Bell woke up with a start. He glanced around. 7:15 AM. The pictures had turned out very well. This meant that there had to be some last minute changes to the morning edition which meant that everyone on the clock at the time had to pitch in to insert the new pictures and Lois' article as the lead story in the morning edition.
Mr. White asked Lane and Bell to stay and help do the mundane things that had to happen. Bell called home to tell his parents that he'd be really late. When the paper was put to bed, Mr. White offered Bell the use of his office couch. Bell called home and told them he was spending the night and took White up on his offer.
Bell sat up and saw an envelope in his shoe with his initials on it. He opened it and found fifty cents with a note saying that breakfast was on Mr. White. After finding a restroom and splashing some water on his face, he went and ordered himself a large breakfast. and sat at "his" table. Some of the early morning people started drifting in and were looking at the morning paper. Though no one said anything to him, he could hear snatches of conversation with his name mentioned. He had tried to get White to let him help Lane cover the indictment, but was told that, though he had been spectacular last night, White need to have an experienced photographer check him out to make sure that Bell didn't have any serious gaps in his training before he could justify sending him on such an assignment.
Lane came in and sat next to Bell. She didn't look good. Like Bell, she was wearing the same clothes that she had been wearing yesterday and it was obvious to everyone that they had both slept in their clothes. From the tone of voices that suddenly began to be heard, it sounded like some were wondering why they had been sleeping in their clothes.
That question was brought to the forefront when Sullivan and Murphy walked in to the cafeteria. When they laid eyes on the two, their faces flushed and they stormed over to the table. "What do we have here?" Sullivan said loudly. He reached down and tried threw a right punch at Bell's head. Bell saw the punch coming and pushed his chair back as much as he could without losing his balance. He just missed getting clocked. Bell quickly grabbed Sullivan's forearm and yanked down. With his left hand, he threw a punch that grazed Sullivan's ear enough that he cried out in pain and fell to the floor as Bell got to his feet.
Murphy tried to go after Bell as well, but Lane threw her coffee at him. Though it didn't hit him in the eye, he did get scalded. He cursed and raised his hand to strike her when he was tackled from behind by Jimmy Olsen. They went to the ground. Though Jimmy got the first shot in, it didn't take long for Murphy to overpower him. Murphy would have started to wail on Olsen except that his head was suddenly yanked back and his nose was broken by a single blow from Bell.
As he rolled off Olsen, holding his broken nose, blood flowing down his face, Murphy began cursing loudly. Bell helped Olsen to his feet as a shout of, "What is going on here?" was heard. Lawley stormed into the cafeteria
""These two goons attacked Paul and me for no reason!" Lane said quickly.
"Oh and what were you two doing last night! Nothing good, I bet," Sullivan said belligerently.
"Wrong, you moron. See this?" Lawley grabbed a front page section of the morning paper. "They went and got the biggest scoop that the Planet has had since before Thanksgiving! From what I heard, they were in here all night getting this ready for the paper!" You two knuckleheads get out of here. You're fired. Pick up your pay and don't put down the Planet as a reference."
"What about him?" Sullivan pointed at Bell. "He hit both of us. He should be fired, too!"
"Too bad that he didn't knock you out," Lawley said. After Sullivan and Murphy had left, Lawley asked Bell what had happened. "After he attacked me, he learned that I know how to box," is all he said.
Most of the rest of the day, people talked to Bell for the first time. Almost everyone congratulated him either for the photos or for the fight. Murphy and Sullivan had stepped on a lot of toes. More than one person, both Negro and White had stated that they wish they had seen the fight.
About a half hour before the shift was over, Bell got the word that Mr. White wanted to see him. He was apprehensive as he knocked on the door. "Mr. White, you wanted to see me?"
He entered the offi8ce. There were two very large, muscular men sitting on the couch. they rose when he entered. "Come in Bell. These are a couple of men who work for the Planet. I wanted them to escort you to the subway and make sure you have any problems with Sullivan and Murphy. I don't want want to give them a chance to settle things. For the next week, I want you to try and take different routes home, just to be on the same side."
"You think they would come after me?" Bell asked.
"I doubt it, but why take the chance?" White said. "Take off a little early tonight. You've earned it."
When he got home that night, dinner was almost ready. There was a full house. His sister Beth had two of her friends over. His brother was talking on the phone and the radio was playing Chattanooga Choo Choo. The girls joined them for dinner and the conversation at the table revolved around what was going on at school. Two long term enemies at the junior high had had a major fight that required four male teachers to break up, There was comments about how some girl was wearing her hair and another girl was wearing her clothes.
The parents let it go for a while and then asked if they were gossiping. That shut down that line of conversation. Turning to Paul, his father said. "Nice work on the paper last night. Your mother mailed a couple of copies of the Planet to your grandparents."
"Let me tell you what happened last night," Paul said smiling. He regaled them with the story of what happened at the police station and everyone was laughing at the end. He didn't mention the fight that morning. He knew that would upset his mother.
Just as they were finishing dinner, the phone rang. It was one of Paul's friends. "Mitch wants to know if I can go with him and Ben to the movies tonight."
"As long as you are home by ten," his father said.
"Show starts at seven? Okay, I can go." He hung up. "They will pick me up in a few minutes."
"Help clear the table while you are waiting. Oh, and keep to root beer. A caffeinated drink will keep you up. Connor, help your mother with the dishes," his father commanded.
Paul and his friends arrived at the theater, just in time. They went to find a seat as the Movietone News began to play. The newsreel showed a group Japanese diplomats in negotiation with the American diplomats. There was an article about the war in Europe. there was an article about American industrial improvements and then a feel good article. Paul thought that the feel good article was stupid, Like that was going to make all the other stories less grim?
When he got home that night his father was reading a book while the rest of his family was listening to a comedy. His father asked to speak with him in the kitchen. "I'm wondering, are they planning to make you a photographer? You start out as a copy boy on Monday and now you are photographing racketeers being led off to jail. You are still seventeen. I know that you don't want to hear this, but you are not as grown up as you think."
"Dad, I'm not an investigative reporter. I was just at the right place at the right time. If someone else had been closer, they'd have had the same shots, too. I'm not doing anything dangerous. Think about the publicity if it came out that they were sending seventeen year olds on their most dangerous assignment? Covering a booking or an arraignment is everyday stuff! Worse thing that happens is other journalists make wisecracks about you. It's not dangerous," he said.
His father seemed mollified. Paul went in and took a shower. By the time he was done, everyone was making for bed. It was a school day tomorrow.