Midgy glanced around the lodging house
uncomfortably. It was clear that the people who lived here were not exactly
rich, but then again, she had never been raised with much luxury either.
"Hey ya Cowboy!" Racetrack yelled spotting Cowboy, better known as
Jack Kelly, sitting around on one of the few armchairs. "Hey Race,"
Jack replied smiling "Who's the goiyl?"
"This here is Midgy. She's lookin' for her brother, name of Brian Welsey,
eva' hoid o' him?" Race asked.
"Can't say that I have. But that name do sound familiar, maybe he's a
Brooklyn boy. I'lls take ya down there tammaraw if you's want."
Jack smiled. Midgy nodded her head, happy to know that, despite what her aunt
and uncle had always said, these newsies were really nice. "Hey Race, why's
don't you introduce Midgy here to alls the boys. I'm sure Kloppman will let her
stay on the third floor since Ms. Tomas left it to 'im." Jack nodded to
Midgy and headed upstairs. Race did what he had been asked, showing her around
and introducing her to Kloppman who turned out to be the owner of the Lodging
House. He said that there were 20 bunks on the third floor and that he was
thinking about letting girls stay up there since there was no real lodging house
for girls in the area. "Just be sure there are no goin's on's whiles I'm's
not 'round." Kloppman said. Midgy laughed at this comment and shook her
head. She wasn't exactly the type of person who did those things. After a few
games of poker with the boys Midgy headed up stairs and went to bed thinking
about how great it would be to finally see Brian again.
Midgy opened her eyes and yawned. She glanced over
and looked at the clock, it was only 5:42. She smiled and got dressed. Midgy had
always been a morning person and she figured she would be able to look around
the neighborhood a bit since none of the guys would be up. She quietly went down
the stairs and glanced around. To her surprise Race was up, for what reason, she
didn't know. "Hey!" he said genuinely happy to see her. Midgy smiled
and returned the greeting. She was definitely starting to like this Racetrack
guy. He wasn't that bad looking, though he was a little short, which was
actually better since Midgy wasn't too tall either. "You ever seen the sun
rise?" Race asked interrupting her thoughts.
"Nope." Midgy replied, which wasn't too far from the truth. After all,
she'd only seen half a sunrise.
"C'mon I knows a great place to watch it." And with that he led her
down Duane Street towards some back alleys. They went through an apartment and
up the stairs until they reached the roof. They both sat down and admired the
view, for it was a rather nice one.
"You's don't minds me smokin a cigar, do's ya?" Race asked
uncertainly.
Midgy smiled and replied, "Not as long as I get a few tries!" and with
that she grabbed it out of his hand and started smoking it, much to Racetrack's
surprise.
"Goiyls ain't supposed to smoke no cigars, it ain't proper!" he
exclaimed laughing.
"You's think I care bout properness and things of that sort?" she
replied grinning. They both sat back and watched the sky light up. Midgy sighed
thinking how great this morning was turning out. All of a sudden Race leaned
over and kissed her. She was surprised but happy, she hadn't really been
expecting that. He leaned back and smiled at her. Midgy smiled broadly and
thought how much her life had improved since leaving Boston.
Once Midgy and Race returned to the lodging house
Jack gave them curious looks and asked, "Where's you two been all mornin,
huh?" Race shrugged, smiling and just looked knowingly at Midgy.
Jack smiled at the two of them and said, "Alright's I's best take ya to
Brooklyn now, Midgy."
Race waved goodbye and they headed off for Brooklyn to go see the infamous Spot
Conlon.
Jack showed her as much of New York as he could that
day as they headed into Brooklyn. The site of the Brooklyn Bridge was rather
nice. The huge, metal structure had a beautiful view and was quite interesting
when you think the whole thing was man built. When they finally reached the spot
where the Brooklyn newsies seemed to be lodging Jack greeted hello to one of the
smaller boys who must have been about 12. "Hey ya Kid, how's it goin?"
Jack asked. The boy, who's name was apparently Kid Diamond, shrugged and gave a
questioning glance at Midgy. She was sure she saw something flicker in his eyes,
almost like fright, when he looked at her. "You eva hoid of anyone named
Brian Wesley?" Midgy asked. Kid's grew wide suddenly.
"You mean Wolf?!" he asked with awe. Midgy glanced at Jack and saw
that he too was staring at her with a bit of amazement.
"I guess that's what he went by when he came here.....y'know where 'e is
now? Midgy asked uncertainly.
Kid Diamond's eyes seemed to grow sad suddenly. "I's can't talk bout that
here, can I's take you to Central Park or sumtin?" Midgy nodded and Jack
called good bye as he went to go to talk with some of the other newsies. Kid led
her to Central Park. Midgy would have enjoyed the trip, had she not been so
distraught about her brother, she knew something was up for sure. Kid Diamond
sat down on a bench and motioned for her to the same.
"Foist off I gots ta say that Brian died a while back and I's real sorry, I
kinda figure you's his sister, Adriana, right?" Midgy, who was a bit
shocked at the realization her brother was dead, just nodded her head.
"You's want me to's continue, or should I's leave ya for a bit and then
come back?" Kid looked around again as if there were spies in the trees.
"It's alright, I'd rather know how's he died." Midgy replied.
"Okay," Kid continued, "ya see, Brian, or Wolf as we all knew him
as, fought his way up and kinda became the Brooklyn leader. He ws real decent to
all o' us, but he kept everythin in order, and in doin' so got himself a lotta
enemies who hated his power. Eventually Spot Conlon kinda took ova with the help
of Wolf's enemies and then kicked Wolf outta Brooklyn. Spot knew Wolf would neva
make it cause everyone outta Brooklyn hated him. And Spot was right, Wolf was
murdered two days lata."
Midgy was a bit speechless at this point. She had heard mainly good things about
Spot, yet he had kicked her brother out of Brooklyn leaving him to die.
"You's alright?" Kid asked a bit cautiously.
"I'm just a bit.......shocked. Were you and Bri.....er Wolf, good
friends?"
"Real good, him and Jack too. He told Jack ta look out fer ya. I know Jack
realized it was you when he foist saw you but I don't blame him for not wantin
to tell ya the whole story. Wolf told me ta give ya this I ever saw ya, by the
way....." Kid took out a beautiful gold watch and watch chain. Midgy
recognized it immediately, it had belonged to her father. Brian had received it
when their parents died, while Midgy received her mother's treasured sapphire
necklace.
"Jack don't hold much of a grudge with Spot, that's jus' the way Jack is. I
kinda blame Spot but I can't leave Brooklyn 'till I get more money, ya
know?" Midgy nodded and smiled at Kid. He and Jack were probably the only
links she had left to Brian and Kid Diamond seemed nice enough.
"Thanks for everything, I really appreciate this all. I's betta get back to
tha Lodging House though." Kid nodded and waved goodbye as he headed back
to Brooklyn. Midgy headed back holding back her tears as she let everything soak
in. She refused to cry in public and she wasn't going to let that change now.
Gripping the pocket watch she entered the Lodging House. Everyone was at Tibby's
which meant that she had the whole place to herself.
Midgy glanced up from her book as a young girl
entered the room. Kloppy had said that another girl had moved in, her name was
Adele if Midgy remembered correctly.
"Your Midgy, I take it?" Adele asked with a Southern accent.
"That would be me." Adele was a typical Southern Belle, blonde hair,
green eyes, all proper. Not that girls like that bothered Midgy, it was the
opposite actually. Most girls like that didn't like Midgy because she was a bit
of a tomboy. But she smiled anyway and tried to make Adele feel welcome.
"I best try to go to sleep, I'm a bit tired after todays........happenings."
Adele said and with that she headed for the bathroom to change. Midgy smiled to
herself. Racetrack had come back from Tibby's early and filled her in on
everything and it seemed that Kid Blink may have found himself a match.
Actually, the thought of that was pretty funny because, from what Midgy had
seen, Kid Blink wasn't exactly the type you would expect to have a girlfriend.
As a last resort to try not to burst out laugh at the thought, Midgy slid into
bed and went to sleep.
The next day Midgy was to start her life as a
newsie. She and Race had decided to sell together until she got the hang of it.
"See whachya gotta do is improvise, see this article, it say that one of
the major factories had a small fire started but that everything was put out and
no one got hurt. That's borin so you gotta say "Big factory fire, many
injuries" when in truth only the 'roaches got hoit. Follow what I'ms sayin?"
Midgy nodded, holding back a grin. The entire story sounded a bit out of
proportion but she'd try her hand at it.
"Baby born wit' three heads!" Midgy yelled. In reality the article
said a baby born with two heads had been born. Probably some improvising the
truth on the headline writer's part. People bought it though.
"That was pathetic, they must be real morons!" Race commented as the
man who had just bought a paper continued on his way. Midgy jokingly elbowed
Race in the ribs.
"Like you could do so much better!"
"Watch me!"
Later that day Midgy had found her way to the
pauper's cemetery. She had decided that she might as well pay a visit to Brian's
grave. The graveyard was a very lonely place. Most of the little crosses had
nothing more then a name on them and only a few scattered graves had flowers by
them. "Hey ya Bri" Midgy said suddenly spotting a cross that read
"Brian 'Wolf' Wesley". She knelt next to it and pulled the weeds away.
She remembered the flowers she had brought and laid those on the grave,
remembering various memories from Boston. Midgy was so deep in thought she
didn't even notice a boy walk into the cemetery.
"I didn't mean ta get 'im killed." Midgy spun around at the sound of a
voice and found herself face to face with Spot Conlon. She stared at him with
pure hatred gleaming in her eyes.
"Yeah, well he is dead and there ain't nuthin' no one can do bout it, is
there?" Midgy replied angerly. She walked out of the grave yard as quickly
as she could and broke down as soon as she turned the corner. "Who does he
think he is anyway? The fricken' King of New York? Did he seriously think that
he could just tell me he didn't mean to kill Brian, and I would just forgive
him?" Midgy thought as she raged down the street. She was definitely not
giving herself a good name by being Spot's enemy, but she barely cared. Midgy
really hoped she wouldn't have any more run-ins with Brooklyn's infamous leader,
yet somehow she knew that wasn't the last she would see of Spot Conlon.
Midgy sat on the iron steps of the fire escape,
which sat directly under the window next to her bed. She hadn't talked to Adele
- or anyone for that matter - since the day she went to Brooklyn because she had
been a bit down about the whole Brian deal. Everyone was at Tibby's having lunch
and today was October 19th, her 15th birthday. But as far as she could tell,
only Kid Diamond knew it was her birthday and she had no intention of telling
anyone else and making it a big thing. "Hey ya Midgy!"
Midgy glanced up only to find Race climbing up the fire escape's rickety steps,
smiling broadly at her. "So how does it feel ta be 15?" Race asked
sitting next to her.
"How'd you know bout that?"
"A little boiyd told me." he said smiling even wider.
"Would that boiyd happen ta be named Kid Diamond?" She asked laughing.
"Maybe," Racetrack said mysteriously, "but this boiyd also told
me ya got a thing for horse races and I figure we can head down there
now..."
Midgy laughed. It was true that she was quite the compulsive gambler when it
came to horse races, but she saw right through Race's innocent look.
"Lemme guess, you's got some personal intention to be at Sheepshed
Races?" She asked laughing.
"Yeah, see I was talkin ta Jack and he gave me this real hot tip..."