Yep, you read that title right! Now, Antonio is going to have a life inside AND outside of the lodging house! I'm really excited to write this! It's March of 1892. Ray = 23, Jack = 15, Louis = 13 1/2, Mush = 13, Crutchy = 12. Anyway. Enjoy! :)
"Antonio, wake up."
Wearily, Antonio opens his eyes. It feels a little earlier than normal. The first thing he sees when his eyesight clears up is Ray looking down on him.
"You got a big day ahead of you, Antonio."
"Why?" Antonio says sleepily. He yawns.
Ray chuckles at that. "Today's the day you become a newsie, Antonio."
Now Antonio's awake. Ray backs away as Antonio springs up in his bed. "Today is what?!"
This is probably the fastest Antonio has ever gotten up.
I'm going to be a newsie now. He puffs his chest out with pride. He's finally old enough! He's super excited. His stomach is all fluttery. He can barely concentrate on anything. He's everywhere at once. I'm going to be a newsie!
"Hey, Antonio!" someone shouts at him. Suddenly, a cap is thrown at him. "Ya can't be a newsie without a cap!"
Nearly euphoric, Antonio puts the cap on. Finally, something to complete his outfit.
He feels ready for the day. Like he can take on any challenge.
After everyone is ready, Ray sticks with Antonio, and leads him through the streets to get to the circulation center.
"But first, we come here," Ray explains. "to the Sisters."
Sisters? Antonio isn't sure he's heard that term before.
And before he can ask what a 'Sister' is, three women who look alike dressed in black and white outfits appear before them, carrying food and water.
"The Sisters give us food in the morning," Mush tells Antonio.
"When you're a newsie, you need to eat on the go!" Louis adds.
Sisters give us food. Newsies eat on the go. Antonio files this information away in his mind. He wants to pick up on every little detail he can.
"What kind of food?" Antonio whispers to Mush.
"Bread and water and such," Mush whispers back.
One by one, very respectfully, the newsies hold out their hands for the Sisters to give them food or something to drink, and once they get something, they thank them and move on. Antonio holds out his hand, and once he gets a piece of bread, he says "thank you" and moves back, following Ray and Jack. He doesn't really like the texture of the bread, though. Is this what being a newsie is? Food that you kinda have to eat but don't wanna?
"Now there's one last thing before we go to the circulation center," Ray tells Antonio. All the newsies start walking with them. "We come here to check out what the headlines are, see what we have to sell for the day."
Antonio looks around at all the others, who seem a little anxious at this.
"Why are they nervous for it?" he asks Ray.
"Sometimes the headlines ain't good," Jack answers for him. "If headlines are real bad, then we gotta make something up."
"But making things up is a part of bein' a newsie," Louis puts in.
"Some people can get real creative with headlines," Sheeny adds.
Soon enough, they arrive at the big sign where headlines are written. Antonio watches them all scan the headlines just as anxiously, trying to find out all they could.
TRAIN CRASHES GOING INTO NEW JERSEY.
NEW FACTORY OPENS UP IN THE LOWER EAST SIDE.
RAT INFESTATION IN QUEENS DIES DOWN.
"I can work with that," Mush says.
"We don't need an assassination or an earthquake when we got that train crash," Henry agrees.
"Come on, let's go!" Ray calls out to all of them. "It's time to carry the banner!"
They all grin and start walk-running in a direction that Antonio isn't entirely sure where he's going but he just follows all of them.
Antonio has never been this far away from the lodging house. Ever. Everyone else seems to know this route by heart. But he's just seeing and hearing all these things for the first time. He keeps turning around in every which direction, taking it all in at once.
Soon enough, they arrive at what Ray explains is the circulation center. He explains that a guy by the name of Wiesel sells them papes of the New York World. It's two for a penny, and some newsies are forced to eat what they don't sell. Antonio swallows at that last bit. He doesn't want to have any leftover papers.
"How many papers do you normally get?" Antonio asks Ray.
"Me? I get 100 papes," he answers. "But for today, I'm starting you off with twenty papes."
Twenty papes. Twenty. 20. 2 times 10. Antonio thinks about how big that number is. Sell 20 papers to 20 people. If we get paid a penny a pape, I should get 20 cents if I sell 20 papers. He can do that. Today is his first day of selling. He can do that. For sure. I hope.
And then the window opens. Antonio jumps back, not expecting that. He turns away, looking at anything else, but when he looks at the window again, suddenly there's a person there.
But when I looked last time I didn't see him.
He brushes that thought away. This isn't the first time where something like this has happened where he looks away and then looks back expecting whatever/whoever it was to be in the same place but now has moved. But now he focuses on what's happening in the moment.
Now, where there's a sniveling man behind a countertop with beady eyes. This must be Wiesel.
Jack walks up first. "Fifty papes." He puts down a quarter. He gets his papes, and goes.
"Hiya, Mr Wiesel!" Crutchy greets him cheerfully. "Thoity papes, please?"
(A/N: I LOVE IT every time they pronounce thirty like thoity. And I love how no matter what version of Newsies you watch, Crutchy/ie is the only one who calls Weasel by his actual name at all times and is actually respectful. That's just my take on things :) .)
More newsies get their papers. All sorts of numbers are called for. Fifty papes, thirty papes, twenty papes. Some get even more than fifty. Some get a hundred. Antonio hopes that some day he's good enough at selling papers that he can sell a hundred. But that's a lot in one day. He just hopes that those with a hundred papes can sell most, or all, of them.
Antonio swallows as he and Ray move up in the line together. Sometimes Antonio thinks he's independent. But other times, like right now, he's grateful that he can hold Ray's hand.
Now it's their turn.
"What'll it be today, Ray?" Wiesel asks.
"A hundred papes, please." He puts down the coin. Then, with another dime, he adds, "and twenty papes for the little guy here."
Antonio shrinks down a little bit, but Ray pulls him up. If Antonio is going to come here every day for the rest of his newsie days, he's going to need to at least meet Wiesel.
Wiesel stands up a little higher to try to see over the countertop to look for Antonio. "And who is this?"
"Go on," Ray prods Antonio gently.
"An-Antonio," Antonio mumbles.
"What's that, kid?" Wiesel asks, cupping a hand to his ear.
"Antonio," Antonio repeats louder.
"First day?" Wiesel asks Ray.
Ray nods in response.
Wiesel gives them the hundred papes and twenty papes and they go on their way.
"You see, Antonio," Ray begins to explain, "now is a good time to scan the headlines inside the pape. On the big chalkboard out there we got an idea of what we're sellin', but now we can see what's actually in the papers."
Antonio opens up one of his, trying to find any headline or anything at all that's catchy. All the stories pop out at him. The words are tiny, though. Why are they so tiny? Wouldn't people be interested in something bigger?
He finds the stories that they found on the giant board, and a bunch of other little ones. Which ones to advertise?
Ray seems to pick up that Antonio is overwhelmed by everything there. "I know it's a lot," he says sympathetically. "The good thing is, though, that you only really need one or two headlines off the top of your head. Most people will need only one to buy a pape. You might need to mix up which headlines you shout, but if you shout it right, you can get anyone to come."
If you shout it right, you can get anyone to come.
"Today, you're gonna stick with me, okay?" Ray tells Antonio. "Maybe after your first week, or maybe even tomorrow, I'll let you go wherever you want. But for now, I want you to get acquainted to being a newsie and acquainted with the city with me there for you, okay?"
Antonio nods. True, he wants to see the city for himself, but Ray's worried about him. If Ray thinks that this is best, then he's probably right. So he ignores all impulses and sticks with Ray.
"TRAIN CRASHES RIGHT BEFORE HITTING THE NEW JERSEY LINE!" Ray shouts for anyone to hear. That gets a couple of people to come up to him.
Antonio watches with amazement.
Ray turns back to Antonio and smiles. "Now, if you want, you can go a little ways away, establish your own selling spot. As long as I can see ya, okay?"
"Okay!" Antonio doesn't need to be told twice that he can go anywhere he wants within reason and distance. He scampers off a little, trying to find some crowd of people.
Sometimes, you gotta make up a headline. Sometimes, you gotta improve the truth. Those pieces of advice echo in his head.
He grins. Good thing he has a good imagination.
"TRAIN HEADIN' TO NEW JERSEY DERAILS INTO THE WATER!" he shouts. That gets people coming. And if he acts cute and young enough, some of them will pity him and give more than needed. He smiles. He can get used to this.
And so he keeps on selling.
By the time they're all about to head back, Antonio has only two papers left to sell. That's really good for his first day. But he got lucky. His first day had a good headline. It could have been much, much worse.
But what does he do with his last two papers?
I wanna actually read these stories, Antonio thinks. So maybe if he can't find anyone to buy his last one, he'll keep it and read it. He doesn't want to eat it, though. Surely he's allowed to read it, though? It is his paper. Now there's just the question of what to do with his other last paper. Surely there's someone left around here who he could convince to buy a paper-
There!
He sees a family of five out and about. A mother, a father, a daughter, and a son, and a really little one.
Antonio swallows, gathers his thoughts, and makes his way over to them, ready to try his luck.
"Excuse me, wouldya like to buy a newspaper?" Antonio asks them. "We got a lot of stories here today. A train crashed. A new factory opened up in the Lower East Side. And Teddy Roosevelt's back in town!"
He made that last one up. True, there was something about the mayor in it, but Teddy Roosevelt was more exciting.
Luckily, the father smiled at him and told Antonio that yes, he would like to buy a newspaper.
Antonio beams as he makes the exchange of the newspaper and the penny. "Thank you, mister!" He tips his cap to the family. "Good day!" And he walks away practically skipping. He tucks the last newspaper away, saving it to read later.
Yeah, today was a good day.
Antonio looks at his haul with the others crowded around him. He even got a nickel at one point. All the newsies congratulate him.
"This is awesome, Antonio!" Crutchy praises him.
"I sure didn't make that much my first day!" Mush adds.
"You were really bad at it, Mush," Louis chuckles beside him and playfully nudges his shoulder.
"He-ey!" Mush nudges back. "It was only because I had you as a selling partner!" The two step back a little to continue their bickering.
"Antonio, I just know that you'll be able to sell a hundred papes in your future," Jack tells him.
"You know, Antonio, bein' a newsie can be like a gamble," Sheeny says as he pats Antonio on the back. "Some days you spend money and you lose it all. Other days you can gain something back. Some, though, have beginner's luck. Like you."
"You did get real lucky," a newer newsie by the name of Snipeshooter agrees.
Beginner's luck.
Being a newsie can be like a gamble.
Antonio has no idea why, but those phrases just sound amazing.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Ray exclaims. "Guess what, Antonio!"
"What?"
"Tonight, you sleep with all of us!" Ray announces.
There's a collective "oooh!" from everyone and a gasp and a "really?!" from Antonio.
"Yep! Wanna go choose your bunk now?" Ray asks him.
Antonio nods vigorously and runs up the stairs. Everyone laughs and runs with him.
"There are a couple of empty bunks," Ray tells him.
Louis scampers over to his bunk. "This is my bunk. You can take the one below it!"
"There's another one over here," Henry offers across the room.
"And here!" Sheeny adds in another part of the room.
"Hmm..." Antonio takes all of the beds in. He feels so grown up now. He gets to sleep with the other newsies, as a newsie. Then, he makes his decision. He walks over to Louis, and his bunk bed. "I think I wanna stay here."
"Then it's settled!" Ray says.
Louis smiles. "We'll be bunkmates! This is gonna be fun!"
Antonio smiles with him. He's always liked Louis (and Mush, of course) a lot.
He sits on the bed. It feels so different than the one in the tight room he's been in for most of his life. This one ... this feels like home.
"Let's celebrate Antonio's first day of bein' a real newsie!" Ray exclaims. "Anyone up for a night out to eat?"
There's a collective cheer from all the other newsies.
"Alright Antonio. Do you wanna go to Tibby's, or Jacobi's?" Ray asks him.
Antonio's never been to either of those places, much less know that much about them. He shrugs. Which one sounds better in his mind? He plays them back. Tibby's. Jacobi's. Jacobi's is more rounded of a sound. Tibby sounds ... he doesn't know how to describe it. It has a feel of words with a b. Jacobi has a b in it too, though. But that one feels different. He wants to try both of them. He knows he probably will at some point.
"Can we go to Jacobi's tonight and Tibby's soon?" Antonio asks.
"Of course!" Ray answers. Then, to everyone: "You heard him! You all know the way!"
With another collective cheer, they all leave the lodging house with a couple coins in their pockets, ready to celebrate Antonio's first true day of being a newsie.
Ain't it a fine life? Antonio thinks to himself happily as he and the other newsies skip and jump and dance throughout the streets without a care in the world.
Aaa this chapter was fun to write!
I kinda got inspiration from Erin Hunter--you know, the pen name of the group of people who wrote the Warriors series, as well as Seekers and Survivors and Bravelands (and now Bamboo Kingdom), all of which are really good, 10/10 recommend these series. Anyway, one of the Erin Hunter's described how fun it was writing from a new generation's perspective, and how the setting stays the same, but the first time the apprentices leave home and see everything for the first time have this sense of wonder that keeps it from getting old, and how fun it is to write that. I think that's amazing. So, I kinda incorporated that here, or at least tried to. And no matter how good it actually turned out to be, it was fun to write.
On that note, if you ever wanna talk to me about Warriors, or Bravelands, or Seekers or Bamboo Kingdom (maybe not Survivors--I'm not as familiar with that series), (ESPECIALLY about Warriors and/or Bravelands), I'd be happy to! :)
Now back to Newsies.
I really don't like creating headlines haha. I just don't know what kind of headlines they'd have. I'd be 7 years too early for a trolley strike issue. Unless those are common. That's gonna be my next point of research.
I'm not saying that that family of five is anyone we know but they might be nothing was ever specified but just saying Antonio could've actually have been selling a newspaper to a certain family we know and love-
I wanted to give Antonio the options of Tibby's or Jacobi's. Whichever one is going to be used in the future is To Be Determined, but hey, the 92sies and Livesies worlds can exist at once. :)
When I was finishing up rereading over this, I ended reading the last paragraph perfectly with the end of the Carrying the Banner Finale and that felt really really nice.
Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section at any time.
Best,
~Your Beloved Author (who was listening to Carrying the Banner from both soundtracks while writing this. Both versions are amazing. I could listen to any version of Carrying the Banner forever. I don't even care what the lyrics are, just as long as it's to that tune I'll be happy)