Mizu-chan's Note: Aah.. here's yet another update of the Story of Uhm!  I'm not feeling too well because a friend of mine told me my writing sucked horribly.  I'm sorry, guys!  .!!  Let me know some of the many ways I can improve!

Kaylee ~ Thanks for always reviewing!  ^_^!  I hope you like this new part!

Geometrygal ~ Hehe, I'm glad you think Spot and Uhm should be together!  I love Blink, too.. but you're right, he just doesn't work!  Thanks for the review!!

Kate ~ Thanks so much for reviewing!  It's all right if you don't always review.. just as long as you read my story and enjoy it!  Thank you very much!!

Alexeil ~ I know I was mad at Denton too!  But someone had to do it!  Thanks for the review! ^_^

Ella ~ Thank you for all your kind words!  I'm really glad you are enjoying the Story of Uhm.  And here's the ninth part!!

"I knew it! He was lying!" Blink growled out, glaring at Denton. The boy then raced for the door, hoping to catch up to Selece and the man who had taken her. But Blink was too late. He rushed outside, glancing around quickly for any sight of Raymon and Selece but found none. With a growl, Blink raced for the lodging house, not even looking back as Denton shouted to him.

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"I swear! Dey musta cheated! Da horse was in the back and den three seconds lata, he wins! I ain't neva goin' to da tracks again. I'm gonna bet on dog races from now on!  I promised to take Kaylee out tonight and I don't have any money!  What am I gonna say to 'er?! Huh!?" grumbled Race. He crossed his arms, looking pouty. Once again, he had went to the early morning races and decided to sell only sell the afternoon edition of the papers. They weren't out yet but he had left the tracks early because of "cheaters".

"Maybe they drugged da horse," joked Jack. Of course he, Les and David had sold off all their papes early. And of course Dave didn't want to do anything exciting.

"Dey probably did!" yelled Race, his face growing red.

"Shaddup, Race. You just stink at bettin'," grumbled Spot. He was getting antsy. The only people at the lodging house were he, Race, Jack, Les and David. He wanted to go out searching for Selece and Blink. Who knew what they were doing? And from what he had seen, Selece had formed a pretty good friendship with Blink. Plus she had left pretty angry this morning. The boy grumbled some incoherent curses and moved around in his chair.

Race glared at Spot but as soon as Spot glared back, Race averted his eyes.

The four males then fell to silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Race was still thinking about the 'rigged' race and Kaylee while Jack was busy worrying about Spot. David, well, we're just not gonna go there. Les was still playing with his wooden sword. And Spot was having fun playing "10 Ways to Soak a Boy with a Patch" in his mind.

"Hey, Spot! Ow! What da hell was dat for?!" screamed Blink. He had just raced around the corner to give Spot some very important news and the Brooklyn newsie had punched him! Blink stumbled back, holding his soon-to-be bruised eye.

"Oh, whoops, I didn't see ya dere," Spot said with a shrug. He stepped over to Blink, patting him on the shoulder. "C'mon, you know dat didn't hurt."

"Yeah, sure, it didn't hurt," Blink said, taking his hand away with a wince.

"Now, were you gonna say something?"

"Yeah! Uhm's father came and took her!"

Spot blinked, not catching on, "But she dun got a father."

"Dat's why it's important!"

Spot blinked again, glancing over to Jack then back to Blink, "Guess she's not gonna be a newsgoil no more."

"You gonna head back to Brooklyn then, Spot?" asked Jack, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, I guess so," Spot replied, trying to keep his voice in its normal tone. But he knew he was going to miss Selece a lot.

"What da hell?" Blink grabbed Spot by the shoulders, shaking him. "Doncha get it?! Uhm dun got no father but some big man named Raymon took her saying he was her father!"

Spot blinked, finally catching on, "Oh, shiet!" he shoved Blink's arms off of him then raced from the lodging house. He was halfway down the street before he turned back and returned to the lodging house. "Where he take her, Blink?"

"I dunno, he didn't say."

"What good are you?!" Spot yelled. He punched the Manhattan newsie in the gut, glaring at him before racing back out of the lodging house.

"Maybe the jockey was paid off," mused Race as his friend Blink slowly crumpled to the floor. David did his annoying, nervous laugh and Jack grumbled to himself before dashing out after Spot.

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"Here. You can sit here."

"I'll stand."

Raymon smirked, he patted the girl on the shoulder, laughing as she winced, "Yer shoulder wouldn't be hurtin' right now if you hadn't been such a pest during the walk."

"Shut up."

"Little girls should learn to hold their tongues," Raymon reprimanded her.

Selece rolled her eyes. "And little boys should learn to never be as stupid as you."

Raymon growled, slamming the palm of his hand against Selece's soft cheek. He grabbed hold of her shoulders, dragging her closer to him. "This is what I hate about you, Selece! You're a quiet little angel when you first meet someone and then you have to become comfortable around them and act like this! Stay like an angel all the damn time!"

"I'll try, Raymon. Really, I will," Selece replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Raymon growled again, shoving her down into the chair. "So, Raymon, isn't it time you tell me your motive for all this?  I mean, I really don't think you went through all that trouble just to get me." Selece crossed her arms; mimicking the expression Spot had worn the time David Jacobs had tried to get him to join the strike.

"Well, yer right.  I didn't kill yer mother because I needed someone new." Raymon's face lit up. He rubbed his hands together like a five-year-old boy just itching to open his presents. "Yer mother was getting old, she wasn't racking in too much money. That was pretty obvious, eh?" Raymon chuckled before continuing, "But it was still alot more money then I, a hard worker at a respectful factory, earned. That's when it hit me. Yer mother was a independent harlot because she never wanted to work at the whore house."

Selece wanted to jump up, beat him, do something! He was talking so cheaply of her mother. Sure, she had a terrible profession but she did it because she was a single mother who needed money. And she tried so hard, too. But Selece kept herself calm, waiting for him to finish.

"But she never said she wouldn't want to work for me so I struck up a deal with her. She'd work for me; we'd spilt the earnings 50/50. But she said no."

"Wonder why," Selece smirked. "Why would she work for you and give you half of her earnings when she had been fine working by herself for years?"

Raymon paused, stumbling around for an answer. Unable to find one he just continued on with his story, ignoring her, "So, I killed her. No, no, I didn't kill her. I tortured her. It's amazing," he grabbed Selece's chin roughly in his hands, jerking it up. "You can't tell the difference between murder and sex?"

"I'm going to kill you!" screamed Selece, jerking her chin away. She had tried so hard to remain calm, not to let this idiot control her emotions. But when he had said he tortured her, her mother. The womyn who had just been working an extra day so they could pay the electrical bills Selece had snapped. A dam broke and soon tears were gushing down her chin.

"No, that's not what I was planning.  Yer not gonna kill me. Sorry, darling."

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"Okay, Spot," Jack wheezed, leaning against the doorway. "Why are we here again?"

"To find Uhm," Spot growled. He glared at Jack, thinking the Manhattan newsie must be stupid to not have caught onto that one yet.

"Yeah, Spot," Jack said, finally regaining his breath. He stepped into the room Spot had just entered glancing around in the darkness. "But how is comin' to Uhm's apartment gonna help? I dun think dat Raymon guy was coming here."

"Close da door, people will get suspicious," Spot ordered, leafing around the room. He paused as complete darkness fell as the door was shut. "Open da door again, I guess."

Jack rolled his eyes; he stumbled through the tiny apartment. Finally, he pulled the blinds to the window open. Bright sunlight streamed in, "It ain't even time fer da afternoon edition yet so it's still sunny, Spot."

Spot looked up, blinking, "Oh, yeah, of course. What do ya take me for? The village idiot?"

Jack bit his tongue, deciding to just not answer that one. Although he knew the last time Spot had been in this apartment he had most likely not even thought of opening the blinds. "Yeah, I mean, no. Anyways. What we gonna find here dat's gonna find Uhm?"

"In Uhm's mother's type of work, she'd have to have all da adresses of her.. um, customers somewhere. So, we gonna find da addresses and look up Raymon."

"Pretty sharp, Spot," Jack grinned. "So, where are all da adresses?"

"Dat's da big trouble.. I dun know where they are."

Jack rolled his eyes. He then set to work searching for any and all books that might contain addresses.

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"Now, see, I thought that I could get you to work for me. Would you like that, Selece? Of course, seeing how much trouble you caused me, I'd have to take all the earnings. It's only fair, right?"

Selece furiously rubbed at the tears that were still coming. She wanted desperately to make some smart remark but she couldn't. She couldn't even find her voice to cry. Silent tears simply came and went without a sound.

"I'll let you pick yer first customer but then I choose the rest. Is that all right with you, Selece? Maybe we should get you a flashier name."

"I'm not going to work for you, Raymon. Are you that blind? Your plan would be so simple to foil. It's making me laugh right now," Selece muttered, finally regaining power of herself.

"Why? What's so wrong with it?" Raymon questioned, peering innocently at Selece.

Selece smacked herself on the forehead, "I.. I can't stand this. You did actually have me frightened at the newspapaper office but now I can only wonder how many times you were dropped as a child. Do you lose brain cells the more you speak or something?" Selece stood up, rolling her eyes. She headed for the door.

"Wait a minute!" Raymon growled, he lunged for the girl. Selece screamed out as his body weight dragged her to the ground. She should have known better then to get cocky. Raymon was certainly an idiot but he was also big. He also had a temper. "I don't want some little sixteen year old brat telling me that I'm the idiot!" Raymon screamed into her ear, Selece whimpered thinking that her ribs would break any second. Raymon got off, jerking her up harshly. "Yer going to work fer me and I'm gonna get alot of money! Did you understand that?!"

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"Heh, look at dis, Jacky-boy. It's her journal!" Spot fingered through the pages. He smirked, watching the handwriting change with the years. He finally stopped and flipped back to the first page. "Deer Poison, Hi, ma name is Selece. Ma mummy said I goota write in dis. I dun know why. Who I writin' to?"

Jack rolled his eyes as Spot read the first entry in the girls journal, "Why are you wastin' so much time, Spot? I mean, c'mon. I dun even like da goil and I'm workin' harda den you!" Jack threw a nearby pillow at his friend before returning to search under the bed.

"Yeah, yeah," Spot grumbled, he closed the journal but kept it close by. He wanted to read it after they got Selece back. Spot then smirked as he felt another book deep within one of the drawers in the dresser. He pulled out a small black book, similar to Seleces journal. "I found it!"

"Wow! You actually did something useful!" Jack exclaimed.

"Aw, shaddup, Jacky-boy," Spot mumbled, flipping through the book. "Let's see, Raymon, Raymon.."

"Gimme dat," Jack spoke, snatching the book from Spot's hands. He quickly flipped to the R section then returned it to Spot. "Dere. Dat's a lot easier."

Spot puffed out his cheeks, wondering if Jack was going to make a crack. Seeing the Manhattan leader wasn't, Spot quickly scanned through the R page. "Oh, shiet. Dere's two Raymons."

"I'll go ta one, you go ta da other."

"I was gonna say dat, Jacky-boy," grumbled Spot. He then placed his finger on the first Raymon, "I got 'im."

"I get da second one then," Jack said, quickly remembering the address. Jack didn't want to admit it but he actually was a bit nervous. Every time he had gone to Brooklyn, he had been with some other newsies. Now he had to go by himself. That girl had better be very thankful when he saved her.

"Meet back at da apartment in half of an hour, got it?" Spot commanded, no fear in his voice. Well, of course, he was the Brooklyn leader after all.

"Uh huh," muttered Jack. He couldn't say anything else for fear Spot would be able to hear his fear. Jack then dashed out of the apartment, offering a quick bribe to God. "God, if ya get me through Brooklyn wit' no one attackin' me, I'll stop stealin' my goilfriend's tomata's. I swear!" Jack then disappeared down the stairwell.

Spot smirked, hearing Jack even though he had tried to be quiet. Jack's little prayer helped to inflate Spot's ego a bit. Jack was scared and he wasn't. Ain't he just so tough? Spot let out an arrogant laugh, slipping Selece's journal into his pocket before also racing down the stairwell.

Will Jack make it through Brooklyn?

Who will find Selece?

And.. will Jack truly stop stealing Sarah's tomatoes?!

Find the answers to these troubling questions in the next part of..

THE..

STORY..

OF..

UHM!!!!!