Hey, the reviews have been so wonderful! Thank you guys... Hope you like this...
Shout ins:
imaginelet: yummy! I likes cake, precioussssss...lol, yeah, I'd have been a little freaked, too, if a bunch of hot newsies we're watching me! I'm glad you thought the song worked. It took me awhile to decide and I'm still pretty sure I could have done better. Oh, well. ONWARD!
Bella (babe, I know you): Yeah, Jack's sweet. Christian Bale is newsie coolness incarnate. I love his speech at the rally. I almost start crying when I watch that part. Anyways, I need a "Hidden" fix! MORE MORE MORE!!! Have fun at school. And thank you for the review!
Lil Rain Angel: You'll just have to wait and see what happens to Kate and Katherine. I promise you'll find out. Eventually.
Yeah, I love when the Brain gets all resigned when Pinky acts stupid. Warner Brothers always did have the best cartoons. The only cool thing on my wall is my Beatles Abbey Road poster but that can't compare with LLAMA QUEEN! (Pouts) Canned green beans taste metallic and mushy...ick. I suppose if I was starving I could stomach some. But I'd RATHER have ice cream with cookie dough! And a massage from Racetrack...:: sigh of contentment:: This is the life...
mpfan: I completely agree with you about unrealistic time travel fics. I just want to laugh when the girls somehow get sucked back into time for no apparent reason, immediately figure out where they are and accept it with calmness (and hyper exclamations about the newsies), have their clothes and description completely mapped out like they're on the runway, meet their favorite newsies in the next paragraph, get invited to the LH, and are kissing and discussing marriage by the end of the chapter. (Okay. THAT was a run on sentence) Oh, well. I really have had to fight that Mary-Sue stuff.
You're right. She has a fault but I don't think I've really emphasized it. Maybe I should. It's going to be part of the climax of the story but I should probably drop some hints of it pretty quick.
I know exactly what you mean about slow. I felt that, too. Hopefully, it'll start speeding up now.
Thank you SO MUCH for the great review! I will definitely try to improve the story based on your observations.
Wow, you must have the record for longest shout-in in fanfiction history! ;)
Sureshot Higgins: Thank you for the review! Yeah, don't worry. Things are okay. Maybe. Bumlets...you noticed! Good.
Yeah, that's right! Max's birthday's coming up!
Hey, have fun studying with Racetrack in the closet. ;)
Kate Lawrence: I know, I know! I was going to write you and Kristen into the last chapter but I couldn't. You'll just have to wait and see what happens to you two...I can't tell or Spot will hit me. Thanks...Yeah, Racetrack is funny when he's mad. Oh, and Sureshot says "Happy Birthday!"
LILMAXIE: His shirt was unbuttoned, sheesh. Lol. ;) Race romance? In THIS story? Noooooooo...I would NEVER do a thing like THAT. (Refer back to earlier chapter when Racetrack demanded that Legs delete all kissy stuff and notice Legs sneakily hiding the love scene reserved for a chapter COMING SOON TO A INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER NEAR YOU!) You'll hear more about the fire in this chappy. And the other girls, too. :D
Angelic One: Glad you liked the "boithday" song! Sureshot wanted to tell you "Happy Birthday!" (Racetrack is in the bathroom trying to scrub the lip stick of his face and Spot's pouting cuz he didn't get a kiss) Yeah, Katherine's a mess... Thank you for liking my Racetrack descriptions! That made my day! Yeah, he's pretty darn cute. :)
Dreamer: It's so nice to know you all like this story! I hope this chapter makes you all happy. Although, it has sad stuff in it, too. :( But don't worry! Racetrack is in it. OH AND SOME SPECIAL NEWSIES CHARACTERS that have been excluded until now. Let's all give it up for...Da-...and Sa-...and the rest of the Ja-...! Lol. Thanks.
Moonlight: Hey, as always THANK YOU for the review! I tried to email you but the message didn't get through. I registered for fanfiction.net over a year ago and it seems like it didn't take very long to get a response. Hmmm...let me know when you finally get your user id and all so I can review everything you write! :) I didn't realize how popular Kristen and Kate were but everyone's asking where they went. I'll try to clear that up for you guys. Let me know what you think.
Horisont: Thank you! (Gives Horisont a chocolate chip cookie)
snipah higgins: You're welcome a thousand times over! Thank you for reviewing it! Yeah, I wasn't sure how to describe the fire scene. Glad you thought that sounded right. Yeah, trying to describe Racetrack is my current obsession. I rewrote those parts several times, I think. Anyways, lemme know what you think of chapter seven!
PsYcHoJo: Lol, sorry! I don't know how it got posted twice! Usually fanfiction prevents your comp from doing that. Oh, well. The song was "Candle on the Water." The disclaimer is listed at the beginning of chapter 6. :D Thanks!
Artemis-Chan: I may have a spot for Jill. Gimme some time to work through. If I use her, I'll give you full credit. And I was reading your story-I can tell you like Racetrack. You wrote him very lovingly. :)
Su: Hey, that's exciting about Les Miserable. I'd love to hear how that goes and how that came about. :) I'm so glad you like the story! Here's some more of it...
I thought you guys might be interested in knowing what's going on in my kitchen as we speak. Okay. So Skittery decides he's going to make pasta. He's wearing my Colorado Rockies apron advertising some hardware store. Then Racetrack comes in and starts freaking out because Skittery is BREAKING THE NOODLES before he puts them in the pot.
Racetrack: Whaddya doin'? (Yanks raw noodles away from Skittery)
Skittery: They have to fit in the pot somehow.
Racetrack: (nods his head and scowls) So yous thought yous would BREAK THE NOODLES?
Skittery: That's how Ma did it!
Racetrack: No self-respectin' Italian breaks his pasta! (Reaches for spoon) Obsoive. (Stirs noodles methodically into boiling water until they all fit)
Skittery: That takes too long.
Racetrack: Yeah? Well, my way tastes bettah.
Skittery: It tastes the same, bonehead.
Racetrack: BUM!
Skittery: BONEHEAD!
Racetrack: SCAB!
Skittery: SISSY!
Racetrack: CHUMP!
Skittery: MUTTONHEAD!
Racetrack: GRAFTAH!
Skittery: SNITCH!
(Pause)
Racetrack: (incredulous, eyes wide) Whaddya mean I'se a snitch? I ain't a snitch!
Skittery: Oh yeah? Remembah tha time ya told Cowboy I was tha one who wet my bed?
Racetrack: (choking with glee, eyes larger than before) We wuh TEN!
Skittery: (running a hand through his hair) And then Jack wahned all tha guys not to gimme any watah 'foah bed.
Racetrack: (leaning against table, shaking with laughter) And den...
Skittery: Shut up!
Racetrack: (doubled over, cackling)
Skittery: Shut UP! (shoves Racetrack)
Racetrack: (still giggling) Aww, dat was a long time ago...(chuckling and shaking head)
Skittery: At least I didn't get rejected by an EIGHT YEAH OLD!
Racetrack: (no longer laughing, holds up fists) A'right, Skits. Dats it.
Legs: Excuse me. Where's my spaghetti?
Skittery: Well, SNITCH heah got nasty about da way I was cookin' tha noodles.
Racetrack: Dat's cuz the BUM heah was tryin' to poison ya wid broken pasta!
So now I have two newsies in my kitchen, screaming at each other in Italian. Racetrack won't give Skittery the garlic bread and Skittery won't let Racetrack have the tomatoes. And Spot wants to boil hot dogs and the other two guys are threatening to soak him if he gets anywhere close to the stove which is now covered with pots, pans, and spilled parmesan cheese that's going to be a pain to clean up. Anyway, that was sort of pointless but at least you know what's going on now.
THE DISCLAIMER AND OTHER NOTES HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE END OF THE CHAPTER
On wid da story...
"Ssssh, she's still asleep."
"Don't her eyes look funny, all screwed up like dat?"
"Shuddup! We don't wants to wake 'uh!"
"I wondah if she's snoahs."
"Goils don't snoah!"
"She slept in 'er clothes."
"Well, natchurahlly! What else was she supposed ta sleep in?"
"I don't sleep in MY clothes!"
"Shut ya lid! Dat's no way to talk 'rounds a lady!" Racetrack growled at Mush.
Tanya tried not to smile, her eyes still shut.
"Hey! Hey, guys, I t'ink she's wakin' up!" Blink whispered excitedly.
Tanya stretched slowly and let her eyes open. She had to suppress a giggle at the three faces peering into hers.
"You're awake!" Mush smiled happily.
"Good mownin'," Blink nodded.
"Hey, kid." Racetrack's wet hair had been combed back and he looked freshly scrubbed. His ever-present cigar hung from the corner of his mouth.
"Hey," Tanya said.
"Well, now that yous awake, we gots ta decide what weah gonna do wid you and ya friend."
Katherine! Tanya sat up from her spot on the floor and looked at the empty couch.
"Oh, she's wid Jack and Sarah."
"She's up?"
Blink and Mush nodded.
"And she could walk?"
"A little. Sarah was helpin' her."
"Who is Sarah?"
"Jack's lady friend."
"Oh." Tanya saw that by the clock on the high shelf it was not even seven o'clock. She wondered how long they had all been awake.
Mush guided her towards the door, "C'mon. Cowboy wanted to talk to you."
The boys followed Tanya outside to the steps where a sweet-faced girl sat next to Katherine.
Jack Kelly noticed her immediately, "Hey, Sarah?" He waited until her face had turned towards his. "Dis is Tanya, da oddah goil I was tellin' ya about."
Sarah smiled, "Hello, it's nice to meet you."
Tanya smiled back, conscious of how bad she must look right then.
"I was just telling Katherine that my family would love to have her stay with us... until her feet heal, at least. Mama's expecting another baby and we could always use an extra hand."
"Oh, really?" Tanya looked to see how Katherine was responding to this. She looked hopeful.
"What 'bout Tanya?" Racetrack blurted.
Jack started to say something but an out-of-breath newsie approaching the lodging house made him stop. "Bumlets! Wheah ya been all night?"
Bumlets stood, trying to catch his breath, "Had to go find...Kristen." Tanya realized that he was the boy she had seen with Kristen the week before.
Blink stared at him for a moment, "Hey, is that the one goil yous was tellin' us about a couple weeks ago?"
"Yeah," he panted.
"Well, didya find huh?"
He nodded.
"Well...? Weah waitin'! I'm shoa Tanya's anxious ta know wheah huh friends ah."
He took a deep breath, "Kristen's staying with her mother."
Tanya looked surprised, "Do you know what happened to Siding Hall?"
He shook his head, "Burned down."
Racetrack shrugged, "It'll make a good headline."
"What about Kate?"
Bumlets sighed, "Kristen said when they got out of the theater, she ran one way and Kate ran another."
"Well? What direction did she go?"
"Kristen thinks she was headed for Five Points."
Racetrack felt like someone had just slugged him.
"I haven't been ta the Bowery in awhile," Blink said cheerfully, picking his way through the busy streets, his arms full of newspapers.
Mush pushed his hat back, "Yeah, me neither."
Tanya followed them, walking beside Racetrack who seemed to get slower with each step.
"What about you?" she asked.
The newsboy shrugged. Truth was, Anthony Higgins had stayed as far away from the Five Points as he could. He stopped suddenly and his friends turned back to stare at him, "What's that mattah, Race?"
His dark eyes seemed to burn a hole through the cobblestones. He looked up. "You guys don't hafta come wid us."
Blink frowned, "Why not? We's don't mind."
"Yeah," Mush agreed.
"You'll sell moah if ya stay in dis paht a Manhattan. And weah not exactly on borrowin' toims wid da Bowery fellas."
"But..."
"You guys stay heah. I'll get Tanya to huh friend."
The two started to protest but something about the older newsie's voice made them obey. "A'right, if ya shoa, Race."
"A'right, den. I'll see ya both latah."
They left Blink and Mush there and continued.
Tanya thought for a moment, "Thank you for escorting me, Racetrack. But I really don't need you to if you need to sell your papers. I mean I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."
Racetrack didn't look at her, "No, you can't, Tanya."
She found herself getting defensive, "What do you mean I can't? I'm sixteen, not six!"
Canal Street became visible and all Racetrack wanted to do was run. He kept walking.
"Tanya, I wouldn't let any woman walk in dis neighbahood alone."
"Why not?" A scream from an alley silenced her as a woman tore herself from a drunken embrace.
The abject filth had grown worse as they walked. Tenements seemed to burst at the seams and people huddled along the street and in doorways. A pig ran squealing by. No one seemed to take any notice of it. Looking down, Tanya saw what looked like sewage that had been dumped into the street gutter. She tried to hold her breath.
Racetrack could feel his heart pounding. He offered his arm to the girl, fighting the sudden need he had to throw up. Oh, why had he come back? The noises so familiar took him back...back farther than he wanted to remember...
The woman lay still. She didn't move. He shook her, "Mama, wake up!" he shouted. "Mama!" She couldn't hear him. They were pulling him away. He couldn't see her face anymore...Her large eyes so dark like his and her long soft hair...It was dark now in that basement...Someone was crying. It was him. "Dove mia Mama?" Then wailing, "Mama!"
Racetrack tried to keep the lump from forming in his throat. They were almost to the Bowery now. Wretched place. He involuntarily strengthened his grip on Tanya's arm.
"Do you think she's here?" Tanya eyed the building doubtfully.
"I don't know. Let's find out." His voice sounded strange to his own ears, so distant...foreign.
"Racetrack, are you alright?"
"Yeah, shoa," he tried to look carelessly at her. "Why?"
There was the sound of music at the corner.
It was a girl of about seven, in her arms she held a harp that looked too heavy for her to carry far. Her tiny fingers plucked at the strings as her chocolate brown eyes pleaded with passer-bys to drop a coin...
The violin was so heavy and the cold air cut through his thin clothes. Still, he played. Oh, piacere, ma'am, a penny. A freezing wind made him go numb. He could not feel his fingers. Play...play...Sir, a penny...He wanted so badly to put the violin down for a moment. His arms ached. The padrone will beat him if he does...play...keep playing...one more penny...one more penny...
Racetrack started towards the child.
Tanya stopped him, remembering the professional bums she'd seen. "Hey, don't give your money to her. She's practiced looking pitiful. She's just trying to make more money."
The newsie turned to stare at Tanya, his eyes flashing with anger, "And what's wrong wid dat, Miss High and Mighty? You evah been hungry? You evah been lost on da street? You evah cry yaself ta sleep cuz ya mothah ain't nevah comin' home? Cuz ya ain't got no one ta look aftah yous 'cept da man who takes all a dat money!"
His words stung and her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry," she murmured but Racetrack was already beside the girl with the dark curls in her hair. He was down on his knees, reaching deftly into the pocket of his patched trousers. Tanya watched as a handful of coins-the morning's profit- were pressed gently into the girl's small palm.
"Grazi," she heard the street musician say.
Racetrack replied in Italian but it was too soft for Tanya to hear. The girl brushed his cheek with her dirty fingers.
And then he was back beside Tanya, her arm securely tucked under his.
"I'm sorry, Racetrack" she repeated.
He nodded and tried to shake the memories, "C'mon, kid, let's find ya friend."
A/N: There it is. That took me longer than it normally does.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Newsies-they're Disney's.
The research for this chapter came mainly from a book, "Five Points" by Tyler Anbinder. The Italian children who were forced to play music on the streets are real. There was a child once reported to have carried his harp through the streets crying, "Dove mia Mama!" (Where's my mother?) They were sometimes as young as five. Supposedly, a law was passed in the 1870s preventing children under sixteen from being forced to work in those conditions but there was a report in 1881, I believe, of Italian street musicians still in slave labor. Five Points is today New York's Chinatown and Little Italy, I think.
Love you all, Legs
Legs comments on: history
History is boring if all you study are dates and wars. But when you start seeing the faces of real people and the things they did, their diaries, their lives...they make you realize history isn't just a story of something that happened a long time ago. It's about lives. And someday our lives will be history and people will read our diaries and stare at our pictures. I hope they realize we were real, too.
