The next day, the cycle began again. I made breakfast, said goodbye to my mother, ran to the secret alley and changed into my newsboy clothing when I realized that this was my only pair of pants and I only had one other flannel shirt. "I will just..buy more clothes if I have to, but I won't have this job to long. My mom will get better soon," I thought to myself, but the truth is, she seemed to be getting worse and worse throughout the week. I shrugged it off trying to fill my hat with my hair once again and began down the street to the line that appeared in the distance.
As I ventured closer I could here the clamor that was coming from a group of boys near the middle of the line. I ran up to the skirmish and saw two unfamiliar boys who seemed to be threatening and pushing Jack, Race and Crutchie. I found Specs in the crowd of yelling boys and asked what was going on.
"It's the Delanceys!" he said and I stood on my toes trying to see above the crowd.
"Who?" I asked still trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
"Morris and Oscar Delancey!" Specs said. "They basically try and take the lot of us that possibly, maybe, sometimes breaks the law and take us to the Refuge! Jack was there once, but he escaped in Roosevelt's coach!" I gave Specs a questioning look and he just said, "I'm sure Jack will tell you about it sometime."
We turned our attention back to the actual brawl and Oscar clenched his fist and threw the first punch towards Jack who dodged it easily and sung right back with a smirk on his face as he hit the other boy in the jaw. Oscar held his face and Morris socked Race in the cheek, knocking a new cigar right out of his mouth, aggravating Race. Crutchie picked up his crutch and swung it towards Oscar, but Morris lunged in between them and pulled the crutch out of Crutchie's hand throwing him off balance. Crutchie tumbled forward and hit the ground with a thud, practically knocking the wind out of him. Jack was furious. He sprang forward knocking Morris to the ground and began punching him repeatedly as a couple other newsies helped Crutchie back up.
"Hey, hey, hey! Break it up!" Wiesel ran through the crowd of electrified boys to Jack, Oscar, and Morris. He pulled Jack up off of Oscar and stood in between the Delancey brothers and the head newsie. I could see the bruises forming on each boy's face and it looked like Crutchie had scratches from the pavement on his cheekbones.
"Go on now! Get outta here!" Wiesel yelled at the Delanceys and Oscar smirked at Jack who gave him a cold scowl in return. "It's coming Kelly. Not today, but it's comin'."
The two unwelcome boys started back through the narrow alley they came through (I guessed) but not everyone calmed down. Crutchie was mumbling things along the lines of "Why I otta...bastards...they think they can do this to us...I'd like to see Snyder come instead..." He seemed perfectly fine though. Jack turned to the rest of the newsies with a couple bruises on his face. His green eyes were ablaze and he just licked his lips and proceeded to his spot near the beginning of the line. Race searched in his pockets and pulled out another cigar after the crowd calmed and Specs seemed to notice the uneasiness in my expression.
"It's fine. Most of the time the Newsies show dem brothers." and I nodded convincing myself that I would be the least likely to run into them.
I bought 35 papers today after knowing how to make more sales and Crutchie invited me to sell with him again before I go off on my own. Throughout the day he called me "Little B" and "Blue." I smiled much more today and I felt like I really was welcomed into the newsboys family, like I belonged there.