Sunshine danced through the windows, slowly pouring in until it formed a pool on Bliss' pillow, warming the back of her head and neck. Turning over, the sunlight shone through her closed eyelids, slowly waking her up. Bliss gradually opened her eyes as she groaned and stretched. Grudgingly, she crawled out of bed, making sure to be quiet, so as to not wake the sleeping boys. After getting dressed, she filled the washtub up with soapy water, and got to work on scrubbing all their clothes clean.

Jack shook his head in his sleep. Before him stood his mother, her belly rounded with pregnancy. She already looked like she swallowed a large whole watermelon, and she still had about 2 months to go until the baby was born. Jack, at almost 12 years old, was sitting on the floor, using his knife to whittle into a piece of wood. She was softly singing as she dried the dishes and put them away. Suddenly, his father burst into the kitchen.

"Woman!" he screamed, "I told you to take care of them tomato plants! They been sitting there, goin' bad!"

"They aren't ripe." She defended.

He started shaking with rage, and he spat back at her "My woman don't talk back to me." and started towards her.

She shrieked and ran into the bedroom, with him stalking after her. Jack jumped up from the floor, and snuck over to the doorway, just in time to see his father pick up a heavy wooden clock from the top of the dresser, and throw it at his mother. It hit her with a thud in the middle of her forehead, then crashed to the floor, with pieces splintering off, and skidding across the floor, as her eyes closed and she fell, landing sprawled diagonally across the bed on her back. As soon as Jack saw the blood rushing from her head, he turned and ran.

Waking with a start, Jack sat up quickly, almost falling off of his bunk.

The sound of Jack groaning caught Bliss' attention. She glanced up, and saw Jack sitting up, holding his head. After hanging up the other side of the shirt she was holding, she walked over to his bunk, climbed the ladder, and sat on the edge of his bed, next to his feet.

"You don't look so good Jack, are ya feeling all right?" she asked as she leaned over and put her hand on his forehead. "Well, you're not warm."

"I'm fine, really, it was just a dream... Oh man, I haven't had that one in a long time." Jack muttered to himself.

"What are you talking about, is something wrong?" asked Bliss.

"It's just somethin' haunting my past." he explained. "You don't want to hear about it."

"Sure I do." she said back to him.

"No," he insisted. "You don't." he said as he climbed past him and down to the floor and across the room, and went into a bathroom stall.

Sighing, Bliss climbed down and went back to hanging clothes.

After she had washed all their clothes and hung them to dry on clotheslines she had rigged up across the bunks, she started waking up the guys. She suddenly got an idea. Picking up a small towel she had just washed, she rang out the extra water and twirled it up, and snapped it at Dutchy's backside that was sticking out from under his covers. He awoke with a yell, and turned quickly, and fell off of the bed. Bliss tried to catch him, but only succeeded in getting herself knocked over and pinned down by Dutchy's larger frame.

"Get offa me!" she ordered through her giggling.

Mush looked up from his bunk with a yawn then a surprised look, at the sight of Bliss sitting on the floor, with Dutchy laying across her, pinning her to the floor.

She tickled Dutchy and he rolled up in a ball, so she shoved him off of her leg, and jumped to her feet.

"That's the last time I ever try to catch you if you fall!" She exclaimed, rubbing her leg, just above her knee where he had landed on her.

"I bet that's the last time you will ever try to wake me up by snapping me with a towel, too." he added.

"Don't count on it, Dutchy!" she grumbled "I'll just have to stand farther away!" she said with a straight face before a smile slipped in through the corners of her mouth. She turned and walked away from him, grinning at her success in waking up nearly everyone by causing him to scream. She collected her the things she needed and changed her clothes in a stall in the bathroom.

By the time she had come out, fully changed, everyone else was awake. She grabbed her shoulder bag from the post of her bunk bed and walked outside, and made her way down the street towards the distribution center to sit in the morning sun. Passing my a nun on the street, Bliss took a piece of crusty bread from her, and nibbled on it as she walked. When she got there, she had settled herself on a wooden box that was sitting near the tall metal gate. She had finished her bread and was brushing the crumbs off of her skirt when Oscar and Morris walked by. She grinned and waved at them. and they both nodded and gave her a small wave. She had the privilege of making them respectful around her. Within a few minutes, the space outside the gate was filling up quickly. After buying her papes, Bliss wove through the crowd to get out into her favorite selling spot.

Later that day, Racetrack was coming out from the entrance to the Sheepshead Horse Races, his favorite selling spot. He had a good morning. After selling all of his papes, he put all of his earnings on horse number 7, and he won $10. After that, he saw a man get up from his seat, leaving behind 3 cigars that fell from his pocket. So with his newfound treasure, and fortune, he started down the street with a smile on his face. Suddenly, a man walking by, bumped into him, causing Race to stumble, and almost knock over a little girl that was standing on the side of the road.

He grabbed her thin shoulders to steady her, and asked, "Ya all right?"

She brushed a lock of her waist length dirty brown hair out of her face and nodded with a concerned look on her face.

Looking down at her, Racetrack decided that something wasn't right. She was standing on the side of the road, looking around like she had no clue what was going on, with a bulging bag slung over her shoulder. She was covered in dust, like she had been dirty for a long time. The back of her thin dress was especially dirty, like she had slept in the mud a time or two.

Race stood up straight, letting go of her shoulders, and asked her, "What's wrong kid, you lost?"

She furrowed her brows and looked around before answering, "Yes." with the "S" whistling through her two missing front teeth. "I'm lookin' for someone." She said as she adjusted her shoulder bag.

"You look too little to be out lookin' for anything all by yourself!" Race commented.

"I'm five!" She defended as she puffed out her chest. "And I'm all I've got."

"Well then, who are ya lookin for?" he asked, "And I'll help you find 'em. I know almost everyone, and if I don't know 'em, one of my friends will."

"Do you know Francis Sullivan?" She asked hopefully.

Racetrack was taken aback.

"Francis Sullivan?" he asked in disbelief, "What do you want with him?"

"I can't tell you, it's a secret!" She grinned at him.

"You're cute kid, what's your name?"

"Molly."

"Well Molly, I'm Racetrack. I just happen to know a guy that can help you out. His name's Jack Kelley, and he's the best Newsie this side of Brooklyn. He's out sellin' right now though, so if you're hungry, we can go to Tibby's an' get somethin' to eat while we wait."

"Only if you're buyin'. I ran out of money the day before yesterday." She said with a serious expression.

"I wouldn't dream of havin' you pay! Lets just say, it's for almost knockin' you over. Have you eaten anything at all yesterday or today?" he asked.

"Some nice lady gave me an apple this morning, but I'm hungry now." She said earnestly. "Are you sure you got enough money? I'm really, really hungry."

"I'm sure." he answered, laughing.

When they got to Tibby's there were already a few of the other newsies there. Racetrack told Bill, the head waiter that when Jack came in, to send him over to where they were sitting.

"How do you fit so much food into such a little body?" Racetrack asked Molly, looking down at her plate. She was halfway through her 2nd chicken dinner. Race could only eat one plateful of the same meal.

Just then, Jack walked through the door, and Racetrack watched Bill talk to him, and motion him over to the table.

"Hey Race, what's goin' on?"

"Hiya Jack, have a seat."

As he sat down next to racetrack, Jack motioned with his head to the little brown haired girl sitting across the table from them.

"What have we here?" Jack asked Race.

"Ah, this is my new friend Molly, she's searching for Francis Sullivan." Race told him as he looked around to make sure no one was listening.

"Why are you lookin' for him?" Jack asked Molly.

"I can't tell you!" Molly said

"Sure you can" Insisted Jack.

Throwing her little hands up in exasperation, Molly pushed her plate out of her way, and leaned her forehead on her hands, resting her elbows on the wooden tabletop. "No!" She said into her lap, "She told me not to tell anyone but him!" She said sniffling.

"Who said that?" Jack asked her.

She dropped her hands into her lap and looked into his eyes.

Jack could see the turmoil swirling within her as he looked into her serious little face.

"I can't tell you." she stated quietly.

Jack put his hands flat in the middle of the table and leaned in close to her, and whispered "Can I tell you a secret?"

Molly nodded her head quickly.

He continued, still whispering, "My real name aint Jack Kelley. I changed it after I left home. It used to be Francis Sullivan."

She looked at him, her brows furrowed in disbelief. Suddenly, she grabbed his right hand, that was still resting in the middle of the table, and flipped it over, and traced her finger over a small, faint scar at the base of his thumb.

"You cut your hand on a glass." She informed Jack, still holding onto his hand.

"How did you know that?" Jack demanded, pulling his hand away.

"Momma didn't die when the clock hit her, she died last month instead."

"What?" Jack questioned. "So you're sayin' that you are my sister?" he asked in disbelief. "You have no proof though, do you?"

"Oh yeah, Momma told me to give you this." She said as she grabbed her bag from the set next to her, put it on her lap, and started rummaging through it. She pulled out a worn leather bound book and set it on the table.

Jack's eyes got real big. He recognized it, he would have know it anywhere.

"The family Bible..." he mumbled to himself

Racetrack, who had been silent almost the whole time since Jack sat down, (which was a rarity) asked "Huh?"

Jack reached for it and pulled it towards him as he looked at Race and said again, "It's the family Bible! It was my Grandma's, and my mother used it to-" he stopped talking suddenly and opened up the cover to the page he wanted, and read down the handwritten lines until he found what he wanted.

Francis Christian Sullivan, Born April 7th, 1882.

Reading down one more line, he read,

Molly Elizabeth Sullivan, Born September 27th, 1895.

It was in his mother's perfect handwriting.

Jack looked at Racetrack and exclaimed "I have a sister!" Before jumping out of his seat, nearly knocking over his chair, and going over to the other side of the table, and scooping up Molly into his arms. He hugged her tight, before tossing her up in the air with a laugh, and spinning her around.

This action caught the attention of the dozen or so newsies that were in the room, and they just sat there staring, trying to figure out Jack's odd behavior.

"I found my sister!" He announced to the room, still holding her in his arms. Suddenly, he looked at Molly and said "I left my old name behind when I left my old life behind. Will you be Molly Elizabeth Kelley, so no one can say that you're not my sister?"

After pondering for a moment, she answered, "I like that name, Kelley. An' I can say it without whistlin'." She informed him, pointing to her missing teeth.

Grinning at her before he looked back across the restaurant, he added "This is Molly Kelley." Then he said to Molly, "These are the guys, you'll get to meet them later. I'm hungry, are you hungry?" he asked her.

Racetrack answered for her, "She already ate 2 plates of chicken, she better not be!"

With a grin, Molly told Jack, "It's really good chicken, you should have that." she said nodding.