"Hold on there spotty boy, I needs some more detail there. Who's chasin
ya, and why didn't they like you'se bein the leadah?" Jack asked Spot, who
was now holding his cane so tightly his hands were white.
"I'se gonna get to dat, cool it wit the questions" Spot responded. Spot didn't want to be telling this story to anyone as it was. Jack interrupting a story he was telling against his better judgment was just making him more and more uncomfortable.
"Alright I'll save me questions for the end. Keep goin, sorry I stopped ya" Jack said, not wanting Spot to stop the story.
"Yea alright, so where was I?"
"You was at Cora's apartment" Jack said. "What happened? Her mudda musta been just thrilled to see you standin there" Jack said sarcastically.
"You woulda been surprised" Spot said smiling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh my goodness, are you alright young man? Here come inside let me clean you up" Kathlynn said as she began wiping a bleeding cut on the boy's cheek.
"Heyya lady I'se perfectly fine thank you" Spot said, not used to being touched, nonetheless fussed over. Still, Kathlynn wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Come with me into the bathroom, these wounds need to be cleaned and dressed" she insisted.
"They ain't wounds, just scratches miss, nothing to worry about. They don't even hurt. Honest." The boy insisted.
"Umm, by the way mom this is-" Cora stopped, realizing she didn't even know his name.
"I'se Spot, Spot Conlon, pleased to meet ya Mrs...uhhh."
"Lachlan" Kathlynn finished for him. "So how did you and Cora meet?" She asked, still cleaning and bandaging him up"
"Spot showed me this great restaurant to get take out from, and he was so helpful that I asked him to join us for dinner, that is, if you don't mind mum." Cora said, watching her mother fuss over Spot from outside the door.
"Sure, of course you can join us," She said, still focusing on Spot. "But how on earth did you get hurt like this?" Kathlynn asked Spot.
"Well, while me an Cora waitin for da food some drunk started hittin on her, an when he wouldn't stop I took action" Spot said with a proud smirk on his beaten face. Cora and Spot made eye contact, and both couldn't keep a straight face anymore. They laughed, which irritated Kathlynn.
"How could you two laugh, this is a very serious matter. Cora, you could have been hurt badly if it wasn't for this fine gentleman here." This made Spot laugh even harder.
"Wow mam, no ones ever called me a fine gentleman before." Spot laughed, which made Cora laugh harder as well. This caused even Kathlynn to laugh a little.
"Well, I don't see why not Spot, you certainly are." Kathlynn finished cleaning Spot up, and the three sat down to eat. When they had finished, Kathlynn cleaned up and suggested that Cora show Spot around the apartment. This was good, because Cora had a lot of things to discuss with this Spot Conlon. She showed him out to her fire escape, and wasted no time asking,
"So who was chasing you?"
"Don't worry bout it" Spot answered calmly.
"No, I am worried about it, and why did they call you the leader of Brooklyn?"
"Cause that's what I is, leadah of da Brooklyn newsies." Spot said proudly.
"Well, those guys didn't seem to happy about that." Cora said flatly.
"Those guys an I have some issues to work out" Spot said.
"Yea, like wanting you dead." Cora retorted. "I think you owe me an explanation, seeing as I hid you, fed you, and my mom cleaned you up." Cora insisted.
"Alright I'se guess telling you wouldn't hurt nothing, you dunno anyone out there, do ya?"
"No we just moved here," Cora answered.
"Yea I can tell. You don't got da Brooklyn accent." He said. Normally, Spot wouldn't have been open with anyone about what had just taken place. However, Spot saw this as an opportunity to impress Cora, and decided to tell her what had happened
"So anyways, I'se the new leadah of the Brooklyn newsies, and-
"What happened to the old leader?" Cora interrupted. "Accident, he was drunk off his ass walkin home from a party in Harlem one night an got hit by a carriage"
"Oh, I'm sorry" Cora said.
"Ehh, his loss, my gain" Spot said. Cora couldn't help but think that was an absolutely morbid thought to have, but decided not to say anything, as she wanted Spot to finish the story.
"Yea so anyways, da two guys chasin me dun like me cause sumthin I did, an they found out about me bein tha new leadah an decided to do sumthin about it"
"What did you do that made them not like you?" Cora asked, curious to know.
"Do you always ask dis many questions?" Spot asked, a little irritated.
"Well, do you always try and not answer these many questions?" Her response made him smile.
"Alright, well it so happens that those two is cousins, and they'se cousins wit a girl who I messed around wit"
"Well why did you do something stupid like that?" Cora questioned.
"For da fun of it I guess" Spot said. He was still confused as to why he had done it as well. "Yea so anyways, I'se better be getting back to the lodgin house, the curfew on working days is 10." He said, now aware of how long he had been in Cora's apartment.
"Where's your family?" Cora asked. Spot tried to hide the pain in his eyes.
"Dats a long story sweet face, an one I don't think you'd handle too well." Spot answered. "An like I said, I'se best be goin. Your muddah was an angel to me, but I have a feelin your faddah won't be too happy seein me hear wit his precious daughta." Spot continued, just realizing he hadn't seen Cora's dad yet, and it was getting pretty late. He looked over and saw a tear trickle down the side of Cora's cheek.
"Whatsa mattah?" Spot asked, wondering what he said wrong. Cora looked up and smiled through her tears.
"My father would have loved you," she said softly.
(A/N: There's a reason why Cora's family likes Spot so much, and it's coming up...I promise.)
"I'se gonna get to dat, cool it wit the questions" Spot responded. Spot didn't want to be telling this story to anyone as it was. Jack interrupting a story he was telling against his better judgment was just making him more and more uncomfortable.
"Alright I'll save me questions for the end. Keep goin, sorry I stopped ya" Jack said, not wanting Spot to stop the story.
"Yea alright, so where was I?"
"You was at Cora's apartment" Jack said. "What happened? Her mudda musta been just thrilled to see you standin there" Jack said sarcastically.
"You woulda been surprised" Spot said smiling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh my goodness, are you alright young man? Here come inside let me clean you up" Kathlynn said as she began wiping a bleeding cut on the boy's cheek.
"Heyya lady I'se perfectly fine thank you" Spot said, not used to being touched, nonetheless fussed over. Still, Kathlynn wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Come with me into the bathroom, these wounds need to be cleaned and dressed" she insisted.
"They ain't wounds, just scratches miss, nothing to worry about. They don't even hurt. Honest." The boy insisted.
"Umm, by the way mom this is-" Cora stopped, realizing she didn't even know his name.
"I'se Spot, Spot Conlon, pleased to meet ya Mrs...uhhh."
"Lachlan" Kathlynn finished for him. "So how did you and Cora meet?" She asked, still cleaning and bandaging him up"
"Spot showed me this great restaurant to get take out from, and he was so helpful that I asked him to join us for dinner, that is, if you don't mind mum." Cora said, watching her mother fuss over Spot from outside the door.
"Sure, of course you can join us," She said, still focusing on Spot. "But how on earth did you get hurt like this?" Kathlynn asked Spot.
"Well, while me an Cora waitin for da food some drunk started hittin on her, an when he wouldn't stop I took action" Spot said with a proud smirk on his beaten face. Cora and Spot made eye contact, and both couldn't keep a straight face anymore. They laughed, which irritated Kathlynn.
"How could you two laugh, this is a very serious matter. Cora, you could have been hurt badly if it wasn't for this fine gentleman here." This made Spot laugh even harder.
"Wow mam, no ones ever called me a fine gentleman before." Spot laughed, which made Cora laugh harder as well. This caused even Kathlynn to laugh a little.
"Well, I don't see why not Spot, you certainly are." Kathlynn finished cleaning Spot up, and the three sat down to eat. When they had finished, Kathlynn cleaned up and suggested that Cora show Spot around the apartment. This was good, because Cora had a lot of things to discuss with this Spot Conlon. She showed him out to her fire escape, and wasted no time asking,
"So who was chasing you?"
"Don't worry bout it" Spot answered calmly.
"No, I am worried about it, and why did they call you the leader of Brooklyn?"
"Cause that's what I is, leadah of da Brooklyn newsies." Spot said proudly.
"Well, those guys didn't seem to happy about that." Cora said flatly.
"Those guys an I have some issues to work out" Spot said.
"Yea, like wanting you dead." Cora retorted. "I think you owe me an explanation, seeing as I hid you, fed you, and my mom cleaned you up." Cora insisted.
"Alright I'se guess telling you wouldn't hurt nothing, you dunno anyone out there, do ya?"
"No we just moved here," Cora answered.
"Yea I can tell. You don't got da Brooklyn accent." He said. Normally, Spot wouldn't have been open with anyone about what had just taken place. However, Spot saw this as an opportunity to impress Cora, and decided to tell her what had happened
"So anyways, I'se the new leadah of the Brooklyn newsies, and-
"What happened to the old leader?" Cora interrupted. "Accident, he was drunk off his ass walkin home from a party in Harlem one night an got hit by a carriage"
"Oh, I'm sorry" Cora said.
"Ehh, his loss, my gain" Spot said. Cora couldn't help but think that was an absolutely morbid thought to have, but decided not to say anything, as she wanted Spot to finish the story.
"Yea so anyways, da two guys chasin me dun like me cause sumthin I did, an they found out about me bein tha new leadah an decided to do sumthin about it"
"What did you do that made them not like you?" Cora asked, curious to know.
"Do you always ask dis many questions?" Spot asked, a little irritated.
"Well, do you always try and not answer these many questions?" Her response made him smile.
"Alright, well it so happens that those two is cousins, and they'se cousins wit a girl who I messed around wit"
"Well why did you do something stupid like that?" Cora questioned.
"For da fun of it I guess" Spot said. He was still confused as to why he had done it as well. "Yea so anyways, I'se better be getting back to the lodgin house, the curfew on working days is 10." He said, now aware of how long he had been in Cora's apartment.
"Where's your family?" Cora asked. Spot tried to hide the pain in his eyes.
"Dats a long story sweet face, an one I don't think you'd handle too well." Spot answered. "An like I said, I'se best be goin. Your muddah was an angel to me, but I have a feelin your faddah won't be too happy seein me hear wit his precious daughta." Spot continued, just realizing he hadn't seen Cora's dad yet, and it was getting pretty late. He looked over and saw a tear trickle down the side of Cora's cheek.
"Whatsa mattah?" Spot asked, wondering what he said wrong. Cora looked up and smiled through her tears.
"My father would have loved you," she said softly.
(A/N: There's a reason why Cora's family likes Spot so much, and it's coming up...I promise.)