New York Royalty
By: PrinceOfNewYork
Chapter Twenty-Three: A Whole Lot Can Happen in Two Months
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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Winter soon passed, as did spring, leading all too quickly to summer, the season Prince was not looking forward to. Avalanche said he wouldn't leave until the end of summer, so Prince kept hoping that summer would last forever.
It soon came near the end of July meaning Avalanche was only going to be around for one… maybe two more months? He was already making arrangements for where he was going to go, what he was going to do and everything. Prince just… made herself disappear when he did that, but other than that they were together, as always.
Prince and Avalanche were out one night, just walking around Queens for no apparent reason. They did that from time to time, especially recently. It was nice, they were bored, they went for a walk… better than sitting and doing nothing.
"Where are you headed anyway?"
"Virginia. Headin' south, and gonna see if I can find a… decent job down dere."
"Got anythin' lined up?"
"Well… dere is dis store dat I applied at… we'll see though… I ain't promisin' nothin'. But dere's all sorts of stuff ta do. Blacksmith, heck maybe I'll even be a journalist or somethin'… what cha think of sellin' my headlines?"
Prince just laughed. "So long as you don't make 'em too borin' and leave plenty of room for… improvement, I think I could handle it jus fine."
Avalanche laughed a long with her until they both fell silent again. It was almost strange between the two of them… like one of them was dying. Well, if Avalanche hadn't said, "I'll write ya. Promise. You'll be hearin' from me. And not via messenger boy either. I intend to mail them!"
That just made Prince laugh again. "Well… any messenger boy who would come from Virginia just to deliver a letter… needs better things ta do with his time."
The two of them slowly walked back up the steps to the lodging house. "You know… I think you'se gonna be alright when I'm gone."
"Glad someone does."
"Hey!" he said. "Quit ya bein' so negative! Smile."
Prince sighed and smiled. "Happy?"
"No, because it's fake… Misprint." She smiled for real that time. "Dat's my goil."
"You'll come back though right?"
"Shoah! An' besides… I ain't leavin' for almost two months. A whole lot can happen in two months."
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"Avalanche! HEY! AVALANCHE!"
Prince and Avalanche brought up the end of the group of newsies as they walked towards distribution. "What do ya want Keys?"
"There's a problem up dere! An' NOBODY'S happy about it!" Keys said.
"What problem?"
"Just… come see for ya self." To be honest, Keys just didn't want Avalanche killing the messenger.
Prince and Avalanche exchanged a nervous glance. As they got closer to the Distribution Apparatus they heard shouting newsies and screaming kids. Adults trying to shout back and calm them down. The two sprung into action.
Avalanche jumped on the ledge beside the adults. "Hey! Hey!"
Prince walked amongst the boys telling them to tone it down, to be calm, and just… get and stay quiet!
Avalanche sighed. "HEY!" he called which echoed around the area, and down the street as well. When the echo subsided he looked at the boys. "What is goin' on here?"
"It's da price! The price of da papahs! They raised it ten cents a hundred! Dat's annuddah penny for every ten papes!"
"Why would dey go an' raise da price of da papes?"
"It don't make no sense!"
"An extra ten cents a hundred! I ain't got dat much! I'm gonna be flat broke in a week!"
"Calm down!" Avalanche commanded them to be quiet. "What's with the price raise?" Avalanche asked the man behind a bared window.
"Sorry, but I don't know. They don't tell us why, they just tell us to raise the price. We don't have a choice."
"So what are we supposed ta do? Starve!" someone shouted.
"I'm sorry boys," the man apologized again.
"So… what do we do?"
"Well… we dun got much of a choice right now. I suppose we should sell, but… dun buy as many papes as normal… we'll figure somethin' out a bit latah… An' if ya dun wanna sell, I ain't gonna make ya. Up to youse."
Avalanche hopped off the ledge and found Prince in the crowed. A few boys went to get papers.
"So… they raised the price of the papers a tenth of a cent per papah?" she asked.
"Which dun make no sense…" he sighed. "Youse gonna sell taday?"
"Not now," she said. "I woulda… but I wanna get to da bottom of dis now. They shouldn't be allowed ta push us around like we's nothin'… we gotta figure out why deir doin' it."
"Yeah, so… what, we go talk ta Billy R. Hearst, and Joey Pulizer about the price raise?"
Prince sighed. There would be no way that they would talk to a couple of newsies about a tenth of a cent. It seemed near hopeless. "Can't we do… something? Anything? Instead of just lying down an' doin' nothin', we should be up on our feet thinkin' of how ta fight back!"
"Got any ideas?" Avalanche asked. Prince thought for a second then shook her head no.
Other newsies didn't sell either that day. But many of them stayed around distribution to hopefully figure out what was going on, and to help think of a plan. They congregated around the fountain outside the gates, where if it got too warm they could at the very least splash water on their faces while they kept thinking. Many of them spent the whole morning there, never leaving, some never even speaking, some listening to others ideas, and some presenting ideas of their own.
It wasn't long before noon came and went, and many newsies who'd gone to get food had returned around one o'clock, but Prince and Avalanche never left the fountain. Prince spoke up and said, "Alright, so… what good is stanin' here doin' us? We could be out sayin' how unfair it is! We hardly had enough money ta begin with, and now dat deir raisin' da price how in da woild are we supposed ta be able to pay for 'em?" However, Avalanche didn't seem to be paying attention to what Prince was saying. "Avalanche?"
"Whose dat look like to you?" he said pointing down the street.
Prince turned to see what he was talking about. "Three boys waving their arms around…"
"It's… Skittery, Specs, and Bumlets… what are they doin' all the way ovah heah? Deir Jack's kids." The two of them waved back to signal that they could stop flailing, and just get there quick.
The boys came to an abrupt stop in front of Prince and Avalanche. "What are youse three doin' out heah?"
"Well, youse hoid about the price increase right?" Bumlets said, almost completely out of breath.
"How could we not? Ten cents a hundred is a bit hard to miss," Prince said sarcastically.
"The current question is… what are we doin' about it?" Avalanche added. "So far we ain't got an answer."
"Well, dat's why we're here," Specs explained. "Jack sent us to give youse da message. Da newsies in Manhattan have already started, and we got messengers-"
"You mean, Am-bastards?" Bumlets asked which made the other two boys chuckle, but Prince and Avalanche didn't get it.
"Right, well… their goin' all over da city spreadin' da news. We's goin' on strike."
"What, you mean like the trolley woikers?" Avalanche asked.
Skittery nodded. "Just like 'em. We's got a union now an' everythin'. Dere is dis boy Davey, and he knows a lotta bout dis strikein' business, so he's givin' us a hand. We jus need ta get all da newsies in New York ta join us. What ya think?"
Prince glanced at Avalanche, who, she could tell was seriously considering the matter. "Give me a minute," he said and took Prince under his arm and turned her away from the three boys, as well as the Queens newsies, and away from the fountain as well. "What do you think?"
"Me? What ya askin' me for?"
"Because ya gonna be the leadah here soon, an' I want your opinion."
Prince had to think about it. "Well… I trust da Manhattan boys… do you?"
"Yeah," he said nodding. "They usually come up with some good ideas. Jack… usually knows what he's doing." He just hoped this wasn't one of the times when Jack was just rushing them all into something without thinking it through.
"We gotta think about it though," she said. "I mean… if we don't join then… the boys'll still make money, but most of them will go broke first…" and that didn't seem like a good outcome. "But if we do join then… we can pool our money, just eat at the lodging house more often, and… who knows, we might win if we cause enough trouble?" Prince said to him.
Avalanche nodded to her with a smile. "I like the way youse thinkin'," he said nodding.
"But we can't just tell da Queens boys we're goin' on strike. They gotta be willin' to."
Avalanche nodded. "I can handle dat." He moved back through the sea of boys, and hoisted himself up onto the ledge of the fountain. The commotion in the area came to a screeching halt.
"Okay boys, here's what's goin' on. Some… messengers from Manhattan told us dat the boys in Manhattan is goin' on strike. What that means is that we don't sell papes, so they don't make any money… but neither do we," he added as a warning. "Now it's up to you. Do you wanna take these prices, or do you wanna do somethin' about it and go on strike?"
The boys were tentative. "Is it just Manhattan?" Wit asked.
Skittery took this question and stood up beside Avalanche on the fountain ledge. "Only for right now, but we gotta get everyone ta help then it won't just be us anymore, it'll be all of 'em."
"What about Brooklyn? Harlem? The Bronx? They doin' it too?" Wit asked yet another question.
Skittery looked to Specs and Bumlets who only shrugged as an answer. "We don't know yet… but we're pretty sure that the more help we can get the better."
Prince's mind got to thinking. If they didn't get every newsie in New York they'd never win. And Brooklyn… Spot Conlon's territory… Spot wasn't just gonna agree to it right off the bat. Maybe this wasn't the best idea after all…
"Here's what I suggest," Avalanche said. "We… wait a day or two. We think about it, and we'll tell Manhattan as soon as we decide, okay?" Avalanche said questioning everyone in the area. This was going to take some serious thought. If they were going into this, they wanted to win. Everyone nodded in agreement with Avalanche's plan.
Skittery, Specs, and Bumlets nodded, agreeing as well. "We'll go back to Manhattan then, and tell Jack what you said," Specs said as Skittery jumped off the fountain ledge.
Prince turned to Avalanche and looked at him, they were both thinking the same thing. Could the newsies - just a bunch of kids, flat broke, no home, no parents, and seemingly no chance – could it be possible that they could the most powerful man in all of New York City?
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Much as I hate to break it to you all… that is the end of the story. Believe me or not… evil place to stop isn't it? Don't worry, the sequel will be coming into play very soon. So you'll be able to continue following the adventures of Prince and Avalanche and all the newsies of New York City! I invite you all to come back for "New York Rebellion." If you like I will personally send you a message when the new story starts. Just put in your review that you want someone to tell you when to come to the next story. I'll send you a link and everything! I think it should be up sometimes between Christmas and New Years, maybe earlier if I get enough of it done. Thanks for reading the first one, and I hope you like the second one. See you in "New York Rebellion!"