New York Royalty
By: PrinceOfNewYork
Chapter Twenty: Humbug
Summary: In the world people are viewed in several different ways. Some are leaders, some are followers, some are somewhere in the middle, and some just get power through possessions. The concept of royalty can take on more than just one form.
Disclaimer: Most of these guys are mine, except for the few that ain't. And, if ya don't know which ones those are then you better go watch Newsies again.
A/N: Alright, this is my first shot at a Newsie fic, but I've been messin' with this character for over a year now, and it's about time she had her story put down (before I completely forget it all!) Thanks a bunch to all of ya who read this!
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"Well… I dunno if youse can sell 500 papes, especially ya foist time. Let's jus try 220 for taday. 110 for me, 110 for you. We'll split da profits 50/50 got a deal?"
"Deal!" Prince agreed as she spit in her hand and shook hands with Avalanche the newsie way.
Each of them paid for 60 cents of it making a total of $1.10 for 220 papers, so, logically they'd have a profit of $2.20, that is, if Avalanche hadn't been half of the partnership.
It was a warm day in New York, and the seasons were right between spring and summer, so no one could complain about the weather, especially the newsies. Blue skies, fair temperature, and great headlines. Life had never been better.
"Now," he said as he walked down the street, "most newsies when dey sell dey go for quantity, I go for quality."
"Quality? What ya mean like… da headline?"
"No, how ya sell da pape."
"So… how ya improve da truth. Da quality of… improvin' ya do?"
"Ya still thinkin' too small Prince. I ain't opened a pape yet, and I bet, dat with ya help, I'se could sell 10 of 'em easy… and not only dat but make a buck doin' it too."
"A dollah? A whole dollah on jus ten papes?
"Sure! Dun ya believe me?"
"Course I do… kinda." Prince didn't see how it was possible, but… maybe?
"Alright, here's da deal. Youse know how ta play sick right?"
"Find me a newsie who dunno how ta play sick, an' I'll teach 'em how. It's da simplest way ta make a buck. Just act like ya got a cold… or really get one, walk up to someone and sell 'em a pape. All in da sympathy."
"Well… den I'se gonna teach ya da best way ta play sick. Foist ya find yaself a partner, in dis case dat'd be me," he said proudly. "Second ya pick someone out… don't mattah if dey already got a pape or not, and in dis case, and in most cases when ya do dis ya wanna look for young couples, or a woman wit' a baby, or somethin' like dat."
"How's come?"
"B'cause deir gonna take one look at us and see deir children some day. Deir gonna pray dat deir kids dun toin out like us, so dey'll give us more money b'cause dey feel sorry for us. It's all in the performance."
"Alright, so let's give dis a try," Prince said tucking her papes under one arm.
"Gonna jump in head foist huh? Alright, you follow my lead, ready?" Prince nodded. "Alright, den let's go." Avalanche put an arm around Prince's shoulders and started walking towards a woman walking through the park pushing a baby carriage.
"Ma'am…" Avalanche said meeting her on the path. "Ma'am… I hate to bother you," his voice sounded tired, and he even looked tired, his face pale, but his eyes still had a small spark of mischief. Prince matched his stance, and made herself look weak as she held one paper in her hand. "Ma'am dis heah is my bruddah, and we're tryin' ta make money sellin' papahs. Our parents would be woikin' but our faddah died of… green cough." Prince threw him a strange look. 'Green cough? What the heck is green cough?' "Our whole family's got it. It's a rare disease, but it's spreadin' fast. Our sistah died b'cause of it too. Please ma'am, could you buy a papah ta help us poor sick kids?"
Prince gazed at the woman's face and was purely shocked. The woman was crying! Tears were coming down her face. The woman looked from Avalanche to Prince and nodded a little. "You poor dears." She opened up her hand bag and pulled out a quarter. Not a penny, nor nickel, not even a dime, it was a quarter! "Here, take this," she said handing it to Avalanche.
"Thank you ma'am, your charity is much appreciated. You have a good day now," he said as he led Prince away and over to a near by tree.
He then stood up straight and leaned against the tree. He put the quarter in his pocket. "And dat is how ta sell a paper when ya thinkin' about quality and not quantity. See… ya think about the sell itself. Newsies who wanna get rid of deir papes in no time jus sell 'em quick as possible. Sure they do a great quantity of papes, but dey don't get much for quality of sale. Youse an' me jus sold one pape, and didn't do a thing wrong."
"'Sept for tellin' a lie. And a big one at dat. We just lied dat lady outta 24 cents!"
"I knew you'd bring morals inta dis. Look, da lady didn't hafta give us dat much. It was just a show. She paid more den she hadta." Prince sighed. "Trust me … there are worse things we's coulda done."
"And one more thing… what is Green Cough?"
"Didn't ya heah me? A rare disease dat's spreadin' fast."
Prince looked at Avalanche for a second. "You made it up, didn't you?"
"Yeah I did," he said with a wide smirk.
"Alright, so whadaya call dat little… humbug youse just performed?"
"Dat would be the Fancy Fake-Sick Sell."
"Quite da name."
"I didn't make it up, dun go thinkin' I did," he said. "An' don't ask who did neither," he added.
Prince laughed. "Alright now dat we's done dat, what's next?"
"Well… far as I can tell we's still got 219 papes, an' do youse wanna do dat again? Here's a hint, say no."
"…no?" Prince said with a shrug, since that was apparently what she was supposed to say. "So, what else are we doin'?"
"Youse come wit' me," he said as he walked away from the tree with his 110 and Prince followed with her 109.
"Where we goin'?" Prince asked.
"Busiest street in Queens!" he said as he came to a cross roads where he had sold his 500 papes earlier.
"Ya gonna teach me how ta do dis?" she asked with a smile.
"Depends on whatcha mean by 'dis'. If ya mean sell a buncha papes with a huge profit, den yeah, I'm teachin' ya dat."
Prince jumped happily. "Really! Ya gonna teach me!"
"Yep! Foist we's gotta get a couple of crates," he walked towards an alley and picked up a crate. "Grab that," he said pointing to a crate. Prince picked it up and carried it out of the alley and sat it beside the crate that Avalanche was carrying. "Now, check out the pape."
"What're we lookin' for?"
"Objects. Big ones, or somethin' real expensive, or somethin' that no one's evah hoid of."
"Sounds easy."
"Or so you'd think," he said.
After about 5 minutes neither one of them had found a thing. "See, told ya it was hard."
"Must jus be a bad day ta find a headline about… stuff."
"Nah… wait! Wait! Here we go! You know what an Automobile is?"
"Ummm… no."
"Well, it says here dat someone… some Ford guy is woikin' on one. It's like a carriage without horses."
"Dat's ridiculous. How do ya make it go?"
"I dunno," Avalanche said. "But if we tell people about it dey'll want one. Trust me, dey'll sell like crazy." He hopped up on top of the crates and laid down his hat. "Now, dey'll throw money at you, and in dat hat, and youse just hand 'em papes. Trust me, dis is how ta do a quantity and quality sale at da same time. Ready?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"No. 1…2… LADIES AND GENTLEMEN MAY I HAVE YA ATTENTION PLEASE!" Avalanche began rambling off statistics, facts (though many of those facts were fiction), and lots of other information, talking so fast that many people could barely understand anything beyond the parts that he said over and over so that people would get that it was expensive, new, and rare. The whole scheme was that there was a paper, and in one of the specific papers there was a ticket that said you won. Well, honestly, there was no ticket, and there was no winning paper, and it was a huge scam, and Prince and Avalanche were the only ones who knew it.
"Hey, kid, gimme the winnin' paper. You know which one it is right? If ya give it to me I'll give ya two bucks." A man offered Prince.
"Deal," she said. She took the two dollars and handed him a paper from somewhere in the middle of the stack. There was no winning paper, and she knew it.
Not even 10 minutes later the stack of papers was gone. Avalanche picked up his hat. "THANK YOU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GOOD LUCK!" He grabbed Prince's wrist and ran.
They both ran for nearly 10 blocks before he pulled her suddenly into an alley way and he sat down on a crate. "Whoo! That was fun," he said with a smile as he opened his hat.
Prince laughed as she leaned against the wall. "Alright, so add the quarter in, we woiked hard for dat quarter."
Avalanche laughed. "Alright…" he started counting up the money. "Grand total: Ten dollahs and seventy-four cents. Which means five dollahs and thoity-seven cents each. Not bad for only havin' ta pay 60 cents dis mornin' huh?"
"Yeah dat's pretty good," she agreed taking her $5.37 from him. "Thanks. So… dat's all da tricks ya know? What's dat one called?"
"Dun have a name."
"Well… how's about somethin' simple? Like… Avalanche's Q and Q?"
"What?"
"Avalanche's Quality and Quantity!"
Avalanche smiled at her. "Yeah, I guess dat woiks."
"Why you teachin' me all dis stuff anyway?"
"B'cause I think it's stuff youse should know. Ya know Dash is leavin' in a week or so… he tell ya?"
"Yeah, I hoid about dat. Said he wants ta get out an' see da country or somethin'."
"Yeah, so I figure incase somethin' were ta happen… youse oughta know da ropes," he said with a smile.
"Good reason. So, I gots a question now."
"A nuddah one?"
"Can I teat YOUSE ta lunch dis time?"
"Finally!" he said looking up at the sky with a smile. "An ta answer ya question… yes."
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And... ta-da! I checked how many chapters are left. After this one I think there's only three left, sorry to dissappoint. But don't just stop reading because it's gonna end! I promise you, you will not be dissappointed in the last few chapters. Anyway, that's all I got for this Friday. Tell me what you think of the chapter, drop me a line and say hello, whatever you wanna do. And I'll see you all on Monday!