Jack had us get up early before the rest of the boys. There were four of us going; Jack, Mush, Racetrack and myself. We had invited few of the others, but most couldn't afford to take a busy holiday like this off, especially not with news picking at the start of this war.

We grabbed our clothes and went to the washroom. When Mush peeked out he came back to tell us that some of the other boys were starting to wake up, so we all quickly finished and climbed out onto the fire escape. We jogged a few blocks away to make sure they couldn't follow. But we had to slow our pace, it was much too hot a day for running. It was too early to go see if the sister's were giving out food that morning. When we passed bakery we went inside and pooled together some pennies to buy two sausages baked into biscuits, which we split between us. They were hot and fresh, and thus were devoured in minutes.

It took us almost an hour to make our way to the Brooklyn Bunkhouse. We hadn't been told exactly where to meet them today. We got a bit lost despite Jack's insistence that he knew the way. We finally found the pier and when we rounded the corner we could see a group of boys hanging around a building and a few sitting out on the docks. When we were spotted, several large boys began running towards us. Three of them stood, blocking our way.

"We're here to see Train." Jack said as he stared down the taller boy in the middle.

The boy glared back at him and said, "I'm sure you is."

Jack stepped in closer to him and pulled his hat back from his head. "You think I'm lyin'? Tell him Jack Kelly's here to see him. Now."

A moment later Train walked up behind the three. He told them to head out while he extended a spit shake to Jack. They finally smiled and began walking to where the rest of the boys stood staring. I recognized a few of them, I really only knew Topper his right hand man, and the odd silent kid Jumper. I glanced around trying to find the missing face, but I couldn't see him. I had hoped he was coming with us today, but maybe he had headed out to sell already.

Train turned to the boys present and instructed them. "I gave the older boys my permission to sell at the fights, Manhattan is welcome to sell there with us today. But I don't want to be seein' any of you others there. It ain't safe, too many pickpockets and a lot of Bulls. You young ones get seen there they gonna think you'se a thief. Just stay away." The smaller kids nodded in understanding, a group of boys around 12 year olds seem to be upset about the decision, but didn't seem to be willing to fight about it.

"Good, lets head out." He looked up behind where we stood next to Jack. "Spot, will ya get down from there so we can go?"

I turned around and looked up at the rope-covered crates standing on a platform above us. I squinted as the sun blazed into my eye, but I could make out the shape of a boy. He threw his leg over the side and dropped down just a foot from where I stood, barely hitting the edge and keeping from falling into the water. I saw a smile cross his face at my surprise, and I couldn't help breaking out in a grin. He tucked his cane back into his belt and then threw an arm around my shoulder. "Let's show these kids how Brooklyn does it business."

I heard Mush let out a laugh behind me, and I knew what he found so funny. Since I knew what Spot meant I just followed his guiding arm around my neck. We walked through the city talking; most of the younger boys chased each other and whistled at the gals walking past. As we headed into a nicer portion of the city, I could see where we were walking.

A beautiful Catholic Church came into view and I could see two nuns standing near the gate with baskets beside them. A few shoe shine boys and some girls who were peddling flowers looked up at the group of over 30 newsboys and quickly scattered with their food.

"The nuns run our bunkhouse, but they are cheap so they put us by the docks. Keeps them off our backs though. They's too afraid to come to that side of town." I heard Topper explain to Jack. "Train has to bring them the money every week."

We watched Train walk into a door at the side of the church. The nuns smiled at us as they began handing out food. They offered each boy a choice of a meat and cheese sandwich or a pastry that seemed to have chocolate drizzled on top. My mouth watered as I looked at them. Most of the younger boys were foolish enough to take the sweets rather than the more sustaining sandwich. I followed their example and took one since I had already eaten that morning. Spot took a sandwich and took a mug of coffee before he sat down against the fence. I turned down the coffee and just asked for a little milk in my mug, then sat down beside him. We were joined by Race a minute later.

"That's it, I'm movin' to Brooklyn, they feed ya better here." We all laughed, and I chimed in that I would move too.

"Ain't like this everyday, last time we got food with no mold was Easter. And for that we had to sit through mass first. They just get in more of a givin' mood when it's a holiday." Spot replied when we had quieted back down.

We all joked about the food and our lodging houses as we ate. I watched Spot pick at the meat inside his roll. Once he had finished the meat and the cheese he handed the rest off to boy who had finished his already.

I leaned towards him and said quietly, "Ya can't be full, ya only ate half ya food."

He glanced up at me with an odd expression, then turned as if he was going to talk to the quiet kid, who took out a notepad and began writing. I couldn't see the words from where I was sitting and I just watched them curiously. As we waited there the bells in the steeple began chiming loudly, and Spot tapped the kid on the arm and pointed up towards the noise. We all hurried up and gave our cups back to the nuns.

We headed over to the distribution center down the street. While we waited in line I took another bite of my pastry. It was a real treat to get chocolate, so I decided to offer some to Spot. He looked at me with a frown.

"Are ya sure, it's real good."

I took another bite as I looked into his eyes and I was caught in his gaze. I slowly chewed on my bite and put the pastry right up to his mouth for him to take one as well. I saw a panicked look flitter into his eyes as he looked down at it, but when he looked back up at me he smiled and leaned in to take a bite. I let go of it as he bit down. He frowned again with the food hanging from his mouth. I couldn't help but start laughing and told him. "I've had enough sweets, ya can finish it."

I stepped up to the counter and bought a stack of 50 papers. When I turned around, he held the remainder of the pastry in his hands. He bought his stack of papers and then handed them to me.

"Hold these for me? I gotta use the facilities."

I took his papers and watched him head down an alley as he took another bite of the pastry.

When he returned he looked a little pale, but I couldn't ask him if he was ok. All the older boys had gathered around and we began heading down towards the fights. There were 10 boxing rings in the center of the square, and we could already see the crowds forming around the rings and overflowing down into the streets. This had to be a gold mine. I could see why the Brooklyn boys had each bought more than 100 papers. We agreed to meet back near one of the shops after we had sold our papers. Mush offered to sell with me like usual, but I told him to go ahead with Race since he knew the area well enough. Jack went off to sell with Train and Jumper and Topper automatically headed off together. I looked up at Spot and smiled.

"Guess that leaves the two of us to sell down the street."

He nodded with a small grin as we started off down the street towards the last two rings. It looked to be a good day.