Hey! I thought about this one the FIRST time I watched the movie. I just thought, 'how odd, to see a girl our age as a pretend mother to all of those boys, instead of a girlfriend' Just tell me if I should keep it going, or suggestions, or what you thought of it. But do read it all. There is a footnote about skirts at the bottom of the page. Just thought it would sort of help elaborate on what kind of character Kat is. Please R&R!
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Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies, nor the 'mother' idea. Newsies belongs to Disney and the 'mother' thing comes from 'peter pan'. I own the character Kat so please don't use her without my permission.
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Kat threaded her way through the sleeping boys, picking up dirty clothes, straitening up furniture, putting Race's cigars back in the tin cup he always insisted they were supposed to be in.
Katerina was their official mother. It sometimes appaled her how much she sounded like one too, but she was rather like Wendy was with the lost boys, just their mother where there never, or seldom, was one.
She would have 'aww'd but kept back the noise, the poor boys needed their sleep. Itey had fallen off of his bottom bunk again and was shivering on the floor. Kat helped him drag himself back into bed, and left the room, going to grab her sewing bag.
She didn't know how she evolved to this. She used to be so impatient, so unsure of herself, but then, she had a mother, she knew what it was like to be kissed and cared for, and many of these boys didn't have that. Never mind if they were snotty, she loved them, never batted an eye at their first flirtatious remarks. She was simply there.
She was, also like Wendy, overly motherly stereotypical sometimes, but she didn't mind playing the old woman, the Mary Poppins, or the strict governess, either.
She woke up earlier than the boys, about a half hour, and went to bed later. She knew that people always said the 'job' was melodramatically thankless. They were wrong. How often had the short girl told the toughend Manhattan Newsboy leader to give her a kiss before he left and he gave her a peck on the cheek and a "Good-bye Kat."? How many times had she told Spot Conlon to tuck in his shirt and stand up strait, and he obeyed?
"I've been at this too long." She muttered as she passed her darning needle over Snipeshooter's well worn stockings. She sighed. Next came the shirts, and their holes, from the climbing over, and running around, and goodness knows what else. Then the pants.
She rubbed her eyes. Life here was...she searched for the diplomatic word, and gave up. WEIRD. That was the word for it. So was the reason she was here.
She had been grousing to everyone that day and had ended up in an old bead and antique shop in Alexandra, North Dakota. She went to that particular store quite often during the summer, and the owner, a kind woman, knew her very well. Every time she went in there was always something new that was shown to her first.
That day was the first of the summer and Katerina had come in, complaining about school, homework, evil Biology teachers, and, of course, Males as a species.
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"Hello Kat, how's it feel to be out of school finally?" Mrs. Harmon, the owner, asked kindly.
"Oh, good heavens, I don't think I could have stood another minute of it. My teachers are all out to get me! I swear it! It's some communist plot! The HOMEwork could not ALL be done at HOME if one wanted to remain sane, and I am so incredibly sick of high school boys!"
Mrs. Harmon raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with the boys?" Mrs. Harmon usually just liked to tackle one thing at a time.
"Well, they seem to be stuck somewhere on the road between being a sweet, imaginative, granted, slightly too hyperactive, little boys, and nice, mature, mostly calm, MEN. They aren't even close to being mature but they always want to act like it. ESPECIALLY around girls. No, let me rephrase that, females. We don't have to confine ourselves to a specific species here, it's anything of that gender that has the ability to move." She sighed heavily. "I need a root beer." Kat seemed to have finished venting and plunked two dollars on the front counter.
"Well, hon, I'm not sure I can fix your problems right now, but I think I can cheer you up."
Kat looked up from gulping down her root beer. She was obviously not convinced. "Oh yeah? How?"
"Well, I got in this yesterday, quite old, but real pretty, and I thought you might like it." Mrs. Harmon continued, unperturbed. She started rumminging around under the counter and came up a few minutes later with a small package.
In the package was the most beautiful broach Kat had ever seen. It had tiny little violets painted on the sides, roses in the middle and the background was black. The flowers, or the paint, or something, took on a certain sheen, a sort of golden-silver glitter whenever you looked at it, and the background was not mearly black, but some undifinable gray, so close to black that it was hard to tell, but it had small flecks of silvery in it.
Kat drew in a breath. "Where did you get this?"
Mrs. Harmon shrugged. "I got it at a garage sale, and I never got the chance to talk to the people who were selling it. It really has nothing in it but some micah to give it that sheen. It really isn't old enough to squeeze any extra money out of it, or at least as far as I can tell. It doesn't seem to hold any large value."
"How much were you planning on asking for it?" Kat wanted it badly. I was almost like it was calling her.
"Twenty four, but since you're feelin' so down, I figured I'd give it to ya for eighteen."
Kat threw down the money as fast as she could, her glasses nearly falling off her nose. "Done! Thank you so much Mrs. Harmon!" She yelled as she started out of the store with the tiny package in her hands.
"Oh, hon?" Mrs. Harmon called, just before Kat shut the door.
"Yeah?"
"The boys. The thing is, they want to be little boys, but everyone else wants them to be men, and they can't seem to choose one or the other. Give them some time. You either get to see the little boy, or they grow up soon enough." Mrs. Harmon smiled. "Now, get going!"
Kat couldn't even wait to get into her mom's car to try it on. It was so...tempting, but the next thing that happened was the real shock of the day. She was here. Here among the smog and the despiration. That pretty thing had dragged her where someone needed her, but she lost it, or it fell of in the car, or something, and now she didn't know where it was.
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Kat heard the boys in the next room being awakened by Kloppman and yelled "careful Jack" just in time to hear a loud thud and a groan.
"That boy really must stop falling out of his bed or he'll break his neck." She murmured as she dropped her sewing, gathered her prematurely full skirts around her*, and walked to the kitchen to get Kloppman his coffee, which he always had after he woke up the boys. Kat smiled to herself. She sort of ran this place, no matter what everyone else said, with out her, it would probably come crashing down. She did just about everything around here, but most times she didn't mind.
"Poor Wand'ring one..."
It sometimes amazed her how she remembered so much of Gilbert and Sulivan, even though it had been months since she had heard it. Some of it was playing at a theater here and there, now and again, but she could never afford it, so she rather had to be content with singing to herself.
She returned with the coffee in no time and went to make sure the boys weren't making a mess in the washroom.
"Racetrack Higgins! pick that up this instant! I will not have you throw things on my bathroom floor. Mush, if you fling that shaving cream you are staying behind to clean it up! Do you understand?" It was mornings like this when she really felt old, although she was only 15.
"Yes Ma'm." They both grumbled, Race picking up the discarded item and Mush putting away the shaving cream.
Blink came up behind her with his shirt half buttoned. "Kat, I's missin' a button. Do youse have my uddah one fixed yet?"
"It's 'I am', hon. And yes, I do." She walked to the other room for her sewing basket and dragged out Blink's shirt, mended for the millionth time, and brought it back to Blink.
"There you are, but if you go and rip those cuffs again, I'm going to cuff YOU right upside the head!" She took the other one off of him, buttoned up the mended one, and patted the cheek of the older, and much taller, boy. "Have a nice day dear."
Blink smiled and kissed her cheek. "T'anks Kat."
In around ten mintues all of her boys were running outside, but she couldn't hold back her usual parting call.
"If you get thrown in jail I'm not going to come and bail you out!" She stopped and smiled at the departing figures before looking in on the daily impossible task of cleaning up that horrid wash room, no matter how neat she insisted the boys be.
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*Back in those days, a girl of 15 did not have a full lenght skirt, or dress, only grown women did. Kat wore full skirts for the convienience, as it made people think she was older and recieved more respect from shop keepers and the like.
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Just wondering how this one was going to go. Can't call my character a mary sue, because mothers aren't. Gotcha there, didn't I?
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Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies, nor the 'mother' idea. Newsies belongs to Disney and the 'mother' thing comes from 'peter pan'. I own the character Kat so please don't use her without my permission.
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Kat threaded her way through the sleeping boys, picking up dirty clothes, straitening up furniture, putting Race's cigars back in the tin cup he always insisted they were supposed to be in.
Katerina was their official mother. It sometimes appaled her how much she sounded like one too, but she was rather like Wendy was with the lost boys, just their mother where there never, or seldom, was one.
She would have 'aww'd but kept back the noise, the poor boys needed their sleep. Itey had fallen off of his bottom bunk again and was shivering on the floor. Kat helped him drag himself back into bed, and left the room, going to grab her sewing bag.
She didn't know how she evolved to this. She used to be so impatient, so unsure of herself, but then, she had a mother, she knew what it was like to be kissed and cared for, and many of these boys didn't have that. Never mind if they were snotty, she loved them, never batted an eye at their first flirtatious remarks. She was simply there.
She was, also like Wendy, overly motherly stereotypical sometimes, but she didn't mind playing the old woman, the Mary Poppins, or the strict governess, either.
She woke up earlier than the boys, about a half hour, and went to bed later. She knew that people always said the 'job' was melodramatically thankless. They were wrong. How often had the short girl told the toughend Manhattan Newsboy leader to give her a kiss before he left and he gave her a peck on the cheek and a "Good-bye Kat."? How many times had she told Spot Conlon to tuck in his shirt and stand up strait, and he obeyed?
"I've been at this too long." She muttered as she passed her darning needle over Snipeshooter's well worn stockings. She sighed. Next came the shirts, and their holes, from the climbing over, and running around, and goodness knows what else. Then the pants.
She rubbed her eyes. Life here was...she searched for the diplomatic word, and gave up. WEIRD. That was the word for it. So was the reason she was here.
She had been grousing to everyone that day and had ended up in an old bead and antique shop in Alexandra, North Dakota. She went to that particular store quite often during the summer, and the owner, a kind woman, knew her very well. Every time she went in there was always something new that was shown to her first.
That day was the first of the summer and Katerina had come in, complaining about school, homework, evil Biology teachers, and, of course, Males as a species.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
"Hello Kat, how's it feel to be out of school finally?" Mrs. Harmon, the owner, asked kindly.
"Oh, good heavens, I don't think I could have stood another minute of it. My teachers are all out to get me! I swear it! It's some communist plot! The HOMEwork could not ALL be done at HOME if one wanted to remain sane, and I am so incredibly sick of high school boys!"
Mrs. Harmon raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with the boys?" Mrs. Harmon usually just liked to tackle one thing at a time.
"Well, they seem to be stuck somewhere on the road between being a sweet, imaginative, granted, slightly too hyperactive, little boys, and nice, mature, mostly calm, MEN. They aren't even close to being mature but they always want to act like it. ESPECIALLY around girls. No, let me rephrase that, females. We don't have to confine ourselves to a specific species here, it's anything of that gender that has the ability to move." She sighed heavily. "I need a root beer." Kat seemed to have finished venting and plunked two dollars on the front counter.
"Well, hon, I'm not sure I can fix your problems right now, but I think I can cheer you up."
Kat looked up from gulping down her root beer. She was obviously not convinced. "Oh yeah? How?"
"Well, I got in this yesterday, quite old, but real pretty, and I thought you might like it." Mrs. Harmon continued, unperturbed. She started rumminging around under the counter and came up a few minutes later with a small package.
In the package was the most beautiful broach Kat had ever seen. It had tiny little violets painted on the sides, roses in the middle and the background was black. The flowers, or the paint, or something, took on a certain sheen, a sort of golden-silver glitter whenever you looked at it, and the background was not mearly black, but some undifinable gray, so close to black that it was hard to tell, but it had small flecks of silvery in it.
Kat drew in a breath. "Where did you get this?"
Mrs. Harmon shrugged. "I got it at a garage sale, and I never got the chance to talk to the people who were selling it. It really has nothing in it but some micah to give it that sheen. It really isn't old enough to squeeze any extra money out of it, or at least as far as I can tell. It doesn't seem to hold any large value."
"How much were you planning on asking for it?" Kat wanted it badly. I was almost like it was calling her.
"Twenty four, but since you're feelin' so down, I figured I'd give it to ya for eighteen."
Kat threw down the money as fast as she could, her glasses nearly falling off her nose. "Done! Thank you so much Mrs. Harmon!" She yelled as she started out of the store with the tiny package in her hands.
"Oh, hon?" Mrs. Harmon called, just before Kat shut the door.
"Yeah?"
"The boys. The thing is, they want to be little boys, but everyone else wants them to be men, and they can't seem to choose one or the other. Give them some time. You either get to see the little boy, or they grow up soon enough." Mrs. Harmon smiled. "Now, get going!"
Kat couldn't even wait to get into her mom's car to try it on. It was so...tempting, but the next thing that happened was the real shock of the day. She was here. Here among the smog and the despiration. That pretty thing had dragged her where someone needed her, but she lost it, or it fell of in the car, or something, and now she didn't know where it was.
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Kat heard the boys in the next room being awakened by Kloppman and yelled "careful Jack" just in time to hear a loud thud and a groan.
"That boy really must stop falling out of his bed or he'll break his neck." She murmured as she dropped her sewing, gathered her prematurely full skirts around her*, and walked to the kitchen to get Kloppman his coffee, which he always had after he woke up the boys. Kat smiled to herself. She sort of ran this place, no matter what everyone else said, with out her, it would probably come crashing down. She did just about everything around here, but most times she didn't mind.
"Poor Wand'ring one..."
It sometimes amazed her how she remembered so much of Gilbert and Sulivan, even though it had been months since she had heard it. Some of it was playing at a theater here and there, now and again, but she could never afford it, so she rather had to be content with singing to herself.
She returned with the coffee in no time and went to make sure the boys weren't making a mess in the washroom.
"Racetrack Higgins! pick that up this instant! I will not have you throw things on my bathroom floor. Mush, if you fling that shaving cream you are staying behind to clean it up! Do you understand?" It was mornings like this when she really felt old, although she was only 15.
"Yes Ma'm." They both grumbled, Race picking up the discarded item and Mush putting away the shaving cream.
Blink came up behind her with his shirt half buttoned. "Kat, I's missin' a button. Do youse have my uddah one fixed yet?"
"It's 'I am', hon. And yes, I do." She walked to the other room for her sewing basket and dragged out Blink's shirt, mended for the millionth time, and brought it back to Blink.
"There you are, but if you go and rip those cuffs again, I'm going to cuff YOU right upside the head!" She took the other one off of him, buttoned up the mended one, and patted the cheek of the older, and much taller, boy. "Have a nice day dear."
Blink smiled and kissed her cheek. "T'anks Kat."
In around ten mintues all of her boys were running outside, but she couldn't hold back her usual parting call.
"If you get thrown in jail I'm not going to come and bail you out!" She stopped and smiled at the departing figures before looking in on the daily impossible task of cleaning up that horrid wash room, no matter how neat she insisted the boys be.
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*Back in those days, a girl of 15 did not have a full lenght skirt, or dress, only grown women did. Kat wore full skirts for the convienience, as it made people think she was older and recieved more respect from shop keepers and the like.
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Just wondering how this one was going to go. Can't call my character a mary sue, because mothers aren't. Gotcha there, didn't I?
