AN: I know, the last chappy was kinda a boring one. Things will pick up in this one- Blink enters to feed the storyline!
Halfway through breakfast, which we were all having out in the sitting room, there was a knock on the door. Joseph sprang up and opened the door, and I could immediately tell who was there by the look of utter disgust on Joseph's face. He was certainly not good at hiding his emotions.
"Let him in, Joseph. And wipe that stupid look off your face. " I ordered.
"Yes sir." He said, and then turned back to our visitor and said, "Right this way, sir. In the sitting room."
Blink walked in, one newspaper tucked under his arm and a smirk on his face. He took a careful look at everyone in the room before speaking. "Check out the headline, guys. We ain't missin much today!" he said brightly, throwing the paper down on the table. The headline read: Three Cows Loose In Downtown Cause Panic.
Both Skittery and Mush burst out laughing, even though it caused Skittery a lot of pain to do so. Blink's look changed from humor to concern in an instant. "Skittery, bein' sick don't give ya busted ribs. What happened?"
"He got beat up." Mush said nonchalantly, flipping through the rest of the paper. Skittery sent him a death glare, but to no avail.
"Oh really? By who? I'll take care of 'em. I'll bust 'em up so bad dey won't nevah have chil-"
"There's a lady present!" Mush hissed, and Blinks hat came off his head in an instant.
"I'm sorry ma'am. I don't mean ta offend no one." He said, offering her his hand.
She took his hand in a warm handshake. "None taken. In fact, I was rather amused. What might your name be?"
"I's Kid Blink. Usually just Blink."
"Alright then. Why don't you sit down there on the sofa and I'll bring you out some bacon and eggs?"
"Oh, I couldn't have ya-"
"I insist!"
He smiled broadly, taking a seat beside Skittery. "Well, if da lady insists…"
Annie left the room, and I took the opportunity. "I have a request of you boys."
They all glanced from one to the other, Skittery and Mush sending glances of 'he's cool' to Blink, who immediately relaxed a bit more and leaned back. "What is it?" Mush asked.
"I want you to tell me about my son. No sugar coating. I want to know who he was."
The room went from slightly cheerful to downright uncomfortable and stiff in about half a second. Blink cleared his throat, and both Mush and Blink looked at Skittery, who thought hard for a moment.
"Blake was somethin' else. Could've been an amazing newsie if he'd given it a shot. He was a real nice kid."
"That's not what I asked for." I snapped, and all three newsies jumped in surprise at my anger. I realized that I was scaring them, and immediately took a few deep breaths. "I want to know about him. The boy who was really my son, not the son I fabricated and thought was perfect. I want to hear about him as you knew him."
And that's how I got to know my son. Not by sitting down and speaking with him about his feelings, not by reading professors comments about him on yearly reports, not by sharing stories on the holidays. I was just sitting in my home with three newsies whom I hadn't met before yesterday, trying to make sense of their slang while at the same time appalled by everything I didn't know.
For example, I never knew he was a prankster. I had no idea he would slip out of the house in the middle of the night, carry a bucket of ice water to the lodging house, and dump it on an unfortunate newsie who'd angered him that day.
Another thing- he was a gambler. I had absolutely no idea that he took his allowance money to the lodging house and gambled it away with the boy called Racetrack right at his side. And I certainly didn't know he lost on purpose because he knew the newsies he was playing against needed the money more than he did, and would never take it as charity.
I didn't know that he would spend countless days out with the newsboys, helping them sell their papers.
One of the bigger shocks: the nights that he said he couldn't sleep in his room because he'd painted the ceiling and it smelled bad, that wasn't the case at all. I should've known that was a lie. The truth was that Racetrack had fallen ill and had been planning on sleeping in the alley outside the lodging house so as not to get the other boys sick. Blake wouldn't hear a single word of that- he snuck Racetrack in and spent three days nursing him back to health in his own bed.
That was the son I never knew. That was the son whose death I caused by never actually caring to know him. As the memories spilled out, the grief within me rose. If only I'd have noticed. I should've done something, anything.
But it was too late now. And nothing could be done.
Over the next few days Skittery slowly gained strength, much faster than anyone thought he would. He was restless and would ask at least three or four times a day to go outside and walk around, and a fellow newsie would always be there at his side, ready to hold him up when he needed it.
Jack also fond out through the 'gossip chain' that the 'Delancey brothers' had been bragging a lot lately. Mostly about the fact that they'd soaked a newsboy pretty bad. Let's just say that they'll be working with bruises, cuts, and a limp for the next few weeks.
I began to grow fond of the boys, and each one was…well, like a son to me. Skittery and Mush most of all. I saw Mush as the son I had, the front that I always knew and loved. I saw Skittery as the other side of him, the side that I never knew but could've loved if I had. I know, it sounds crazy, but it made perfect sense to me.
By the time Skittery had enough strength to go back to the lodging house and start selling again, I was feeling the pain of losing my son all over again. On the morning that he planned to leave, Annie and I sat him down and forced Joseph to leave the room- he would have a fit if he knew what we were about to do.
"Skittery…we've been thinking a lot about this situation, and Annie and I have been talking for a while about this." I started, wringing my hands nervously.
"About what?"
He was completely oblivious, I could tell. He didn't have a clue as to what we were getting at. Annie smiled and took over. "We know you want to go back to your friends and get back to selling papers. But we feel…we feel that this isn't going to be a life fit for such an intelligent boy as you are. And, well…we wanted you to stay here."
Skittery's face paled by about ten shades. "What?"
"We want you to stay here. We want to send you to school, give you three meals a day, get you into college. Help you live a better life." I added.
"In other words…a replacement for Blake."
Annie grabbed his hands in-between hers, and he stiffened, but didn't pull away for once. "No one can replace Blake. We understand that. We just…we've come to love you, Skittery. And we want the best for you."
His demeanor suddenly changed to completely untrusting. "No one's evah loved me. And no one evah will. Love's a lie." He snapped, choking back a sob.
"No, it's not. We love you, Skittery. We want you to stay and learn how to love us."
Skittery looked from me, to Annie, and back to me, anger transforming into panic. With a strangled cry he ripped his hands away from her and ran into the kitchen, slamming the door behind him. I slowly got up, gave Annie a small smile, and whispered, "Let me handle this."
She nodded and I walked to the kitchen door, gently tapping on it. "Skittery…can I come in?"
A moment passed. "You can do whatevah you want. It's your house." He snapped, and I opened the door and stepped inside, shutting it quietly. He was sitting on the floor and leaning against the counter. I kneeled down in front of him, searching his eyes.
"We meant it, Skittery. Every word."
"I know."
"Then why won't you trust us?"
"Because."
I sighed deeply. "That isn't good enough. You're going to have to come up with something better than that."
His eyes shifted, and he actually made eye contact with me, something he rarely did. I could see tears glistening in his eyes. "Da first people who loved me were my family. Dey killed each other, even tried to kill me. Since when was dat love?" He took another deep breath before continuing. "My foster parents would love me a little while, then turn me back in. Da only people who've evah really loved me are da newsies. We're like a family. And ya don't walk out on family."
"You're right. You don't walk out on family. But family members want the best for each other. And the other newsies would want you to do this, to seize this opportunity. Wouldn't they?"
He smiled, very shakily. "Ya, but since when did I evah listen to them?"
We fell silent, and remained so for about a minute. I slowly reached forward and brushed his hair out of his face. "You know what, Skittery? Whatever you choose is fine with me. I just want you to be happy, that's all. This is your decision."
With that, we both stood up and began heading for the door. Suddenly he stopped me, a crooked smile on his face.
"Blake loved you, ya know? He really did. And I can see why. He woulda been real proud of you just now."
Ignoring his aversion to physical contact, I pulled him into a hug, wrapping my arms tightly around him and letting the tears come. And ever so slowly, I felt the tension release from his body. And the sweetest moment of my life came when he actually hugged me back.
