They had just said goodbye to Davey and Les, who were being scolded by their mother for staying out so long, and were five minutes away from the boarding house. Jack stopped Dollface suddenly, thinking of something that would have gotten them in trouble.
"Take the sling off," he said, as he helped to untie the knot that was behind her neck. "If Kloppman saw that, he'd know somethin was up. Not to mention we's already an hour later than he thought." Dollface's arm fell from the sling as Jack finished untying it. Pain shot through her arm again as it dangled almost uselessly at her side. Jack saw her grimace and began to worry.
"I just hope we can hide this from Kloppman," he said worriedly, handing her the sling, and she stuffed in her pocket with her good hand. She bent her arm and held it close to her body, supporting it with her other arm.
"We'll be fine," she said, taking deep breaths, not showing any pain. Jack nodded and they began walking again, now behind the rest of the group. They had already begun walking into the boarding house and Dollface and Jack hung back, hoping not to draw attention to her arm or Jack's severe lack of punctuality. But of course, Kloppman saw them, just as they were about to walk upstairs.
"Jack, where were you boys?" he asked. "I thought you would have been back hours ago."
"Turns out it was a good day for papes afta all," Jack said, creating a lie on the spot without hesitation, something Dollface had always admired. "Since it was so snowy, peoples didn't wanna go much past their own houses but they still wanted the news. So we climbed up and down fire escapes, selling papes through people's windows."
"Clever," Kloppman said, still not entirely believing him.
"Then Miss Medda told us to come to the playhouse," he continued. "She felt bad we was outside and let us stay inside and brought us some hot coffee and a little food. She was real nice. That's why we've been out so long. Lost track of time."
"Why are you holding your arm weirdly?" Kloppman asked Dollface. She might as well have had the sling on. She was holding her arm in such an awkward way that it was almost obvious something was wrong. She immediately let go of her arm and let it drop to her side, biting the inside of her mouth as it began throbbing. She then tugged on the end of her sleeve to hide the bandages that covered her hand.
"Oh it's nothin," she shrugged. "Just slipped on some ice earlier, fell a little. It's just a bruise that'll be gone in a few days." This Kloppman seemed to believe.
"Do you see why I didn't want you playing around?" he asked. "Just be glad all that happened was a small bruise. You could have hit your head or sprained an ankle..."
"Or dislocated a shoulder," Dollface thought as it gave another painful throb.
"Yeah, I see what you means," she nodded. She started walking towards the stairs again, eager to get upstairs and away from Kloppman's prying questions. Seeing this, Jack took over the conversation again.
"Well, we's pretty tired," he said. "Gonna go ahead and get upstairs with the othas." And before he could ask anything else, they had retreated upstairs. All around the boys were removing layers, slightly hot from a long trip back and the thrill of sneaking past a suspicious Kloppman. The pain had returned to Dollface's arm, almost as bad as before, as she walked toward her bed. She sat down on Crutchie's bed, gently massaging her wrist.
"Is it still hurtin?" Dollface looked up to see Crutchie standing in front of her, a worried expression on his face. She nodded.
"It's alright though," she shrugged. "It'll be betta soon I think." She began unbuttoning her coat rather awkwardly with her left hand. Crutchie sat down next to her and helped her to take her coat off, easing her bad arm out of it's sleeve. He helped her do the same with her layers of shirts. She thanked him when she was down to her comfortable cotton long sleeve shirt and picked up her clothes, setting them back in their drawer.
She turned around to see Crutchie staring at her arm and realized she had absentmindedly pushed up her sleeves, revealing the bandages that were carefully wrapped around her wrist. He saw her notice this and looked away, wiping his hands on his pants.
"Hey," she said softly, sitting back down next to him. "Everything's fine. We had lots of fun today, got home without Kloppman suspectin anythin, nobody got hurt-"
"You got hurt, Doll," he said, looking up at her.
"But I'm fine now," she said reassuringly. "Davey fixed me up real good. My arm's gonna be fine in a coupla days, you'll see." He nodded a worried expression still on his face.
"When I saw how hurt you was," he said quietly, "I just thought that maybe we shoulda listened to Kloppman. I kept thinkin bout my leg and how the reason its so bad is cuz we didn't get it fixed or nothin. And I didn't know what was gonna happen to you. I couldn't stand the idea of you havin a bad arm. It's bad enough one of us is broken and now you too."
"Hey, you ain't broken," Dollface said. "Your leg is the part that's broken. You got so much more that makes up for it though. You're strong. You could beat any of us in an arm wrestlin game in five seconds flat. You's got a gut instinct that's almost always right. Not to mention you got the biggest heart here. I know that I can count on you." He smiled at her kind words and she gently ruffled his hair.
"Ok well let's get the sling back on," he said, changing the subject. "Don't want your arm to get any worse than it is now."
But just as they were about to tie her arm in the sling again, Kloppman walked in the room announcing dinner. It was going to be very hard to hide this from him. All throughout dinner, Dollface forced herself to use her arm normally, though every move pained her. She tried switching to her left hand to eat when Kloppman wasn't looking but he caught her switching hands a few times. If he suspected anything, though, he didn't bring it up. When they had finally finished eating, Dollface was among the first upstairs, out from under the watchful eye of Kloppman.
"Dollface, please, would you let me look at it?" Jack was asking for the fourth time thirty minutes later. Everyone was off in their own games of cards or marbles and were choosing to ignore yet another fight between Jack and Dollface. Jack saw she was once again in pain but she insisted all was well. They were once again caught in a battle of stubbornness.
"Jack, I'm fine," she said, once again, rolling her eyes. "It just needs time to heal. Leave it alone, and it will." Jack looked at her and then grabbed her bad wrist, lightly squeezing it. Dollface yelled out in pain, and while she was distracted, Jack shoved up her sleeve. He had won this battle.
He began unwrapping the bandages until it revealed her bare skin. It was still very swollen and bruised. The bone that Davey had supposedly popped back into place was still very noticeable. He might as well have not done anything; the long walk home and having to use it normally in front of Kloppman had caused it to slip back out of place.
"Doll, I think we gotta-" Jack started to say, shaking his head, but Dollface ripped her arm away from him and rolled down the sleeve again.
"No," she said sternly. "We don't gotta do nothin. I'm fine. Just give it time to heal. It's my problem to worry about."
"But it ain't!" he said in exasperation. "God, Dollface, when you gonna learn that your problems are our problems?"
"That's exactly what I don't want to happen," she said. "Just cuz I screwed up don't mean we all gotta suffer the consequences."
"But I screwed up too," he said, trying to get her to listen to him. "I shoulda neva let us all go out. I shoulda kept my promise to Kloppman and made us all come back. And now cuz I didn't do that, I'm not the one sufferin. You is. And it's my fault."
Dollface saw the genuine concern in his face. He truly felt guilty for what happened and clearly was just trying to help. She sighed and slowly rolled her sleeve back up, presenting her wrist to Jack. He gently smiled at her and gestured for them to sit on his bed.
"You're not gonna want to hear this," he said, after another minute of examining her wrist, "But I think it's time to tell Kloppman. Obviously what Davey did was only temporary. If your wrist is like this now, I can only imagine what your shoulder's gonna be like too. Let's just come clean and get you fixed up."
"No, I ain't doin that," Dollface said stubbornly. "Look, I'll make a deal wit ya. Let's just wrap up my wrist again and if it ain't any betta by this time tomorrow, we can tell Kloppman."
"Fine," Jack said, beginning to wrap her wrist again. "But I don't like it."
He had just finished wrapping it and was about to argue with her to put the sling back on when Kloppman walked in the room. Jack quickly helped Dollface to roll down her sleeve as Kloppman walked towards the lamp at the far end of the room.
"Ok boys, lights out," he declared. The boys groaned but put away their games regardless and walked towards their beds. "I know that you had a busy day today but I'm just glad everyone is here safe and sound. You just be sure to thank Miss Medda for being so kind to you today."
"What are you talkin-" Racetrack began to say but Jack hastily cut him off.
"Oh don't worry," he said reassuringly, shooting Racetrack a look. "We'll be sure to thank her, won't we fellas?"
Everyone nodded and murmured in agreement not sure what they were agreeing to. Kloppman surveyed the room suspiciously as Dollface crossed over to her bed. She suddenly stopped and stared at the ladder that she would have to climb to get in bed. If Kloppman hadn't been watching, one of the boys would have most likely helped her up. But she was on her own. She winced slightly as she lifted her arm up to grab onto the ladder.
"You alright, Dollface?" Kloppman asked, seeing her struggle. She took a deep breath before responding.
"Yeah, just tired," she said, climbing painfully slow. Everyone was watching her, as she was the last one to get in bed. She gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the stabbing pain in her shoulder but she felt it pop as she finally reached the top and climbed into bed. She let out as involuntary yelp of pain, that Crutchie tried to cover by knocking his crutch over. Kloppman eyed them suspiciously but turned the light out anyway and left the room. Everyone waited a few minutes until they heard the definite sound of Kloppman closing his bedroom door before moving or talking. Then all of a sudden the dark room was filled with noise, everyone talking at once and hopping out of their beds.
"Doll, what happened?" Crutchie asked, jumping up and standing next to her bed.
"My shoulda," she said through her teeth, clutching it with her free hand. "Popped out again."
"It's ok we'll take care of it," Crutchie said comfortingly. "We got this."
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, walking up to them.
"Her shoulda popped out again," Crutchie said. "What should we do, Cowboy?" He was quiet for a moment before answering.
"Ok I'm serious now. We gotta tell Kloppman," he said insistently.
"No! I told you I ain't doin that," Dollface said, looking for his face in the dark.
"Dollface, I think it's time," Racetrack said, walking toward them. "We can't handle this and it's time we admit it."
"I can handle this," she said stubbornly. "I can and I will. All we gotta do is pop it back in."
"Dollface, please just-" Boots said from across the room.
"No!" she said, nearly shouting. They all froze as they heard movement below them and breathed out when it became still again.
"Just someone pop it back in," she whispered. She sat up and moved to crawl down the ladder but cried out in pain. She then felt a pair of arms lift her out of her bed and onto Crutchie's bed below. Even though it was pitch black, she could tell it was Jack.
"Dollface, you's bein stupid now," Crutchie said, sitting next to her. "We gots to get Kloppman's help. This a sure fire way for your arm to get worse. You don't wanna end up like me with a bum limb."
"Well if that happens, I'll be able to sell more papes," she said, ignoring him. "Now who wants to pop it back in?" Her question was greeted by more of the boys trying to reason with her, much to her annoyance.
"Ok well maybe I'll just do it myself," she said to get them to be quiet.
"Fine, I'll do it," Jack said irritably. "I watched Davey do it before so hopefully I can do it right. Someone get the light."
"We can't turn the light on," Racetrack said. "If Kloppman opened his door, he'd see the light and know something was up." Jack sighed heavily but took Crutchie's place next to Dollface on the bed.
"Ok, Doll, just listen to me one more time and then I'll shut up," he said, looking at her. "I've neva done anything like this before, we can't turn the light on, and if we make any kinda noise, Kloppman'll hear. For the last time, are you sure you want to do this?" She reached up with her good arm and grabbed her hat from her bed.
"I trust ya, Cowboy," she said, putting the cap in her mouth. She heard him take in a deep breath and then the room went silent. He placed his hands where Davey had earlier, took another breath, and then jammed her arm upwards. Immediately, though, Dollface knew it hadn't worked. She screamed and was glad she had her cap to muffle the sound. Jack knew too that it hadn't worked.
"Shit, Doll, I'm sorry," he said, panicked. "I'm sorry. I didn't do it right. God dammit!" A few of the boys shushed him as he yelled out in frustration.
"Ok I don't think I can do this again," Jack said more quietly. "I don't think you can do this again, Doll." But Dollface merely shook her head and took the cap out of her mouth with a shaky hand.
"Come on, one more try and then we can give up," she said, gritting her teeth as her shoulder gave painful throbs. "I'll lie down this time, just like when Davey did it."
"Dollface, please-" Jack started saying but Dollface slapped him upside the head.
"Don't you give up on me," she said, lying back. "Just stick with me here." She put her cap back in her mouth and gave a thumbs up to Jack. He shook his head but put his hands on Dollface's arm anyway. Dollface felt his grip on her arm tighten and braces herself as he thrust her arm upward. It gave a sickly pop that told them it had gone back into place. Though she was relieved to have her shoulder back in place, Dollface bit down hard on her cap as tears escaped her eyes. She was very thankful for the darkness that concealed her tears. The pain began to dull and a few minutes later, Dollface sat up and silently wiped her eyes.
"Thanks, Jack" she said, patting his back as he looked back at her with a concerned look on his face. "I know that was a lot to ask of ya but you did it anyway."
"This happens again and we're telling Kloppman," he said, standing up and walking towards his bed. "I'm tired now don't bother me." They all watched as he plopped down on his bed.
"Ok we betta get to bed too," Racetrack said, breaking the silence. Everyone murmured in agreement and tiredly walked back to their beds. Dollface stood back up and offered Crutchie back his bed.
"Sometimes you scare me," he admitted to her. She laughed a little but patted his shoulder.
"I scare myself a little too," she said. Crutchie helped her up into her bed so she wouldn't hurt herself again and soon the room was filled with snores as the exhausted newsies drifted off to sleep.
Dollface, however, woke up constantly that night, her arm giving painful throbs as she turned in her sleep. When the sun began to rise, she felt relief knowing that her restless night would be over soon and somehow managed to fall back asleep for a few more minutes. Then the lights were being turned on and the boys were moving around, getting ready for the day. Dollface rolled over and groaned, both from being tired and in pain.
"Hey what's the weather look like?" she heard Jack ask someone.
"Well it hasn't snowed since yesterday but it hasn't melted any either," Kloppman responded. "Still rather cold out so make sure to bundle up, alright? And this time no lolly gagging at Medda's, just come right back here."
"Yessir," Jack mumbled sleepily. Dollface closed her eyes again, hoping to catch another minute of sleep but heard Kloppman walking over to wake her up.
"Please just leave me be," she said as he approached her bed. "Just five more minutes."
"Come on and get moving," he said with a laugh. He then grabbed her bad shoulder and shook her, hoping to get her to move. Dollface let out an involuntary shout and sat up, her whole arm now throbbing. Then she realized what she did and tried to brush it off but saw Kloppman looking at her. He had his arms crossed and gave her an dissapointed yet all knowing look. Dollface could try as hard as she wanted but there was no getting out of this.
"What's wrong with your arm?" he asked her.
"It's nothin. I told ya I just bruised it up a little yesterday," she said, beginning to crawl down the ladder. It was much easier going down than up and luckily it didn't cause her anymore pain than she was currently in. She tried to leave it at that and walk away from Kloppman without anymore questions but he blocked her way.
"Dollface, please, tell me if you're hurt," he said in such a gentle way that told her that maybe coming clean wouldn't be that bad. She glanced around and noticed that everyone in the room was watching them. She looked over at Crutchie, who nodded encouragingly, and then took a deep breath.
"I hurt my arm yestaday," she finally confessed. "My wrist is sorta broken and I dislocated my shoulda." Kloppman frowned and opened his mouth to say something but Dollface quickly stopped him
"But Davey fixed me up real good so it's ok!" she said, trying to sound optimistic.
"Hell it ain't," Racetrack said. "Her shoulda came out again last night and Jack tried twice until he could get it back in."
"Not to mention her wrist ain't any betta," Jack said, walking out of the bathroom. "I looked at it afta dinna last night and its almost worse than it was yestaday aftanoon." Dollface glared at Jack for revealing this. She had told Kloppman she was hurt but he didn't need to know it was that bad. Kloppman stood there a moment, taking in this information, and then sighed heavily. He wasn't angry, that would come later, but more like relieved that he was finally being told the truth.
"Ok let's look at it," he said to Dollface, walking over to the nearest bed, Crutchie's, and sitting down. "I need to see how bad it is myself."
"Please, I'm fine," Dollface said, ready to argue her way out of this but one look from Kloppman shut her up and she walked over to sit next to him. She slowly took off her shirt, refusing anyone's help despite the pain it caused her, and looked away as Kloppman took in all the bandages. He slowly started unwrapping the ones around her wrist and then grimaced when her skin was revealed. Jack was right; her wrist was worse than it had been the previous day. The bandages had done little to keep the bone in place and to stop swelling. It was a sickly dark purple and black. Dollface gritted her teeth as it began throbbing once the bandages were taken off.
Kloppman said nothing but moved on to undoing the bandages around her shoulder. Dollface couldn't see what her shoulder looked like but could tell from his expression that it was bad. As he removed the last of the bandages, she felt the heaviness of her arm pulling on her shoulder and gritted her teeth more. Kloppman took in the sight of her battered arm and then closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. The room was quiet as they all waited for some kind of reaction.
"I don't know how much I can do," he finally said. "If you had just come to me in the first place, it wouldn't be nearly this bad. Why on earth would you keep this from me?"
"Because I didn't do this from slipping on ice while selling papes," Dollface began to explain. "I did this cuz I fell off a fire escape, popped my shoulda grabbing onto the railing, and then broke my wrist falling down."
"It's my fault," Jack said, stepping forward. "The circulation center neva got their papes so we went to Brooklyn and goofed off with some of Spot Conlon's gang. We was playing a stupid game when Dollface hurt herself. I'm sorry, sir. I shoulda just listened to ya and made us all come home."
"You're right," he said, standing up and walking towards Jack. "I told you specifically not to do what you did. I told you so because I didn't want anything like this to happen." He pointed at Dollface and Jack looked down, feeling very ashamed.
"I fully know that you could not have forced everyone to come home," Kloppman continued. "But you could have set an example and come home yourself. Come on, Jack, you know these boys look up to you. You are the oldest. You are the leader. So act like it." Jack nodded silently, his face turning red, and Kloppman turned back to look at Dollface.
"Get dressed, we're going to the doctor," he finally said, walking to the door. "And don't worry about the money. I have it covered. Crutchie, you come with us. Everyone else get ready for the day. Be back here at four o'clock at the latest or so help me God you will sleep in the alley." He swiftly left the room but not one person moved. They had never seen Kloppman like this before, not since they all got hurt during the strike. They all just stood around, staring at the door that he had just left through.
"You heard him," Jack finally said, calling everyone back to attention. "Get ready. Let's get going."