An iconic line is coming up. You'll understand shortly. Anyway. Enjoy! :)
Here they are, back for more.
Open the gates and seize the day,
Don't be afraid, and don't delay.
Nothing can break us,
No one can make us,
Give our rights away.
Arise and seize the day.
Those words flow through all of their heads as they get ready for more.
They move into formation. They're ready.
Seize the day.
All are ready to make their next move.
A carriage comes by, making them jump up and move apart.
Then, they see a line of people come, carrying newspapers. The very thing that they are trying not to sell.
The two groups stare at each other.
"Alright, everyone, remain calm," David tells all of them. He doesn't want this to escalate too quickly.
Except Jack has other plans.
"Let's soak 'em for Crutchy!" he shouts.
That gets everyone into action. They start rushing forward. All except for David, who once again has a look of I am done with everyone and everything on his face as he gets pushed by newsies swarming around him. He can't stand still for that long, though. A fight's starting now.
In the moment, things are going great.
Until the gates open. Once they realize who is coming out, then no, things are not going great.
Race may have slower reflexes than the rest of the newsies though. He turns back around after he rushed forward, shouting, "OH! Jack, JACK! Jack, IT'S THE CRIB!" He runs away.
Yes, they are all aware that it's the crib, they all saw that, but no one's going to take the time to say yes, Race, we know because they're too busy trying to duck every blow coming at them and throwing punches back.
There are a lot of newsies. But there's also a lot of people that they're fighting against.
We never should have tried doing this alone.
Can they do this, though? The odds aren't exactly with them.
Luckily, in this gamble, not all the cards to be considered are already on the table.
For those who look up, they'd see figures on the rooftops. Lots of them, popping up every second.
The Manhattan newsies now have help.
The leader of these roof-top newsies jumps down on one of the balconies, equipped with blue eyes, pink suspenders, and a cane. He declares, loud and clear, "Never fear, Brooklyn is here."
Brooklyn.
Spot.
He came.
"It's Brooklyn!" Mush exclaims first. A lot of people start shouting "Brooklyn!" after him.
The Brooklyn newsies get to work immediately. With their sling shots and perfect aim, they shoot their marbles at the men who mean them harm. That helps with the fighting a lot.
"Hey, Spot!" Jack shouts.
Without any extra thought, Spot finds a line and zips down to ground level to meet up with Jack. Everything is happening at once. In the quick time, they still manage to do their spit-and-handshake (but Spot licks his hand more than spits in it), and then continue to fight.
Punches are being thrown everywhere from both sides.
Kid Blink gets a guy here.
Boots gets another guy there.
Skittery is knocked down. Newsies catch him as he falls.
"Are you alright?" David asks him.
With a little nod, some pushing, and determination, Skittery gets up and socks the guy that knocked him down.
Race wants to get to Spot. But he has to deal with this guy first. He puts his hands in the air and starts moving to the ground. "I give up, alright, I give up." Then he pulls a fast one and kicks the guy. In the time the man is moaning in pain, Race gets up, spins around another guy, and sprints away.
Right towards Spot.
"Spot! Spot! SPOT!"
Spot grins when he sees him. "Hiya, Race!"
Race beams. "You came!"
"Yeah, 'course I did," Spot responds smoothly. He quickly turns around to take a moment to hit a guy with his cane.
"Where were you yesterday?" Race asks.
"Alright, chit chat later," Jack comes between them. "Right now, we got people to fight."
With no reason to argue against that, Race and Spot go in separate directions, fighting other people.
The fight goes on for a while. But the newsies aren't giving up. Sure, they're younger. But they're faster. And have more stamina. And more determination. They can do this all day.
Race's mind is, well, racing. This is the kind of thing he needs; lots of stimulation. A lot of times, he can get overwhelmed. But a fight like this? It's really cool and exhilarating. He's not overwhelmed. He has that kind of feeling where you feel like you could run and run and run forever and just not stop at all. He keeps going.
So do the rest of them.
Tumbler gets shoved to the ground.
Skittery swoops down to the ground. "You alright?" When Tumbler nods, Skittery helps him back up.
Some guy is going after Mush. Suddenly, Blink comes in, beating the guy up, giving Mush time for one last punch before swiftly escaping onto one of the wagons of the circulation center.
At this point, it's clear that the newsies, kids, are winning this fight of hand-to-hand combat.
Then, a newsie opens the gate, hair flying in his face, expression one of pure determination. He turns back around, hair in his eyes, raises his cane high in the air in triumph.
That's when Race realizes that it's Spot.
I've never seen him without his newsie cap before.
But his blue eyes and pink suspenders and cane are all still in place.
He looks different without his cap.
I didn't know he looked like that with his hair down.
Why didn't I recognize him?
Race can't think on that for too long. Because now, on the other side of the now-opened gate, Brooklyn newsies start streaming in. And with his cane, Spot leads his newsies onward while pushing back the crib.
The newsies have won.
There's a lot of cheering from everyone, and even more scattering of newspapers, if that's even possible.
Almost everyone gets into one area. Spot, Jack, David, Race, Blink, Mush, Boots, Snipeshooter, and a bunch of others.
Jack is still feeling all the adrenaline. They did it! He turns to David and hugs him. We did it!
"We did it! We did it, Spot!" Race shouts in Spot's face.
And Denton is there too. He's struggling to get everyone to stay still. To be fair, he's dealing with newsies. What'd he expect?
"Boys!" Denton shouts. "Jack! Freeze! Freeze!"
"He's takin' a picture!" someone exclaims.
That gets everyone's attention. Now they're finally focused on Denton.
Someone steps on David's foot.
Denton holds up the camera. "Everyone, freeze!"
And, within the longest the newsies could stand still (under five seconds), they hear a snap and see a bright light (Race and several others blink) and suddenly they've been captured in a moment in a photograph to go in tomorrow's newspaper edition for The New York Sun.
They all start cheering again.
They're all thinking about one thing.
We're getting our picture in the papes.
They've kept their word.
We've been hawkin' headlines but we're making them today.
The things we do today will be tomorrow's news.
And the World will feel the fire and finally know.
And they are all so HAPPY.
Race grabs Spot and hugs him. "We did it, Spot! We're gonna be in the papes!"
Spot chuckles at Race's enthusiasm and hugs him back. "We can do anything, Race!"
From a distance, Jack watches the embrace. He knows that Race is very choosy about who he makes physical contact with. And if you catch him off guard or touch his shoulder or something when he didn't want it, he might then rub that spot to try and erase the sensation. When trying to hug him, you need to wait a moment for him to come to you and come into your hug. But here? Here, Race started the hug. He must trust Spot a lot. Because Jack also knows how easily Race's mind will convince him that he has no friends, that no one wants to be friends with him. In his mind, Spot is a solid. Spot is his friend. And this happened without me really knowing.
Jack can't watch them for too long, though, because David has started to talk to him.
And so the world goes on. Everyone continues moving around and talking.
Now, they have a reason to look forward to tomorrow: for once, they will be the above the fold front page headline.
I love these 1000-1500 word chapters. Much easier to proofread. My only problem is, is that even though I proofread every one of these chapters before I post them, I still somehow end up making mistakes.
I pay really close attention to detail in 92sies. Spot licks his hand when he zips down to shake hands with Jack.
Actually, sometimes I pay close attention. Other times it's like uhh, I know something happened here...
I love how Jack's reflex is just to talk about Crutchy, or talk to Crutchy. 92sies and Livesies. 92sies it's more random, though.
When Jack goes to hug David right before they get their picture taken is so pure. Not to mention he almost kisses David in the process.
I LOVE how Race is like "Jack! Jack! It's the crib!" Because yes, they all have eyes, they can see it happening, they don't need him to tell them that. I just find it funny.
"Never fear, Brooklyn is here!" is one of the most iconic things that Spot Conlon has ever said. I love hearing Gabriel Damon say it every. Single. Time I watch the movie.
I love Skittery's and Tumbler's bond. It's just so cute how Skittery is always there looking out for Tumbler. And so pure.
All versions of David are just constantly like I am done with everything. It's so funny and relatable.
And watching David's face of exasperation when he gets pushed around by the crowd is so dang funny.
The funniest thing about ever practical David, though, is that his actor, David Moscow, was supposedly the biggest troublemaker of the actors. He's the one that led the others in the action of filling Kenny Ortega's trailer with newspapers--so many newspapers, that he couldn't get into his trailer. Apparently, pretty much every Friday they would prank Kenny Ortega. A LOT of things happened on and off the set of Newsies. Including a 'horror' film. Anyway, I just love how David Moscow and David Jacobs are like Chris Evans and Steve Rogers--serious characters, very fun actors.
EEEEEE YOU ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT :)
Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section at all times.
Best,
~Your Beloved Author (who was really excited to get in touch with their foreign pen pal via a texting app today)