Racetrack

After a brief conversation with Spyder and Spot, the two told us that telling them we weren't going to run the first time some goon came at us with a club wasn't enough. We had to show them. We thanked them and headed back to Manhattan. When we got there, the others were already waiting in Central Park. I headed over to Dutchy and Specs to play marbles. Shox trotted after me to see what I was doing. I invited her to play.

"Could you teach me how?" she asked.

I laughed. "You haven't ever played mahbles?" I said after calming down.

"No," she growled. "In Missouri, I always played with electronic stuff or modern board games. I don't see what's so funny about me never playing marbles, either."

"It ain't funny," I reassured her. "It just seems a little weahd to us newsies that youse nevah played a game a mahbles, while we nevah played any of dose fancy games dat youse play." I began to teach her how to play when I whispered, "Youse always gotta cheat when youah playin' foah da foist time."

"Raaacetraaack!" scolded Dutchy.

"Oh, and one moah thing," I told her. "No biting!" She giggled and nodded.

"So, Jack," said the smart-alecky voice that we know as Skittery. "Where's Spot Conlon?"

"Yeah!" Shorty piped up.

"Oh," Cowboy sighed. "He was concoined about us bein' serious."

"Well, den, Jack," said Kid Blink, sounding a bit uneasy. "Maybe we should ease off a little. I mean, without Brooklyn, there's not enough of us Jack."

"Yeah," added Skittery. "I definitely think we should forget about it for a while." A few of the newsies nodded in agreement and there were a few "Yeah"s and "Skittery's right"s. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little glimmer of nervousness in Shox's eyes. She was scared without Brooklyn, too.

"'Ey, who are we kiddin' heah!" shouted Cowboy. "Spot Conlon was right! Is dis just a game to you guys? Come on!"

"He's right!" shouted a nervous but confident voice behind me. Careful Shox, I thought. Some things are better unsaid than said.

The circulation bell rang. Time for the scabs to get their papers.

"Anybody heah dat?" yelled Cowboy.

"NO!" everyone yelled back.

"Den what are we gonna do about it?"

"SOAK 'EM!" we ran. We all ran as fast as we could to the gates. The scabs were already there waiting for us. It was almost as if they had been expecting us… that was a very weird feeling. Then all of a sudden the scabs were parting, the gates were opening, and… and…

"WHOA, JACK!" I screamed. "IT'S A TRICK!!!" It was. That big gang of gangsters was advancing on us, and we had nowhere to run. Finally, they all started attacking us. One of them was specifically advancing on me. Just perfect. He had me cornered. Nowhere for me to run now. Well, it was nice knowin' ya, Earth.

"HEY!" screamed an angry voice. Ut-oh… Shox is gonna get a beating… "LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU RETARDS!!" None of the gangsters loved that too much. They started to advance on Shox, not like she cared. When she was just about to be cornered, she ran. Man, did she run. It was pretty cool, watching her dart around, and when she came to walls she had to run on them a little, because she was running so fast. It was a little like a show, because all of the newsies stopped whatever they were doing and began cheering wildly for my fast girlfriend. At last she was beat. She stood in a corner, panting, sweating, with the gangsters getting closer. I had to get in there and help her. I shoved past all of the gangsters and stood protectively in front of her. The gangsters just snickered and kept inching closer. Shox grabbed on to my shoulders and held tight. She was trembling wildly, because the poor girl was so scared. I still stood firm. I wasn't gonna move away from her, I was never gonna let her go…