"So where ya from Briar?" Crutchy asked I kept my pace slow. I was willing
to bet he was usually able to walk quicker, but it was a damp morning and
had been a damp night. From what little I saw of his leg it looked like he
had been in some sort of accident and the weather could wreck havoc on
things like this.
"Colorado Springs, Colorado." I told him without even thinking of my answer. I kicked myself. I was going to have some bruises if I kept that up. How was I going to explain how I had traveled from Colorado to New York?
"Really where's that?"
"Out west," I sighed not knowing what else to say. My brain rushed ahead of myself trying to remember what little I knew about the city I had made my home only a few years ago. Now ask me about Denver and I might be able to tell you a little more. At least I knew that it had been established in 1871 and there had been a gold rush in 1891 in Cripple Creek. "There was a gold rush about eight years ago in what is now a little mining town called Cripple Creek."
"Really?" Crutchy asked with interest. "Is that anywhere near Santa Fe?"
" A long way away, Santa Fe is further West." I replied.
"We call Jack Cowboy, he's always wanted to go to Santa Fe. I bet he'd be real interested to talk to ya about the west." Crutchy smiled at me then asked the question I was dreading. "So howdya get here?"
"I don't know." I replied truthfully, best way to lie I remembered was to stick as close to the truth as you could. Half truths were even better.
"Ya got any family in Colorado Springs?"
"Not that's alive." I said softly feeling the tears come back into my eyes. That wasn't a lie they weren't even born yet. My grandfather wouldn't be born for another thirteen years and he would be a teenager trying to escape from being forced into Mussolini's Black Shirts when he moved to America from Italy.
"Sorry." Crutchy said gently his soft eyes looking at me with an understanding. "Lost my parents in a fire when I was five. Mama was trying to get me out when the beam fell on her and pinned my leg. The firefighters they got me out, but it was too late for her. Real brave of them too, they coulda died."
He said it with such gratefulness I knew he meant it. He was saddened by his parents death, but grateful he had been given the chance to live even if he had to use a crutch for the rest of his life. If only we could look at our lives as he did instead of pitying ourselves we had had it hard. We smiled at each other for a moment a bond of friendship struck between us that I found I was very thankful for. "Will ya quick lollygagin and get up here?" I heard Jack's irritated voice and saw he was talking to me.
"Ya better hurry up, I'll talk to ya later." Crutchy told me. I flashed him another grin and ran to where I saw Jack disappear around the corner of a gated wall. I entered the gated area cautiously there were most of the guys from this morning, all with papers in their hands. Jack was already at the front of a line slapping some coins down as I made my way across the courtyard trying to ignore the curious stares. The most curious of them came from a little boy who had been looking up at Jack with hero worship. Now here was something I could handle, I loved kids and was used to working with them. The best piece of advice I had ever heard was to treat them like they were adults. Just because they were kids didn't mean you had to treat them like it. They responded better when you treated them with the same respect as you would one of your own peers. Now that didn't mean you let them get away with whatever they wanted you still had to lay down the law from time to time. I just tried to remember what had bothered me as a child and tried not to do it.
"Hello." I said cheerfully getting down at about eyelevel with him and holding out my hand. "My name is Briar what's yours."
"Les." He told me holding out his hand and shaking mine a smile in his eyes already.
"It's a pretty day." I said conversationally. " Do you think it's going to get hot?"
"Probably." Les responded with seriousness. "Ain't you gonna ask how old I am?"
"I wasn't planning on it." I told him "But if you want me to ask how old?"
"I just turned ten."
"Really?" I didn't say any more than that, but stood and looked at Jack and his companion. They were both smiling; his companion had a hand on Les's shoulder in a way that told me he was Les's brother.
"Briar," I said holding out my hand him.
"David, but everyone around here calls me Davy." He replied, I tried not to let my surprise show. It was nice to hear someone use proper English. You don't know how much you are accustomed to it until you are trying to bite your tongue at every sentence the people around you are saying, to keep from correcting their grammar.
"Davey it is then." I rubbed my hand together and looked around. "so what are we doing?"
"Selling papes." Les told me as if I should already know that. Papes? I looked at the stack of newspapers Davy and Jack were splitting between them. The light went on, papes, papers, must be some sort of slang from 1899.
"Sounds like fun." I said holding out my hands. Here was something else I could handle. My mother had owned a store for years and lucky for me I had spent the beginning of the summer selling pretzels at the Renaissance Festival. I had learned the fine art of hawking, but wasn't really interested in it and switched back to cast the first chance I got. I know by now you probably think my whole life revolved around the Renaissance Festival, but in reality many of the talents I learned there I was able to apply to beginning to live in the past. When you have a pretty good grasp on how life was lived two hundred years before and how life was lived two hundred years in the future, you learn that things don't change that much. They change drastically socially, speech changes, outlooks change, but some talents are timeless. As a writer I knew that the headline was never going to sell, so the headline had to be changed to catch someone's attention. A book was never going to sell if it didn't have a catchy title. Acting had taught me how to sell, and how to lie. What is acting other than selling yourself to be someone you're not?
"Some women sell papes, but they rarely have the talent us men do." Jack told me giving me a funny look. I rolled my eyes, I bet there were plenty of women who were good at selling, men just didn't want to accept it. "They was the only people we let sell papes."
"Why were they the only ones?" I asked my curiosity perked.
"Because we wasn't going to beat on women." Jack responded as if I knew what he meant by that. I let it go making a mental note to ask Crutchy later on what he had meant. Davy just shrugged and followed Jack, I looked at Les who mimicked his brother and together we followed the other two.
I spent most of my day not too far from Jack. David and Les would disappear from time to time, but I was never out of Jack's eyesight. It looked like he was going to keep his word and keep an eye on me. As we broke for lunch I found I had sold more papes than even Les, whose pathetic street urchin look always drew them in.
"Ya got talent." He said in appreciation as we made our way to some place called Tibby's. He was still cautious, but since he found I could sell papers, he seemed to be warming up to me. I could practically see the dollar signs in his eyes like in the old cartoons. Les hadn't taken much winning over and David liked me from the minute I had started talking to his brother. It was a little trick I had learned a long time ago. Make friends with a guy's little brother or sister and you had them in the palm of your hand. Not that I ever made friends with the little sibling without really intending to be a friend, kids were smart they knew when you were being fake. I found Tibby's was a restaurant, much like the diners of the 1950's were going to evolve from. It was crowded with boys all of them from earlier that morning, they seemed like one big group of brothers. I felt a little left out, and tried to shrug off the feeling.
"Briar." I heard a voice calling my name. Looking ahead and to the left I saw Crutchy sitting at a booth with Patches, what had Jack called him? Blink? And the curly headed boy I had never gotten to hear his name. Crutchy was waving me over and I smiled heading immediately in his direction.
"Briar, this is Blink and Mush." He said in his endearingly happy tone. " Guys this is Briar."
They both nodded at me and Crutchy scooted over so I could sit with them. I smiled shyly and worked to turn on the charm. As long as I could stay in these guys' good graces I had it made. I didn't have any where else to go and I had no way to go home as of now, so the best thing I could do was make these boys like me. As a bunch of misfits themselves one harmless but crazy girl wouldn't faze them for very long. Besides I had spent most of my life with more guy friends than girls. I knew I could charm them and still keep the relationship platonic.
"So how did ya day with Jack go?" Crutchy asked breaking me out of my thoughts.
"I sold more papers than Les." I said trying not to toot my own horn, but I couldn't help the feeling of pride. They all looked properly impressed. I looked at Mush and Blink, not too bad, I thought as I discreetly gave them a once over. Blink's hair was gold colored his eyes, while not the same incredible shade of Spots were still a pretty blue and Mush had a really sweet and sunny disposition that reminded me a little of Crutchy. I got something to eat, with the little bit of money Jack had given me for the papers I had sold, it wasn't the best I had had in my life, but it was filling and it made my stomach stop complaining. I found I was enjoying their company. Sometimes I had to stop them and ask them to explain what they meant and by the end of lunch I had a handful of new words that I understood.
"Ya ready?" I heard Jack ask and I looked up at him. He was looking back expectantly.
"Why should you get her?" Mush asked in mock irritation " Ya already got Les and Davy, if she's tellin the truth then I say you should let her come with one of us that don' t do as well."
"Perks of bein leader Mush." Jack told him punching his shoulder playfully. "We's gotta go, there's a prime spot in Central Park I wanna hit today with me new sellin partner."
"Selling partner?" I asked looking at him in confusion.
"Ya gots talent kid I already told ya that." Jack replied smiling down at me. " And unless yous got a better opportunity then let's go."
I looked at Mush who gave me adorable puppy eyes and laughed. He was cute definitely cute.
"I tried the same look on Jack this morning." I chuckled punching him as well. " What makes you think it will have any better effect on me than mine did on Jack?"
Mush shrugged and smiled, Blink laughing as well.
"Crutchy, I'll talk to you later." I said as I followed Jack, Davey and Les out the door. By the time we made it back to the place we had started from, the Lodging House the boys had called it I was beat. It had been a long and trying day. Tiredly I made my way into the washroom and splashed some water on my face. There was some crashing and squeaking coming from the other room and I found Crutchy was directing as Mush and Blink pulled a mattress off one of the bunks. I watched in curiosity as they carried it into the small empty room I had used to change in earlier. They kicked up enough dust as they tossed the mattress on the floor to make those of us standing anywhere near to sneeze.
"What are you doing?" I asked rubbing my nose across the back of my hand sniffing as I felt another sneeze coming.
"Well we figure ya're staying for as long as ya wanna. Ya're too old for the orphanage and we ain't gonna send ya to the poor house. " Crutchy said excitedly, "Jack don't know where else to put ya. I thought we could move a mattress in here and it could be ya little room. That way ya'd get some privacy from us boys."
"Thanks Crutchy." I said softly touched that he had thought of a way to make me more comfortable. The mattress was old and the blankets worn, but at that moment it looked like heaven. It wasn't bed time however, instead I spent the rest of the night with Crutchy, we played cards, but mostly we talked. Mush and Blink joined us for a little while, we played poker without a betting a feat they had never accomplished.
"That's an unusual necklace." Mush said with interest. My hands flew to my neck and I realized I still wore the Gypsies necklace. I remembered that it had burned when I had laid down, that everything had been normal until that moment. Of course my life had been normal until the lady had appeared in it. At least as normal as my life comes.
"You be one of them." I heard her say in my mind.
"Be one of who?" I had asked with an arrogance that made me flinch.
"Be one of those who is lost in time." She had replied. Had she done this to me? Had the necklace sent me here? If so, why had she sent me here, what was the reason behind it?
Mental note Little Red, I thought, don't take anything from strangers, especially if they happen to be odd gypsy women with scars.
"Briar are you okay?" Blink asked his look worried. I realized I had clutched the necklace in my hands and was pulling on it as if I was going to rip it off. I forced myself to relax and took my hand away from it.
"Fine, just fine, now how many cards did you want?" I heard myself ask, I surprised at just how cool my voice sounded. They eyed each other and I knew I had reminded them of my sudden appearance and odd performance earlier, in short everything I was trying to make them forget. They returned to the card game and eventually let it go. They wandered off a little while later for a real game with Racetrack, who I learned was a big gambling man. They were just upset that I, the girl had kicked their butts too many times to count. I was pretty lucky with poker as long and it didn't require any articles of clothing to be removed.
Even after the others turned the lights off and lay down to sleep I found myself struggling to stay awake so I could talk with Crutchy some more. Sometimes you find a kindred spirit, a person who seems to know you after only minutes. It is as if they have a small piece of your soul you never knew you were missing. I'm not talking about a soul mate that is on a different level a different set of emotions. I would find my soul mate and it would be an entirely different feeling than the one I shared with Crutchy, but I am getting ahead of myself in my story. If I don't tell it as it happened it will become confusing. I had found a brother of my soul. Someone who understood me and liked me for all I was and all I wasn't. He didn't care if Jack had caught me in the corner only a half an hour ago clicking my heels and saying "There's no place like home." Hey it worked for Dorothy, besides who knew how this necklace worked. He didn't care that some of the younger boys avoided me because they thought I was crazy. He didn't even care that Jack, his best buddy, one of his idols was wary of me. He instinctively trusted me, I didn't know why I was just grateful for it. I wished I could tell him everything; I looked out the window directly in front of me the moonlight washing over my face from the window to my left. Crutchy sat on my right, thinking looking off into space. He glanced at me and grinned we still didn't say anything; we didn't need to each other's company was enough. It was nice to have made a friend like him as quickly as I had. Mush and Blink were well on their way to being called friend and I knew I was lucky I had always made friends quickly. Jack didn't trust me yet, Les and David liked me well enough. I wasn't looking for permanent friends, but I found that when it came time to leave I was going to miss Crutchy. I really would, I hoped he would catch a fair break in life. Actually I was going to try to do what I could to make sure of it as long as I was in the past.
"Ya know Briar." Crutchy said softly, "Lookin at you from where I'm sitten, ya look like one of those necklaces with the women carved on it, ya know the ones those fancy ladies wear. "
"Cameos?" I supplied in amusement. "Thanks Crutchy, but I'm not cameo."
"No ya do, ya features would make a good cameo." Crutchy insisted. I felt my cheeks flaming, I knew I wasn't a bad looking girl, but this had to be one of the best compliments I had ever received.
"That's what I'm gonna call you." Crutchy said firmly and I knew there would be no dissuading him. "Cameo, ya're on your way to bein a newsie, ya gotta have a newsie name."
"A newsie name is supposed to be tough." I replied sheepishly not wanting to admit I liked the name, or that I even was enjoying his sweet compliment.
"Unless ya're a girl." He said "We don't have many newsie girls, so if I wanta call ya Cameo ain't nobody gonna say nothin. Besides ya don't get to pick ya nickname, ya get it given to ya."
"The second time in my life I get named and I don't have any say." I said wryly " I think children should be numbered until they are old enough to pick their own names."
"Then they'd think their names was numbers, so it would still be the same." Crutchy pointed out. I shrugged and wrapped my arms around my legs, I stared out the window for a minute more then stood and held out my hand for Crutchy. He smiled and took it allowing me to help him to his feet.
"Good night Crutchy." I whispered.
"Good night Cameo."
Sorry if this chapter is a little lame, I'll try to update it later when it's not so late and I haven't spent the last week working 14 hour days. Sorry again. Thank you for all who have read and reviewed
"Colorado Springs, Colorado." I told him without even thinking of my answer. I kicked myself. I was going to have some bruises if I kept that up. How was I going to explain how I had traveled from Colorado to New York?
"Really where's that?"
"Out west," I sighed not knowing what else to say. My brain rushed ahead of myself trying to remember what little I knew about the city I had made my home only a few years ago. Now ask me about Denver and I might be able to tell you a little more. At least I knew that it had been established in 1871 and there had been a gold rush in 1891 in Cripple Creek. "There was a gold rush about eight years ago in what is now a little mining town called Cripple Creek."
"Really?" Crutchy asked with interest. "Is that anywhere near Santa Fe?"
" A long way away, Santa Fe is further West." I replied.
"We call Jack Cowboy, he's always wanted to go to Santa Fe. I bet he'd be real interested to talk to ya about the west." Crutchy smiled at me then asked the question I was dreading. "So howdya get here?"
"I don't know." I replied truthfully, best way to lie I remembered was to stick as close to the truth as you could. Half truths were even better.
"Ya got any family in Colorado Springs?"
"Not that's alive." I said softly feeling the tears come back into my eyes. That wasn't a lie they weren't even born yet. My grandfather wouldn't be born for another thirteen years and he would be a teenager trying to escape from being forced into Mussolini's Black Shirts when he moved to America from Italy.
"Sorry." Crutchy said gently his soft eyes looking at me with an understanding. "Lost my parents in a fire when I was five. Mama was trying to get me out when the beam fell on her and pinned my leg. The firefighters they got me out, but it was too late for her. Real brave of them too, they coulda died."
He said it with such gratefulness I knew he meant it. He was saddened by his parents death, but grateful he had been given the chance to live even if he had to use a crutch for the rest of his life. If only we could look at our lives as he did instead of pitying ourselves we had had it hard. We smiled at each other for a moment a bond of friendship struck between us that I found I was very thankful for. "Will ya quick lollygagin and get up here?" I heard Jack's irritated voice and saw he was talking to me.
"Ya better hurry up, I'll talk to ya later." Crutchy told me. I flashed him another grin and ran to where I saw Jack disappear around the corner of a gated wall. I entered the gated area cautiously there were most of the guys from this morning, all with papers in their hands. Jack was already at the front of a line slapping some coins down as I made my way across the courtyard trying to ignore the curious stares. The most curious of them came from a little boy who had been looking up at Jack with hero worship. Now here was something I could handle, I loved kids and was used to working with them. The best piece of advice I had ever heard was to treat them like they were adults. Just because they were kids didn't mean you had to treat them like it. They responded better when you treated them with the same respect as you would one of your own peers. Now that didn't mean you let them get away with whatever they wanted you still had to lay down the law from time to time. I just tried to remember what had bothered me as a child and tried not to do it.
"Hello." I said cheerfully getting down at about eyelevel with him and holding out my hand. "My name is Briar what's yours."
"Les." He told me holding out his hand and shaking mine a smile in his eyes already.
"It's a pretty day." I said conversationally. " Do you think it's going to get hot?"
"Probably." Les responded with seriousness. "Ain't you gonna ask how old I am?"
"I wasn't planning on it." I told him "But if you want me to ask how old?"
"I just turned ten."
"Really?" I didn't say any more than that, but stood and looked at Jack and his companion. They were both smiling; his companion had a hand on Les's shoulder in a way that told me he was Les's brother.
"Briar," I said holding out my hand him.
"David, but everyone around here calls me Davy." He replied, I tried not to let my surprise show. It was nice to hear someone use proper English. You don't know how much you are accustomed to it until you are trying to bite your tongue at every sentence the people around you are saying, to keep from correcting their grammar.
"Davey it is then." I rubbed my hand together and looked around. "so what are we doing?"
"Selling papes." Les told me as if I should already know that. Papes? I looked at the stack of newspapers Davy and Jack were splitting between them. The light went on, papes, papers, must be some sort of slang from 1899.
"Sounds like fun." I said holding out my hands. Here was something else I could handle. My mother had owned a store for years and lucky for me I had spent the beginning of the summer selling pretzels at the Renaissance Festival. I had learned the fine art of hawking, but wasn't really interested in it and switched back to cast the first chance I got. I know by now you probably think my whole life revolved around the Renaissance Festival, but in reality many of the talents I learned there I was able to apply to beginning to live in the past. When you have a pretty good grasp on how life was lived two hundred years before and how life was lived two hundred years in the future, you learn that things don't change that much. They change drastically socially, speech changes, outlooks change, but some talents are timeless. As a writer I knew that the headline was never going to sell, so the headline had to be changed to catch someone's attention. A book was never going to sell if it didn't have a catchy title. Acting had taught me how to sell, and how to lie. What is acting other than selling yourself to be someone you're not?
"Some women sell papes, but they rarely have the talent us men do." Jack told me giving me a funny look. I rolled my eyes, I bet there were plenty of women who were good at selling, men just didn't want to accept it. "They was the only people we let sell papes."
"Why were they the only ones?" I asked my curiosity perked.
"Because we wasn't going to beat on women." Jack responded as if I knew what he meant by that. I let it go making a mental note to ask Crutchy later on what he had meant. Davy just shrugged and followed Jack, I looked at Les who mimicked his brother and together we followed the other two.
I spent most of my day not too far from Jack. David and Les would disappear from time to time, but I was never out of Jack's eyesight. It looked like he was going to keep his word and keep an eye on me. As we broke for lunch I found I had sold more papes than even Les, whose pathetic street urchin look always drew them in.
"Ya got talent." He said in appreciation as we made our way to some place called Tibby's. He was still cautious, but since he found I could sell papers, he seemed to be warming up to me. I could practically see the dollar signs in his eyes like in the old cartoons. Les hadn't taken much winning over and David liked me from the minute I had started talking to his brother. It was a little trick I had learned a long time ago. Make friends with a guy's little brother or sister and you had them in the palm of your hand. Not that I ever made friends with the little sibling without really intending to be a friend, kids were smart they knew when you were being fake. I found Tibby's was a restaurant, much like the diners of the 1950's were going to evolve from. It was crowded with boys all of them from earlier that morning, they seemed like one big group of brothers. I felt a little left out, and tried to shrug off the feeling.
"Briar." I heard a voice calling my name. Looking ahead and to the left I saw Crutchy sitting at a booth with Patches, what had Jack called him? Blink? And the curly headed boy I had never gotten to hear his name. Crutchy was waving me over and I smiled heading immediately in his direction.
"Briar, this is Blink and Mush." He said in his endearingly happy tone. " Guys this is Briar."
They both nodded at me and Crutchy scooted over so I could sit with them. I smiled shyly and worked to turn on the charm. As long as I could stay in these guys' good graces I had it made. I didn't have any where else to go and I had no way to go home as of now, so the best thing I could do was make these boys like me. As a bunch of misfits themselves one harmless but crazy girl wouldn't faze them for very long. Besides I had spent most of my life with more guy friends than girls. I knew I could charm them and still keep the relationship platonic.
"So how did ya day with Jack go?" Crutchy asked breaking me out of my thoughts.
"I sold more papers than Les." I said trying not to toot my own horn, but I couldn't help the feeling of pride. They all looked properly impressed. I looked at Mush and Blink, not too bad, I thought as I discreetly gave them a once over. Blink's hair was gold colored his eyes, while not the same incredible shade of Spots were still a pretty blue and Mush had a really sweet and sunny disposition that reminded me a little of Crutchy. I got something to eat, with the little bit of money Jack had given me for the papers I had sold, it wasn't the best I had had in my life, but it was filling and it made my stomach stop complaining. I found I was enjoying their company. Sometimes I had to stop them and ask them to explain what they meant and by the end of lunch I had a handful of new words that I understood.
"Ya ready?" I heard Jack ask and I looked up at him. He was looking back expectantly.
"Why should you get her?" Mush asked in mock irritation " Ya already got Les and Davy, if she's tellin the truth then I say you should let her come with one of us that don' t do as well."
"Perks of bein leader Mush." Jack told him punching his shoulder playfully. "We's gotta go, there's a prime spot in Central Park I wanna hit today with me new sellin partner."
"Selling partner?" I asked looking at him in confusion.
"Ya gots talent kid I already told ya that." Jack replied smiling down at me. " And unless yous got a better opportunity then let's go."
I looked at Mush who gave me adorable puppy eyes and laughed. He was cute definitely cute.
"I tried the same look on Jack this morning." I chuckled punching him as well. " What makes you think it will have any better effect on me than mine did on Jack?"
Mush shrugged and smiled, Blink laughing as well.
"Crutchy, I'll talk to you later." I said as I followed Jack, Davey and Les out the door. By the time we made it back to the place we had started from, the Lodging House the boys had called it I was beat. It had been a long and trying day. Tiredly I made my way into the washroom and splashed some water on my face. There was some crashing and squeaking coming from the other room and I found Crutchy was directing as Mush and Blink pulled a mattress off one of the bunks. I watched in curiosity as they carried it into the small empty room I had used to change in earlier. They kicked up enough dust as they tossed the mattress on the floor to make those of us standing anywhere near to sneeze.
"What are you doing?" I asked rubbing my nose across the back of my hand sniffing as I felt another sneeze coming.
"Well we figure ya're staying for as long as ya wanna. Ya're too old for the orphanage and we ain't gonna send ya to the poor house. " Crutchy said excitedly, "Jack don't know where else to put ya. I thought we could move a mattress in here and it could be ya little room. That way ya'd get some privacy from us boys."
"Thanks Crutchy." I said softly touched that he had thought of a way to make me more comfortable. The mattress was old and the blankets worn, but at that moment it looked like heaven. It wasn't bed time however, instead I spent the rest of the night with Crutchy, we played cards, but mostly we talked. Mush and Blink joined us for a little while, we played poker without a betting a feat they had never accomplished.
"That's an unusual necklace." Mush said with interest. My hands flew to my neck and I realized I still wore the Gypsies necklace. I remembered that it had burned when I had laid down, that everything had been normal until that moment. Of course my life had been normal until the lady had appeared in it. At least as normal as my life comes.
"You be one of them." I heard her say in my mind.
"Be one of who?" I had asked with an arrogance that made me flinch.
"Be one of those who is lost in time." She had replied. Had she done this to me? Had the necklace sent me here? If so, why had she sent me here, what was the reason behind it?
Mental note Little Red, I thought, don't take anything from strangers, especially if they happen to be odd gypsy women with scars.
"Briar are you okay?" Blink asked his look worried. I realized I had clutched the necklace in my hands and was pulling on it as if I was going to rip it off. I forced myself to relax and took my hand away from it.
"Fine, just fine, now how many cards did you want?" I heard myself ask, I surprised at just how cool my voice sounded. They eyed each other and I knew I had reminded them of my sudden appearance and odd performance earlier, in short everything I was trying to make them forget. They returned to the card game and eventually let it go. They wandered off a little while later for a real game with Racetrack, who I learned was a big gambling man. They were just upset that I, the girl had kicked their butts too many times to count. I was pretty lucky with poker as long and it didn't require any articles of clothing to be removed.
Even after the others turned the lights off and lay down to sleep I found myself struggling to stay awake so I could talk with Crutchy some more. Sometimes you find a kindred spirit, a person who seems to know you after only minutes. It is as if they have a small piece of your soul you never knew you were missing. I'm not talking about a soul mate that is on a different level a different set of emotions. I would find my soul mate and it would be an entirely different feeling than the one I shared with Crutchy, but I am getting ahead of myself in my story. If I don't tell it as it happened it will become confusing. I had found a brother of my soul. Someone who understood me and liked me for all I was and all I wasn't. He didn't care if Jack had caught me in the corner only a half an hour ago clicking my heels and saying "There's no place like home." Hey it worked for Dorothy, besides who knew how this necklace worked. He didn't care that some of the younger boys avoided me because they thought I was crazy. He didn't even care that Jack, his best buddy, one of his idols was wary of me. He instinctively trusted me, I didn't know why I was just grateful for it. I wished I could tell him everything; I looked out the window directly in front of me the moonlight washing over my face from the window to my left. Crutchy sat on my right, thinking looking off into space. He glanced at me and grinned we still didn't say anything; we didn't need to each other's company was enough. It was nice to have made a friend like him as quickly as I had. Mush and Blink were well on their way to being called friend and I knew I was lucky I had always made friends quickly. Jack didn't trust me yet, Les and David liked me well enough. I wasn't looking for permanent friends, but I found that when it came time to leave I was going to miss Crutchy. I really would, I hoped he would catch a fair break in life. Actually I was going to try to do what I could to make sure of it as long as I was in the past.
"Ya know Briar." Crutchy said softly, "Lookin at you from where I'm sitten, ya look like one of those necklaces with the women carved on it, ya know the ones those fancy ladies wear. "
"Cameos?" I supplied in amusement. "Thanks Crutchy, but I'm not cameo."
"No ya do, ya features would make a good cameo." Crutchy insisted. I felt my cheeks flaming, I knew I wasn't a bad looking girl, but this had to be one of the best compliments I had ever received.
"That's what I'm gonna call you." Crutchy said firmly and I knew there would be no dissuading him. "Cameo, ya're on your way to bein a newsie, ya gotta have a newsie name."
"A newsie name is supposed to be tough." I replied sheepishly not wanting to admit I liked the name, or that I even was enjoying his sweet compliment.
"Unless ya're a girl." He said "We don't have many newsie girls, so if I wanta call ya Cameo ain't nobody gonna say nothin. Besides ya don't get to pick ya nickname, ya get it given to ya."
"The second time in my life I get named and I don't have any say." I said wryly " I think children should be numbered until they are old enough to pick their own names."
"Then they'd think their names was numbers, so it would still be the same." Crutchy pointed out. I shrugged and wrapped my arms around my legs, I stared out the window for a minute more then stood and held out my hand for Crutchy. He smiled and took it allowing me to help him to his feet.
"Good night Crutchy." I whispered.
"Good night Cameo."
Sorry if this chapter is a little lame, I'll try to update it later when it's not so late and I haven't spent the last week working 14 hour days. Sorry again. Thank you for all who have read and reviewed