I'll protect you," he assured her bravely, but he wasn't so sure himself.
"I wish Blank was here," she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Hey... I said I could protect you..." He felt a little braver as a bit of annoyance bubbled up about the mention of Blank.
"The same way you protected Kendra?" she retorted.
"It wasn't my fault!... Not totally anyway..." He gave a frustrated grunt and resorted to scowling.
"I got a letter from Julie, Chris! She told me that you were supposed to have been watching Kendra that day!"
"Well it's not like I planned for her to fall!" he exclaimed. "Besides, what would you care? You gave her up anyhow? How responsible is that?"
Tears filled Molly's eyes. "I gave her up because I knew that I couldn't give her everything she needed."
With a sigh, he crammed his hands into his pockets and trudged ahead, saying no more on the subject.
Molly ran to catch up with him. "Please don't leave me," she whispered.
"Wouldn't you rather be with Blank?" he grumbled, still a bit stung.
"Yes, but he's not here right now."
Stopping, he frowned. "Well.... why don't we just retrace our steps. Go the way we came?"
"Do you think we can find our way back?"
"Uh..." He shrugged. "I'm not sure... maybe?"
She sat down on a doorstep and wrapped her arms around herself again. "I'm cold....and hungry."
"Well... I've got fifteen cents on me..."
She sighed. "And I have about 15 papers left to sell."
"Maybe we could sell the rest and stop at one of the vendors?"
"I guess we could."
"Unless you have a better idea."
"Going home would be a better idea, but since we're not exactly sure which way that is...I guess it will have to do."
He sighed. "Well, I said earlier we could try to retrace our steps..."
"Andrew's going to kill me," she muttered, sitting down on the curb.
"You mean me. You're related to him. He hates my guts," Chris muttered, sitting next to her.
"He'll blame you for this...and probably try to kill you...but he was just starting to trust me."
That certainly wasn't any comfort, but he wasn't going to voice his opinion, because he was pretty sure it would come right back around and bite him in the butt some day in the near future.
"It's way too quiet around here," she mused
Frowning, he glanced around a bit and then nodded. "Yes..."
"What do we have here?" a deep voice said from behind them.
With a start, Chris and Molly jerked around. Five men towered over them, some holding knifes, others ropes or chains. For a moment, they were motionless, slack-jawed, as they stared at these creepy people.
"Looks like we got some of those scrawny newsies," one of the men said.
The man with chains snapped his and glared at them menacingly. "Don'cha know to stay in your own territories, brats?"
"We didn't mean any harm mister," Molly said, shrinking closer to Chris.
"You're a newsie, ain't ya? That's harm enough," growled another.
"I'm not a newsie," Chris said defiantly, jumping to his feet.
"Yeah, and I'm the Queen of England." He rolled his eyes. "Carney, Dwarf- Get 'em!"
Molly tried to dart away, but the biggest of the men grabbed her around the waist.
She shrieked loudly kicking wildly about and managing to land one kick in his knee.
"Dwarf! Get that girl under control! Now!" the leader yelled as two other men, struggled to hold Chris captive.
"I'm tryin'!" he croaked, trying also not to fall over and nurse his injured knee.
The leader rolled his eyes. "Let's get these two spies to the Duchess."
Molly squeaked and thrashed about again as Chris only gave the men a puzzled look. They were going to see royalty?
