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Copyright 1998
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Copyright 1998
Jackie and I were walking down the street of D.C. on my 16th birthday (Well, it was really the day before, but it's close enough). I was leaving for Europe in a few days and she promised that we'd go into D.C. for my birthday. So, we went. We walked along the mall and admired the beauty. We'd both brought our cameras, seeing as how we're both photography students. We decided to stop at the Smithsonian castle and take a few shots. Her film was black and white; mine was color. Personally, I prefer working in color. Black and white is nice, but color makes it look that much more real. Yup, I grew up in the age after Technicolor.
Anyway. Jackie and I were walking along the mall, scaring the pigeons half to death. We were having a grand old time when suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks. Jackie stopped and turned to look at me. Then she just fell to the ground. I tried to wake her, but she wouldn't wake up. I shut my eyes and let a sudden wave of pain pass. When I opened my eyes again, I was in an unfamiliar, but familiar, place. Jackie lay at my feet.
"Jax, Jax," I said, shaking her, "Wake up!" I shook her again.
Jax groaned and opened her eyes. She shook the cobwebs out of her brain. "Bird, what happened?" she asked, sitting up.
"I don't know. Here," I said, offering her a hand. Jax took it and I helped her back to her feet.
"Bird, ya don't know what happened?" she asked again.
"Nope, sorry, Jax," I answered. I glanced across the street.
"Well, if ya don't know-"
"Hold up, Jax; I'll be right back." I left her there, mid-sentance, and crossed the street. I walked up to a boy with pink suspenders and a silvery-blue cap. "Scuse me, could I have a pape, please?" I said to the boy. The boy turned around and looked me squarely in the eyes. He shook his head quickly and handed me a paper. "How much?" I asked him.
He didn't reply. I looked at him, waiting for an answer. "Oh, uh, a penny, miss," he answered.
I raised an eyebrow. "A penny, huh?" I fished in my pocket for a coin. I pulled out a handful of change. I picked out a penny and dropped the rest back into my pocket. "Here ya go," I said, tossing him the coin. "Thanks fer the pape, Spot," I said and started back across the street.
As I was walking, I turned to the front page of the paper. I read the title and date written on the paper: "The New York World. July 11, 1898." "Well, I went back a full hundred years," I thought to myself.
"Hey, hey, lady!" someone called.
I turned around and Spot ran up to me. "Yeah?" I said.
"How'd ja know me name?"
"Huh?"
"Me name. Ya called me Spot back dere," he clarified. "How'd ja know who Ise is?"
"Oh, well I guess the pink suspenders gave ya away. Ya know, ya should really think about getting red ones. They'd look much nicer on you," I replied.
Spot was stunned. "How'd ja know I wore pink suspendahs?" he asked, he was getting worried, very uncharacteristic of Spot Conlon.
I laughed. "Yer quite renowned, Spot Conlon, quite renowned," I answered cryptically.
It was then that Jax came meandering over. She looked down at both Spot and me (She's 5'11", Spot's 5'8", and I'm 5'5" by the way). "Birdie, who's zis?" she asked, looking at the grungy boy standing next to me.
I laughed a little and handed her the paper. "Read the date," was all I said. Jax read it. Then she looked up at me; she didn't believe it. "Welcome ta New York." Spot was about to comment, but I spoke before he could. "Brooklyn to be exact."
Jax laughed. She shook her head and laughed. "Naw, Bird, we can't be in Brooklyn. We were jist in D.C.!" she said.
I shrugged. "I got my birthday wish, didn't I?"
Jax looked at me. "Yer such a cynic," she said. I shrugged again. Then we both started laughing.
"I hate tah intahrupt dis happy moment, but....." Spot chimed in.
I stopped laughing, though I was still giggling a little. "Oh, right. Jackie White, this is the infamous Spot Conlon. Spot, this is Jax and I'm Birdie. Birdie Kelley." With the last words, I looked at Jax out of the corner of my eye. We both laughed again.
Spot was oblivious. Oh-kay was, I'm sure, what he was thinking. "Ya goyls might wanna git inside 'n' put a skoit on. It ain't right fer a pretty goyl tah be goin' round da city in pants," he said.
I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, no-"
"Jackie," I cut her off. "Let's jist go find some skirts and such and I'll explain everything to ya." Jax nodded. I turned to Spot. "Where to, Fearless Leader?" I asked.
"Dis way," he said, starting off down the street.
We walked for about ten minutes before slipping into an alley and to the back of a factory building. Spot told up to keep quiet with a gesture of his hand. He handed me his stack of papers and slipped into the factory. A few minutes later he emerged carrying some clothes. He handed half to Jax and the other half to me. I handed him back the papers and Jax and I went further into the alley. We changed and stuffed out clothes into each of our book bags, along with our cameras.
We walked back out to Spot and I tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and almost swallowed the cigarette he was smoking. He said nothing. He just ushered us back out to the busy, noisy streets. We walked in silence down the street for a few moments.
Then we got to the Brooklyn Bridge. I stopped dead in my tracks. I walked to the railing slowly and curled my hands over it. I shut my eyes and inhaled deeply. Ever since I had first seen that bridge in a photograph, I had wanted to touch it. Now I finally had. It suddenly became very real to me. I turned to Jax.
"Ya can't let me leave without getting a shot of this bridge," I said softly.
Jax nodded. "Jist so long as ya remember ta get a shot a the guys," she commented.
I smiled. "I promise; in color no doubt." I stepped back from the railing and looked at Spot. He was bewildered. He didn't know why I had such an attachment for his bridge. It was just a bridge. "Are we goin' er not?" I said.
He shrugged and continued walking. I giggled a little and followed Spot. Jax did the same. After a few minutes of walking, Jax turned to me. She waved her hand at me; she was getting my attention. I looked at her. She began signing to me. **
Birdie, what were you gonna say about this before? she signed.
Jackie, the year is 1899. It's not 1998 and we're not in D.C. anymore.
I know that stupid!
I don't know all the signs. I've only taken ASL for one year. You've taken it for two. Leave me alone.
Fine, she signed. She looked away. I rolled my eyes and stepped up next to Spot.
"So, Spot, where we goin'?" I asked.
He looked at me. "Tah visit me friends," he replied suavely.
I smirked. "Really?" I said.
He looked at me like I was nuts. After all, he'd just met this auburn-haired, green-eyed, not-too-skinny girl and she was really open with him. This girl was walking around the streets of 1898 New York City in crazy looking shorts. Her friend wasn't too much better. She was rather plump, hazel eyes, and light brown-blond hair. Though, the friend didn't make such snide comments all the time. I swear he thought that I needed to be put in a mental institution.
"Ya there, Spot?" I asked, breaking him away from his thoughts.
"Oh, uh, yeah, I'se heya," he answered, not really knowing what I meant.
"Anyway. So we almost there?" I asked, trying to get some conversation going.
"Yup," was his reply. He continued walking in silence. I waited for him to elaborate, but he never did. I was fed up with him, so I went back to Jax.
"Sorry, Jax," I said. Then I signed again. I can't tell you about what's happening, but I can't tell you in sign. You'll have to wait until we can talk. Spot's taking us to Newspaper Row.
How do you know? she signed to me.
Later. We'll have time to talk there. We're going to the Lodging House.
"Oh, well then, I guess we'll talk about it then," Jax said.
"Yup," I said.
We walked again in silence. But it wasn't for too much longer. We arrived in Greeley Square, but we didn't stop. We just keep on going. About a minute later, we came to a building with a green sign with tan lettering. It read "Newsboys Lodging House."
"Told'ja," I whispered to Jax. She chuckled.
Spot ignored us and walked into the building. We followed. He stepped up to an old man behind a desk in the lobby. I grinned.
"Hey ya, Kloppman. I gots some new tenants fer ya," Spot said, nodding to us.
Kloppman looked over, above the rims of his glasses, at us. He pushed his glasses up his nose. He nodded. "Awright. A couple a girls, Spot? You been recruitin' again?" he asked.
"I guess ya could say dat," Spot said with a smirk. He looked over in our general direction.
I looked straight at him. It was apparent that he wasn't going to say anything further. "Well, Spot, thanks so much fer the wonderful introduction," I quipped. I walked up to Kloppman. "Mornin', Kloppman. My name's Birdie, and this is Jax. And, no, Spot didn't recruit us. He jist showed us here. Not that he really TOLD us where we were going."
I looked annoyedly at Spot. He put his hands up in defense. "Um, uh, duh, uh," he stuttered. "Ya didn't ask!" he finally got out.
I looked at Jax. I signed. Pathetic, isn't he? She laughed. Kloppman and Spot just looked at us. I turned back to Spot and Kloppman. "So, where can we put our stuff?" I asked.
"Da top floah. Dat's where da girls've awways stayed. Dere ain't any right now, but da guys're awways lookin' fer more." Kloppman laughed.
"Kay, thanks," I said. "Commin' with, Jax?" She nodded. "We'll be back in a few," I said and started up the stairs.
"Commin'," Jax said and followed me up.
We came to the top floor. The bunk room there was pretty scarce. Jax and I put our book bags down on the floor.
"This place could use some work," Jax said.
"Yup," I said. "Okay, Jax, about what we were talking about earlier. About this whole 1998-1898 thing."
"Kay, shoot."
"We were last at the castle, right?" She nodded. "Well, I felt a sudden whoosh of pain, and you passed out. I shut my eyes and then opened them to find us in Brooklyn. I woke you up and here we are, in 1898, a year before the famous strike in NEWSIES. Yup, that's Spot Conlon in the pink suspenders. He looks better in red, don't ya think? Anyway. So, we're here, stuck in 1898 New York City, Manhattan right now." I paused to breathe.
"I got that, but how'd ya know where Spot was takin' us?" she asked.
"Ya know me and my déjà vu and premonitions and such. Also, I'm obsessed with NEWSIES. You know that too. But I've done my homework on this time period. I know where Spot Conlon would take a couple a new girls. He doesn't think we're tough enough fer Brooklyn. So he takes us to Manhattan, where we'll drive the guys crazy. And I don't mean by looks. I mean, jist look at me, ew. Well, I know I'll drive them nuts with my snide little comments." We both laughed.
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