Maddy opened her eyes with a groan, blinking past the bright sunlight filtering in through the bunkroom windows. She pushed herself up to take stock of the damage and saw liquor bottles laying on the floor, clothes draped over furniture and more than one boy sleeping on the floor. Heaving a sigh, Maddy got out of her bunk and moved silently across the room to the bathrooms.
Halfway there, she stopped suddenly. She did a quick double-take and glanced back towards Spot's bed. There was a girl in it. Maddy remembered that the girl had been fawning over Spot all evening, so the girl – what was her name? Olivia? – must have gotten what she wanted. Maddy stared for a moment, before she realized someone else was awake.
"You gonna move or what?" The voice came from across the room so Maddy looked that way and caught the eyes of her second best newsie, Tipper. She threw a dirty look his way and moved on to the bathroom.
Later that morning
"Gotta keep those boys in line, Spot. If I have to fend off one more drunken advance I'm gonna go crazy in that room."
"They don't think of you the same way I do, if they just knew that you were really a boy at heart they'd never be caught dead near ya." Spot said, glancing over the side of the bridge.
Maddy quickly looked over the railing as well, feeling a bit hurt at the assumption. "I'm no boy! I may not wear dresses or paint my face but I'm still a girl. You got no manners Spotty, to talk like that in the presence of a lady."
Spot let out a quick snort and smirked at the word 'lady'. "Don't be stupid, kid. Ain't no one in the whole of New York City who would believe you're a lady."
Maddy rolled her eyes in Spot's general direction before taking off at a run. "See ya in Manhattan!"
He took off after her with a grin on his face, determined not to let her win another race. They flew off the bridge and ran neck and neck through the crowded streets before Maddy pulled ahead and rounded the corner to the Manhattan lodging house ahead of Spot. When he took the corner, he ran head first into the girl and they crashed to the ground, rolling a few times before settling down side by side. Maddy sat up quickly and looked down at her best friend.
"Was that necessary? We both know I was gonna win."
"Thanks for all the concern Maddy, I probably just broke my neck or somethin'. Who stops just around a corner anyway? Recipe for disaster right there." Complained Spot, still laying on the ground.
"There were some real creepy lookin' guys standing together near the lodging house… They saw me run 'round the corner so they split up. I stopped because they didn't look like no newsies." Maddy stood up and reached down to give Spot a hand up.
He quickly brushed the dirt off his trousers and walked over to the steps of the narrow brick building, Maddy close behind. They both stopped when they saw the crimson letters painted on the door.
Where is she?
The door flew open and Maddy jumped, startled at the sudden movement.
"Heya guys! I thought we were meeting this afternoon? What brings you here so early?" Jack Kelly stood in the doorway, looking between the two shocked Brooklyn newsies. Spot quickly motioned to the door and Jack turned around and took a step back to read the message.
"Shit. You guys see who did this?" he asked.
"I just saw a bunch of shady lookin' characters standing around the stoop, but they left when we came around the corner. I couldn't tell ya who they were, never seen 'em before." Maddy explained, glancing off in the direction some of the men had gone.
"Well, let's get inside. I'll ask one of the boys to clean this off." Jack said, looking solemnly at the door.
The three filed into the house without a word. Spot took out a pack of cigarettes and he and Jack took one each. Maddy waved off the offer and led the way upstairs to the bunkroom. It was deserted for the moment and Maddy secretly heaved a sigh, knowing that they wouldn't have to include all the boys in on their discussion.
"I sent them all out for the afternoon, couldn't let them all stay here. Some of 'em don't even know what's going on and I want to keep it that way while we get it sorted out." Jack said.
"Good call Cowboy, it's best if we get this under control quickly. Who knows?" Spot took a seat on one of the empty bunks. Maddy quickly sat beside him, leaning against one of the posts.
"Not many. Just Race and Davey for now. They were with me when the first one was found on the steps. I had to pull rank real quick and start stepping out the door first thing so no one would find them. I mean, we thought the first one may have been a mistake – meant for someone else y'know? But I realized he had been hanging around the distribution centre for a couple days. Not long enough to really know who he was. The rest have been the same, we know who they are but not real well." Jack pushed his hair back and sat on the bunk across from Maddy and Spot.
"So you been out with any girls recently? Anyone that would piss someone off? It seems to me they think you're hiding someone, some girl." Spot said.
"Nah, Sarah and I have been on the outs but there ain't been no one else."
"Maybe you wanna ask your boys who they been hangin' around with… maybe one of 'em is screwing around with the Mayor's daughter or something." Spot shrugged.
Maddy finally spoke. "Nah, they're looking for someone, right? Where is she… Has there been anything in the papes about missing girls or anything lately?" Spot and Jack both looked at Maddy and then each other.
"Mads, you know they could never report all the missing girls in New York City. The whole paper would be full of it." Spot said. He and Maddy shared a look, before she lowered her eyes and looked back over to Jack. Sometimes she forgot that she was one of those missing girls to someone.
It wasn't often that Maddy thought about her old life. It had been rough, living in Hell's Kitchen. Around the time she left, the gangs were starting to form together and create one big gang to mess with the police. Officers rarely came through Hell's Kitchen and all sorts of trouble went down in the neighbourhood. Maddy spared a brief thought for her brother, who she had left behind in the Kitchen. He was just two years younger than her and she hoped he hadn't joined the Gophers. They were a mean group of Irish thugs who expected everyone to bow down for them. Her dad started hanging around with them and became unbearable to be around. Her mom thought it meant the family would be safe, but it just brought more trouble for the kids. Maddy was only seven when she left but the men who trapped her in alleys and took advantage of her weakness never gave her any peace. She supposed it was ironic that ten years later she spent all her time around boys and wasn't even friends with any girls.
Maddy couldn't spare a single thought for her father, who knew what was going on and didn't put a stop to it. She felt the same about her mother, who never even tried to create a better life for the family. Her mother hadn't been brave enough, but Maddy was. She knew that if you wanted a better life then you had to get it for yourself. A newsie life wasn't exactly the dream, but it was better than Hell's Kitchen.
"So who is she?" Maddy asked, quickly recovering from her thoughts.
"I'll ask around to the boys. In the meantime… I was hoping you'se could offer some sort of protection. I know it's got nothin' to do with you guys but—" Jack was cut off by Spot.
"And how are we supposed to do that? Follow every little kid that's set foot in your house? That's too big a job Cowboy, we ain't got those resources."
"Listen, we can't handle this by ourselves. We cover a huge area but we get along pretty well with everyone, y'know? I want to go around to the other sellin' areas and talk to their guys too but we need you on board first." Jack explained.
Spot motioned for Jack to give the two a moment and he quickly left the room.
"Spot, this is serious. Kids are getting killed and Manhattan needs our help. It's not just gonna be us, you know he just wants your word to get everyone else on board." Maddy leaned close, knowing how to get through to Spot. "He wants Brooklyn because he knows how powerful you are."
Spot leaned back and gazed at Maddy. "How can we protect those kids? They're not like the kids we take in in Brooklyn. They're not as tough and that's why they're gettin' picked off. Cowboy's too soft on 'em and now he wants us to pick up the slack? Nothin' doin' dollface."
"We can't just let them die. We were like them once, y'know? Runnin' away from something, just trying to find a spot to fit in. Manhattan's got a different way of treating their newsies, but it doesn't mean they're wrong. Don't let more kids die just because you don't like how Cowboy runs his show." Maddy grabbed Spots hand and tilted her head. "They need our help."
"Why ya gotta be all reasonable, Mads?"
Walking back to Brooklyn
"It's gonna take a while for the word to get around. I hope all the other leaders can let their kids know not to be walkin' around late at night or nothin'." Maddy was leaning up against the railing of the Brooklyn Bridge. They were taking one last moment to talk before heading into their borough and breaking the news.
"It's gonna be hard. We may be leaders but you know these boys go around and do what they like. We're not their mothers or nothin'." Spot took a drag off his cigarette and blew smoke out. Maddy grabbed it and took her own mouthful of smoke.
"I still don't really understand what's actually happening… Who were those men? Do they really think one of the Manhattan newsies are holding some girl hostage or something? It just don't make sense."
"It ain't up to us to know, we've just gotta protect ourselves and help those boys get to the bottom of it. We ain't no detectives." Spot reasoned.
"And here I thought this was going to be a quiet summer." Maddy took off her hat and let her blond locks fly in the wind. Spot put a hand on her face and grinned at her.
"Nothin' ain't ever quiet when you're around."
Wow, so I just recently rediscovered this story and was totally sucked in again. I hope someone out there is still interested! I promise the next chapter won't take quite as long!