wow, its been awhile. sorry guys. i think i might have to get rid of Dunder somehow to give mustang the coolest horse ever: a gypsy cob. the things are huge and the most gorgeous horses ive ever seen(besides my mares) anyway... oh yeah, please dont get mad at dutchy in this first bit, i for one, think its funny


Mustang was woken by the sound of feet above her. She opened her eyes to find herself on the floor of her room, wrapped in Dutchy's arms.

"Hey," she whispered, "sun's up now, think yeh can get up?" He opened his eyes and studied her for a moment.

"I guess. Think I'd rather stay here all day though." He kissed her forehead.

"Very funny. Papes don't sell themselves."

"Fine." He sat up and stretched. "We might want to put the floorboards back though." Mustang laughed.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea." So they returned all of the stuff into the hole in the floor, except Mustang's bag, and replaced the floorboards. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to change."

"No, I don't mind." He leaned against a wall and crossed his arms.

"You're such a guy! Get out!" she laughed, pushing him out the doorway. "If I had a functioning door, I'd slam it!" She set the still broken door in her doorway. She changed into her blue plaid shirt and tied her hair back. She placed her hat on her head and the letter in her pocket, just in case. She joined the newsies as they left the lodging house and made their way to the distribution office. Jack employed help from Racetrack to put the Delancey brothers in their place today, as he was a bit messed up himself. Race didn't mind.Mustang was standing with Dutchy and Kid Blink, looking over the headlines, when Race came up to them, smoking a cigar.

"Mustang, you heard about dis guy down at da racetrack?" She shook her head. "Don't talk to nobody much, but he knows da horses. Doesn't bet himself, but tells odas who ta bet on." Mustang really didn't see what he was getting at. Neither did anyone in the small crowd that had gathered. "Da thing is, he just appeared outta nowhere, nobody knows nothin about him. So dere's sort of dis challenge goin. I told some a da guys I knew someone who might be interested. Whaddaya think?"

"What sort of challenge?"

"Walk wid me. I'll explain on da way." So Mustang followed Racetrack to the racetrack(that sounds funny...), escorted by Dutchy, Blink, and a number of others who were interested. "So heah's yer challenge. Dere's a rumor dat dis guy used ta be some sorta rattlesnake handler. Dey say he was only bit once, an he killed dat snake an kept its rattle. Den when another snake was bein difficult, he'd use da rattle tascare dem. Yer mission is simple. Get da rattle."She considered for a moment, then nodded. "I got 10 cents sayin she ain't gettin it. Anyone else bettin?" Everyone placed their bets, Racetrack somehow changing his to say she would get it. Dutchy put 5 cents on her, Blink 3. Snoddy had 4 cents on her coming back empty handed, supported by a few others.

"Alright, I'll let you handle dis. Where is dis guy?" Racetrack pointed to a secluded corner right near the start gate where a man sat. Mustang made her way over and sat down near him. He was very tall and wore a long, light brown coat that was very dirty. His head was covered with a darker brown bowler hat, showing only a small amount of very dark blonde hair. The hat was big on him, so his face washidden. Next to him was a walking stick with a handle shaped like asnake head. She guessed that at one point, it had very fine detail, but now it was worn smooth. "Hiya dere."

"Hello. Heah for some bettin advice?" His voice had a very subtle hint of a southern accent that was mostly covered by an obvious New York one. She sat down next to him.

"Eventually. I'm also curious." He turned to face her. "I heard yeh know who's gonna win almost every race." He smiled.

"I guess you could say dat."

"Got a secret to it?"

"Nothin anyone who know horses couldn't do." They watched the horses being loaded into the gate for a moment. "Yeh know anythin about em?"

"Oh yeah, lots!"

"Alright. Look at em an tell me who wants it." Mustang carefully studied the face of each horse. "Now tell me who's gonna win." After another minute, she pointed to the second, a flashy chestnut horse named Show Biz. The man shook his head. "Look closer at da ninth. Bring Me ta Life." Mustang studied the horse's eyes. "Dat's who I told everyone who came ta me ta bet on today. Half of em won't. Most of em'll probably bet on Show Biz. But he ain't winnin. He's da favorite, and he has da advantage of bein right dere by da rail, but Bring Me ta Life, no one's eva seen him run before. He wants it, yeh can see it in his eyes. His an his jockey's. He's a young kid, but I've bin watchin him an dat horse. Dey'll do anythin fer each otha." The pistol sounded and the horses took off. Despite herself, Mustang flinched at the sould of the gun shot. The man noticed, but didn't say anything. As the finish line drew nearer for the horses, Show Biz pulled ahead. Mustang looked up at the man sitting beside her, expecting him to be worried, but he was smiling. She looked back and saw Bring Me to Life in almost the back. Around the last turn, The dark bay horse with the green clad jockey gained a new energy. He suddenly flew past the others and caught up to Show Biz. They were coming down the final stretch and it looked like it would be close. Then number nine's jockey stopped holding back. He gave the horse complete control and they crossed the finish line seven paces in front of Show Biz. Mustang was amazed.

"That was unbelievable!"

"Nah, just unexpected. Now, I have a feelin you's heah fer more den just bettin."

"Yeah, see a friend of mine heard some stories about you. Something about rattlesnakes." The man laughed.

"News sure travels fast round heah, don't it? Yeah, I lived out west a good long time. I was bit by a rattlesnake when I was fourteen. I managed ta kill it, but it messed up my right leg pretty bad. Dis farmer found me an knew a thing er two bout snake bites an took care a me. He brought da snake too, cause he wanted ta ask me how da heck I killed it. Thing was, I didn't know, I just did. Yeh don't mind hearin all dis, do ya? I don think it's why yeh came."

"Oh no! It's really interesting. Please, go on."

"Well, as a souvenier I guess yeh could call it, I took his rattle and strung it on an old boot lace." He held out the necklace he wore. Mustang's eyes grew wide. So it was true. "Afta I left da farm, I knew Iwas headin ta New York, but I wasn't walkin very good and I didn't have any money or anythin. So I took this job at a big farm an found out I had a knack fer handlin snakes. So I stayed dere awhile, messin wid snakes an trainin horses. Dat's da otha thing I was pretty good at. Anythin dat had ta do wid horses. Well, someone stoppped by an was interested in da snake bit. Told me he was on his way ta New York wid dis street act he'd put together. Wanted ta know if I was interested. I said sure. So, we got heah an went around performin street magic an da likes. Bout a month ago, da guy dat had put it all togetha was messin wid one a my snakes an got himself bit. It killed im. So, da rest of us went our seperate ways. I ended up heah. An dat's it." He sat there rubbing the rattle around his neck. "Any chacne yeh wanna take dis? Dere's a memory attached to it I need ta get rid of."

"I guess. If you're sure." He nodded and slipped the shoelace over his head. "I'll trade yeh fer a newspaper." She pulled a paper from under her right arm and handed it to him and kept her left hand extended. He lowered the rattle into her hand. For a moment, he stared at it. Then he looked up and met her eyes with his blue ones and stared at her for a moment. "Something wrong?" He shook his head and looked away. She stood and turned, the rattle clenched in her fists. "I'll see yeh tomorrow?"

"Sure." She ran outto the other newsies.

"Hey guys, guess what I got?" She proudly held out the rattlesnake rattle threaed with a bootlace. It lay over the scar across her left palm.


tada. tell me what you think. and if you have any ideas on mysterious horse racing rattlesnake guy. carryin da bannah!