Crutchie forced himself to move and sit up, every inch of his body protesting. He ignored the looks of the boys that had surrounded him and rolled over to his hands and knees, trying his best not to put any weight on his bad leg. He stretched out his arm to get his crutch but saw as someone picked it up before him. It was a boy who looked to be Crutchie's age. He had dark, shaggy hair and dirt covered his face. He, like the rest of the boys in the room, looked very thin and frail. But he merely smiled at Crutchie, his brown eyes shining, and reached out a hand. Crutchie reluctantly let the boy help him up.
"Thanks," he muttered, his throat sore from screaming. He took his crutch from the boy and began to walk away from the group but was stopped.
"Hey, you should sit down," the boy said. "Normally we make new kids sleep on the floor or share beds but you can use mine. I can do without it for the night." Crutchie opened his mouth to protest, not wanting to appear weak on his first day in a room full of strangers, but the boy once again stopped him.
"Kid, it's ok," he said. "I seen Snyda bust up lots of kids before but nothing like what he done to you. It's a miracle you's standing." The boy was very right. The energy he used to stand up and remain standing was quickly fading and he was moments away from collapsing. So he let the boy help him walk to his bed and sat down, feeling guilty for taking something that the boy had probably spent a long time trying to acquire.
"Hey kid, I really don't-" Crutchie began saying but the boy once again cut him off.
"Call me, Rover," he said, picking up a dirty sheet off the floor. He ripped off a small piece and handed it to Crutchie. "Use that to clean up that cut on your head, it's real nasty lookin."
"I'm fine, it ain't the first time I've been beat up," Crutchie protested, giving the cloth back to the boy. "I just need to sit for a few minutes and then I'll be fine."
"Kid, you ain't fine," Rover said, sitting down next to Crutchie. He began dabbing at the gash on Crutchie's head, making him wince. "I'm serious when I say this is the worst I've eva seen anyone. And I've been here a long time. Whatever Snyda did to you, he musta hated your guts. What'd you do? Why you here?"
"He's been trying to catch me and my sista for years," Crutchie explained. "We ran away from our pop when we was little and then became newsies to make some money."
"Oh so you's a runaway turned newsie," Rover said, nodding his head. "Hope he didn't get ya sista though, man that'd be awful. Say I heard somethin about a strike with the newsies. You know anything about it?"
"I helped start it," Crutchie said. "That's the otha reason why I'm here. We got caught up causin trouble at a circulation center." The boy stopped wiping the cut and looked at Crutchie in surprise, a large smile on his face.
"That was you!" he said in amazement. "Yeah we heard Snyda complainin earlier bout the newsie strike and that he was going down there with some police. Said it was a real mess. We was all rootin for you guys! Don't tell me you got stopped."
"No, just me," Crutchie said, slightly embarrassed. "Hopefully they'll keep goin without me. We even convinced a few otha kids to join us. Problem is if we want any otha boroughs in on it, Brooklyn hasta join first. No one's doin anything without Brooklyn but they wasn't exactly too excited to do anything." Crutchie's head began throbbing again. He was struggling to remain sitting upright. Rover must have seen this as he stood up from the bed.
"Get some rest," he said. "You must be exhausted. You was with Snyda for hours, it's nearly dark. We's already all been given our water and bread so you'll have to wait til breakfast. I'll tell the otha kids to leave you be, sometimes the little kids is annoying." Crutchie collapsed onto the bed, longing for sleep to bring relief to his aching body.
"I'm Crutchie, by the way," he said as Rover walked away. He turned around and smiled down at him.
"Thanks for fightin for us kids, Crutchie," he said, walking away and letting Crutchie drift into an uneasy sleep.
His dreams did nothing to comfort him. It was a messy blur of disturbing images. First he was being dragged away, screaming out for Jack. Then being kicked in the head by Oscar. The image of Snyder standing over him, the crutch raised above his head, haunted him. Then he was forced to watch as Oscar hauled Dollface away. He tried to run after her but Snyder kept kicking his bad leg. Then slowly he felt himself wake up. The Delanceys and Snyder slowly faded as he came out of his nightmares. He felt gentle fingers brushing his hair from his forehead. It could only be one person.
He opened his sleepy eyes to see Dollface sitting next to him, looking a little worse for the wear. He looked confusedly up at her wondering how she got there and why she had come. For a sick moment he feared that she too had been caught but then realized that Snyder would have never let her see him. He knew then that their time together would be brief until she had to go. So instead of asking her questions, he just smiled up at her.
"Hiya Dollface," he said, his voice tired and rough. She returned a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Hiya Crutchie," she said. "How ya feelin?"
"Like a bunch of daisies," he said, answering her dumb question. They both laughed at their own stupidity but pain racked Crutchie's abdomen and he stopped. "Sorry, hurts to laugh." Dollface frowned, concern growing on her face.
"Look, I'm gonna get you outta here," she said determined. "You's gonna come wit me and we's gonna walk out those gates." Crutchie knew that wasn't physically possible for him. If he couldn't laugh, then how was he going to climb out windows and all over fire escapes?
"Dollface, I ain't walkin so good," he said carefully, trying not to worry Dollface more.
"Then I'll carry you out," she said, a small hint of desperation in her voice. He shook his head, refusing to let his sister come to the rescue. He was going to walk out those gates by himself and with no one's help.
"I ain't being carried nowhere," he said firmly. "If I can't walk, I ain't goin nowhere, ya hear?"
"I hear," she said, nodding. "But we's gonna win this strike, ok? We's gonna win. We's gonna fight for you."
"I know you's gonna win," he said proudly. "You's got the best friends anyone could ask for. And you gots Jack." Crutchie felt confident that his friends would come through and that Jack would lead them to victory but his heart sank slightly when he saw the look on Dollface's face. Her confident attitude had disappeared and she was trying to put on a brave face for him.
"Yeah, we gots Jack," she said, not making eye contact. They sat in silence, neither knowing what to say but simply enjoying sitting next to each other again. Crutchie was just about to warn Dollface that Snyder was more eager than ever to catch her but she spoke up first.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry I let ya get caught. I'm sorry I didn't protect ya."
"This ain't your fault," he said adamantly.
"Yeah it is," she said. "If I hadn't got caught by Oscar, you coulda gotten away. I just shouldn't a called out for ya. You was too busy lookin afta me and you got caught."
"Hey, I would do anythin to protect you," he said, grabbing her hand. "Even if it meant I got caught and you got away. As long as you's safe, that's all that mattas." He could never tell her what he went through just to keep information from Snyder.
"I'm gonna get you outta here," she said, squeezing his hand. "I promise." She bent over and kissed his forehead gently. Just then there was a loud scuffle as Rover ran over to them.
"Hey, you gotta go," he said urgently. "Snyda's comin."
"I'll see ya later," she said to Crutchie as the boy pulled her away. He struggled to sit up and saw her run to the end of the room with Rover. She stopped to say something to him which he responded to by nodding.
Then the door opened and Dollface was gone, Rover slamming the window shut behind her. Snyder had only just stepped in the room but the sound of the window shutting so loudly caught his attention. He whipped his head to the back of the room and took long strides towards Rover, who stood in front of the window trying to act innocent.
"What's this about, boy?" Snyder barked at him. "You shouldn't be opening windows."
"We didn't," Rover said quickly. "There was a fly and I just smacked it hard with my hand." Snyder slapped him with the back of his hand and pushed him aside, throwing open the window and looking around outside. Crutchie stopped breathing, praying Dollface had made it safely out of sight. Then his head froze as he clearly spotted something and Crutchie's stomach dropped.
"Boyer!" Snyder shouted, closing the window and running from the room. He slammed the door shut behind him. All at once the room erupted into noise. Boys talking about what just happened or what would happen. Some ran to the window to try and catch a glimpse of all the action. Crutchie say frozen in fear, clenching the sheet on the bed and trying not to picture Dollface getting caught. After a few minutes, the door knob jiggled again and everyone stopped talking, stopped running around, stopped moving.
Snyder walked in, cane in hand, and took a long slow look around at the boys. Then he spotted Crutchie and walked slowly over to his bed. He stopped and looked down at him, his expression unreadable.
"Don't you have manners, boy," he said finally. "Stand when you're being addressed by an adult." Crutchie pushed himself into a sitting position and then grabbed onto the bed above him to pull himself up. He bit his lip to keep from screaming out in pain. Finally he turned to face Snyder, not having the energy to pick up his crutch.
"Do you know what just happened?" he asked very quietly. Crutchie shook his head but Snyder slapped his face. "I think you damn well do. Your sister was here. She climbed down that fire escape and ran from us as we tried to catch her. She climbed that gate and ran for it." Crutchie released a breath he didn't know he was holding. She got away. That was all he cared about.
"I'm sick of you brats!" Snyder shouted, his anger coming out at last. "You helped her in this room! You talked to her about the strike, didn't you? And she ran slipped out of my fingers once again because of you!" Snyder raised his cane and Crutchie braced himself for yet another blow but it never came. Rover had grabbed Snyder's arm and prevented him from hitting Crutchie.
"What do you think you're doing?" Snyder said, yanking his arm away. Rover silently and calmly moved to stand in front of Crutchie.
"I think you's done enough to him for one day," he said defiantly, glaring up at Snyder. He stood his ground, not even flinching when Snyder brought the cane down on his shoulder. Rover groaned but remained standing, refusing to let Snyder get to Crutchie.
"Fine, protect your little friend," Snyder snarled. "You won't be able to protect him much longer." Snyder knocked Rover's shins with the cane, knocking him to the ground, and swiftly walked out the room. The door slammed and the room was began to fill with chatter.
"Thank you," Crutchie said, offering to help Rover stand up but he declined.
"That was rotten what he did," Rover said, attempting to brush the dirt off of his already filthy pants. "Beatin on you all day and then yellin at you for something you didn't do."
"You alright?" Crutchie asked as Rover rubbed the shoulder Snyder hit.
"I'm fine," he said, not the least bit concerned about his shoulder. "We's all pretty used to gettin banged up around here. It's no big deal." Crutchie collapsed back onto the bed, having used all his energy to stand in front of Snyder. Rover sat down next to him.
"So is this strike actually happening?" he asked. "That's gotta be why Snyda wants to get your sista so bad."
"Naw, she's just had too many close calls with him," Crutchie said. "I think it's less about the strike and more about the satisfaction of catching us. Not to mention Dollface tends to cause a lot of trouble. Her and Jack. Boy, I can just see what Snyda would look like if he got them both."
"Jack? Jack Kelly?" Rover repeated excitedly. Crutchie nodded. "We shared a bunk most nights when he was in here a few years back. I watched him escape on Teddy Roosevelt's carriage. That was the best thing I eva saw!" Rover laughed at the memory.
"That's Cowboy," Crutchie said, smiling as he recalled the numerous times Jack told that story, getting more excited and exaggerated each time. "Well Jack's leadin it of course. Add that to his long list of existing offenses plus the fact that he helped Dollface get away from Snyda last night and Jack is public enemy numba one in Snyda's book."
"Boy, I sure hope they can pull this one off," Rover said excited. Rover then talked excitedly about Jack and retold the story of his escape. Crutchie listened as he watched something takeover in Rover, something that made him speak highly of Jack and the strike, something that made him smile despite his throbbing shoulder. It was hope. That was when Crutchie realized that the strike wasn't just for the newsies. He realized that the strike was for all the kids of New York who were struggling just to stay alive. It was for all the mistreated children in the refuge. The idea of a bunch of kids going on strike gave them something to believe in. Crutchie now hoped more than ever that they would win.
shorter than usual but I like this chapter a lot because you get to see the other side of the conversation Dollface has with Crutchie in my other story. hope everyone in the US had a good thanksgiving!