I waved to my mother and arrived at the square with Les by my side. He seemed so close with the boys already.
Once we arrive, I pull Jack and Esther aside.
"Is anyone else coming?" I say. Esther shrugged.
"Don't got a clue." He said. Race walks over to us.
"Youse seen Spot Conlon, right? What'd he say?" Race asks, visibly nervous.
"Sure we seen him." Jack says. Race seems a little less nervous now.
"Him and about twenty of his gang." I say.
"And them Brooklyn boys is big." Les chimes in.
"And I gotta say, Spot was very impressed. Wasn't he?" Jack says, turning to me.
"I'd say." I tell them.
"So they're with us?" Race asks.
"That all depends on how you look at it. If you look and see Brooklyn, then they're with us." Race nods, taking my words in.
"They wanted proof we're not gonna fold at the first sign of trouble." Esther says. She ended up coming with us to Brooklyn. Spot tried to flirt with her and I had to remind Jack that punching Spot wouldn't help our case.
"Are we?" Finch crosses his arms.
"We are not! There's us and Harlem----" Jack is cut off.
"Not so fast, boss. Harlem wants to know what Brooklyn is going to do." Mush says.
"How about Queens?" Esther asks and turns to face Specs. He clears his throat and pushes his glasses up before speaking.
"Queens will be right here backing us up--" Specs is cut short.
"Ya see!" Jack says, looking relieved.
"As soon they get they get a nod from Brooklyn." We all groan.
"I got the same fish-eye in midtown." Race informs us. This couldn't get any worse.
Then the Delanceys walk by. Esther has a weird look on her face and so does Oscar. Morris just looks how he does every day....like a cretin.
"Say, Oscar, looks like we got bum information about a strike happening here today. Not that I'm complaining. My skull busting arm could use a day of rest.
"So could your mouth." Esther quips from behind us. Oscar is rocking slightly back and forth, like he wants to get out quickly. Morris just glares and walks away from us.
"Are we doing the right thing?" Les asks, a look of concern growing on his face.
"Sure we are." I tell him and ruffle his hair.
"Maybe we put this off for a couple days?" Race shrugs.
"No. We can't." I turn to Jack desperately needing his assistance. "Say something. Tell em if we back out now they will never listen to us again." He nods.
"We can't back down now. No matter who does or doesn't show. Like or not, now is when we take a stand." He says.
"How's about we just don't show for work. That'll send a message." Finch comments and some of the newsies nod, agreeing.
"They'll just replace us. They need to see us stand our ground." Esther says.
Crutchie arrives with a tattered banner on his crutch. It reads STRIKE in big black letters.
"Hey, Jack. Hiya, Esther! Look what I made, guys! Good, huh? Strike!" He pumps his free fist in the air.
"That's great." Race says. He turns to me before saying, "That's pitiful." Esther elbowed his in the ribs before he was able to say anything else.
"Don't be rude." She says.
"Yeah, don't be so quick to judge. Maybe Pulitzer will see it out his window and feel sorry for us." Les says. Esther snorted.
"I admire your positive attitude." She says. She bends down and fixes the boy's hat. Les smiles and so do I.
Play the song up top. I know there is dialogue like the speech Jack makes to the scabs but I don't think it would be right to not put the original cast version up there.
《~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~》
We stand there so triumphantly, feeling proud of the mess we made.
The gates swing open to reveal Weasel, The Delanceys, and several goons.
"Time these kids learned a lesson." Weasel and the goons advance.
Jack just narrows his eyes.
"Newsies, get em!" We all run to the wagons and start throwing bundles of newspapers at the men. We don't seem to be winning. Suddenly, a policeman arrived on the scene. We all are relieved. Romeo ducks through the men over to him.
"Its about time you showed up! They're slaughtering us-" Romeo is cut off as the police smacks him down.
"Cheese it, it's the bulls!" I scream at the top of my lungs. Most of us try to take flight. Race grabs Esther and they run to the right trying to get to the Lodging House. Race is grabbed by one of the Goons and punched in the face. Weasel corners Esther but she gets him where she got Morris and tries to run. He crumples to the ground but not before he can grab her leg. She tries to pry Weasel off her, but he's too strong. Race manages to get Weasel's hand off and he leads her into the abandoned building next to us. Henry runs to the left but makes a clean getaway. Albert is fighting off three goons at a time. Mush zig zags through the men and gets away. I grab Les and shove him in a barrel, telling him to stay there until I come for him. It's a mess. They hold all power against us.
"You can't run forever, Kelly!" A voice booms behind me.
It's Snyder. I remember Jack saying to avoid him. I start to make my escape but stop. I can't leave Les here. Not with this monster running around. He's already got some of the boys. I can't and won't let Les join them. He'll have to kill me before he can lay a finger on my brother.
"Change of plans!" I say to Les as I pick him up out of the barrel and we run home, far away from the wreck we caused.