“Manhattan, New York.” I told myself, looking around. The place was bustling with activity. People running to and fro, never stopping it seemed. I marveled at it. How can anyone keep going like that? The city was beautiful to me.
I stepped to cross the street and heard a “Watch Out!” and I jumped back as a carriage flew past me, where I had just stepped.
The driver raised his fist at me and yelled, “Street Rat!” in anger. I smiled weakly back. I didn’t mean any harm.
“New here?” a female voice questioned behind me. I turned to find a girl about my age smiling at me. She had brown hair with blonde streaks shining. She wore boy clothes but kept her hair down under a hat.
I nodded, smiling a little.“Is it that obvious?” I asked, hoping she wasn’t laughing at me.
Her hazel eyes lit up with merriment when she chuckled.“Most New Yorkers know ta check the streets carefully before crossing. You must be from a small town.” She answered, her smile still sunny.
I laughed a little.“Yes, I am.”
The girl stuck out her hand and introduced herself.“I’m Seven of Nine.” I shook her hand firmly, slightly surprised at her unusual name.
“Merlyn Davidson. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I was proud of myself; I sounded confident and outgoing. In reality, this meeting would normally frighten me somewhat. But I felt comfortable with this girl for some reason.
She nodded.“Same here, Merlyn. Where are you from?”
“A little town in Kansas.” I smiled fully now, certain that this was the new me, friendly and sanguine.
“Well, welcome to Manhattan.” She chuckled again. She had a pleasant laugh. “Why are you here, instead of Kansas?”
“I plan to write here.” I admitted. “But first, I need to find a job that can support me so I can write.”
Seven’s eyes lit up.“Really? Well…” She was interrupted by a young man. He was also dressed in well-worn clothing, I noticed as he walked up to her. He had dark skin and black hair, Hispanic probably. He was quite handsome, especially when he grinned at her. I smiled to myself. Their relationship was obvious when they looked at each other. They were in love.
“Seven, dere ya are. I was lookin for ya.” The boy’s accent was thick, unlike Seven’s melodious voice. Seven pointed to me.“Bumlets, this is Merlyn. She’s new and looking for a job.” Seven grinned.
Bumlets spit on his hand and stuck it out to me, to shake. I peered at it curiously and shrugged, spit into my hand and returned the greeting.
He laughed.“You’ll do fine. Nice ta meet cha, Merlyn.” His eyes twinkled as he smiled at me.
“You too.” I smiled back.
Seven spoke up again.“Merlyn, I was gonna say that I know of a job for you. One that will give you time to write.”
My heart started to pound with excitement.“What is it?” I breathed.
Seven grinned at Bumlets and then said,“You can be a newsie, like us.”
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.“A newsie?”
They both laughed.“Yeah, newsie. We sell da newspapahs.” Bumlets told me.
I cocked my head to the side.“Is it hard?”
Seven shook her head.“Not if you have a good imagination.”
I smiled.“No problem there.” My imagination usually worked overtime.
“Well?” Seven asked.
I pondered the issue a bit and thought, why not? I could do this and have some real friends for a change and still write. It sounded too good to be true. I nodded.“Love to.”
Seven squealed with delight and gave me a hug. I was shocked, but hugged her back. God was watching over me.
She grabbed my hand and dragged me along, Bumlets following and laughing at his girlfriend’s antics. He grabbed my suitcase from me. He flashed me a grin as he carried it for me. “Thanks.” I said gratefully. It surprised me, their friendliness. I had heard that New York was big and impersonal. He nodded.
Seven continued to lead me though the city until we came to a building that expressed on its sign:Newsboys Lodging House
“Newsboys?” I asked.
Seven nodded as we entered.“That’s how it started. Now, we’ve got both girls and boys.” She explained, then called, “Ey Kloppman?”
Bumlets spoke up,“I think ‘e’s out, Seven. Let’s take ‘er stuff upstaihs and den go ta Tibby’s ta eat.”
Seven nodded.“Kay, come on, I’ll show ya an empty bunk.”
I chuckled at her enthusiasm. She was a doll.
After my stuff was settled, I looked at my two new friends.“Now what?”
“You might want to change, Merlyn. Most newsgirls don’t wear skirts and dresses.”
I looked at my old brown skirt and blouse.“Really?” Seven nodded. I did as well.“Okay, I have some of my dad’s old clothing I could wear. I usually only wear it when I write.” I grabbed them and headed into the washroom to change. I came out after about five minutes.
“Is this okay?” I asked Seven and Bumlets. I hoped it was.
Seven grinned and nodded.“Yes, that works beautifully.”
Bumlets smiled, agreeing with her.“Are ya hungry, Merlyn?” He asked me.
“Yes, actually.”
“C’mon then.” Seven invited and the three of us filed out of the Lodging house.
“You need a nickname.” Seven told me as we walked.
I looked questioningly at her.“A nickname?”
“Yeah, My real name isn’t Seven of Nine. All newsies have nicknames.”
I nodded understanding.“Okay” I started thinking hard. What in the world would I call myself? Writer? Author? Poet? Maybe…No, something more fanciful, perhaps. Then it hit me.“Muse” I replied.
Seven grinned.“Fits you.”
“Here we are.” Bumlets announced as we came upon a quaint restaurant called Tibby’s.
Seven opened the door for me and we all entered. The restaurant was noisy with quite a few customers present, mostly newsies. A lot of them looked up when we entered.
“Ey, Seven, Bumlets. Who ya got wit ya?” a tall boy with brown hair and a red bandana round his neck spoke.
Seven smiled and grabbed my hand and brought me over to him.“Jack, this is Muse. She’s gonna join the ranks. Muse, this is our leader, Jack Kelly or Cowboy.” I smiled nervously at him and spit on my hand and offered it to him. He grinned and I almost sighed, he was really good-looking. I did see one of the girls, a blonde with green eyes look at me carefully. I quickly stopped admiring, must be his girlfriend.
Jack spit in his hand and shook mine.“Nice ta meet cha, Muse. Welcome to da family.”
I relaxed and smiled more easily.“Thanks.”
"Not all da guys are here yet, but I’ll inerduce the ones here.” He then began a list of names longer than forever. Names like Racetrack, Kid Blink, Mush, Snitch, Swifty, Crutchy, Skittery, Specs and so on. I smiled at all of them, amazed at how good-looking they all were.
“The goirls are…” Jack was about to continue when one of the girls interrupted him.
“I’ll take it from ere, Cowboy.” She grinned ruefully at him, her hazel eyes warning him not to disagree.“I’m Dusk.” She told me and pointed to the other girls. Beaner, a cute girl with brown hair and brown eyes, obviously Crutchy’s girlfriend. I made note of whom belonged to whom always wary of jealousy. Irish with Kid Blink. I smiled, if her red hair and green eyes were any indication, she was very Irish. Quips, curly black hair and unusual eyes, almost golden. Princess, a smaller girl with brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. Luca, Hispanic and lovely with dark green eyes. The girls were just as good-looking as the guys were. Cap with David, a girl with a creative look about her. Angel with Skittery. She was a beauty, Italian, I think. Sketch with Specs. She wasn’t a newsie, but an artist, hence the name, Jack’s cousin, too. Jack’s girlfriend was the blonde I’d noticed earlier. Her name was Hercules. Dancer with Mush, she was a dancer, very graceful looking. Charcoal, another artist, who had dark hair and eyes. Lastly, was a little bit of a girl called Panda. I looked at her closely. She was lovely with big dark eyes that looked scared and too old for her young years.
“Dat’s it.” Dusk finished up.
I smiled at her.“Woah.” I expressed at all the names.
“C’mon Mer…Muse.” Seven said, “Let’s sit down and get something to eat.”
I nodded and sat down at a table with her, Bumlets and um…I think his name was Snoddy. We ordered our food and talked for awhile.
Once our food arrived, we all heard the bell ring and a voice mutter.“Lousy Headline.”
Bumlets chuckled and called.“Dutchy! Ova ere.”
I looked up after taking a bite of my roast beef sandwich. As I chewed and wiped my mouth, I saw the newcomer. He was fairly tall and thin, but not weak. He had light, golden blonde hair, long, falling into his eyes. Eyes covered with thin-rimmed glasses, blue eyes.
He sat down next to Bumlets, muttering.
“Bad day?” Bumlets asked his friend. The newsie looked up and half-grinned. I looked at my food, afraid of the emotions running through my body.
“Yep, lousy headlines taday.”
“Dutch, I’d like ta inerduce ya to our newest newsie. Muse?” I looked back up at the gorgeous boy.“Muse, Dis is Dutchy. Dutchy, meet Muse.” Bumlets introduced us.
Dutchy smiled and shook my hand. I nodded and tried to smile back. His lips had caught my attention now and I was weak-kneed.
“Hey, Muse. Welcome.” His voice was pleasant, congenial.
I nodded, and reluctantly took my hand from his.“Thanks, It’s nice to meet you.” I replied, somewhat breathlessly, much to my dismay. I hated myself when I swooned. It didn’t happen too often, but when it did…I was in danger of heart pain. He probably had a girl like the rest of them.
“Ya too.” He turned to Seven and smiled. My heart sank; he liked her at least a little bit. Who could blame him, she was lovely.“So, Seven” he began, “Was yer day good?”
She nodded.“Yep, sold them all. Did you, Bumlets?” she turned to her boyfriend.
He grinned.“Si, senorita.”
They all continued to talk of their day as I quietly listened, slipping back into the shell I’d thought I’d broken. The shell that protected me from heartache.
The days seemed to pass quickly after that. I became a newsie and enjoyed it thoroughly. The evenings were spent in the bunkroom as I listened to my new friends talk and laugh. Then I’d slip out to the roof with my glasses, notebook, and flashlight to write. I liked that small amount of solitude I received. Although, talking and being with the others was great.
One evening, about a month after I arrived, I went up to the roof as usual, but this time I found a couple up there. I hid behind an old box and as much as I hate to admit it, I eavesdropped.
“Dutchy, why’d ya bring me up here?” My heart sank. I didn’t know the girl, but I knew the boy. Dutchy and I were friends, with him mostly treating me like a younger sister. I couldn’t ever act normally around him; he made me so nervous. He was nice, don’t get me wrong, mischievous with a smirk usually on his face. I stuffed my feeling deep inside of me. I was here in Manhattan to write, not fall in…well, never mind.
“Thought ya might like it.” His voice was playful and suggestive. I quickly deduced that the girl was Kelly, a girl Dutchy’d been seeing for awhile, apparently over his crush on Seven. She was a factory girl, but she sometimes sounded like she owned the world. I scolded myself. Maybe she wasn’t that bad, I just needed to give her a chance.
“Really?” she sounded disgusted. The sun was beginning to set. I smiled a little; Dutchy was probably trying to be romantic, watching the sunset. It was rather cute and touching what the newsies would do to impress their “goirls.” Money was tight, so the boys were creative. I smiled to myself; the roof was a popular place for romantic excursions.
“Yep.” Dutchy was not put out, but leaned over and kissed her gently. I sighed softly; it was like something out of a novel. Kelly must have enjoyed it because she grinned a little and kissed him back. I watched intently, knowing I would regret it later. I couldn’t help myself, it was fascinating. The kissing became more intense and passionate. Who knows, I might need it for a story? That’s not where my mind was, however. I could almost sense Dutchy was kissing me. I could almost feel it. I breathed harder as the pain in my heart increased. My foot had fallen asleep, so I moved it slightly, succeeding in knocking over a crate next to me. It made a loud noise and halted the goings on in front of me.
“What was that?” Kelly asked sharply. Dutchy looked over to where I was half hidden and stared straight at me. My eyes widened in fear, but he didn’t say anything.
“Dutchy?” Kelly spoke again.
He turned to her and smiled sheepishly.“Probably a cat or rat, Kel.” He shrugged, “Dere sometimes up ere. C’mon, I’ll walk ya home, yer parents’ll probably start worryin.”
She smiled and stood up and walked to the fire escape and began to walk down.
Dutchy paused and spoke.“One sec, I’ll meet cha down dere.” She nodded and continued down. He waited a bit then marched over to my hiding spot.
He picked me up so I stood in front to him.“Muse!” he scolded quietly, “What are ya doin?” I shook a little, somewhat frightened.
“Ssssorry, Dutchy. I came out to write and saw you and hid. I didn’t mean to stay so long.” I was really scared. His hands gripped my arms fairly tightly.
“Youse eavesdropped?” he sounded amazed.
“Yeah,” I felt awful. “I’m really sorry, Dutchy. I just enjoyed the romance, ya know.” My eyes pleaded with him. I hadn’t meant any harm.
He peered at me closely and then at the things in my hands. He started to grin.“Ya wear glasses?”
I nodded, embarrassed.“When I read and write.”
He took them from me and placed them on my nose. He studied me. Then he began to chuckle.“Muse, yer too much.
“Your not mad?”
He shook his head, still amused.“No, I think youse crazy, but I ain’t mad.”
I relaxed.“I won’t do it again.”
He just kept chuckling.
“Dutchy?” Kelly’s voice came from down on the ground.
“Comin.” He called and looked at me, his beautiful eyes sparkling with mirth.
“Ya betta not do it again, kid. Next time ya need romance, find yerself a guy.” I rolled my eyes.
“Gee, thanks for the advice, Dutch.” I muttered.
He just chuckled again.“Here ya go, Kid. Somethin ta write about.” He leaned in down and placed a gentle kiss on my unsuspecting lips. I looked shocked when he pulled back after a second. He gave me a mischievous grin and a wink and headed down the fire escape. I stood there long after he and Kelly had left, feeling his lips on mine. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, but a sweet one, one of friendship and tenderness. I knew that, but my heart kept on pounding. I shook my head. What a way to begin this adventure.