Lids down, I count sheep
I count heartbeats
the only thing that counts is
that I won't sleep
I countdown, I look around
-"Who Needs Sleep?" By Barenaked Ladies
"Wake up! Come on girl, wake up. Don't make me do anything rash!"
"What time is it?" I asked groggily.
"It's 4:45. I woke you up a little early, so you can have privacy in the bathroom. Here's a set of clothes for you to wear," Spot said, and then he left.
"What's wrong with the clothes I got?" I demanded. How dare he insult my dress?
"Have ya looked at yourself lately?" he replied. I glanced down at myself for the first time since I arrived at the House. My once beautiful gray skirt was ripped into shreds and three buttons were missing on my once-white, now tan, blouse. They looked ready for the rags basket. I groaned and accepted the offered garments before walking to the bathroom.
"4:45! How do they ever get any sleep around here?" I thought to myself, as I got ready for the day, Spot's words finally sinking in. I put on the pants and shirt that Spot laid out for me, feeling kind of like a two year old. I couldn't even choose my own clothes.
"Girl," Spot yelled through the washroom door.
"What?" I shouted back.
"You ready to go?"
"Yeah, hold on." Two minutes later I stepped out into the main room.
"Here's the deal, starting tonight, it costs you six cents to stay at the lodging house. I'm guessing you don't have money, so I'll spot you today's, after that your on your own, money wise that is," Spot began to give me the rundown on the life of a newsie. "We sell papes for the World. We buy them two for a penny and sell them for a penny each. Got it?" I nodded my head yes.
"Um, Spot?" I asked a couple minutes later, after he had given me a stack of newspapers and we were on the job.
"Yeah."
"How do we sell these things?" Spot spent a few minutes showing me how to "improve the truth". Then he had me try. I quickly skimmed the headlines. Two boys had started throwing stones at a statue, and killed five pigeons.
"Extra, extra, corpses found in Central Park...Pair of teens suspected," I yelled. A few passing pedestrians bought a paper.
A couple hours later I had sold my last paper. Proudly, I went up to Spot. He smiled at me, but continued to sell his. (I had 20, and he had 100.) Ten minutes later, he came over to where I was sitting.
"Pretty good first day, lets go to celebrate," he said.
SO's!
Sunfloweresa: I'm glad you like the story so far. It's not much, yet, I know. True Newsies fans aren't too hard to find, if you know where to look.
Jade Loriele Conlon: My first reviewer on my story! Yeah!!! I agree, she shouldn't have started crying, its really not in character for her (as you'll later find out) but when stressed people do things they normally wouldn't. And I'd have to say she's pretty stressed right now.
