Seven slammed forty cents on the counter. “Eighty papes.”
“Eighty papes!” Weasel shouted.
Morris dropped the newspapers on the counter and she took them. She read the headline and found very few interesting stories. As she was leaving, Jack and Tweetheart stopped her.
“Seven,” he said, “We was thinking, an’ we believe dat what Tony said las’ night about sending guys in ta get ya, an’ we want some guys ta go with you.”
“I can take care of myself, Jack. I don’t need yer newsies watchin’ my back.”
Seven turned around and walked away. Jack called Snoddy, Snitch, Bumlets, Skittery and Jake over. He told them to do watch Seven, but he gave Bumlets and Skittery a special job.
When he was done briefing with them, he sent them off to do their work. Snoddy, Snitch and Jake followed Seven and watched her as she sold her papers. She seemed safe until after lunch when they saw some East Side newsies coming toward her. Snoddy was the first to notice and made his move.
“Hi Seven.” He said.
Seven turned and looked at him. “Oh, hi Snoddy.”
Snoddy looked behind him and saw that the East Side newsies were closing in on them. Jake and Snitch were telling him to go, so he knew he had to be fast.
“Seven, there’s some East Side newsies comin’ right at us.” He said calmly.
Seven saw them. “Know any good places where we can hide?”
“Yeah, follow me.”
The two broke into a run, Snoddy leading the way. Jake and Snitch were ahead, pointing the way to where they needed to go. Snoddy followed their directions and led Seven into an alley and told her to hide behind some boxes and watch what would happen next.
The two East Side newsies stopped in the alley right underneath two painters who were painting the building. They looked down, and they weren’t painters at all; they were Bumlets and Skittery. When they saw them, they took their buckets of paint and held them above the newsies below.
“Buenos dies, amigos!” they shouted.
The two newsies looked up and Bumlets and Skittery dumped the paint out on them. The East Side newsies stormed out of the alley in anger and embarrassment. Snoddy stepped out from behind his box and helped Seven out.
“This was planned, wasn’t it?” Seven asked.
Snoddy nodded. “Yep. Jack wanted to make sure you was okay.”
Seven shrugged. “Okay, he’s right. Now can I go back to the lodging house?”
* * *
Jack and Tweetheart walked to the lodging house, only to find a wagon in front of it. They ran the rest of the way and when they entered they found a man helping Kloppman install a telephone on his desk.
“What’s dis?” Jack demanded.
Kloppman looked up from what he was doing. “This, young man, is a telephone. We need one and they were on sale.”
Jack nodded. “Okay, Well, we’s goin’ upstairs. See ya later.”
Jack and Tweetheart climbed the stairs to the bunkroom. No one else was there at the moment, so Tweetheart sat down on the bunks.
“Jack,” she said, “I’m worried about Chase. I like Tony and all, but she’s hurting him by her absence. I know what Tony’s like, and when he gets depressed, he gets drunk, like what happened last night.”
“Why does he do that?”
“He thinks it eases his pain, but it only makes him worse. He loves Chase, and he’ll do anything to get her back.”
* * *
Tony sat in the saloon, waiting for Dasher and Jade, the two newsies he sent into Manhattan, to return. When they arrived, they were covered in pink paint and looked angry.
“What happened to you?” Tony asked.
Jade put his hands on his hips. “We went ta get Seven, an’ she spotted us. We chased her, then two Manhattan newsies dumped paint on us.”
“Yeah,” Dasher cut in, “an’ dey was laughin’ at us!”
“So you didn’t get Chase?” Tony asked.
“Nope.”
Tony turned to the bartender, who was drying some cups out.
“Bartender, whisky.”
The bartender put a cup on the counter and filled it with an amber liquid. Tony swallowed it, but Dasher grabbed his arm when he was about to buy another glass.
“Don’t do it, Tony! Dat stuff’ll only mess ya up!”
“I’m already messed up!” Tony shouted. “Chase is gone, an’ you guys failed to bring ‘er back!”
“Sorry! We’ll bring ‘er back next time.”
* * *
Seven sat in her room, reading a book about the Civil War. She tried to concentrate on what she was reading, but all she could think about was Tony. No matter how hard she tried not to think about him, he always came back. She was glad when Tweetheart came into the room.
“Chase, can I talk to you?” she asked.
Seven nodded. “Sure.”
Tweetheart sat on her bed. “Chase, I’ve been thinking about the thing about you and Tony, and I think that you should just go back and tell him you wanna break up.”
“But I don’t wanna break up with ‘im! I’m just doing this until he apologizes for kissing that girl.”
“But what if he was telling the truth?”
“He wasn’t. He’s not the type of guy that would do that.”
“Then maybe you don’t know him as well as you think.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“I mean that yer jumping to conclusions to quickly. Maybe he was kissing that girl so she could get her boyfriend back, but you never thought he’d be so kind to do so. He’s a great guy, and maybe you should give him another chance.”
“I’ll stay here a month, then I’ll go back.”
“That’s too long, Chase.”
“No it isn’t. It’s the right amount of time I need.”
* * *
No matter how many times the East Side newsies said they’d bring Seven back, they always returned empty-handed. Whenever they returned without Seven, Tony would get drunk. He knew she was safe, but he couldn’t help but worry about her.
Three weeks went by and Seven still hadn’t been brought back. Now, Tony was often found alone, and most of the time he cried. He loved her so much that all the East Side newsies were beginning to feel sorry for him. The only newsie who felt almost the exact same way as Tony was Felix.
He was secretly in love with her, but he didn’t believe she’d go for a guy like him. Just seeing Tony blubbering like a baby when Seven didn’t appear made him feel sad too. He had to do something about it, but there was only one way he knew how to get Seven back, and it was going to break his heart.
* * *
One more week, Seven thought. Every other day East Side newsies would come and try to take her back. It was getting boring. That day, Jack had Kid Blink, Mush and Boots stick with her as she sold her papers.
The East Side newsies came in the day before, so Seven wasn’t expecting them to show up that day. When she had sold all of her papers, she wanted to get back to the lodging house as soon as she could.
“Why?” Mush asked.
“Because I’m tired. Every night I have a dream about Tony, and when I wake up, I can’t get back to sleep.”
“So in other words, he haunts yer mind.” Said Boots.
“Exactly.”
“Why’d ya leave ‘im in the first place?” Blink asked.
“Because I saw him with another girl.”
“Ouch.”
“Can we go back now?”
“Okay.”
The trio watched Seven as she walked back towards the lodging house. When they were almost there, Blink saw an East Side newsie out of the corner of his eye. He alerted Seven, and they broke into a run and didn’t stop until they reached the house.
When they entered, the East Side newsies gave up and returned to their territory. Seven was getting upset about this. Maybe I’ll hafta stay longer, she thought, or maybe I’ll just hafta cut my visit short.
* * *
Swifty sold his last paper and shoved a penny in his pocket. When he pulled his hand out of his pocket, he began to think of Seven. He was upset that she was still angry with him for running away from her two years ago, and he wanted to tell her why, but he couldn’t. It was just too harsh for him. He hadn’t told anyone what had happened that night, not even Tweetheart.
“Swifty?”
Swifty was still lost in his thoughts, so he couldn’t hear Pie Eater.
“Swifty! Snap out of it!” Pie Eater shouted.
Swifty shook his head and turned to Pie Eater.
“What?”
“Yer thinkin’ about Seven, ain’t ya?”
“How do you know?”
“By the way yer staring at the ground. Yer staring at it as if Seven’s standin’ there right now.”
Swifty shrugged. “I guess I can’t hide anythin’ from ya.”
Pie Eater examined Swifty for a minute. “Yer still in love with ‘er, ain’t ya?”
“What makes ya say dat?”
“Look at ya! When ya think no one’s watchin’, ya start thinkin’ about ‘er and guys nearly got break an arm ta get ya ta stop thinkin’ about ‘er.”
“Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m still crazy about ‘er, but she’s still angry at me because I left ‘er.”
“Why’d ya leave ‘er?”
Swifty paused. He couldn’t tell Pie Eater what had happened at his home that one night, so he only told him half.
“I was runnin’ away an’ she followed me. Didn’t I tell ya dat?”
Pie Eater nodded. “Oh yeah. I fergot.”
“Yeah sure. Well, I’m headin’ back to da lodging house. See ya.”
