His Queen- Spot Conlon X OC

Chapter 3

I couldn't believe it. They jacked up the price of the papes! That ruined everything for me! We all voiced our anger, loud and clear.

"It's bad enough that we gotta eat what we don't sell! Now they jacked up the price! Can you believe that?!" Blink fussed.

"I'm barely makin' a livin' right now!" I exclaimed and some of the boys agreed.

"Well, I'm back sleepin' on the streets!" Others said.

"It don't make sense. With all the money Pulitzer's makin'. Why would he gouge us?" Mush asked.

"Because he's a tightwad, that's why," Race said. Everyone agreed.

"Hey, come on, pipe down, it's just a gag," Jack said. He went up to the counter to get to the bottom of it. "So why the jack-up Weasel?"

"Why not? It's a nice day," an evil smile came on his face. "Why don't you ask Mr. Pulitzer?" he mocked.

"They can't do this to me, Jack." Blink said.

"They can do whatever they want. It's their stinkin' paper."

Jack sat down on one of the stairs beside Boots. "It ain't fair. We got no rights at all." Boots said.

"Come on, it's a rigged deck. They gots all the marbles, okay?" Race said.

I sighed. "Race is right. It's all rigged. We needs to just accept it, and it'll make our lives easier." I said.

"Jack, we got no choice. Let's get our lousy papes while they still got some." Mush said.

"No, nobody's goin' anywhere," Jack said.

"We gotta eat, Jack." Mush said.

"They can't get away with this," Jack said.

"Clear out, clear out," Les came through. "Give him some room, give him some room. Let him think."

Blink handed Jack a cigarette but I snatched it away and threw it on the ground. He could think fine without that disgustingness. Jack was quiet for a minute and so were we.

"Jack, you done thinkin' yet?" Race asked.

Weasel started beating on the bars behind us. "Hey, hey, hey, World employees only on this side of the gate."

We all started yelling at him. Then we turned back to Jack.

"Well, listen, one thing for sure. If we don't sell papes, then nobody sells papes. Nobody comes through those gates till they put the price back to where it was." a few of us voiced our agreement.

"What do you mean, like a strike?" Davey asked, sarcastically. Me and Jack looked at each other. Bingo!

"Yeah. Like a strike!" I stood up. The boys started rolling their eyes and disagreeing.

"What, are you outta' your minds?" Race looked at us.

"It's a good idea." Jack supported me.

"Jack, Jo, I was just joking. We can't strike. We don't have a union."

"Yeah, but if we go on strike, then we are a union, right?" Jack asked.

"No, we're just a bunch of angry kids with no money,"

I sighed.

"Maybe if we got every newsie in New York, but..." Jack and me looked at each other. That was it!

"Yeah, well, we organize," Jack said.

"Crutchy, you take up a collection," I said.

"Swell!" He got right to it.

"We'll get all the newsies in New York togetha'," Jack said. We all started leaving out the gate.

"Jack, Jo, this isn't a joke. You saw what happened to the trolley workers."