Remembering Brooklyn (A Spot Conlon Fanfiction)

Chapter Twelve

       

    I introduce Race to the family, even though Race was a part of this family by blood, we had unfortunately never gotten around to going to visit his side of the family with the kids while Grace was still with us. Everyone seems excited to meet Race, as he had been mentioned in the story I had been telling them. The conversation was light hearted as Race was getting to know everyone.

    "Won me five hundred dollars down at the tracks a couple weeks back." Race smiles proudly to me. It was good to know Race hadn't changed much. He still had that love of gambling, and his humor was still present.

    "Gramps was telling us a story, he mentioned you like to gamble." Eric, who had been quiet for the last couple of days, finally speaks out. He has an amused smile on his face, as if this was exactly how he had pictured Race in his head.

    "Well, what story was this bum tellin' ya?" Race wonders as he focuses his attention on me. "Hope he didn't paint me in a bad light, now." He jokes.

    "It was about how Gram and Gramps met." Marcus interjects.

    "He was at the part where you all were planning a big rally for the newsboy strikes." Ester reminds everyone.

    "Awe, yes." Race stares off into space, and I can tell by the look on his face he is recollecting the memories from those days. "I remember it like it was yesterday..."

Racetrack's Pov:

    Medda Larkson was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eyes on. She was a talented singer who owned her own theater called Irving Hall, where she would perform every night. When I wasn't at the race track betting, I was at Medda's hanging on to her every word, as she sang beautifully to her audience. She had graciously allowed us newsies to host our rally in her theater the next night, after our meeting in Tibby's restaurant.

    The place echoed with the excited voices of our fellow newsies, I stood in the front row with a few of my close friends and my cousin Brooklyn who I was to look after while she was staying with me. I was excited to hear what Jack, David and Spot had to say about the strike. The three of them took center stage, and the place erupted once more in cheers of excitement.

    "Carryin' the banner!" Jack yelled out across the theater, and if it were possible the noise grew louder with more cheers. Newsies stood, waving their caps in the air. "So, we've come a long way, but we ain't there yet and maybe it's only gonna get tougher from now on. But thats fine, we'll just get tougher with it." More cheers. "But also, we gotta get smart and start listening to may pal David, who says 'Stop soakin' the scabs.'" Jack explains, patting David on the back. This confuses me greatly. There is no way I am just going to let those dirty rotten scabs just get away with crossing us. If we don't sell papes, no once sells papes. Jack was the one to say that from the beginning.

    "What are we supposed to do the bums? Kiss 'em?" I wonder, snickering at my own joke. Spot seems to agree with me.

    "Any scab I see I soak 'em. Period." Spot voices his opinion, causing yet another eruption of cheers, mostly from the Brooklyn newsies.

    "No, no! That's what they want us to do. If we get violent, it's just playing into their hands." David points out.

    "Hey, look. They're gonna be playin' with my hands, alright? 'Cuz it ain't what they say, it's what we say, and ain't nobody gonna listen to us unless we make 'em." Spot shoots back at David. It is at this point when some of the newsies have begun to change their siding. I can feel the hostility in the air grow, as the boys around me begin to argue with each other. I keep a close eye on Brooklyn, as I know how quickly these things can turn into a full on brawl. She doesn't need to be caught in the middle of that. I know that my cousin can take care of herself, as she had taken me down plenty of times before, however, I wasn't about to allow anything to happen to this girl on my watch.

    "You got no brains." Jack says, trying to get the crowd's attention again. " Why we starting to fight each other? It's just what the big shots wanna see. That we're street rats! Street rats with no brains. No respect for nothing, including ourselves! So, here's how its gonna be, if we don't act together, then we're nothing. If we don't stick together, then we're nothing, and if we can't even trust each other, then were nothing." Jack was making some good points here, how could the big wigs take us seriously if we were just fighting against one another?

    "Tell 'em Jack" Kid Blink says from somewhere behind me.

    "So, what's it gonna be?" Jack asks the crowd.

    "We're with you, Jack." I tell him. Of course we were with Jack. He was our leader, the only one who was looking out for our rights. The only one who always had each and every one of our backs. Jack then turns to look at Spot, who has a stern, difficult to read, expression on his face.

    "So, what about you Spot?" He asks.

    "I say that what you say, is what I say." His stern look quickly turns into a coy smile as the two boys spit into the palm of their hands before shaking. The crowded theater once again echo's in the cheers of my fellow newsies. It is then that Medda takes the stage, and almost instantly her mesmerizing voice fills my ears. It is then, and only then when I forget about having a constant eye on my cousin, and focus my full attention on the beautiful woman who stood before me, singing.

Alright, last short little update for you guys, for the night. Like I said, I wanted to try writing in someone else's point of view. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, that's why I kept this one kind of short. It may take me a little bit to get used to writing in Race's POV, so I just wanted to test the waters.

Let me know what you all think. Should I continue to write in Race's POV for some chapters? I would love to hear your opinions, if you don't like it let me know!

Don't forget to VOTE and comment.

Love y'all. (PS, it's kind of late here, so I am a bit tired. I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't up to my normal standards. I didn't even go back and edit this one, because I wanted to be able to post for you guys one more time before I went to bed!)

Oh, and one last thing, I wanted to give a big shout out to @EllieMcCraw for commenting and telling me how much she loves my writing. It means the absolute world to me that you like my story so much, and it made my night 100x better! THANK YOU! <3