Part Six: All Alone
Swifty didn’t know whether to run or to stay. Right then, he was rooted to his spot and couldn’t move because he was so frightened. The last time he had seen Thomas Carmichael, he had shoved him into his room after beating him almost to death.
"Swifty, what’s wrong?" Whittier asked him.
Swifty couldn’t answer; all he could do was stare at the face in front of him. He was terrified, and yet he couldn’t run or turn around.
"Swifty?" Whittier asked again.
"It’s been a long time." Tom said.
Swifty raised his head to hide his fear. "It has." He said.
"Swifty, who is this?" Whittier asked.
Swifty looked at Whittier. "My stepdad." He answered. "You can go, I’ll find my way der."
Whittier looked a little confused, but he nodded and left Swifty alone. Swifty returned his gaze back to his stepfather and tried to think of something to say.
"You’ve grown." Tom said. "Hardly recognized you."
I wish you hadn’t, Swifty thought. He could feel his fright boiling in his stomach, and he prayed that it wouldn’t boil over. I gotta get outa here, he thought.
Stay, Derek.
Swifty felt confused. Why? He was beatin’ me up fer stayin’ out too late, an’ ya want me to stay?
Trust me.
"Have a seat, Derek." Tom told him.
"I prefer to stand." Swifty said, not moving an inch.
"You don’t need to be afraid of me. I can’t hurt you, not in this state."
"But if you weren’t, would ya?"
"I think you probably don’t trust me."
"Ya think?" Swifty snapped.
"I was hoping I’d see you again."
Swifty rolled his eyes. "I’m sure."
"That’s not why I wanted to see you."
Swifty folded his arms over his chest and kept the stern look on his face to hide his fear. "Then why’d ya wanna see me?"
"To tell ya I’m sorry for what I’d done to you after your mother died."
Swifty felt like he had been hit with a ton of bricks. This man, a bitter drunkard, saying he was sorry for beating his wife’s only son? This couldn’t possibly be the man that Swifty had known. He couldn’t hide the look of surprise on his face now. Tom only looked at the boy and could understand his confusion.
"You aren’t the man I knew." Swifty observed.
"I changed, Derek." Tom said. "I realized that since I was angry about your mother that I couldn’t take my anger out on anyone, especially not her son."
"Do ya know what I went through?" Swifty asked. "I thought you was gonna kill me! Didja know dat my goil was even afraid ta look at ya cuz ya scared ‘er so much?"
"I know, and I’m sorry. I want you to forgive me."
Swifty could feel relief sweeping over him, and yet there were also some doubts. He unfolded his arms and took in a deep breath.
"I forgive ya."
Tom smiled, but then his face filled with pain. Something in his face told Swifty that his stepfather was dying.
"What’s wrong with ya? I mean, why’re ya here?"
Tom opened his mouth, but he coughed instead. As his coughing grew worse, he pulled a handkerchief to his face and coughed in it. When he pulled away, Swifty saw splotches of blood. It reminded him of the night a year ago when he became sick.
"What’s wrong?" Swifty asked again.
Tom inhaled deeply. "I have tuberculosis. It came shortly after you disappeared, and I ignored it." he breathed again. "Come here, I have something to give you."
Swifty walked toward the cot and sat down next to it. Tom reached over and opened a drawer in the nightstand next to his cot and drew out a band. Swifty stared at the ring. It was gold of course, and on it were three stones; two blue stones and a clear one.
"This was your mother’s wedding ring." Tom said, handing it to his stepson. "Your mother wanted you to have it so you could give it to the woman you love. The clear stone is a diamond and the blues ones are topaz."
Swifty took the ring and inspected it. It looked like something that Seven would do anything to get on her finger.
"What is your girl like?" Tom asked.
Swifty kept his eyes on the gemstones attached to the gold band. "It’s still Chase. We met up two years after I ran away."
"How is she?" Tom asked eagerly. "The last time I saw her, she was looking for you."
"She’s sick." Swifty choked. "She an’ a whole bunch of my other friends are sick an’ I came ‘ere with those men to bring da medicine back to New York."
"Have you thought of marrying her?"
Swifty looked at the ground. "Yes. Ever since I met up with ‘er last year, I’ve been meaning to ask ‘er, but I’ve never found the right time ta ask ‘er, an’ no ring ta give ‘er, for dat madder."
Tom began to chuckle, and Swifty couldn’t hide his smile. But his smile didn’t last very long, for his stepfather began to cough again.
"Dad?"
Swifty couldn’t believe what he had just said. He never thought he would ever call him by that name again. But as he watched, he realized that it was what his father had wanted him to call him.
"Dad?" Swifty tried again.
His father’s coughing stopped, and his eyes shut. A nurse arrived immediately, and she wheeled him away to the emergency room. It was then that it occurred to Swifty that he may never see his stepfather again. He looked down at the ring in his hand and remembered what his stepfather had told him.
Looking up, he stuck the ring in his pocket and headed for the boarding house the doctor had told him about. He decided that he would visit his stepfather the next morning before they left to go to New York.
As he walked down the street, he felt a strong wind blow, and snow began to fall. As he looked up, he saw that the dark blue sky was now covered with a thick blanket of a very dark gray. A snowstorm was coming, so he needed to get inside. He arrived at the boarding house and found Collins sitting at the fireplace.
"Finally back, I see." Collins said.
Swifty nodded. "Yeah. Snowstorm’s comin’, but it oughta die down tomorrow."
A woman who looked like she was in her mid-forties heard what Swifty had said and looked out the window. She seemed upset when she looked away.
"That ain’t no snowstorm, boy," she said, "that’s a fresh blizzard."
"A blizzard?" Swifty exclaimed, turning to face the woman.
"Indeed it is. It may die down as early as tomorrow after noon, or it could last for days."
"What?" Collins asked.
"If you’re lucky, it’ll die down tomorrow. But in most cases, it lasts mostly up to two days."
"Two days?" Jeff’s voice boomed from the stairway. "We can’t wait two days!"
"Absolutely not!" Swifty shouted. "My friends are dyin’ back home, I can’t wait two days!"
"Sorry kid," the woman said, "but if you try goin’ out in that weather, you’d kill yerself and get that medicine nowhere."
"Mrs. Hester’s right, Swifty." Jeff admitted sadly. "If we go out there, it would only be suicide."
Swifty shook his head. "No! My friends’ll die if we don’t leave tomorrah!"
"They won’t, Swifty." Jeff said assuredly.
Swifty knew that at least one might have a close call, but he knew that it was for the best. He would much rather loose one than loose all at once.
"Better head to bed, boy." Mrs. Hester said sternly. "If the storm does blow over by tomorrow, yer gonna need all the strength you have."
Swifty sighed. "Oh, all right."
Mrs. Hester nodded. "Very well. You can have the third room on the left on the second floor. Tomorrow I’ll provide breakfast for you and the rest of the men."
"Thanks." Swifty said, half-heartedly.
"I got yer stuff off your horse." Jeff said. "I’ll go get it for ya."
Swifty followed Jeff up the stairs. When they reached the second floor, Jeff went into his room and returned with Swifty’s sack, which he handed to him.
"Here’s your stuff. Now listen to the old woman and get some rest. We’ve had a long trip an’ it’s probably gonna get harder."
Swifty held the sack close as he walked to the room that Mrs. Hester had told him he could have. When he entered the room, he plopped down on the bed and dropped his sack on the floor.
He didn’t want to wait a few days to leave, for he knew that his friends could be dying or dead for all he knew. He wanted them to be well so everything would be as it was before.
After laying there for a long time, Swifty finally sat up, picked up his sack and tossed it onto a chair on the other side of the room. Since he was sleeping in a house now, and not a tent, he pulled off the layers of clothes he was wearing to keep warm on his journey.
When he only had one layer of clothes on, he climbed onto the bed and curled under the many quilts on the bed. It felt wonderful to be by himself, but when he closed his eyes, all he could think about were the newsies. He could see the faces of his ill friends in their bunks, waiting for an absolution that wouldn’t come until he returned with the medicine.
And next to the newsies, he thought about his stepfather. He could remember seeing his stepfather coughing up blood, like he had a year ago, and he wondered if he stepfather would get well, or if he’d done nothing about the disease for so long that it was fatal. These whatifs were taking over his mind, so he tried to sleep so he could set his mind at ease.
* * *
Tweetheart’s blood ran cold as Mush’s eyes rolled back into his head. The doctor checked him over and sighed. First Seven was unconscious, and now Mush was.
"Doctor, is there anything you can do for them?" Tweetheart asked, her voice trying to keep tears back.
The doctor looked at her and shook his head. "Not until the medicine comes. They should be at Clifton right now, so they should be on their way tomorrow morning."
The wind blowing outside was now growing louder by the second, and the snow whirled and danced across the windowpanes to coat them with a thick layer of ice. Tweetheart saw and was frightened.
"I don’t think they’ll be able to come." Kloppman said sadly. "A blizzard’s just come up, and there’s no way anyone can travel through it until it clears."
Everyone fell silent at the news. If a blizzard came, that meant that the medicine would take longer to arrive, and it might even be too late for some of them.
Since most of the sick newsies were asleep, they didn’t hear what was said and Tweetheart thought that it was better if they didn’t know. But she was overcome with sadness, for she knew that her sister just might be the first newsie to go if Swifty didn’t return soon.
* * *
Swifty opened his eyes to find himself not in the room he was staying in. He was in a totally white room, but it didn’t even look like a room. He was just surrounded by white. As he looked around, he thought he could hear a soft voice speaking his name.
"Hello?" he said. "Is someone there?"
"Derek."
Swifty turned around to look at the person who had called him by his name. He saw a beautiful woman before him; a woman with long, coal black hair and almond eyes. Swifty’s eyes widened as he looked at her. It was a face he hadn’t seen in years, a face that he had missed for as long as she had left. It was Mae!
"Mama?" he stuttered.
Mae nodded. "Yes, Derek. It’s me."
Swifty ran to her and threw his arms around her. His mother had died when he was thirteen, and that was when his stepfather returned to his drinking. As Swifty held onto his mother, he thought he could feel his eyes beginning to fill up with tears. But then a question came to his mind, and he pulled away and looked at his mother’s beautiful face.
"Why are ya here?" he asked. "Does it hafta do with the newsies?"
Mae nodded solemnly. "Yes. You need to bring the medicine to them or they’ll die."
Swifty couldn’t believe what he had just heard. "What? There’s a blizzard out der, an’ if I went out der, I’d freeze before mornin’!"
Mae shook her head and placed her hand on her son’s cheek. "No, you wouldn’t. If you take Smokey and the medicine and leave the town, an angel will guide you to New York. You needn’t worry, the path it will lead you on will get you there safely. Just trust God and you will be safe."
Swifty opened his eyes. He was back in his room, and his mother was nowhere to be seen. Remembering what Mae had told him, he leapt out of bed, pulled some clothes on and grabbed his sack.
Tiptoeing out of his room, he walked over to Jeff’s room and sneaked inside. Jeff was snoring loudly, so he didn’t have a problem getting the things he needed without getting noticed. Swifty looked around in the darkness and found the sack of corn dodgers. He picked it up and continued to search for the box of medicine.
He finally found the box and could feel relief sweeping over him. He picked it up gently and quietly walked out of Jeff’s room. He walked quietly and carefully down the stairs. He could hear the wind beating against the windows and the door, but Swifty swallowed his fear and opened the door.
The angry wind whirled all around him, trying to knock him down and the items out of his arms. Holding tightly to the box and sacks, he braced himself against the storm and trudged through the thick snow to the stable. He opened the stable doors and shut them behind him. Some of the animals inside began to cry at the sounds of the blizzard, but Swifty ignored them and looked around for Smokey.
He found him; he was in a stall at the end of the stable. Running carefully to his stall, he finally reached it and found a sled right next to the stall. Setting the box and two sacks on the sled, Swifty grabbed a rope hanging on a nail on the wall and tied the box of medicine tightly and firmly to the sled.
When it was tied down, Swifty was suddenly struck with surprise. The box was very large; so large that he had no idea how he could’ve withstood its weight in the blizzard. Shaking his surprise away, he rushed to Smokey, grabbed a blanket and set it on his back. Smokey looked at Swifty with a surprised expression on his face, but Swifty grabbed the saddle and strapped it onto Smokey’s back.
"Smokey," Swifty said, "we’re goin’ back in that blizzard. If ya give me any trouble I’ll soak ya."