Dreams Change

Chapter 14

"Hey Davey, where's Jack?" Finch asked. I made eye contact with Albert who was across the theater and he shrugged his shoulders. Everyone began chanting Jack's name, but I made my way behind the crowds, searching for my friend.

"All right, all right!" I heard Davey yell, stepping to the front the crowds.

'Good luck kid,' I thought. 

"Hi Andy," I said as I walked past her.

"Caz, glad to see you made it out of the Refuge."

"You heard about that?"

"Everybody heard about it."

"Um, alright then. I'll see you later." I tuned into Davey as I continued to make my way around.

"Newsies of New York, look at what we done. We got newsies from every pape and every neighborhood here tonight." I stopped listening to his speech when I finally found Jack, standing off to the side, staring intently at his feet. 

"Jack," I said walking up to him. "Where ya been?"

"Caz. I had some things to take care of." I raised my eyebrow. He was acting weird, like something was wrong.

"Is everything alright?"

"Um, yeah, course it is." He turned to me, his eyes wide. "Whatever happens, just know that I'm trying to save everyone here, okay? Tell the fellas that."

"Jack, what are you talking about? Did something happen with Pulitzer?" 

"You wanna be talked to like an adult," Jack called, completely ignoring my question and stepping up to Davey. Apparently he had been paying more attention to Davey's speech than I had been. What was he about to do? "Start acting like one."

"Jack," Davey said. He looked seriously relieved. 

"Don't just run your mouth off. Make some sense."

"And here's Jack!" Everyone began chanting again and I slowly walked over to Albert, my eyes never straying from our leader.

"Caz, you alright?" Albert asked. 

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean?" He looked at me, concern shinning through his sky blue eyes. I had to drag myself out of them before I got too lost. 

"Just give it a couple minutes."

"...Raised the price of papes without so much as a word to us and that was a lousy thing to do." I assumed he was talking about Pulitzer. "So we's got mad and we showed them that we ain't gonna be pushed around. So we go on strike. And then what happens? Pulitzer lowers the price, says we'll go back to work. And then a few weeks after that, he hikes up his price again, and don't think he won't. So what do we do then? And what do we do when he decides to raise his price after that? Fellas, we gotta be realistic here. If we don't work, we don't get paid. How many days can you go without making money? Believe me, however long, Pulitzer can go longer."

"What's he saying?" Some of the newsies yelled. 

"Oh Jack, don't do this," I muttered.

"But I have spoken with Mr. Pulitzer. And he... he has given me his word that if we disband the the Union-" Everyone began shouting and I covered my face with my hands.

"You better have a very good reason for this, Jack."

"He will not raise his price again for two years. He will even put that in writing. Now I say we take the deal. We go back to work knowing our price is secure. All you gotta do is vote no. 'No.' Vote 'no!'"