Awww everyone's favorite Racetrack is now two years old! Ray = 18; Jack = 9; Louis = 7 1/2; Mush = 7, Charlie = 6. A guide for everyone. Including me. Especially me. I'm not even gonna pretend that I'm on top of this. There may or may not be more variety in newsie names, here or in upcoming chapters. Anyway. Enjoy! :)
"How much did ya make today, Snoddy?"
"More than you I bet."
"Was that really necessary?"
"Yeah."
"You're both insufferable. You know that, right?"
Ah, yes. The beautiful sounds of newsies making pleasant conversation after a long day of selling. It's cold outside, so no one can blame them for their frosty attitudes towards each other.
"Why do they'se always expect us to sell in the cold when nobody want to be out in the cold?" Buttons grumbles. "They expect us to do this every year. We're doin' nothin' but the same old routine as last year, and will be until the next one."
"This ain't forever," Ray reminds them all. "Spring'll come soon enough."
"Well yeah, but summer stinks and winter's always waitin'," Smoke says. "Buttons is right. It's a never ending cycle."
"Ya need to spend it right, though," Sheeny points out optimistically. "Or spend the money right." And on the table he dumps out a nice collection of coins. As newsies gather around to see his pay for the day, there are a couple of "wow's" and whistles and such.
"How'd ya get all that?"
"Gamblin'."
Snoddy snorts. "Here?"
Sheeny shakes his head vigorously. "Oh, no. You need to go to Sheepshead Races. That's where all the big races are."
"Races?" Charlie questions, resting his arms on the table.
"Horse races," Sheeny says. "ya see, Charlie, a bunch of horses will run in a race together. People try to guess what horse will win. So they bet on the horse. If the horse wins, you get money for it." He grins. "And I got lucky today."
"What's it like at the races?" Charlie questions.
"Loud," Sheeny tells him. "There are lots of people. Lotsa rich folk, ya know? If ya know who to bet with, and what horse to bet on, then you'se alright. This is a good horde, ain't it?" he gestures around at his pile. "If only it was for certain what horses'll be good each day."
"And Sheepshead's a long way to go each day," Snoddy points out. "Ya don't want to do that every day."
Sheeny shakes his head. "Not every day."
"How far away is it?" Charlie asks, just happy that the big kids have included him in their conversation for so long.
Sheeny stretches his arms out all the way. "Far. It's all the way in Brooklyn."
A lot of murmuring happens once Brooklyn is mentioned, something that doesn't go unnoticed by Charlie.
"What's up with Brooklyn?" Charlie looks around at all of them.
"They'se the toughest borough ever," Buttons tells him. "The newsies there? They ain't like us."
"They'se really ripped," Henry adds, and flexes his arms, demonstrating--without any muscle to show for it.
"And scary!" Snoddy grabs Charlie's shoulders.
"Now, now," Ray calls across the room. "Surely not all the Brooklyn newsies fit that caricature, now do they?"
And with that all the newsies position themselves differently with the slight shift of attitude. "We know, Ray. Not everyone fits that description. It's just...most of them is like that."
Ray waits a moment.
"And Stargazer is cool," Sheeny says. "Real cool. And a legend. He's everywhere at once. He's the bravest and best leader any borough could ask for."
Ray relaxes then.
Everything said was true. Everyone knows that Ray likes hearing it, though. But it's not totally all just for Ray's sake. They all look up to Stargazer too and respect him wholeheartedly.
Jack enters the room. "I thought Ray was the best leader any borough could ask for."
All the older newsies find it cute just how loyal little Jack is, and all share little glances that show what they're thinking.
"Aww, thanks Jack." Ray brings him into a side hug and messes with his hair. He turns to Sheeny. "So the races were good?"
Sheeny nods. He opens his mouth to say more, but someone beats him to it.
"Wace."
Everyone is silent. They look around, trying to find out where that came from.
"Wace."
Slowly, Ray crouches down.
Underneath the table is Antonio. There's no mistaking it. That voice came from him. He's a little over two years old, and he's said his first word.
Twice now.
Ray grins from ear to ear. "Race, huh?"
Antonio nods.
"You wanna go to the races?"
Another nod.
Ray scoops Antonio up and brings him out from underneath the table. "You're gonna have to wait until you're older, buddy."
"Wanna go races now."
Now Ray is taken aback. A full sentence? After silence for so long? How does one even respond to something like this?
"Wait-how did you even end up here?" Ray mutters to Antonio. He can process the sentence later. Then he turns to everyone else. "Who was supposed to be watching Antonio?"
No one speaks up. All look down or away, or awkwardly shuffle. Or all three.
What a talkative lot they are.
They'll talk right up until the moment where someone needs actual information from them.
"I think it was Louis and Mush," Jack speaks up.
"Thanks, Jack." Ray turns around to face the bedroom door. "Louis! Mush! You in there?"
Not too long after he says that, the two kids who are nearly joined at the hip come running out.
"Yeah!"
"Why?"
"Weren't you supposed to be watching Antonio?" Ray starts scolding gently.
Louis and Mush shuffle their feet.
"Well, we did..." Mush trails off.
"But then we got distracted," Louis adds.
Ray raises an eyebrow. "Distracted?"
They nod.
"Distracted by what?"
"A game of jacks," Mush says.
"Ain't they called knucklebones?" Louis says to him.
"They'se called both, ain't they?"
"That's not what matters here," Ray cuts them off firmly. They stop. "It's okay for you to play games. It's great, even. Just, when you're taking care of Antonio, try keeping a closer eye on him, okay?"
The pair nod vigorously in unison.
The thing that everyone loves about Ray is that he's never harsh. He can be firm, and hold his own, but he's gentle and kind. He understands. He doesn't like being strict, and doesn't reprimand. He lets people know when they've done something wrong, but instead of bringing them down, he tells them what they can do differently. It's little things like that that everyone appreciates. Especially the young kids. Ray knows that enough people will yell at them outside. So why not give them a safe space on the inside?
"Wanna know what you guys missed?" Ray asks them. "Wanna know what happened when we found Antonio under the table?"
"What?" they chirp curiously.
Ray gives them a mischievous grin. "He said his first word."
"What!" Mush exclaims as Louis repeats, "his first word?!"
Ray chuckles. "His first word."
"What was it?" Louis asks eagerly.
"'Race," Ray answers.
"Aw, man! I missed it!" Mush complains.
"It's okay." Louis pats him on the back. "We can be there for his first sentence!"
"Actually, he said that too," Charlie informs them.
"What?!" Louis and Mush cry out.
Ray laughs a little more. "Wanna know what he said?"
"Yes!"
"Duh!"
"He said, wanna go races now. If we're not careful, we're gonna have a child gambler on our hands."
That gets everyone to snicker.
"Hey Sheeny! Whaddaya think you're doin' introducin' him to that kind of lifestyle?" Ray jokes.
"I'm sorry! If I'd had known I wouldn't have said a word!" Sheeny plays along.
And now they're all laughing and smiling at this.
Ray holds Antonio a little farther away so he can see his face, and look into those brown eyes Stargazer talked about a little over six months ago. "Are you gonna talk more from now on, then?"
Antonio doesn't answer. He just smiles and scrunches up his shoulders, sticks his tongue out-then-in, puts his fingers in his mouth, and stares at the shiny coins on the table.
"Wanna talk for us?" Louis tries to prod him.
"Yeah. We missed it. Can you say more?"
Nothing.
"I think we tired him out for today. We may need to come back to get more words out of him."
Another collective laugh.
It's little moments like this that make it worth it. Taking Antonio in. It was the right choice. None of them expected a conversation about Sheepshead to turn into this. But now they have a new memory, and another joy of watching a kid grow up.
And Antonio continues to watch all of them watching him, taking in all the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, feelings, and more of everything around him.
I was able to stop a major plot hole before it began. I feel proud of myself now. And I'm working on after-midnight-brain-power here.
Henry Butler was a real newsie too.
So Albert Einstein didn't speak until he was four. Most kids start talking before they've reached two years old. Some kids speak a little, and then not that much. That's where I'm going with Race.
Did I choose a first good word for Race or what?
Race is going to be a lot like me. He started talking when he was two, but won't talk more until well after he's three or four. His first sentence is four words long, and it's not just a string of words. According to my mom, my first sentence was "fly airplane to beach" when I was two, and even though that doesn't sound like much, I managed to incorporate everything important to my younger self (and my self-self actually) into one first sentence.
Now for the little research things I did.
Sheeny is another real newsie name.
"Caricature" was a word in 1748. "Buddy" has been around since the 1800s. I like knowing when some words became words, because if I choose a word that's too late for their time, then the inaccuracies start to show.
Now for the game of jacks. Or knuckle bones. So it's been around awhile. People in ancient Greece and Egypt would play with them. And the game has traveled around the world and called by many different names and different rules and here is not the time for that infodump, but it's actually interesting just where it's ended up. I kinda relied on the guess that the game would be in America. When kids would play back in those days, they would play outside. But since it's winter and this doesn't take up too much space, I think Blush could have a little bonding time playing this game.
What do you all think of this so far?
Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section at all times.
Best,
~Your Beloved Author (who watched the original Jurassic Park movie in a theatre because of Galaxy Theatre's flashback cinema and it was awesome)