Disclaimers: Own nothing. Nuff said.
Chapter Sixteen
And so Sarah left. And with her, went Jack's good spirits. He took to spending his free time alone in the empty bunkroom, throwing a baseball against the wall, sometimes not even bothering to catch it. And when the bunkroom was full, he was on the roof, smoking and looking at the sky. Everyone was worried, including Moira, as dreary April turned into May. It had been almost two months that Jack had been depressed.
"I'd talk to him, but what am I supposed to say?" She asked Racetrack, who had been pestering her about getting Jack out of his slump.
"How about 'buck up, buddy! She's gone. You're sad. Get ova it.' How does dat sound?" He suggested, puffing his cigar. The smoke billowed up and Moira began coughing,
"Must you smoke?"
"Yes."
"Fine then. And to answer your question, I'm not sure that would go over very well." She sighed, glancing outside, where the weather was finally starting to look cheerful. "Isn't it glorious outside?" Racetrack looked out the window and shrugged,
"Yeah, glorious." He set his cards down. "I win." Moira rolled her eyes and pushed her I.O.U.'s toward him.
"I think I owe you my freedom."
"Yeah, according to this, I own you." Race looked at the slips of paper, smiling. Moira smiled back,
"I'm running out of things to bet. I suppose next time it will be my reserved spot in heaven."
"HA! Like you could gets inta heaven." She leaned across the little table and whacked his arm. "Ow! Moira! I'se just jokin' wid ya!" They stopped laughing and he pointed upwards. "Go and talk ta him, please? I'll let ya keep your kids dat ya owe me." Moira gave him a quick silly grin, before frowning at the task that lie ahead. She sighed and took the stairs two at a time, opening the bunkroom door to find Jack lying on his bunk, jaw set, tossing a baseball from hand to hand.
"Hey." She greeted, timidly. He didn't look at her. "How are you?"
"Fine." His voice was monotone. The only other sound beside the baseball, going from hand to hand, was the sound of Moira's heels, clunking against the wooden floors.
"That's good."
"Is dat all you wanted?"
"Maybe, I'm not sure yet."
"Den decide outside. I wanna be alone."
"Sorry, I'm afraid that's no longer an option." Her chin just came up to the mattress, she rested it there. Jack still didn't look at her.
"Funny, Moira. Leave me alone."
"No. You've been alone for two whole months now. It's time to stop." She wasn't being mean about it, just firm.
"Maybe I don't wanna stop."
"Too bad."
"No, it's not too bad. It don't mattah if I wanna stay inside foreva. It don't mattah if you want me to or not, it's wad I'm gonna do." He snapped, still not looking at her.
"If you're going to shout at me, you could at least look at me."
"And if you'se gonna yell at me for bein' upset, you might as well forget it!" He yelled, sitting up and staring at her finally. Moira took a step back.
"I'm not going to forget it, Jack. I'm worried about you. Everyone is."
"Really?"
"Of course. You're the leader, remember?"
"Yeah, whatevah. Da strike's ova, Moira. Dey don't need a leada no more."
"But they do need you! You're not the only one Sarah left, you know. She was one of my friends as well, and David's sister. But she's gone, we don't know for how long. Okay? I'm not saying you didn't have a right to be sad, but enough is enough already!" She slammed a fist onto the mattress. Jack was quiet for a minute, not really sure what to say to 'mean Moira.' She didn't know what to say. She hadn't meant to be mean, it had just happened. "Sorry." She apologized, meekly looking at the ground. The baseball fell from his hand, onto the floor, and rolled to her foot. "I-I didn't know you liked baseball."
"Love it."
"I didn't know that."
"Dere's a lot of t'ings you don't know about me, Moira. Doesn't mean dey ain't dere." Jack mumbled, still thinking about what she had said before. "You like baseball?"
"I used to play with my cousins when I was a little girl, it used to upset Mother, but it was always fun. I'm not sure I ever really understood the sport though." Silence fell upon the room again as Moira writhed uncomfortably in place. Wishing she had thought before saying what she had to Jack. "Well, my work is done for the day. I think I'll go down to Central Park for a bit." She turned away from him and started toward the door.
"With Davey?" He asked, sounding slightly put out. She looked at him, confused.
"I don't know. If I see him, then maybe. But I'm not sure. Goodbye, Jack."
Moira sat on a bench in the park with her sketchpad, drawing a little red-headed boy with a puppy. She was adding freckles to his little face when someone sat down beside her. She looked up to see David, leaning over, looking at the sketch.
"Hello, stranger!" She exclaimed, greeting him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I feel like I haven't seen you for a long time."
"I know what you mean, I've been busy. How're you interviews going?" He asked, eagerly.
"Bad topic. What are you doing here?"
"Teachin' you how ta play baseball!" Kid Blink's unmistakable voice shouted from somewhere behind her. Moira turned around to see at least half of the newsies coming toward her in a big crowd. She laughed as she saw that they were all carrying bats and mitts. As they approached, she covered her mouth with a hand,
"Why?"
"Because, Moira. If your gonna spend a summah wid us, ya gotta know how ta play baseball, for real. None 'a dis 'for fun' stuff." Mush explained, as though she should have guessed already. And, in a way, she had, as soon as she saw Jack's face among the crowd. He came forward, looking smug.
"I suppose you've snapped out of your spell?"
"I'm getting' dere."
"And I'm also going to assume that you're the one who came up with this whole idea?"
"Now, Moira. Have I ever come up wid an idea dat wadn't supported by da whole unit of newsies?" She sighed, and rolled her eyes,
"All right Kelly, let's play ball." This was met by a roar of approval from the mob, and with that, they split up into teams and half of them took to the field.
About a half an hour later, all previous negative thoughts were forgotten as they played. Moira, rather timid at the idea of swinging a bat, remained in the cheering section, being just as loud as the boys when the occasion called for it.
"ATTA BOY DAVEY!!" She hollered at one point, after David hit a triple, so loudly that Jack, who was pitching, looked at her surprised. She shrugged and took a hit of the cigarette that Blink offered her. When they switched positions, Jack stepped up to bat. Race was pitching. "DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME, RACE! JACK COULDN'T HIT THE BROAD SIDE OF A BARN!" She'd heard that somewhere, and had always wanted to say it. At this, the batter dropped the bat and stared at her, amazed.
"You wanna try dis?" He asked, holding out the bat. She thought about it for a second, and in a wave of rare courage, shrugged, indifferently.
"Sure, why not?" Moira took it from his hand and stood at the plate like she had seen all of them do. "I'm all talk, you know. I really have no idea what I'm doing." She confessed, grinning at Jack,
"Oh, well, in dat case, MOVE IN BOYS!" He called to the outfield, who took a few steps towards the infield. Moira was insulted.
"Are you implying that I can't hit this ball?" She asked, in mock shock.
"You just told me you couldn't."
"That was different. It's not gentlemanly to agree with a woman when she puts herself down. Didn't you know?"
"Nope."
"Very well, I will just have to prove you wrong." She stepped up to the plate (a day-old newspaper, like all the other bases) and stopped. "Am I doing this right?" Jack laughed,
"Bend your knees more." She did, yet he was still unsatisfied. "No, you'se holdin' da bat all wrong." He came up and moved her hands. "There, dat's bettah."
"You'se ready yet? For cryin' out loud! We ain't gettin' any youngah out here!" Racetrack yelled, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.
"Shut up an' pitch, Race. Stop ya complainin'." Jack yelled back. Their pitcher obliged and threw the ball toward her. Moira made a pathetic attempt to swing the bat, only managing to scare both herself and Jack, who was standing behind home plate.
"STRIKE ONE!" Les yelled, from where he stood on second base. Racetrack shook his head and threw the ball a second time. This time, Moira swung the bat so hard that it flew backward out of her hands, almost hitting Jack in the face.
"STRIKE TWO!" The shortstop, Bumlets called.
"I give up. I can't do this!" Moira exclaimed, throwing up her hands. Jack picked up the bat and handed it back to her.
"You ain't done yet, ya still gots one more try."
"I'm pathetic."
"Yeah. C'mon. I'se gonna help ya." He stood behind her, placed his arms around her and his hands over hers, repositioning them on the bat.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Moira asked, feeling the tips of her ears go pink.
"You'se embarrassin' yaself. And me. I'se helpin' ya out." He informed her, grinning. "T'row da ball, Race!"
And when the ball was thrown this time, something unbelievable happened. With Jack's help, she was actually able to hit the ball. Well, it only went a few feet past where Racetrack was standing, but it was enough to amaze her. Releasing the bat with a cry of astonishment, she turned to Jack,
"Now what?" She asked, her mind going blank. He laughed, then pointed to the first base. "Thanks, Jack!" She called, jogging over to where Mush was standing.
* * * * *
"I've decided baseball is not my forte." Moira concluded, ducking under a line of laundry that had been put out to dry. Jack laughed nervously,
"Yeah…"
"It means specialty, or strong point." She filled in, knowing he hadn't a clue what the word 'forte' meant.
"Oh! Den no- I t'ink you'se right on dat one." They laughed again as she approached her door. A look at the time told her that Kathryn wasn't expected back for a few hours.
"You can come in, if you like." She invited, pulled open the front door, and headed up to the apartment. Jack followed closely. Once inside, Moira found a small stack of letters on the table in the kitchen. Kathryn always separated the mail into two piles, one for herself and one for her daughter. Moira picked up her pile and shuffled through it. There was a letter from her cousin, Nell, and then two long, thin envelopes- one from Landbury, and one from Amburst. She had yet to hear from Sutherton, but these would be correspondence from the fifth and sixth schools she had interviewed with. And if these didn't turn out to be positive letters, that would be five and six schools that didn't want her as a teacher. She glanced at Jack,
"Go on, open it." He urged, nodding. With a shaking hand, Moira dug a nail under the seal and tore it open. "Read it."
"Dear Miss Bailey, we regret to inform you that your services will not be needed at our school…" Sighing, Moira tossed the first paper onto the table and ripped open the second letter without any ceremony. Jack watched, rather helplessly, as her eyes skimmed the page before she crumpled it into a ball and let it fall to the ground. She slumped into the nearest chair, tears in her eyes. "Damn." She whispered, blinking quickly to try to keep from crying. Jack knelt down, seeing eye-to-eye with her.
"Hey, Moira. It ain't dat bad. Really. I mean, who wants ta woik in dem snooty schools anyway?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I did! I wanted to work in a school like Amburst." She cried, forgetting about fighting the tears as they spilled over her cheeks. "I'm never going to find a job."
"Don't say dat! You'll gets a job." He tried to reassure her,
"But what if I don't?"
"Den…you can start your own school. For da newsies." Moira didn't say anything as Jack wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "But don't ya worry about it. Dey's gonna hire ya. Mark me woids."
"Why are you so confident?" She muttered into his shoulder. He let go and held her a elbow-length.
"Because, sooner or later, someone's gonna sit up and notice whadda smaht, funny, honest, charmin', amazin' woman you are." This brought more tears to her eyes.
"Do you really believe all of that?" She asked, as he wiped away a stray tear, smudging her face with his dirty hands. Jack didn't say anything, but continued stroking Moira's cheek, long after the tear was gone. Heart pounding, Moira reached up and held his hand to her face, staring into Jack's eyes as he leaned forward.
Closing her eyes, she met him halfway, stopping just before her lips touched his, feeling as though her heart would leap out of her chest in a moment. And then, after what seemed like a lifetime of waiting, Jack leaned forward just an inch more.
It wasn't a long kiss, but filled with anything that either couldn't (or wouldn't) put into words. Moira pulled away after a few moments, unwillingly. She looked into his eyes again, trying to figure out what had just happened, but she found no answers as he smiled and touched her cheek once more.
"Yeah, Moira. I do."
