Boys, Meet Twitch

Chapter 2

     While all of the newsies were working at selling their papes, Pulitzer and his men were debating something. "Gentlemen, The World is in trouble. Our circulation is down for the third quarter in a row." Pulitzer said
     "Mr. Pulitzer, every paper's circulation is down since the war ended." Said one of the men
     "Well, whoever said 'war is heck' wasn't trying to sell newspapers." Pulitzer said
     "We could use an exciting headline." One man suggested
     "What do we have today?"
     "The trolley strike."
     "That's not exciting!" Said Pulitzer
     "It's boring." Said Hannah, "Folks wanna know: is the trolley coming or am I walking? No one cares why."
     "And the strike's about to be settled. Governor Roosevelt just put his support behind the workers." One man said
     "That man is a socialist." Said Pulitzer
     "Teddy Roosevelt's no socialist. He's an American hero!" One argued
     "He wants to outlaw football for being too violent! Football!" Pulitzer yelled
     "Mr. Pulitzer, can you please sit still?" Said Noinzio
     "Gentlemen, you're making Noinzio nervous, and when he gets nervous, I don't look pretty."
     "Be honest," said Hannah, "you never liked Roosevelt. When he ran for office, you wrote an editorial against him day after day. And now he's the governor."
     "Listen! We need to sell more papers. And the way to do that is?"
     "Big photos?"
     "Do you know what those cost? The answer is right under us."

     Now it was sunset, and Jack went to check on the newest newsies. "Excuse me, sir? Please, I need money to raise my child. I'm a kid myself. Would you please buy a paper to support me?" Twitch begged
"Of course, girl. Here's a dime." He took the paper
"Last one?" Jack asked
Twitch jumped. "You scared me. Yeah, it was." She said
"Well, follow me. I'll introduce ya to the others."
"Ok." She followed him
They walked to the boarding house and walked in. "Boys, meet Twitch." Jack said, "She was kicked out of her house. She's uh- knocked up- and- how long do you think?" He asked her
"Probably three months." She said
"It ain't yours, is it, Jack?" Specs joked
Everyone laughed at that. "Very funny. No." He said
"Is Twitch your real name?" Romeo asked
"No. Jack called me that because I twitch when I get scared. I was when we met." She explained
     "Makes sense. So uh, who's the father?" Crutchie asked
     "My ex-boyfriend. He was really mean." Twitch said
     "Well, I'm Crutchie, this is Romeo, Henry, Albert, and..." he went on
"So you had a mother. I was gonna get me one of those." Said Henry
     "What'd ya do with the one you had?" Specs asked
     "He traded her for a box of cigars." Albert teased
     The boys laughed. "So, what're we gonna do about you sleepin'?" Specs asked
     Everyone looked at each other for an idea. The place was already packed, not as bad as the refuge, but it was crowded. "If you want," Jack said, "you could share a bed with me."
     Twitch looked uncomfortable. "Well, I guess I don't have a choice. Sure." She said
     "Ooooooooh." Everyone said
     "Shut up! You guys are so immature." Jack said
     Everyone climbed into their beds. Jack and Twitch squeezed in the twin sized mattress that was hard as a brick. "Hey, what do we do when you go into labor?" Romeo asked
     "We'll figure it out." Twitch said
     "Good night." Jack whispered
     "Night." She whispered back
     Everyone tried to sleep, but their dreams were interrupted by by sirens. Twitch was already a ball of anxiety, and when that's combined with sleep deprivation, that ain't good.