Thank you to SugarBubbleGum for all of the fantastic help! *Now Edited*
Chapter 4- A proposition
Do you hear, do you hear
That sound
It's the sound of the lost gone found
It's the sound of a mute gone loud
It's the sound of a new start
~A Fine Frenzy: Now Is the Start~
With the scraping of chairs, everyone stands up to go back to the lodging house. Although, a few leave to finish selling their reaming papers. I pull my thin coat tighter around me once outside, the ever-relenting wind causing my teeth to chatter and piles of snow to swirl around. I fall into stride with Mush, Specs, Jack, Crutchy, Race, and Snipeshooter, all of whom are heading back to the lodging house with me.
"Is she ok?" Snipeshooter asks Jack, becoming aware that I had fallen behind. The young boy is attempting and failing to whisper his remarks to Jack because I am able to hear him from six feet away.
"I'm just dizzy," I convey to them, "I think it's from my arm injury."
The pain from my arm seemed to become even worse when the dizziness wouldn't go away. It started to throb, and I held it even tighter. Race then decides it was only going to get worse so he came and picks me up with one arm behind my back and the other underneath my legs. We continue on to the lodge at a brisker pace than before.
"What happened to Kate?" Kloppman asked as we arrived at the front desk, although he'd probably seen worse come through that doorway before.
"Specs, take Kate to the bathroom and bandage up her arm. I'll talk to Kloppman," Jack instructs, handing me to Specs. Snipeshooter follows us up the stairs, intrigued at the thought of all the blood.
Specs set me down on the counter when we reach the bathroom upstairs, and I let go of my arm so he could determine what needs to be done. I am horrible with anything relating to blood; A nasty case of the flu- I could handle that, blood-not so much.
Specs readjusts his glasses so he could see well and rummages through the cabinet adjacent to me, pulling out tweezers. As I survey my arm, I could see the jagged, angry red lines from where the glass had cut me.
"There are still a few small shards of glass in your arm, so I'm gonna need to pull them out. It might sting," he informed me with a grimace.
My arm jerks and I clench my eyes shut when he removes the first piece.
"Sorry," he apologizes gently. "Why don't you tell Kate a story, Snipeshooter?" He suggests. Snipeshooter grins widely at the opportunity.
"Well, once upon a time there was a cowboy. His name was Jack," Snipeshooter began. I smile at the familiar name and share a knowing look with Specs. I think I know where this was going.
"He was the bravest, most awesomest person ever. One day, there were these really big, fat, mean men who raised the rate of papes. Cowboy Jack got really mad, so he got all of the newsies from all of the countries around the world to stop the meanies and go on strike. There were newsies from Brooklyn, Harlem, Queens, the Bronx, and 'Hattan. They all showed up at the square one day. It was a lot of people, like maybe a million. They all gots together and then the bad men gave up. Then, everyone was really happy because we won the strike. The end!" Snipeshooter finishes telling his tale and looks at me with a proud smile on his face. While I was listening to the youngster's effort at distracting me, I didn't even realize that Specs is done with removing the glass. Snipeshooter left when he heard one of the other younger boys calling his name.
"Well, the good news is that none of the cuts are deep enough to need stitches," He hands me another wet towel so I can dry the dried blood off of my other hand that I am using to apply pressure with. "Tough day, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess I need to figure out what I should do now. I don't really have a job anymore," I add thoughtfully.
"Don't worry about it. We'll figure something out. Ya can just stay here for the night since prob'ly shouldn't walk back alone to the orphanage with that arm of yours, anyways," Specs responds, wrapping my arm tightly in a strip of cloth from about three-quarters of the way up my arm down to right above the crease in my elbow. Once Specs finishes, I jump down from the counter, dragging along my newly bandaged arm. I was grateful that the feeling of nausea is now finally subsiding.
Exiting the bathroom, we see the older boys gathering around the bunks. I sit down on the bed I was using for the previous night and wait for Jack to begin speaking.
"So, we talked to Kloppman," Jack began, "and we think it would be best for ya to stay with us at the lodging house. If you went and got another factory job, the same thing might happen again. Ya wouldn't have to be a newsie, we can start payin' ya from now on to be a teacher. And as for the housing inspector, we'll deal with that when we gets to it."
Everyone faces me to see what my answer is going to be, hope clearly visible in their eyes. I thought this through. Jack made a good point about the factory job. I really do love it here, and I guess if everyone was okay with it, then it shouldn't be a problem.
"That doesn't sound so bad," I said as I made up my mind. "I'll need to get all of my stuff from the orphanage, though."
"Kloppman can take you over there now before it starts to get dark. It's better that he does it so he can talk to the nuns about ya stayin' here."
I walk downstairs alone, and faintly hear the boys carry on with another conversation and start with more shenanigans.
"Ready to go?" Kloppman asks. I nod my head and proceed in the direction of the orphanage. We stay silent for most of the journey. It's much more pleasant now compared to the newsboys were always very loud and rowdy.
"It will be nice to have a girl around the lodging house." Kloppman said, breaking through the quietness, "they always seem to behave better when you're around."
"I'm just hoping I will be able to handle it. I mean, being around them for a couple of hours is tiring enough," I voice. The conversation ends, though, as we came upon the orphanage. One of the nuns clothed in navy greets us as we enter.
"Oh Kate, I was beginning to get a little worried. You usually aren't gone for that long. I hope you're alright! God help us if something were to happen to you!".
"I was wondering if I could speak to you about letting Kate live with me?" Kloppman questions the nun.
"Certainly. We start to get so crowded here during the winter months. There is already enough kids here as it is," Responds the nun. I chose this moment to go to my room and gather up my few belongings. Two dresses, toiletries, my journal, a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Sherlock Holmes, the fifteen cents from under my pillow, and finally a note my mother had written to me while on her death bed were all neatly put into an oversized bag. I return to the front room to see that everything is settled.
"One last question Mr. Kloppman," She states, "Where is your residence?" I knew that Kloppman couldn't tell her that I was going to be living at the Newsboy's Lodging House, because she would have never let me go. He wasn't going to lie either
"It's an apartment on Duane Street," he told her without hesitation. It wasn't a lie; the lodging house really was on Duane Street. She seemed to believe him and blesses us before we went on our way.
It was dusk now, but we could only tell by the time because the gray clouds still loom over the city like a blanket. Exhausted, I set foot into the lodging house, paying the six cent fee, and saunter up the stairs to my bed. Only a fraction of the newsboys were here so I figured they must be at Medda's. I drop my bag next to my bunk, and don't even bother to change out of my dress before I fall asleep.
So what do ya think? I must say, I am pretty proud of this chapter. I think I have an idea of what I want to do now, so more updates are coming soon!