So Is You One of Us?

Winnie

That night I stayed out on the roof with Crutchie. He told me all about how he and Jack were going to leave for Santa Fe once they had the money. An entire city made of clay where it didn't matter if you had folks because you had friends. Crutchie told me about the palominos and swimming the Rio Grande, a little ambitious in my opinion. Jack even told him after a few months out of the city and he could toss the crutch which I didn't believe, but I didn't have the heart to tell him even though he was probably aware he would never lose the crutch. It sounded too good to be true but none the less he asked me to go with them to which I kindly declined. My sister was here and she was all I had left of my parents. Although I didn't see her frequently, I could still see her. The next morning, I woke up in a sitting position from talking with Crutchie. He was asleep in a similar manner I gently woke him up.

"Hey Crutchie it's morning." I said and his eyes only rolled around in the back of his head causing me to smile. I got up and looked out at the city like I had seen Jack do so many times. The sun was about to rise and I wanted to stay out to watch it. Today was the day a bunch of kids would make history. The newsies of New York were to band together and take down the almighty Pulitzer. The sun rose on the sleeping city, shining in the windows of the shabby buildings and onto the pavement; it was almost heavenly. After the sun had risen I went back into the lodge where some the boys were still in bed. They looked so peaceful considering what they had been going through, some of them had almost completely healed from when they stopped the wagons. Out of curiosity I went into the bathroom to see what I looked like. As one could probably have guessed I still looked like hell but not as bad. My eyes were only hues of purple and yellow no longer swollen and black. My lip had completely healed and the cut on my cheek was nothing more than a little scar. I lifted my shirt to look at the rest of my bruises. They still were vibrant purple and pink hues; I winced just looking at them. Being that there was nothing to do I let go of my shirt and went back over to my bed and sat down to look out the window, only a few people were on the streets now and it was mostly children going to the factories. It made me want to fight even harder for our cause. Thousands of kids were being exploited not just the newsboys. The idea of setting an example for kids so that they know that they can fight back and get justice was really what this was all about, no longer was it just about pennies and papes.

"Mornin' Books, you're up early." Albert said plopping next to me on my bed.

"Yeah I slept on the roof and watched the sun come up." I answered.

"Ah Jack's penthouse. Crutchie hasn't left up there since Jack turned himself in." He commented, "Did he talk about Santa Fe all night?" He asked and I nodded.

"Poor guy, Jack gave him all that hope." He said shaking his head.

"Hope is a good thing Albert, he needs it." I defended.

"Yeah but too much of it ends in disappointment." He refuted.

"Point taken...but don't tell me you don't have any hope for the strike." I said.

"I do...but I ain't stupid." He said and I nodded.

"So, am I really not allowed to go to the meeting tonight?" I asked.

"Sorry sweetheart, I've been given orders from a specific someone." He said apologetically.

"From who? I thought it was a collective decision." I asked.

"We only wanted you to stay away when we stopped the wagons, after ya got busted up we figured we might as well let ya come." He said, "I've been ordered by lover boy to keep you out of this one." He said. A part of me saw that coming but another part of me was ticked off.