Here's the next part of my first ever story!! Bear with me because I know it's not great! It's also kinda corny but, oh well!! Enjoy!

The Baby

It had been a couple of months since Brownie had joined the newsies. Josh's job wasn't great, but he got paid. Brownie and all of the newsies were sitting around the the fireplace in the sitting room of the lodging house. Some people were playing poker, but Brownie was just talking to Mush.

"So how was sellin for you taday Mush?" Brownie asked.

"Ok," Mush replied. "Just enough to buy me food for da next two days."

"That's pretty good," Brownie commented.

"I got a letter here for Miss Jennifer Elizebeth Jordan, if there is sombody here by dat name..."Klopmann said playfully.

"Give it here!" Brownie laughed.

She opened it.

"Hey, it's from my mother!" Brownie exclaimed.

She read on. After she got about half way through, she gave an excited scream.

"What's wrong?" asked Skittery from the poker game on the floor.

"Nothing's wrong!" Brownie laughed. "My mom, my mom is going to have a baby!!"

Then she ran out the door to tell her brother. ______________________________________________ "It's almost 5:30, so by the time I get to the apartment, hopefully Josh will be home from work." Brownie thought to herself as she ran down the street towards her brothers apartment building.

As she came upon the building, she dashed up a couple of stairs to room number 33. Just as she rushed up to the door, it opened and Josh grabed her and held her close.

"What happened?" he asked importantly. "I saw you running from the my window, and thought the worst..."

"Mom's gonna have a baby!!!"Brownie squealed. "I got this letter from her about 10 minuets ago."

Josh took the letter and started reading it.

"I wonder when we should leave, I mean she didn't say when they thought the baby would be due did they?" Brownie thought aloud.

"We won't be going till the baby shows signs of being born, which will be in about 4 and 1/2 months if mom is already showing weight..."Josh explained

"I know," Brownie insisted, "that you should go when the baby is going to be born, but when does mother want us to come?" she asked

"Actually," Josh said timidly, "She doesn't wan't us to. She says that she has always been in labor for a day before the baby came-like she has for all of us-and that she will send for us as soon as she feels contractions. By the time we get there, the baby will just be ready to be born"

"But, but" Brownie studdered

"Cheer up," Josh said. "This would be my fourth birthing since I've had to help with 3 and then saw Johnny's. They're not that great after the first two."

Though Brownie was dissapointed, she was still very excited. Mabye her mother would have a baby girl. She smiled to herself. ________________________________________ "So, your mums gonna have a baby," Specs said as Brownie sat down on an overstuffed couch.

"Nooooo," Race said sarcastically. "She's becoming the next president!"

Brownie didn't hear any of this. She was lost in her fantasys of having a baby brother or sister. Yeah, she had Johnny, but this was different.

"Hello, J, are you there?" Asked Mush. The guys not only called her Brownie, but now J and sometimes, only on rare occations, Jaybird.

"What?" Brownie started. "Yeah, I mean, sorry. I've been a little out of it lately. I mean, I might get a new sister! That would be great!"

Mush, Race, and Specs looked at each other and just shrugged their sholders. __________________________________________________ The months went by, and Brownie was as anxious as ever. Any time now, the baby could be born, though it would be early.

"Who wants ta play Blackjack?" Asked Race, looking for something to do. Jack and Skittery agreed, and so did Itey.

"Hey Brownie, wanna play?" Asked Jack.

"Why not?" Brownie replied. But just then, Klopmann came into the room with a letter.

"Jenny," He said with a grin, "You've got a letter that I think you might want to open."

Jenny jumped up with a squeal that the guys had never heard before, grabed the envelope from Klpomann, and ripped it open. She read it aloud:
Dearest Jennifer,
How are you? I am most certinly fine. I am very pleased to inform you that we have a new member of our large family. Her name is Judith Emily Jorden. Yes, it's a girl. I know how much you will probably want to see her, so we are ready for you, if you wish to come. Take the Saturday train to Cripple Creek, and the boys will pick you up. (They are ALL in town. Just like the good-old-days.) I have missed you so much, and look forward to you and Josh coming to visit. I love more than anything.
Love,
Mother

"Oh my goodness!" Brownie exclaimed. "This letter was written on Wednesday. That means that I have missed so much. I can't wait till tommorow, Saturday, I have to tell Josh!" And with that, she ran out the door. ___________________________________________________ After she told Josh, she went and told the good news to Sarah, David's sister, with whom she had become great friends with, and by the time she got back to the Lodging House, it was almost dark. She walked in to find all of the guys, sitting around the fire, waiting for her. On the table, there was a telegram, and the guys starred at Brownie, then at the telegram.

"It's, for you, Brownie."Said Crutchy, with a tremble in his voice.

Brownie picked up the piece of paper.

"I'm real sorry Jenny," Said a worried Mush as she read the telegram. her face went grey, then white. She dropped the paper, a look of pure shock and terror on her face. She burst into tears. She went hysterical. The guys didn't know what to do.

"Put her on the couch!" Jack ordered. Mush and Race dragged Jenny and sat down with her on the couch, one on either side of her. Then he ran off to get Josh. _________________________________________________ "Josh!" Jack yelled as he burst into the apartment.

"Well Hello Jack. How are you..."

"Josh, Jenny got a telegram, from your brother. It wasn't good news. You might wanna sit down." Jack said. "Well, your baby sister, well, she passed away in you mother's arms last night. She was too small, and her lungs weren't fully developed yet..."

"What?" Josh said. He too was white.

"Also," Jack continued. "When Jenny read the letter, she freaked out. I mean, she was crying, wailing, we couldn't calm her down. She, she scarred me, kinda."

"Oh my," Josh said. "I better try to calm her down. And I think I have an idea how." __________________________________________________ When Jack and Josh returned to the Lodging House, Jenny had slightly improved. She was sitting on her bed, breathing like she had been crying hard for a while, but was trying to stop.

'' Jen'', Josh said cautiously. "Jen."

"Oh Josh!" Jenny cried. "Josh, the baby, the baby..."

"I know." Josh hugged his sister.

"I feel horrible," She continued, oblivious to the fact that Race, Jack, Mush, and Blink were all still there. "I feel that if I was there, somehow, I could have saved her."

"No, no one could have saved her," Josh said. "She was premature. God wasn't finished with her, so he took her back. Kind of like a recall. Maybe, he'll give her back some day."

At this point, the newsies were feeling awkward and out-of-place. Race motioned to the rest of them that they should leave. Just then, Josh had an idea. He waved the guys over to him as he was craddeling his sister. He motioned to them to wait.

"Jen," Josh said. "Jen, I want to close your eyes."

She did so.

"Now I want you to stand up." he continued.

She did that too.

He motioned to the guys to form a circle around Brownie as he said soothingly, "Now, I want you to think of the one thing that could make you feel better, and that has made you feel better in the past when things were tough."

She thought, then said, "Ok" she sniffled.

"I want you to imagine that happening right now," he said. "Think of what always makes you feel better. Invision it in your mind."

Brownie wondered what he was doing, but she did so anyway. She imagined her older brothers, circling around her and hugging her tight like they did when her grandma died, when her father was sick, when Johnny was born, (that was happy), and when her dog got trampled in a cow stampead. She could almost feel them embracing her, infact, she DID feel them embracing her. She looked up at her brother, whirled around and found the newsies hugging her where her brothers should be. She smiled as her eyes started to tear up. But these tears weren't for saddness, no, they were very different tears.

"Oh, you guys," She said. "Come here."

Then she did something no one expected and grabbed all of the newsies, and put her arms around her dear friends. Mush, Jack, Race, and Blink were surprised, but were glad she had stopped crying.

"Thanks," she whispered. _______________________________________________ It had been about a week after that day, and Brownie was almost back to normal. It was Friday afternoon, and she and the guys were planning on going to Medda's that night. They all agreed to sell there papes as quick as they could, cause Jack had an announcement to make before they could leave. They were almost all there, except for Jack, Brownie, and Race.

"Sorry I'm late guys," Brownie panted. "I saw Sarah and stopped to talk. Where's Jack?"

"Dunno," Bumlets said. "He and race haven't shown up yet."

"I heard Jack say that he wanted to have Josh here when he made the announcement." Mush commented.

"Oh..." Brownie started.

"Hey!" Josh said as he walked in the door and jumped infront of Brownie. "Jack and I have a surprise for you!''

"What!?" Brownie exclaimed.

"Just close your eyes!" Jack said.

"Oh alright, but if any of youse decides to pull some prank, expect a sore head!" Brownie threatened.

She closed her eyes. She heard some movement behind her and from the corner where the newsies sat. She also heard some comments coming from the guys, but she couldn't hear them. Then, she felt 5 guys hugging her.

"Oh, c'mon you guys," she said not opening her eyes. "I told ya, I'm ok now, plus, you already pulled this one on me. See, this is Josh," she said as she put her hand on Josh's sholder infront of her. Her eyes still closed. "This is Mush," turning to the left, "and this Race, and Jack, and Blink." She said as she went on down the line. She turned back to Josh and the guys let go.

She opened her eyes just as Race came down the stairs grinning from ear to ear and saying, "did someone say my name?"

She gasped and realized that all of the newsies were infront of her, some grinning, some looking confused, and some stiffeling laughter. She spun around to see her brothers, Jacob, Simon, Andrew, and Brian, smiling at her. She squealed and started jabbering.

"Oh my gosh! What are you guys doing here? How's mother? How's father? Is there enough money coming in? How's Johnny? Does he still hate school? How's the new school teacher? Are you two getting married yet? How's your boarding school Brian? What's it like?"

Simon grabbed his sister, put her in a non-painful headlock, and put his hand over her mouth.

"If you'd let us talk, we'd tell you!" He said. "Mom let us come visit you, since the baby..." He trailed off. The other brothers looked sadly at each other. "And so we'd thought we needed to visit."

'I can't believe it! You guys have gotta come to Medda's tonight. You'll love it!" exclaimd Brownie.

"As long as you sing again." josh added.

"Fine," Brownie agreed. "As long as they don't hurt anyone.''

The newsies lookd at each other, not knowing whether to laugh, or to take heed of her comment. __________________________________________________ The guys were walking over to Medda's later that night, when talk turned to Brownie.

"So," Simon asked Josh. "How's Jenny been doing?"

"Fine, I guess," Josh replied. "I'm not the one who you should really be asking. The newsies are the guys who she's around most."

"Ok," said Andrew playfully. "Which of you guys does she like?"

The newsies looked at each other. Some of them of course had thought of the idea before, but they'd never discussed it. Mush blushed just slightly as he said, "We dunno."

It was akward for a while until Jacob spoke up and said, "So, this Medda, is she a good singer?"

Jack slung his arm over Jacob's sholder and said laughingly, "wait till ya see!" ___________________________________________ "And now, gentlemen, my opening act, the stuning and beautiful, Jenny Jorden!" Medda exclaimed as the curtain opened and Brownie stepped out to enormous appalause.

"Thank you, Thank You!" she cried out. She seemed to be a whole different person on stage, more open and lively. "Now boys, you need to behave yourseves tonight!" a cheer came from the crowd accompanied by whistles. "I'm serious! I have some special guests tonight, my infamous brothers!"

She gestured to the two tables where the Manhattan newsies and her brothers sat, gazing in awe at her. She began her song. It was from a fairietale story that required the assistance of 3 other girls to be a man, and background singers. She though, was the lead. When they were done, the 3 other girls bowed, and then Brownie came out, flustered, and dipped into a low curtsy. After that, she bowed bluntly 3 more times, then went down the stairs and gave al of her brothers a hug. She noticed however, that her brothers, instead of looking at her, were more interested in how Race, Jack, Mush, Spot, (he had come in unnoticed by her) Blink, Specs, and all of the other newsies were acting. She noticed that when Mush whistled for her, Jacob clenched his teeth, and when Jack stood up and whooped, Simon twisted his napkin tightly.

"Jacob, Simon," Brownie said, stepping infront of the line of sight between her brothers and her friends. "Well, what did you think?''

Brian leaned over and whispered to his sister, "They think you were great, but I also think that they know what your friends thought of you." he warned.

"Thanks," Brownie said, "But they will just have to deal like Josh has for the past couple of months."

Josh and Brian had never been as protective of her as her other brothers had, so they often warned her when trouble was brewing. But before she could say anything to her brothers, Medda came onto the stage. When she tried to talk to her brothers, the noise from the newsies drowned out her voice. Frankly, she was glad about this, for her brothers could see that they reacted the same way toward Medda as they did to her. ________________________________________ "Wasn't she great?'' asked Race as he and Brian were talking. They had become pretty good friends.

"Yeah," Brian replied. "She's something, that Medda."

"Actually, I was talking about your sister, but Medda is also fantastic." Race whispered to Brian.

Brian then asked, "Do you guys do this every week?"

"Every oddar week or every three weeks. Wheneva we can afford." Jack replied.

"But sometimes Medda lets a couple of you guys in for free," reminded Brownie. "I usually get in for free if I sing, I don't get paid to that."

"It's getting late," Jacob said. "We should turn in," he said to his brothers.

"Where are you guys gonna sleep?" Brownie asked.

"Well,"Josh said. "The people in the apartment above me are out of town, they are a nice couple with 2 kids, and they let me us it for a night."

"That's nice of them,"Brownie said.

"Well, I'm going to bed." Jack said. "I don't know about you knuckle heads, but I'm tired."

Most of the newsies agreed with Jack and started up the stairs.

"C'mon," Brownie yawned. As she motioned to snipeshooter, who almost fell over he was so tired.

With that, they went upstairs and went to bed. ____________________________________________

Love at Last

It was late, and Brownie figured that almost everyone was a asleep in bed when she climbed the stairs of the lodging house.

"Well," she thought to herself. "Since I'm alone, I think I'll go up to the roof like I used ta do."

(She used to go outside or on the roof back home to think or sing while no one was around)

She tip-toed passed the door to the room where the guys were sleeping, and continued up the flight of stairs. When she got to the top, she open the door that led to the roof. She looked around for a place to sit down. Right in front of her, there was a stack of boxes. She went around them and leaned up against them. She looked up at the sky. It was a clear night and could see all of the stars perfectly. Suddenly, she felt so peaceful, and started to hum an old hymn that she learned in church. She then began to sing.

"Amazing love, I know it's true. And it's my joy to honor you, in all I do, i honor you.." and so on.

When she was finished, she spoke up and said, "you can come out now."

Mush creaped out from behind the boxes, looking embarresed.

"How did you know that I was there?" asked Mush.

"Hey," Brownie said. "Remember that I grew up with a lot of nosey brothers. They always used to try to sneak up and listen to me. I even got so good at catching them, I could even identify who they were before I saw them."

She smiled.

"Your a great singer, ya know that?" Mush said.

"Thanks, that's what they tell me."

There was an awkward silence, then Mush took something out of his pocket.

"Here," he said. "I didn't know when your birthday was, so I decided that I'd just give it to ya now..."

Brownie took the folded up piece of newspaper, and unwraped it. On a black piece of lyniard, was strung little wooden objects, a sun, a moon, and a star. On the star was the word shine, on the moon beauty, and on the sun, bold. They were carved so tiny and so ornately, that Brownie wondered how the craftmen could have done it.

"I, I made it myself," Mush said. "You have alwaysed reminded me of those things. And I found it amazing that you were bold, beautiful, and that you could shine at the same time. I like that about you."

Brownie looked up and found Mush looking into her eyes. She knew then that Mush was the newsie that she was in love with. She hugged him tight, but when she let go, Mush tentivitly leaned over, and kissed Brownie. It lasted only a second, but then she leaned back in and kissed him, slightly harder than before. Right afterward, Brownie smiled and hugged Mush again. Then, she called out:

"You 3 can come out now too!" she laughed.

Mush looked bewildered as Jack, Race, and Spot came up the fire escape looking embaressed but were smiling at Mush.

"Finally did it, eh Mush 'ol boy?" Spot said in his matter-of-fact way of talking.

"I is asumin you two is a pair now," said Jack, as he looked at Mush's arm around Brownie.

"Ya got that right Cowboy!" Laughed Brownie.

"Darn it, i guess I missed her!" Race laughed. _________________________________________

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