CHAPTER NINE
The newsies all scrambled up the rather worn-out stairs to a single bunkroom at the top, with a door leading to what Anna guessed was the bathroom. The boys all rush in quite haphazardly, paying her no heed, except for that kid Skittery. For some reason he must have really had a problem with her, because he was making snide remarks about having a 'goil' in the lodging house. Anna, still in the doorway, stares at her surroundings and the noisy, rambunctious boys. Anxiety sweeps over with her, watching them all, followed swiftly by embarrassment. This was not lady-like at all. Jack comes up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped, turning around to face him.
"Oh! It's only you!"
Jack grinned at her. "Yeah, who'd ya think it was? C'mon…" he steers her over to a bed very near the door they had just come in, which he informed her was his, and she guessed hers as well now. The Manhattan cowboy clambered up onto the top bunk, starting to untie his bandanna, and after contemplating a slight problem, she slips into the bed beneath his. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one to recognize the problem. "Ain't'cha gonna change?" Kelly asked, leaning over from his bed.
Annalise's cheeks flamed, but she managed to glare at him indignantly. The Manhattan leader only laughed. "What? Didn't mean it like dat!!!"
Still crimson, noticing the other boys had fallen silent to watch these goings-on, she replies, "Well, I don't have any night things!"
"Oh… hmm…" He looked thoughtful for a moment, then exclaims, "I know wheah we c'n get youse some at borrow!"
Kid Blink interrupts him, whooping, "Medda's!!! Da solution at all feminine problems!!!"
One of the boys, with glasses and dark hair, looks up at him incredulously. "What feminine problems would you know about?!"
Blink, suddenly reconsidering, took a moment to ponder what he had just yelled out. Anna, about ready to die of embarrassment in this horribly strange situation, with such obviously uncultured and unmannered boys, buries her face into the pillow. Luckily, she is saved by banging on the door, and an old man's voice yelling, "That's enough!! Lights out! Get to sleep!!" and all of the newsboys hurried to jump into their beds…
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…Annalise was woken in the morning by the same old man's voice, but this time in the room and a LOT louder than before.
"Get up! UP! Skittery Skittery Skittery SKITTERY!!!" The boy, in pink long johns, his hair tangled wildly atop his head, looks up at him and groans. The old man whirls around. "MUSH! UP!" He walks among the bunks, smacking Race and tapping on… oh, who was that again? Bumlets? Yes, that was it… Bumlets's head. "EVERYBODY UP NOW!!!"
Not wanting the old man angry at her when this was the only place she had to stay, Anna hurriedly leapt out of bed, nearly running into him. Seeing her, he rolls his eyes, whacking Jack in the back. "Cowboy! Cowboy!! What's this, you're bringing girls in here?"
Jack rolled over halfway, looking over his shoulder to see what the man was talking about. Finding only Anna, he replies nonchalantly, "Oh s'just Anna, Kloppman… she's a newsie, too." And promptly rolled back over, pulling the covers up over his head.
Kloppman shakes his head, "Fine, fine…." he gives her an intense stare. "…but no trouble?"
Anna shook her head quickly from side to side, eyes wide, indicating that she wouldn't cause any problems. Seemingly satisfied, the caretaker nods sharply, then yells at Jack, "Now get up!! You've got newsies to lead, PAPES to sell!!!" And goes out of the room, banging the door along behind him…
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Not much later, she found herself following Jack back through the alleys they had been in the previous night, Racetrack at her side and a whole slew of others behind her. But they take a different turn, and Anna turns to Race, questioning confusedly, "Where are we going?"
Race answers simply, "To get papes." Not much else was needed, as the arrived at a gate, and she saw what he meant. On the other side were piles of newspapers being loaded into carts, newspapers being thrown from one boy to the next, then hefted into the wagon, followed by many identical stacks. Jack and a few of the others start teasing the wagon boys on the other side of the gate, until one finally comes to undo the lock and let the newsies in….