Chapter 1: Newsies in A Night in the Lodging House
Characters included: Jack, Crutchie, Race, Albert, Mike, Ike, Jojo, Splasher, Buttons, Mush, Romeo, Tommy Boy, and Elmer
It was September 3rd, 1899, and the third floor washroom of the Newsboys' Lodging House was bustling. As it was around 19:30, the Newsies of lower Manhattan were gathered around just three sinks attempting to get ready for bed.
Albert, Buttons, Crutchie, and Elmer were surrounding the first sink, trying to wash their faces as fast as possible so they could be the first to their bunks. Ike, Jojo, and Race were each diving to try to get to the second sink first. Race got there first and violently began running his head underwater in an attempt to get rid of the dirt and grime build-up from a long day of selling papes. Tommy Boy, Specs, and Mike were arguing over the third. As Tommy Boy raised and pushed back his arm in an angered fashion, Splasher slipped underneath and turned the faucet on. The three other boys were so incredibly caught up in their catfight, that Splasher managed to complete his entire nighttime routine and slip right back out before anyone could notice.
On the other side of the cramped room stood four not-so-clean wooden showers. Planted inside the first shower was Romeo, who was quite particular about his looks, even if he was about to go to sleep for the night. In the next, stood Finch who was spending an unusual amount of time scrubbing his hair and scalp tonight. The third shower held Mush, who couldn't care less about how he looked, he just wanted to feel clean. The last shower contained none other than the infamous Jack Kelly.
He had just tied a towel around his waist and walked out of the shower stall to change into something that could be even the slightest bit comfortable to fall asleep in. The beds in the lodging house weren't exactly the definition of nice, but they were better than the street, and that's what mattered to most of the newsboys.
Thinking ahead even more than his buddies, Jack had gotten to the washroom early that night so he could have some peace and quiet to himself in the sleeping quarters. Beds were not assigned for the boys, but everyone had a designated bunk they always chose to rest in. Jack was always on the top bunk, while his best friend, Crutchie, would sleep on the bottom. Y'know, because of the crutch and all?
There were no actual ladders attached to the bunk beds, so Jack thought it would be nice to finally climb up without having to dodge other Newsies roughhousing around beneath him. He went through his usual routine of banging a fist on the mattress of his bed. Firmer than usual, he thought. Firmer than that ol' printin' press…
Albert came sprinting through the door and nearly face planted into his usual bottom bunk. Jack's bed was right near the entrance so Crutchie could exit and enter faster and without difficulty. Albert's, unfortunately for Jack and Crutchie, was right next to theirs. Due to Jack's location near the entrance, he could hear Crutchie's wooden, rickety crutch coming up the steps to the fifth floor. It's quite inconvenient for there to be an entire floor between the washrooms and bedroom, meaning every newsboy had to go up two flights of stairs just to get to their sleeping quarters. Buttons and Elmer came through the door, supporting Crutchie between them and Splasher behind them making sure no one fell backwards. Now Jack could comprehend that out of the four in that group, Albert had sped up ahead of them. That was a very Albert thing to do.
Ike, Jojo, and Race came through the door next. If you were to examine the top of the doorframe closely, you could see marks of the paint chipping off that were caused by Race constantly slapping the top of the door frame every time he entered or exited the sleeping quarters. In the blink of an eye, Race was suddenly running towards Albert and tackled him down. Race and Albert were best friends. They always have been. They always will be. Jojo and Ike seemed to be engaged in an interesting conversation because neither of them broke eye contact or even acknowledged the two boys rolling on the floor beside them.
The next person to enter the room was Mush. Despite the rule that you must have a companion if you're going to wander the halls at night, he was alone. No one blamed him because of the quarrels and deep-cleanings taking place two floors below them. By now, Jack was tired of waiting for the others and almost fell asleep. Race and Albert had stopped wrestling and were sitting in Albert's bed making jokes and discussing their day on the street. Ike and Jojo didn't share a bunk, so they just sat on an empty one and carried on with their conversation.
Around 15 minutes later, Romeo and Finch came running through the door, out of breath from laughter. Finch tried to get the words out,
"Tommy Boy HAHAH got washed HAHAH out." None of the ten Newsies in the room could understand Finch's incoherent "words."
After about twenty seconds of pure hilarity from the two amused boys, Romeo got himself together. With Finch still chuckling next to him, he explained,
"Tommy Boy won the argument by laying paper over rock. Tom hadn't realized that everyone had left except for us, so Specs and Mike did their business at the other sinks. When Tommy turned around expecting to see Specs and Mike, they pushed him right in and turned on the faucet. Now he's a little bit stuck…" Race and Albert are now laughing and they both dramatically fall on the floor as if they're damsels in distress. Elmer is now in his bunk which is right next to Jack's. Beneath Elmer's bed lies Mush, who doesn't find Tommy Boy's issue funny. Jojo has traveled to his normal spot in the bottom bed next to Albert.
Even though Jack went through all the effort to avoid something like this, he decides that the right thing to do is go down and help out Tommy Boy. After all, none of them would sleep at all if not all of them were present. It's a fraternal thing.
By the time Jack arrived at the washroom, it was already 20:00. It took half an hour to round up ten boys.
"Oh, Jack! Please save me!," exclaimed Tommy Boy who clearly was not enjoying his time in the sink. The water was still running and at this point, since Tommy Boy was blocking the drain, the water was now overflowing onto the floor.
"Specs, Mike, you guys know better than this," Jack said in shock, trying to take in the bizarre scene. "You two go upstairs, I got Tom."
"Thanks, Jack," Tommy Boy said, visibly embarrassed. "This is going to stay with me forever, isn't it?" Jack nodded surely.
When they got back to the bedroom, all was chaos. Specs had joined Race and Albert in their little "gossip" session. But of course, when Tommy Boy and his soaking wet clothes walked in the room, everyone pointed fingers and laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, I get the point guys…"
He changed, climbed into bed, and hid under the covers for the rest of the night. Finally everyone was in their normal sleeping arrangements: Jack and Crutchie, Albert and Race, Mush and Elmer, Jojo and Splasher, Specs and Finch, Romeo and Buttons, Tommy Boy and Mush, and Mike and Ike. Besides the occasional high five or yelp coming from Albert and Race's bunk, all was quiet and peaceful that night…