Newsies on a Mission

I bet you didn’t know that there were a lot of girl newsies. There were so many after the strike of 1899 that a Newsgirls’ Lodging House was started in Brooklyn. Powder was one of those newsies. Her group of newsies consisted of six other girls. They were Swany, Karmel, Ernie, Chaser, Strawberry, and Nickels. Since they were from Brooklyn, most of the guy newsies won’t be familiar to you, except Spot. Some of his Brooklyn newsies were Dusty, Mac, Half-Pint, Black-Eye, Red, and Howie. This is the story of one of their many adventures on the streets of New York.

Part 1

At around noon, a group of the Brooklyn newsies met up for lunch. The newsies all settled into booths and tables. Mac, Karmel, Red, Ernie, Spot, and Powder sat at a big table together. They were all pretty hungry, and were wolfing down their food without much conversation, until Spot said "Did you guys eva’ notice that da goyls wea’ da same kind a’ clothes we does, but da goyls still look... female-like?"

Ernie, Karmel, and Powder looked at each other and cracked up. "What?" Spot said, almost like he was offended. He looked sort of like a sad puppy. That just made the girls laugh harder.

Mac said, "No. It’s true! Goyls look good in anythin’! You’re all so... pretty an’... stuff."

Karmel said, "Oh... Thanks, Mac. Dat’s really... sweet. I think."

Part 2

Spot and Powder sold together for the rest of the afternoon. That night before they headed back to their own Lodging Houses, they went for a walk. As they walked, they held hands. The sun was setting, and Spot put his arm around Powder’s shoulder as the cool night temperatures set in. After the sunset, they stood in the moonlight and Spot put his arms around Powder’s waist. He leaned in and kissed Powder softly. Just then, they heard a loud yell coming from the alley. Then there was a gun shot, and a groan, and footsteps walking quickly out of the alley. They froze. A tall man in dark clothes and a brimmed hat emerged from the alley, carrying a bundle of papers.

"Powder, run!" Spot yelled. Powder didn’t need telling. She took off. They both did. They heard footsteps behind them, but whoever was chasing them wasn’t in the same good shape that Powder and Spot needed to be in as newsies. The man never caught them, but he wasn’t TOO far behind. He could still see them, that was for sure. They ran until they reached the Newsgirls Lodging House. Powder flung the door open, pushed it closed behind Spot and leaned against it.

"Spot, I don’t want ya ta go back ta your place tonight. Whoever that was is still out thea’. You should stay hea’ tonight," Powder said as she tried to catch her breath. She leaned against Spot and put her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her.

Spot managed a small smile. "I was jus’ about ta say that I don’t wanna leave ya. I wanna stay hea’ tonight."

The two walked together up the stairs and explained to the other girls what happened. They made up a bunk for Spot, and went to bed. It took Powder a very long time to get to sleep. She kept tossing and turning, and when she finally got to sleep, she had restless dreams about running away from the mysterious stranger and not being able to move fast enough.

Part 3

The next morning everybody else was awake before Powder. They let her sleep because they knew she’d had a rough night. Everybody else was gone by the time she woke up, except Spot. Spot had waited for her, sitting on the bunk next to hers with his hat squeezed in his hands, watching her sleep. She didn’t know it, but as soon as he was sure everybody was gone, he had kissed her gently on the forehead and both of her eyelids. He had been so scared for her.

Nothing usually scared Spot. The only thing that could make him be afraid was the thought that Powder was in trouble.

When she woke up, Spot jumped up and stood right next to her bed. "Mornin’, sweetness," he said. "How ya doin’?"

"I’m fine," she responded. She got out of bed and grabbed her clothes. She went into the washroom and called out, "Ya didn’t need ta stay hea’ ta wait for me. It’s really sweet, but I hate ta think you’re losin’ money ‘cause a’ me."

"No problem," Spot called, grinning sheepishly. He hated it when Powder told him he was sweet. He was supposed to be the toughest and most respsected newsie in all of New York. Then he would blush and that certainly didn’t make him look tough. He was glad no one was around to hear it this time.

"Thanks, Spot. I could take care a’ myself, but I really do ‘preciate dis," she said, stepping from the washroom.

They walked down the stairs together. They passed Mrs. Perkins’s desk. Mrs. Perkins was the woman in charge of the Newsgirls’ Lodging House. "Powder, wait!" she called. "There’s a letter for you!"

"What? Who’s it from?" Powder questioned. She couldn’t figure out who in the heck could be sending her a letter.

"I don’t know. I found it on the floor by the door when I got up this morning," Mrs. Perkins handed Powder an envelope. On it was printed POWDER all in caps. She flipped it over. The flap was open. She pulled out a sheet of paper. She scanned the paper quickly, and turned pale. "Powda’, what is it?" Spot asked, his eyes frantic. Powder wordlessly handed him the letter, which he read out loud.

"Powder:
Watch out!
You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into! If you know what’s good for you, you and your little boyfriend will keep this to yourselves. I’m warning you, if you give me trouble, you might not be alive to open your big mouths again."

"Powder, we need to take this to the police!" Mrs. Perkins exclaimed.

"I don’t know," Powder said. "I... I don’t want... Dey said ta leave dem alone."

"Powder, we’re goin’ to da police," Spot told her firmly. "I know dey said not ta, but it’s a risk we’s gonna hafta take." Spot put his arm around Powder’s shoulders and pulled her close. She put her arms around him and put her chin on his shoulder.

"Aw right. Fine. We’ll go ta da police," Powder gave in.

"Okay. Lata’, Mrs. Perkins!" Spot called as they walked out the door. They walked to the police station and went inside.

A man sitting at a desk asked "Can I help you?"

"Yes. We have what we think is a moida’ ta report," Spot said.

"Really, now?" the policeman looked at them with one eyebrow raised. He could tell that these were poor kids, and he wasn’t sure he trusted them.

"Yeah," Powder said.

"Well, have a seat and tell me your story," the policeman said, motioning to two chairs in front of his desk.

They sat down and Powder told him the story. Then she handed him the note. He read it several times. "Hmm... this is interesting," he said. "Can you show me the alley where this happened?"

"A’ course," Spot said, and the three of them stood up. Spot and Powder led the policeman to where they had heard the murder the night before. When they got there, the policeman went in front, and Powder and Spot followed behind. Powder slipped her hand into Spot’s, and he gave her hand a squeeze, neither of them knowing what they would find in the alley.

Part 4

"Um... kids, I’m not sure you want to see this," the policeman said. But it was too late. They had already seen. It was an incredibly gory scene. Whoever had killed this man was too worried about them to take the body away. There was blood splattered all over the brick wall of the building. Powder had been preparing herself for a sight like this, but she had never seen a dead body before. Her face paled and she swallowed repeatedly. Spot pulled her head down and hid it against his shoulder. What she didn’t know was that this was also to keep her from seeing that he was turning a little green.

Part 5

Spot took Powder out of the alley while the policeman searched the body. Powder glanced at the ground and noticed a piece of paper. She bent down to pick it up.

"What’s that, Powda’?" Spot asked as he came to look over her shoulder.

"I... I think the killer dropped it when he started chasing us last night," Powder answered. On the paper was a table that showed a list of jewels and prices. "Ya think they coulda’ been smugglin’ dese here jewels?"

"Yeah. Maybe he killed dat guy back dere to shut ‘im up," Spot offered.

"We should give dis to da policeguy," Powder said. "But we’ll wait until he comes outa da alley."

"Sure, if ya want," Spot said, secretly relieved to not have to go back in the alley.

Part 6

The two newsies stood looking at the list and speculating about it until the policeman came back out of the alley. "I’m going to send some other guys out here to take care of that," he told them, jerking his thumb toward the alley.

"Uh... Officer? We found this out here," Powder said, handing the list of him.

"Oh, my... Of course!" the officer said. "It all makes sense now!"

"Hey, it looks like dere’s somethin’ written on the back!" Powder exclaimed.

"It says, ‘Friday night, 7:30, corner of Turner and Main,’" the officer read. He looked at his watch. It was 3:30 now. They had enough time to plan. "Kids, we’re going to catch these guys tonight, and then we’re going to need you to identify the one who chased you last night."

Part 7

It was 8:00. Powder and Spot were pacing back and forth in the sitting room of the Newsgirls’ Lodging House. Since it was closer to the police station, they had decided to wait there.

"I can’t believe dey wouldn’t let us go wit’ dem! Dis is drivin’ me crazy!" Spot yelled.

"You two are going to wear out the rug in there!" called Mrs. Perkins. "Sit down!" They hadn’t been sitting for more than two minutes (although it seemed like another hour) when a couple of police officers walked in. Spot and Powder jumped up.

"We’ll take you to the station to identify the killer now," one of the officers said calmly. Spot and Powder didn’t need anybody to tell them. They were out the door before the man had a chance to finish his sentence.

Part 8

"That’s ‘im. Right dere," Powder said as soon as she saw the group of men. Spot backed her up.

"Thanks, kids," the police officer from earlier in the day told them. "We’ve been on the trail of these guys for a long time, but we never had a good enough lead to catch them. You kids sure are street smart."

"We didn’t do that much," Powder said. "Did we?" At the same time Spot snickered about the "street smart" comment. What did this guy expect from two kids who worked on the streets every day?

"Well, if it weren’t for you these people would be getting a shipment of stolen jewels right now. We confiscated them and they’re being sent back to where they came from."

"Well, glad we could help, offica’," Spot said. "If ya don’t need us anymore I think we’ll be goin’ now. We missed a day of sellin’ and we’se gonna have ta make up for it tomorra’."

"Maybe we’ll see you around, then. Bye! And thanks again," the policeman said as Powder and Spot walked out the door.

"Whew. I’m sure glad that’s over," Powder sighed as Spot slipped his arm around her. "It was kind of scary, wasn’t it?"

"You were scared? I wasn’t scared, not even for a minute," Spot said.

Powder looked away from Spot so he wouldn’t see she was trying not to laugh. She knew better than to believe that he wasn’t even the TINIEST bit scared, but she also knew better than to push the issue. Let him keep his pride.

THE END!!

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