**Back to Beth's Bombos Fanfiction**
You are really cool person number
Emma, my friend Lauren and I crowded around the T.V. We'd finished Emma's movie, and we were now watching mine. There is absolutely nothing better than watching Newsies with your two best friends in the entire world. Nothing. We were at the "Sarah and Jack talking while Jack's on the fire escape scene", when I remarked "wouldn't it be cool to wake up one morning and find Jack on your fire escape? I'm gonna look there in the morning." Emma giggled. "I don't even HAVE a fire escape, Marie!" We watched Newsies until it ended, and then Lauren yawned loudly and fell over. "Time...ta...go ta...bed...goonight." It was 2:00 in the morning, and Emma and I followed her lead.
1899. New York. Manhatten. Newsies. The Banner. Time travel. These were the words that flashed through my mind as I ran away from Mush, screaming. How could this have happened? Why me? Well, I began to answer myself, because I wanted to meet them, and because I was lucky. I was incredibly lucky, to find myself in New York with my favorite newsies. I turned around and ran until I caught up with Mush. He looked scared, and started to back away. "Mush. I'm sorry about earlier. I was just tired. Don't be mad at me!" "What was wrong with you earlier?" he demanded. "I've had a rough day." "But the day has only been a few hours long. How rough could it have been?" "I just got here. I traveled from a very far away place. Very far away." "Where?" he asked. He was getting curious now. "Ummm, Minnesota." This was true. "Minnesota? That's not so far away!" "You have no idea." I walked with him until we met up with another newsie. This one was Itey. "Hiya, Itey!" I said, not wondering what he might think. "Umm, hi." He looked scared. "I'm Marie! How's it going? Sold many papes?" This was getting very fun. The poor kid looked very scared of me now. "No, it's pretty early in the day." he remarked politely. "I usually sell more newspapers later." "You don't have to say NEWSPAPERS to me! I'm not a stranger!" "Umm....yeah. Well, I best be on my way now. Pleased to meet you." He backed away quickly and once he was far enough he began to run. "Jack!" he cried "You gotta meet this girl! She's scary!" He thought I couldn't hear him, but I could. He brought Jack over to me. He was very tall. And he could "soak me" very easily. I would have to watch it. "Umm... Hi Cowboy. How's your life...with Sarah?" Oh, shame on my big mouth. But Jack didn't care too much. He jumped back. "Great. Lovely. Gotta go, pleased ta meet ya." I held back my laughter until Jack was completely out of earshot. Then, I exploded. This was sooooo fun. I lied on the ground and laughed. I walked a little longer until I reached the place where they all got papers. I began. "Oh Mister Wea-sel." He stared. "Didjya miss me Weasel? Did ya? Didjya miss me?" He glared at me. I glared back. "Hundred papes" I said firmly as I slapped a coin on to the counter. "I'm sorry, Miss, but I don't understand. What are you doing?" "I payed for my papes, now HAND 'EM OVER!" I yelled. It took all of my willpower not to laugh. Weasel handed me one hundred newspapers. Ugh, these were heavy. I walked to a crowd of people. "LONG ISLAND IS SINKING!" I cried. Three people bought papers from me. "THE STATUE OF LIBERTY IS ON LOAN TO EGYPT!" Five more people bought newspapers. "Hey!" cried one, "That story isn't in here! You're a liar!" I stared at her, trying to look tough. "It ain't lyin, it's just improvin the truth a little!" The entire crowd stared. A few Newsies stared. I laughed. "Cheese it!" I screamed to myself. I ran long and hard, but it didn't matter. Nobody was chasing me. "I love being a NEWSIE!" I yelled. I sat down, and thought. If I kept being dumb, I'd get in trouble. I'd have to start acting good, because I was abusing this cool privilege. I walked back to the crowd, where I found more newsies. "Hey, Boots, how's it rolling?" I said as I approached him. I spat in my hand and offered to shake. Boots looked at me, strangly. He looked at my nightgown. He looked at my outstretched hand and shook. "Hi. How are you?" "Just ducky!" Boots got the face that the other newsies got when I shocked them with my knowing-too-muchness. I went around and met every last newsie, and all got that weird look. I loved New York. I'd have to come back here with my family...and spend a month here one night.
I woke up after my first night's sleep here. I had slept on the stairs outside of the Lodging House. I would apologize to them....that was mean! I got up, combed through my hair, and stood outside of the door. Pie Eater was the first one out the door. "Pie Eater," I began. "NOT YOU!" He was terrified. "No, no, stop it. I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have made fun of your name. But...oh well. You're not the only one with an...original name. I'm sorry." He left. "Some people..." I muttered. Jack was the second one up. Oh no. I took a deep breath and started. "Ehh....umm...Jack?" My voice cracked. "Umm...sorry 'bout yesterday. I was just..." I had planned this excactly. So why did I blurt out "..feeling psychic."? My stupid big mouth, again. In front of the biggest newsie, again. But he WAS cute. Oh my. "I'm...sorry....Jack.....forgive me? Oh PLEASE! PLEASE! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" He laughed at me. I felt like slapping myself. What was wrong with me these days? "It's fine." He walked away. Well, you should be proud that I apologized to every newsie in Manhatten. And most of them accepted my apology. After the last sleepy newsie left the Lodging House, I walked to the pape selling place, hoping I could make friends. I looked around. Kid Blink was alone. He needed friends. I walked over to him. "Hey Blink, whats happenin'?" He stared. This was not working well. But what was I supposed to say? 'You look like someone with no friends, and hey, so am I!' No, no, no. "Ummm.... ehh.....bye!" I felt really dumb, walking away. He thought I was stupid now. I walked back over to him, "umm.. hi. You want some help selling?" He just glanced at me. "What's wrong with you?" I looked at the sky for help, but it didn't. I walked over to Mush. He cringed at the sight of me. "No, Mush, I'm not like that any more! I was being dumb! Please don't be mad at me!" He looked at me. I looked back. "Marie, fine. That's fine. I'm not mad at you. I never was. Just...annoyed." Annoyed. Great, this lifetime oppertunity of meeting my newsies and they were annoyed. "Are you....still annoyed?" "That's a tough question." This was not what I'd expected. "Don't be. Annoyed." I called to him as I started on my way to Brooklyn. I needed to meet someone new, who wouldn't be annoyed with me. I needed to meet Spot.
I did need to meet Spot. So why did every obstacle possible get in my way? I was lost. "Excuse me!" I cried to the first person I saw, "Where's Brooklyn?" The boy laughed. "You'll need to be a bit more specific." I racked my brain. I should have asked about the Brooklyn Bridge, but my brain just wasn't thinking. It had a mind of it's own. "Where's Spot?" The kid laughed, again. I also heard anther person laughing, and I saw a much smaller boy walking with him. They looked like Davy and Les. Les saw me staring, and introduced himself. "I'm Les, and this is my brother Davy." I knew what Les was going to say next, so I said it first. "He's older." Les gaped at me. "No kidding!" he cried. "Davy, do you know this girl?" Davy glared at Les. Davy then remembered me. "Spot, ehh.... Spot's somewhere." "Thank you Davy. I think I'll make my way over there." Davy rolled his eyes. "Spot's somewhere near the Brooklyn Bridge. I went there once." "Where's the Brooklyn Bridge?" "Somewhere..." he said vaguely. This was no help. "Davy, I'll ask someone who knows. Nothing against you!" I turned and tripped over my nightgown. Les began to laugh uncontrolably. Davy grabbed Les's head and nearly killed the poor kid. I turned and ran. These two were way too much for me. I ran to the nearest newsie I saw. "Snipeshooter?" He turned around. "Where's the... Brooklyn bridge?" He gave me directions, and once again I was hopelessly lost. I wandered until I found myself back at the lodging house. Oh well. Spot would have to wait.
I was hungry. I was so hungry, I followed a newsie into Tibby's at lunchtime and sat down alone at a table to eat. I ordered a hot dog, because Les' had looked really good in the movie. I was lucky I got in there when I did, because the newsies took up all the seats in Tibby's, so if I'd been any later, I couldn't have sat down. I decided to try to find Spot again after lunch. I would ask someone who hadn't seen me where the Brooklyn Bridge was, and then they'd have to help me because, well.. they'd have to.
I kicked a rock along the sidewalk. Spot had not been at the Brooklyn Bridge, how sad. I sat down and thought about what had happened to me. I'd gone back in time, to New York, and- "Something wrong?" my thoughts were interupted by a voice. "No," I answered, "just deep in thought." I looked up to see who I was talking to, and she was a girl a little older than me. "Haven't seen you 'round here. I mean, New York is a pretty big place and all, but I've never seen you here." she said to me. "Well, ehh..." I wondered about her name, "Connie." she told me before I even asked. "Umm Connie, I came here to meet the newsies." She gaped at me. "Boy, are you smart!" Huh? I'm smart? "Why am I smart?" I asked her. "Because the newsies are my favorite part of New York too!" "Cool!" I shouted. "Cool?" Oops, I'd forgotten about that. But Connie didn't seem to care. She grabbed my arm and started to drag me along the street, "You must meet my Spot!" she cried. "Ohh-oh, YOUR Spot?" I teased her. "Yes, he is my Spot. And you've got to meet him. He is sooooooo..... I can't find the right word, help me!" "Umm....." I tried to come up with the word she needed, "Ehhh.... hot?" I suggested. "HOT??" cried Connie as she doubled over laughing. After she'd stopped, I started to do that thing like I'd done to the newsies...impress them with with my knowlege. "Weeelll....this Spot is probably about.... this high." I put my hand at the right level. "And I bet he's got brownish blond hair and light eyes, right Connie?" "Yes. I knew that, of course." I suddenly had a strange urge, and went on. "Well, Connie, I bet you didn't know his real name was Gabriel Damon!!!! I bet you didn't know!" "It is not." "Is too." "Is not!!!!" "ISSSS TOOOO!!!!" Connie thought bor a moment. "Well, let me take you to meet him. He'd know." So off we went to meet Spot.
Spot sat on the dock, looking around at his "kingdom" with a look on his face that clearly said 'don't mess with me.' This all changed at the sight of Connie, though. "Connie!" "SPOT"! she cried as she threw her arms around him. I stepped backwards. Spot looked up from Connie's arms and saw me, and brushed Connie off of him. "Who's dat?" he asked with narrowed eyes. "Dat's Marie. She's visitin' New Yawk an' she wan'ed ta meetcha." "Me?" Spot asked, surprised. "mmm...yeah..." I mumbled meekly. That stare was getting to me. "Nice ta meet ya... sir." "Sir, huh?" said Spot, staring. Ooh Spot quit giving me those eyes. You could scare the spots off of a dalmation. Spots... ha ha!!! Oh my. Marie, quit it. "So," started Connie, "You tink a' me Spot as a gentleman, do ya?" "Your Spot?" I joked. Suddenly, for an unknown reason still, I exploded laughing. Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was the weird look Spot gave me when I made the 'your Spot?' remark. I howled with laughter and grabbed onto Connie's arm to keep myself from falling down. Spot and Connie looked at me strangely, and Connie's face smiled, and she started to laugh too. Pretty soon we were both dying, fallng over, grabbing poor Spot as he looked at us like we were nuts. "What's..." began Connie, but before she could finished she dissolved in a fit of laughter. "What's so....." she tried again, and laughed again. "What'ssofunny?" she blurted out before she toppled over, joining me on the ground, yanking Spot down with her. The two of us were crazy. What was so funny? I didn't know!!!!! Then, Spot, who'd managed to keep a straight face through it all, smiled the tiniest bit. He grinned. He laughed a little bit, and then he too laughed like a maniac. We hooted and snickered and LAUGHED! Then, I looked up briefly in a pause, and saw Jack looking at us, holding some papes. Oh great. He had to see me looking like this. He smiled, and looked at Spot in his helpless state. Then, Jack kicked Spot off the dock. He yelled as he splashed into the water, and Connie, Jack and I exchanged a glance. We laughed (something which we hadn't done all day). Then, Connie seemed to think of something. Her precious Spot was in danger! She shrieked as she reached into the water, scrambling to grab him, but she could only see his hat floating on the top of the water. "Oh....ohhh....." she whimpered. She leaned over to grab the hat. "Oh, Jack, ya....ya drowned me Spot!!! Aughh!!!! I AIN'T GOT NO POYPOSE IN LOIFE! 'E's gone, Jack, an' it's your fault!" But he wasn't. Nope, he appeared on the other side of the dock and pushed Connie over. He jumped back in. "Ghhrack!" Connie screamed as she toppled over, and she grabbed me. "CONNIE!" I yelled, but it was too late. The two of us swam up to the top, and I grabbed Jack's foot. He slipped, and flew into the air, then landing on his back. He looked slightly in pain, but had to time to say anything because Spot grabbed his hand and yanked Jack in to join us. "Youch!" he shouted. When he appeared again, he held his wrist where Spot had pulled him in. "Ouch Spot... don't do dat." "Gosh, sorry Jack. But... ya shouldn't've pushed me in." "Hey, I'm wet too!" I cried. "Oh, yeah, an' I ain't." growled Connie. We all pulled ourselves up to the dock, and got out of the water. I saw Jack's papers floating in the water. "Well, dat was money well invested..." grumbled Jack as he looked at his newspapers. "Hey, Jacky- boy, you started it." said Spot. "Oh yeah!?" replied Jack. "Yeah... I'll soak ya!" "No ya won't." Then, Jack and Spot looked at each other. They laughed, and everything was fine now.
"So, Spot," began Connie, "Marie and I, we's got a question for ya." "Do you really?" "Yeah, we do. Is your... is ya.... is ya real name... what was it Marie?" I told her quietly. "Oh yeah. Is ya real name Gabriel Damon?" Spot looked puzzled. "No. Why?" "We was just wonderin'." said Connie, before sticking out her tongue at me. "Didjya wanna call him Gabe?" asked Jack, "Were ya runnin' out of nicknames for 'your Spot'?" "No Jack, I did not wanna call 'im Gabe. Gabe is a dumb name." "It is not, Connie!" I protested. "You'll regret saying that someday!" Connie and I began to talk to Spot about the name Gabriel Damon, and what he thought about it. "Well, it's an ok name, I guess." I finally got him to say. Before that, he just cursed and insulted the name, and I found it pretty funny that in a way he was insulting himself. "Hey, Spot, ain't it your lucky day! Two girls at once!" cried a Brooklyn newsie
To be continued (maybe)...
**Back to Beth's Bombos Fanfiction**
You are really cool person number to read this story since I got around to sticking a counter on it - that, by the way, was on 3/25/99 at 11:04 AM.