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| Snoddy's Hope by Quinn |
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| "Git up! Git up! Carry da Bannah! Sell da papes, sell da papes!" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kloppman's voice rang throughout the Lodging House, waking up the Manhattan newsies. All except the newest (and currently only girl) newsie, Megan. She was still fast asleep in her bed until Pie Eater jumped down from his bunk and landed by her head with a loud thud. Megan opened her eyes and jumped out of her skin when she saw Pie Eater standing over her. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Forget where you are, kid?" he asked. She smiled. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Yeah..and good morning to you too, Pie." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You'd better get up and dressed before all our papes are gone. I'll meetcha downstairs." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Megan looked on for a moment as Pie Eater walked into the boys' bathroom. Just three weeks ago she arrived in New York with only her brother's old clothes, and five dollars, uncertain of her future. Now she had a job, a place to stay and great friends. Pie Eater was the one who found her, and in a matter of minutes had become her best friend and guardian. Megan quickly went into the other bathroom and showered. Then she put her long, curly hair in a pony tail and put it under her hat, got dressed and ran downstairs. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| She exchanged greetings with most of the Manhattan Newsie population, but Pie Eater was no where to be found. Snoddy came up to her. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Megan, Pie just heard that his girl Samantha is in the hospital, so he went to see her. He told me to sell with you if you don't mind." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "No, of course not. I hope Samantha's going to be alright." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "She just broke her arm, but Pie had to see for himself that she's ok." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Sounds like he's in love." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Yeah, but you'll never get him to admit it." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Snoddy and Megan set out selling but around 10am, Snoddy saw her looking wistfully at the Statue of Liberty. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "What's wrong?" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "It's just that I've been in New York for three weeks and I've never seen anything except the Lodging House and Tibby's." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Well, why don't we do the town today? I'll take you to the Statue, Madison Square Gardens, Central Park, anywhere you want." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I can't let you give up a whole day of selling." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Don't worry about it, the headlines are lousy today anyway. Even improvin' the truth wouldn't do any good." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Megan threw her arms around Snoddy. "Thanks Snoddy, you're a great friend." An odd feeling came over Snoddy just then, something he'd never felt before. He found he really enjoyed holding Megan in his arms. He dismissed the feeling as nothing and they set out for the Statue of Liberty. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After their great day out, Snoddy and Megan walked into the Lodging House, surprised to find it completely empty, save Kloppman. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I wonder where everyone is, they're usually back by now from sellin'." Said Snoddy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I don't know…and I'm just too tired right now to care." Megan threw her cap off, letting her hair fall around her shoulders. She collapsed on her bed when Snoddy pulled her right back up. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "There's still one thing you haven't seen, and it's the best of them all." Megan looked at him curiously, but Snoddy just took her hand and led her to the roof. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Snoddy what's so great about the…" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Megan's jaw dropped when she saw the image before her. The sun had just started to set, bathing the city in reds and golds. Snoddy smiled at her reaction. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I come up here every night just to see it." He glanced over at Megan as if he were seeing her for the first time. The colors from the sun were dancing in her curly brown hair, and there was a certain sparkle about her green eyes that he found entrancing. He felt a stirring in his heart and wondered what it meant. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Snoddy, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Thank you for showing me the city, I'll never forget it as long as I live. Especially this… out of everything I've seen today, this is my favorite." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You're welcome. Megan, I hope you don't mind me askin', but why are you here? What made you just hop on a train and come to New York?" Megan looked out at the horizon for a few seconds before she answered. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I'm from Castlerock, Maine. My parents, my brother Paul and I lived in a really nice house and everything was perfect until my father and Paul died. A runaway carriage hit them. Two years later, my mother started seeing Norman. He courted her for three months before they got married. Things were all right at first, but then Norman started to abuse Mother. He'd come home drunk every night and if the slightest thing was wrong with the house or his dinner, he'd beat her. One day, I came home from school and saw dozens of people coming out of our house. I wasn't there to see it, thank God, but my mother had taken a lethal amount of opium. Her note said that she was pregnant, and she would rather die than see Norman's child come into the world. I vowed then and there that he wasn't going to do that to me, so I took some of Paul's old clothes, some money and left. When I got to the train station, the man at the ticket counter said the next train going out was headed for New York City, so here I am." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I'm sorry". "I'm alright. Actually, I think it did me some good to tell someone other than Pie Eater. Besides, now I have a completely new life, with great friends like you. I've never been happier." Snoddy smiled at her. He couldn't believe the amount to strength she had to put the past behind her. |
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| Just then Kid Blink and Racetrack came up behind them. "Well Blink, what do we have here?" Blink elbowed Race. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Looks like we've got a couple of loveboids on our hands, Race." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Megan ignored their comments and asked "Where have you guys been? When Snoddy and I got back the house was empty." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "We all went to Brooklyn and brought Spot back with us. You need to meet him anyway, so come on down." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The four of them walked into the bunkroom and Megan's eyes locked with a pair of gorgeous blue-grey ones. Jack made the introductions. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Megan, this is Spot Conlon, the leader of the Brooklyn newsies." Spot tipped his hat and kissed her hand. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Always a pleasure to meet such a beautiful goil." Said Spot. Without taking his eyes off of Megan, he asked, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Jacky-boy, does she have a nickname yet?" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "No, no one's had any ideas yet." Snoddy pushed his way to the front of the group. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "We should call her Hope. Just trust me, it fits her. What do you think, Megan?" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I love it. Thanks Snoddy." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| She was talking to Snoddy but staring at Spot. Snoddy saw the way Spot and Hope were looking at each other, and for some reason he hated Spot and wanted to slap him into next year. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As they walked to Tibby's, Snoddy was looking at Hope, who was looking at Spot who was looking right back at her. Snoddy couldn't shake the pangs of jealousy he was feeling and suddenly it hit him as to why. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Read part 2, go back to stories or go back to the Square! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||