I woke up the next morning to a dreadful coughing sound coming from my mother's bedroom. I jumped up and ran to her room and witnessed her in the worst state yet. Her forehead was covered in sweat, yet she was shivering violently. I decided that soup for breakfast probably wouldn't sound too bad to her and fixed a small bowl of the leftover chicken soup that we made earlier in the month. I stopped and remembered the day my mom and I had made it. It was one of the first times we made our chicken noodle soup since my dad left us, but it was the most fun either of us had in a long time. We laughed at each other's mistakes and found it funny when our mess seemed to fill the entire kitchen. That was also about the time my mother's health began to go downhill.
My smile fell when I was jolted back to reality by the harrowing coughs coming from just the other room. I carefully brought the soup to her and had her drink some before I ran to change into my normal "Penny" clothes. I stopped for the second time that day and I thought of how horrible it is that I'm lying to my mother. I'm lying to her in her worst state yet. But if I told her then she would get more stressed and most likely more sick. I convinced myself, yet again, that it was fine to keep my new activities a secret. It was fine that I was lying. I forced myself not to think of who I was lying to and just continued getting dressed and grabbed my newsboy clothes.
I ran to my mother's bedroom and assured her that after work I would ask Dr. Thomas if there is anything he can do to help and she nodded and we exchanged "I love you"'s. I changed again in the alley and walked to the window, realizing how early I had woken up and how early I came to the window. I was surprised it was closed and just walked to the steps and sat down. More and more boys began showing up and Race, Finch and Buttons sat down next to me and, to tell the truth, I felt kind of awkward even though they came to me. They just seemed intimidating.
Race sat my left and lit his cigar, "So you must be Little B, huh?" I nodded and noticed how tired I felt. "Well I'm called Racetrack, or Race for short. Ya wanna cigar?"
"No thanks." I said and we shook hands. I was introduced to Finch and Buttons and they just talked while I listened, well I didn't really listen. After a while we stood up and got in line to buy our daily papers. Race got 60 Finch got 55 and Buttons got 65. I only bought 30 since it was my first time selling alone and I needed some time afterwards to speak to Dr. Thomas.
Just as I started down the street to start selling, Crutchie came up to me and gave me a "Good Luck" and I just said thanks. I began selling by myself, doing what Jack taught me. I yelled and attracted attention. I even pretended I was sick for some time, but I thought of my mother and stopped. When I got down to about ten papes I saw another newsie and we sold together. He was very nice and he told me his name was Davey so I guess he didn't really have a "newsie name." When we were done a little boy ran up and started to pull Davey away saying "C'mon, C'mon! Jack said he was gonna teach me how to play cards! Let's go!" I laughed and was introduced to his little brother Les, who was the youngest newsie.
After I was done selling I ran down to the alley, changed and cleaned up a little as usual and made my way to the building my mom used to work in. I was still combing my fingers through my hair when I walked into Dr. Thomas' office.
"Well hello Penny," he said happy to see me. "What brings you here? Is your mom any better?" I sat in the chair in front of his desk and put my hands in my lap. "Wll that's what I cam to talk to you about." I said looking at my hands. "I was wondering if you were up to coming and seeing her, because I'm not sure there is anything else I can do by myself." I was surprised at how controlled I seemed and I met his eyes seeing the concern he had for my mother and myself.
We talked some more and I explained her condition and the next day, after work, he stopped by and had a look at my mother's condition. She was asleep when he came and, for some reason I was a little relieved that she was.
"She doesn't look good Penny." Dr. Thomas said with his hand on my mom's forehead. "Keep an eye on her and make sure she takes one of these pills daily." He handed me a small bottle he brought after he had an idea of what my mother's condition was. I nodded and he put a hand on my shoulder, "Hang in there kid." And with that he gave me another sympathetic look and left without another word. I held the mini bottle to my chest as my vision blurred with tears. I sat down and they started to trail down my cheeks. I have to tell her. She has to know. So do they. Tell them. The tears continued fall and I knew something had to be done.