The next morning, us Manhattan newsies head back out to the main square. We stand there, together, and begins to sing in harmony.
"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!"
We all link arms and stand in front of the gates. They swing open and carriage pulls out. We break apart. The horse would have run us over if we didn't.
We then find ourselves looking at the newsies who want to continue selling papers.
David speaks up, loud enough for all to here, "Alright, everyone remain calm!"
David looks at us and at Jack.
Jack then throws his fist in the air and screams, "Let's soak 'em, for Crutchy!"
We all run inside the gate. The young scabbers run in terror back to the window with Mr. Weisel standing behind the bars. Just then, some thugs come out behind a door, a whole lot of them. I back up, they have chains and bats in their hand, ready for a bloody battle. This was not right, I tell myself.
Just then, the gate close. We're trapped.
"Heya, Jackie boy." I hear Morris say. Jack backs up down the steps.
I run behind Jack and say, "The gates!" I point in their direction. He notices their closed.
Morris then starts to go after Jack with a chain. Jack throws his hands up in the air and backs up, going around in a circle. The thugs start to beat on some kids around me. One throws a punch at my face and gets me hard. I did not see that coming so I fall back a bit, holding my jaw. I then quickly turn around and swing right back, smacking the guy in the nose. Blood starts dripping and get brings his hand up to hold his face. He looked angry. He had a chain in the other hand and began to wind it up.
Just then, I see boys popping up on the roof of the buildings around us, and non other than Spot Conlon jumps down.
"Neva fear, Brooklyn is here." He smiles.
"It's Brooklyn!" The Manhattan newsies chant.
Spot finds me in the crowd and winks. I smile, he did come. The Brooklyn boys wind up their sling shots and begin to shoot at the thugs.
Spot see's the thug coming back at me. He aims for his hand and gets a clear hit. The man yells in pain and drops the chain. I then quick bend down and pick it up. The thug gives one last look at me and I throw another hard punch to his stomach. He crouches down holding himself, then takes off in the other direction. I look back up at Spot who nods his head at me. I nod back and get back to fighting.
The Manhattan newsies start to throw punches left and right at the thugs. I find Race holding up his hands saying, "Hey I give up, alright, alright?" And sits down on the steps.
The man looks confused, and then Race lifts up his leg and hits the thug hard in between his legs. The thug screams in pain, then Race punches his face. The man went down. Ouch, that's going to leave a mark. Race see's me, and runs down the stairs.
"Nice hit." I say laughing. He smiles.
"I's only learn from the best." Pointing at me.
I look up and find Spot flying down to the ground. He grabbed onto a wire which had a pulley on it. He put his feet out in front of him and kicked a large group of thugs surrounding my brother. They shake hands and Jack immediately turns around and soaks a thug.
I run over to Spot and grab his arm. He turns around to face me. I give him a hug.
"Thank you." I say to his ear. We needed help, and he came. He listened to me.
"Yeah, well you's pretty good at convincin' people."
Oscar, the other Delancy Brother, then came up behind me and grabbed the back of my shirt. He jerked me back and lifted his hand up to take a swing at my stomach with a bat. Spot grabs his hand in the air.
"Na uh," He said, thrusting Oscar's hand back down and socking him square in the face. Blood dripped from his nose. He then tried to hit Spot back, but I gave him a punch in his stomach which caused him to curl back.
"You's got a good arm!" Spot yelled, there was so much noise.
I grinned. I had to be tough to live with the newsies. Spot runs over to the gates and pulls them open. A whole other group of newsies walk up. Spot throws his cane up in the air and leads the other newsies into the battle.
The thugs begin to fade away, running in each direction. We all chant. We won! I turn around and see Jack standing at the highest point, ripping up a newpaper. I run over to him and give him a big hug. He hugs me back.
"We's did it!" I yell. He chants along with the other newsies. I congratulate David and then see Denton walk over to us with a camera in hand.
"Freeze!" He says.
I see Spot and grab his arm to pull him up front so he gets his face in the picture. A huge white flash blurs out my vision for a second.
____________
Spot to the rescue