It wasn't like Kid Blink to go out on a Saturday night, and have a date. It just wasn't. Me, Mush, his best friend could tell you that. He was never to big on girls, he was mostly talk. Kind of like how Race claimed he scored big down at the track, when we all knew he really just stole someone's wallet. But Kid, he just seemed to have hit it off with this girl. He met her down near Medda's, but not while he was there. She worked there, as one of the entertainers, yea well, you could call her that to be nice. To all the men in town, she was nothing more then 15 cent worth of personal enjoyment. Kid didn't see her like that though. He didn't meet her there, he didn't even know she worked there, he met her in Central Park.
With laughter in their eyes and smiles on their faces, Kid Blink Fletcher and Kelly "Intuition" McMahon danced to the quick beat of an Irish jig. Once ending the two still caught up in laughter clutched each other as they walked off the stage. Kid stopped her and turned her around. With smiles on their faces, and fires in their hearts, they were in what Race and I liked to call "true love". Now you see. You could almost feel the passion they felt for each other, every time they exchanged a kiss. It wasn't until this night was I sure that Kid had finally found his one and true girl.
It started out like any normal night of the group going out for entertainment. Little did we know that that night we'd find out where all of Intuition's money came from. Nor did we think that it be the night that Blink decided he'd give up on himself, and all of us for good.
Joking around we all entered Medda's. It was a full house, and women wove their way around tables, serving drinks, earning their nights worth of money. We sat near the front. Thanks to Race's close acquaintance with Medda. It was just me, Race, Kid, Jack and Bums. The normal gang to go out. Usually Skittery joined us, but he stayed home sick that night. Medda sang her usual rendition of High Times, Low Times, we enjoyed watching the show. Race who was drunk off the small bit of liquor he had consumed was dancing with a girl in the aisle. Laughing at Race we all were watching them. When Kid caught sight of a girl just past them. She wore a short lavender dress, hiked up in the front. But her long brown hair was up in curls, make up on her face. But no mask of make up can disguise a man from his love. Kid knew every single curve, every crevice on her body. There was no mistake. We knew who she was. Quickly Kid rose. I watched as he knocked over a drink. His mouth gaped open as she took a seat on the lap of another man. She whispered in his ear, kissing his neck. The man soon stood, and took her hand as she led him up a flight of stairs. Where we all knew what those stairs led to. We knew that soon she'd be making her 15 cents for a few hours of entertainment, and the night was still young, many customers to still come. In a blinded stupor Kid began to exit. I rose next to him, tried grabbing his arm, but he pulled away, almost hitting me in the face with his fist. It wasn't like Kid. Then again, no man would want to see the love of his life in the arms of another man.
She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette
She broke his heart, he spent his whole life tryin' to forget
We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time
But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind
Until the night.
We tried to convince Kid to come out of the lodging house the next day. He ignored us. He spent all day with his bottle of whiskey in his hand. He didn't leave the bed. This went on for days. He ignored the knocks at the door, by his love. She didn't understand. She was lost.
I found her one night, in the alley next to the lodging house, a bottle of whiskey in her hand. She laid there, in a drunken mess, covered in dirt but all dressed up at the same time. I crouched beside her, trying to convince her to raise up and talk to me. But she refused. So I sat there in the alley, and explained to her what Kid had seen. What he thought, at least to the best of my knowledge. I knew his love for her was true and passionate, but I couldn't answer her sobbing pleas to bring him to her, to get him to forgive her. I don't think I've ever felt such pity for someone, as I did for her as I watched her cry. She begged me. I couldn't so much as budge Kid away from his alcohol.
Days continued on. Race, Jack, and Bumlets each experienced encounters with Intuition as she asked about Kid. We all lied. Told her he was doing okay. Told her that he was just getting over being sick and soon enough he'd come to see her. I just didn't have the heart to tell her that slowly Kid was drinking himself to death.
He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away her memory
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees
We found him with his face down in the pillow
With a note that said I'll love her 'til I die
And when we buried him beneath the willow
The angels sang a whiskey lullaby.
It was April 17, the night Kid didn't return home. I thought I was the only one up waiting for him. But I was wrong. Slowly, sometime past twelve, Race rose and came over to my bunk. He told me it would be a good idea, to just maybe check the closest bar, where Kid liked to go and drink at night. I had to agree with him, comforted by the fact that I wasn't the only one who stayed up at night waiting for Kid. Together we both exited the lodging house to discover that they were being followed by Jack, who was also concerned about Kid. No words were needed as we rounded the corner. A tiny alley had swallowed a whole body minus the leg of a boy, who now lay bootless. Panic rushed through my body, as I ran to the boy and turned his now cold motionless body over. The single eye patch told us who he was. In his hand clutched tightly, was a note.
"I'll love her 'til I die." was scrawled messily, smudged by his hands.
La la la la la la la La la la la la la la. La la la la la la la La la la la la la la.
The funeral was about three days after we found his body. It was my job to go down to Medda's to tell Intuition what had happened. Medda pulled me aside and told me that Intuition had drank at least half of the bars whiskey, and to see if I could make her come around. The news I brought was not good. She sat in her room waiting, staring out the window when I opened the door. She hoped that Kid was with me. Instead I came alone. I told her what happened. But I left out the details of how the once full bodied, muscular Kid Blink was now nothing more then a scrawny boy whose hands and feet just looked to big for him. I hugged her then waited in the hallway as she dressed down in black clothing. As we exited the building, I nodded a solemn goodbye to Medda. We walked to the small cemetery, where we could barely afford to bury our longtime friend and brother. Intuition stood on the other side of the coffin, and avoided looking at us. She cried silent tears of pain. We all knew she blamed herself, but we knew it wasn't her fault. Girls of all ages worked the streets, it was far to hard to bring in money through a factory job, but prostitution worked well for fast and quick money, if you were attractive. But nothing we could do was enough to console the girls' already wounded heart.
The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself
For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath
She finally drank her pain away a little at a time
But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind,
Until the night.
I began attending Medda's nightly. To watch over Intuition, Kid would have wanted it that way. She was always flushed red, the smell of whiskey strong on her breath. She smoked who knows how many cigarettes to try and hide it. She worked harder then I had ever thought possible. I heard newsies talk about her on the streets. They all knew her as Kid's girl. Yet, no one would talk about how sad she was or how thin she had become. Slowly and eventually, the liquor began to burn her insides like acids.
It was about 6 months later, when I came to Medda's for my last time. I bought time to see Intuition, I was told to go to her room. I knocked on the door, and with no answer I entered. I found Intuition face down in the bed. Clinging to the picture from the strike. A heart drawn around Kid's face. I closed my eyes as the tears began to fall.
She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away his memory
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength she had to get up off her knees
We found her with her face down in the pillow
Clinging to his picture for dear life
We laid her next to him beneath the willow
While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby.
Medda paid for the funeral. We buried her next to Kid. The tombstone small matching his own. As we left the funeral that evening. I laid two roses I had stolen, one on each grave. I inhaled deeply, the smell of fresh soil stung my nose. It was an unusually warm night. I glanced up at the stars and wiped my eyes. I kissed each tombstone softly and then met up with Race, together we walked away. As we sang our own lullaby.
La la la la la la la La la la la la la la.
Instrumental -
La la la la la la la La la la la la la la.
Instrumental -
La la la la la la la La la la la la la la.
La la la la la la la La la la la la la la...