Racetrack's Newsie Races (A Racetrack Higgin's Love Story)

Chapter 12: Exaggerated Jail Time

It was already 3:00 in the morning and the sun would be up in a couple of hours. Mason and I would have to move fast. We snuck through the house. My father always kept the key to his office in the pot next to his door. He knew if he put it in his pocket somewhere, he would lose it. I looked through the pot until I found it. I opened the door and Mason and I snuck in. I turned the lights on.

                “What exactly are we looking for?” Mason asked.

                “A file,” I said, “Something my father could have used against Race in order to send him to jail.”

                We searched through everything in my dad’s office. We looked in shelves and cabinets and drawers and couldn’t find anything. I checked all the secret places I knew he liked to keep stuff in his office. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he didn’t have a file on Race. Just then, I looked at the chest behind his desk. It was his treasure chest he used to tell me when I was little. ‘It held everything he treasured’ he would say. That included things about me. I knelt down and opened the chest. I searched through all the stuff. He and my mother’s wedding certificate, old family pictures, my baby pictures, etc. I got to the bottom of the chest and found a folder. I pulled it out. It had a top secret stamp on it. I opened it. There were pictures of Race in it. Pictures of him at the tracks and hanging out with the newsies and pictures of him with me. There were written documents telling everything they had gotten on him. One read: Ran away from home. Another read: Can’t pay bets he makes at racetracks.

                “I found it,” I told Mason.

                I closed the trunk back. The door handle to the office started to jiggle. I could hear my father’s voice outside the door wondering where the key was. I went over to Mason.

                “We have to get out of here,” I said.        

                “I brought some rope,” he said, “Out the window, quick.”

                I opened the window to the balcony. Mason tied the rope to one end and let the other end fall to the ground. He climbed down the rope first like a pro. The door to the office started to open. I climbed down the rope with the folder in my hand. I almost slipped at the last moment, but Mason caught me in his arms. He put me safely on the ground and we both ran to the newsboys lodge. I put down the file in front of Jack.

                “They got him for running away and not being able to pay back the bets,” I said.

                “But the bets couldn’t be more than a few cents missin’,” Jack said, “Race is poor but he ain’t stupid.”

                “I know which is why I know my father exaggerated to make it seem like he owed a lot more than he actually did.”

                “Damn, then what are we supposed to do?”

                “No one is going to take a newsie opinion over my dad. No one is going to listen to a bunch of kids.”

                “You have to get your dad to change his mind,” Mason said.

                “What? I can’t go back to that house.”

                “You have to. Your dad may be a lot of things, but he loves ya. So if anyone can convince him, you can. Race shouldn’t be locked up like this. It’s the only way you can help him.”

                “What if it doesn’t work? Then Race and I will be trapped forever.”

                “You gotta try.”                                                 

                I sighed and looked around the room. Every newsie in there was looking at me. They were all counting on me to be able to fix this. I cursed in my head and nodded. I had to convince my father that Race wasn’t bad and that talking to the newsies wasn’t bad.

                “I have to see Race first,” I said, “Jack, Spot, Les, you’re coming with me to the jail.”

                “Why?” Spot asked.

                “Race has to know why he’s in there and that it’s not my fault. I can’t have him hating me.”

                They nodded. We left and went to the jail. We were able to visit him since now it was light outside. They brought us into a room with a single table in it. The four of us sat at the table and waited for them to bring Race. They brought him through the door. He paused arguing with the security guard when he saw me. The security guard closed the door. I got up and hugged Race. It was so great to see him again, to know he was ok.

                “I thought you weren’t going to come,” he said.

                “Why would you think that?” I said, “Oh, I’m so glad you’re ok. I’m so sorry you’re in here. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. This isn’t my fault I swear.”

                “I didn’t think it was your fault.”

                “You didn’t?”

                “No. I was just hopin’ you was alright.”

                I kissed him. I heard Jack chuckle a little, but I didn’t care. I was just go happy. I pulled away from Race. “I miss you, Race,” I said.

                “Yeah, I miss you too,” he said.

                “We’re going to get you out of here. I promise.”