Copyright 1997
Let me give you some background before we get started. There's this gang terrorizing the newsies in New York. The year's 1901. The gang started in Brooklyn; the first ones were newsies from there. Then they went on to the rest of the city. The gang was driving the newsies crazy. They wouldn't let the newsies buy or sell papers at all, and they soaked all the newsies just for the heck of it, or so the newsies thought. Rook was the leader of the gang; he'd recruited several of the newsies from Brooklyn and other parts of the city and, of course, the Delanceys. But the Delanceys had minor roles; they were mainly the spies on the newsies. Rook wasn't too fond of them, but he needed them. For informational purposes in the least.
"Spot, we gotta have a plan. Oddawise, we cain't win," Jack said, trying, apathetically, to convince Spot of what needed to be done.
"Jack, dey's me boys, er were anyway, 'n' I know what dey're capable of. If we let 'em get da uppa hand, dey's gonna use it ta smash us like bugs," Spot shouted. He was trying to get Jack to agree with him, not as easy as it sounds.
"No, Spot. We need a plan," Jack said again.
"Okay, say we need a plan." Jack rolled his eyes. "What'll it be den?" Spot asked, sitting down and calming down a little.
"What's all da racket over here?" Birdie asked as she walked up to Spot and Jack's table.
"Spot and I're jist tawkin' 'bout da gang," Jack said as Birdie sat down next to Spot.
"Really, come up wit' a plan yet?" Birdie asked. Spot looked at her, almost annoyed that she was FOR the plan. Then he put his arm around her and began to play with her long auburn hair.
"Naw, Spot's bein' difficult over heah," Jack replied.
"I ain't bein difficult, Jackey-boy; yer da one's bein' difficult," Spot retorted angrily as he slammed his hands down on the table. They continued to fight over which way to go; whether to come up with a plan or to just soak the gang.
Birdie just looked at the two of them. They were being very childish. Nothing new there. She started fiddling with the key around her neck; it was Spot's key. He'd given it to her about a week or so ago. To show that she was his, and to show her how much he loved her. Then Birdie looked across the restaurant at the other newsies. They were all eating and discussing the problem they had with the gang. All trying to formulate a plan themselves, rather noisily actually.
Birdie stood up, and, as she did, Jack and Spot looked over at her. "Hey! Hey!" she started. "Hey, guys!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. All noise in the restaurant ceased, and they centered their attention on her. "We needs ta come up wit' a plan. We need some ideas. Anybody got some?" she announced.
"Why don't we just talk with 'em?" Les asked. He was standing next to Birdie.
Birdie bent down to look Les in the eyes. "Because dey ain't gonna listen to us, and we've tried it already, kid. It was a good idea dough," she said and smiled at Les. She ruffled his hair and stood back up. She looked around at the others, waiting for another idea.
"I say we jist find 'em and soak 'em," Spot yelled. A couple of the newsies cheered.
Birdie whipped around to look at Spot. She gave him an annoyed look. "Spot, we can't do dat eidder. Ya know dat. I don't know what yer thinkin' wit' over dere, but it sure ain't da head on yer shoulders," Birdie said with a laugh. Everyone else in the room laughed, too. Spot blushed and looked down at the table, annoyed. He hated when people laughed at him, and Birdie had a certain knack of getting people to laugh at him.
"Hey, why don't we jist take 'em down, bit by bit? I mean, like, uh... um..." Blink trailed off.
Birdie looked at him, as if she were thinking it over. "Dat's a good start. Like when we find one of 'em alone er somethin like dat, we soak 'em. Spot kin have his fight, and we can be somewhat organized 'bout it all. Anythin' else we kin do fer it?" she said.
"What 'bout spies er somethin'?" Les said enthusiastically. He was full of ideas that day.
Birdie looked at him, surprised. Then the corners of her mouth turned upwards, and she slowly smiled. "Yeah, dat'd woik. Good thinkin', kid," she said. Les grinned like a madman and sat down next to Dave at another table. Dave promptly patted him on the back.
Jack stood up; it was his turn to be the leader. "Okay, who'll be our little spy den?" he asked.
"I'll do it!" Les said.
"Naw, Les, we need ya here. Any odda volunteers?" Jack said, upon seeing David's terrified face.
"I'll do it," Race said and shrugged. "Why not?"
Jack proceded to instruct Race on how to infultrate the gang. There were a few intrruptions from other newsies, but Jack shut them up with a nasty look. "Kin ya do dat?" Jack asked after he had finished explaining everything to Race.
"Sure, I guess; it don't sound too hard. I think I kin do it," Race answered.
"I'm goin', too," Birdie said. This surprised everyone; they hadn't expected her to say anything further in the discussion.
"No, yer not," Spot said sternly as he stood up.
"Give me one good reason," she said looking him right in his face.
"Because I said so," he stated.
"Dat ain't a good reason," Birdie said, starting to get angry.
"It's a good enough one. I ain't lettin' ya do it," Spot said. This infuriated Birdie, everyone else in the restaurant started inching away from them, to hide.
"Ya ain't lettin' me!?" Birdie scoffed. "Ya ain't lettin' me. He ain't lettin' me! Hah! He ain't lettin' me!" Birdie continued this stream of words for several minutes, as if she couldn't believe it.
"No, I ain't lettin' ya do it. Ya could git hoit," Spot tried to explain.
"I could git hoit. Uh-huh. I kin protect meself betta 'an you. I could git hoit. Hah!" Birdie said, making considerable fun of Spot.
She and Spot fought for several more minutes. All the newsies were slowly ducking under tables and hiding behind chairs. They'd seen Birdie get this angry once or twice before, and they weren't exactly jumping at the chance to see it again. They were terrified of her when she got this angry. She had a real short temper and didn't have the best judgement when she was this angry.
"Ya jist betta hope dat ya don't git hoit yerself, Spot. Cause... things happen," Birdie said, as if she was threatening him. She shoved him out of the way and stormed out the door. She was quite furious.
The newsies were slowly beginning to crawl out from behind their hiding places. Seeing as how the danger was gone.
"Spot, ya okay?" Jack asked.
"I'm fine, Kelly," Spot yelled angrily. All the newsies jumped; they were still a little skittery. Spot sighed. He sat down and let his head SLAM down on the table. The newsies just looked at him, then at each other, then back at him, then went about their business. Spot sat there like that for quite some time. Race left the restaurant and went to do his thing, his spy thing.
Outside in the streets Birdie was walking, still infuriated, but she was cooling down. She saw Race across the street. She was about to go talk to him when she saw he was talking to some members of the gang. They started to walk off toward the Bronx. Birdie followed them. One of them kept stopping and looking back. This made it increasingly difficult for Birdie to stalk them. The gang finally led Race to a warehouse by the water, in the Bronx. They went inside and closed the door. Birdie ran up to the door just in time to hear the lock click.
"Damn!" she swore under her breath.
Birdie thought for a minute and then knocked on the door. She breathed slowly for a few moments. Then someone opened the door a few inches.
"Yeah, what?" the guy said in a disdainful tone.
"Kin I come in er what?" Birdie replied in an equally contemptuous tone.
"Whadda ya want?" the boy asked.
"I wanna join up," she said.
The boy looked at her for a minute, then appeared to think it over. He finally decided to let her in. He opened the door furthur for her to walk in. The boy led her to a room and told her to wait there. The boy left and came back a few minutes later with three others.
"Hunter says ya wanna join us?" the first one said.
"Dat's what I tol' 'im," Birdie retorted.
"So what's yer name goyl?" he asked.
"Boidie. Boidie Kelly," she answered.
This seemed to surprise the guys. They formed a huddle and began to talk it over, in a very hushed manor.
"Boidie Kelly. She could help us out a lot," the first said, his name was Rox.
"Rox, but what if she's a spy?" the guy named Hunter asked.
"She's a great fighter. She could help us," Rox said.
"Hunter's right. What if she's a spy. I mean, she and Spot, dey's been tagedda fer a long time. He gave 'er da key, too. She wouldn't leave 'im fer nuthin'," the third said, his name was Sid.
"Sid, why don't we jist ask her?" the fourth, Bud, said.
They all looked over at Birdie. She was leaning against a table, almost patiently waiting for them to finish. They turned back to each other and continued. There was a sudden CRASH in the corner of the room. They all looked over at it.
"Race!" Birdie exclaimed as she saw Race sprawled on the floor holding his side in pain.
"Boidie!!" Race said as he stood up, very surprised to see her there.
"Bud, Hunter, take Race over ta... Hey boys, who's dis?" Rook said with interest as he noticed Birdie.
Birdie walked over to Rook and introduced herself. "Boidie Kelly. I presume yer da infamous Rook."
"Yeah, dat's me. Ya lookin' ta join us here?" he asked, looking into her emerald eyes.
"I was hopin' to," she answered, flirting a little with him.
Rook looked at her and then remembered what he'd been saying before. "Hunter, Bud, show Race out. He ain't joinin' us taday," he said, never taking his eyes off her.
The boys started to pull Race toward the door.
"Wait!" Birdie said as she turned towards them. She pulled off the key around her neck and started to wrap the string around the metal. She wound the string around tightly and tied it off so that it would stay put. Rook watched with interest and confusion. "Give dis ta Spot when ya see 'im next," she said as she threw it to Race.
Race caught it and opened his palm to look at it. His eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. He immediately looked up at Birdie, almost scared. Then Bud grabbed Race's arm and shoved him out the door. Race stuck the key in his pocket and stood around outside, waiting for Birdie. He waited a few seconds, then he looked for a way to see in. He saw a window and climbed up to look through it.
"So, what happened between you 'n' Spot?" Rook asked.
"We had a minor disagreement," Birdie answered cynically.
"Over what?" he asked.
"None a yer damn business," Birdie said angrily.
"Okay, okay," Rook said putting his hands up in defense. "Sorry, din't mean nothin' by it. So, I guess since yer here ta join, 'n' you 'n' Spot're no longer tagedda.... I guess ya kin stay 'n' join us."
"Yeah, ya guessed right. Thanks," Birdie said.
Rook spit in his palm and extended his arm to shake. Birdie spit in her own plam, and they shook. Rook had another thing up his sleeve though; he yanked Birdie up to him, and he kissed her. Birdie was surprised at this, but she let it happen.
Race's jaw dropped. He was perched on the other side of a window. He couldn't believe it. Rook and Birdie?!?!?!?
Get your own Free Home Page