Chapter 3
The Lodging House
I walked the cold streets of Manhattan for three and a half days. Spending nights under bridges, or atop of stacks of newspapers, until I came upon the Manhattan Newsboys Lodging House. I was starving and I hadn't had very good sleep in about four days, so I went inside hoping for a job and a place to sleep.
The place smelled of sweat and mildew, it was pretty tidy from where I was standing, but the atmosphere felt empty. I turned my head and saw an old man standing behind a desk so I went up to him.
"Are you the owner of this lodging house, sir?"
"Why yes, yes I am miss. Klopman's the name, what could I do ya for?"
"Could I trouble ya for some food and a place to sleep?"
"No, no trouble at all, the only requirement is though, that you must become a newsie so you can begin to pay for your rent in this place."
"That'll be fine by me, thanks for everything Klopman."
"No problem….um, hey what is your name anyhow."
"Oh I'm sorry, Kate Morrison at your service."
"Nice to meet ya Kate, and welcome to the life of a newsie."
"Thanks again Klopman, by the way, where are all the other newsboys?"
"Oh they're probably out eating or something, they should be back soon though, so you can go ahead and go up and pick your bed."
"Ok, goodnight Klopman."
"Goodnight Ms. Morrison."
I headed up the creaky stairs, opened the first door to my left, but that was just the bathroom so I went to the door on my far right and picked out the bed on the end, the one bed that didn't have clothes or hats laying across it, and jumped right into bed and instantly went to sleep.
Ok I know once again it took me a long time to get this chapter up, but my old computer went kapowee so it took me a long time to get a new 1 which my dad still doesn't know I got but oh well. Anyways now that I have a new computer I will be sure to update more. And thanks again to everyone who reviewed. I LOVE YA GUYS!