It's August of 1887. Spot/Sean is now 4 years old. Antonio is around 3 3/4 years old. I recently spent time with someone who will be 4 in October, so around 3 3/4 years old, super adorable, and now I have a good reminder on what that age is like haha. Anyway. Ray is 20, Jack is 11, Louis is 9, Mush is nearly 9, Crutchy is 8. Yes, I think/know the ages are a tad bit wonky, but I'm trying my best. Anyway. Enjoy! :)
Every Sunday after lunch for an hour, Kloppman teaches the young kids basic things they'd learn in school. Things like reading, writing, and simple arithmetic. Antonio is old enough to start being introduced to it. This system was mainly set up for the youngest kids, like Jack, Louis, Mush, and Crutchy. Jack's grown out of it, and Louis is getting closer to the age where he'll sell full time. Mush has a little bit more left. Crutchy probably has another year and then he'll be done. But then they can all help Antonio with it when they're older.
Antonio ... he's still not like any other children. True, they've never dealt with one of his age before. They just thought that by now, he'd be talking more. Sure, he talks. It's just not as often as one would think.
None of this goes unnoticed.
It's Ray who spends the most time contemplating it all.
He watches Crutchy try to teach Antonio how to hold a fountain pen.
"You see, Antonio? You hold it like this. With your thumb here and pointer finger there..."
Ray grins. Despite everything, Crutchy has maintained his nice and sweet personality. And if he has any hard feelings after what happened, he doesn't show it. He's always there to help Antonio with everything.
"...and you can write anything!"
Antonio sticks his tongue out as he concentrates on making the ink come out on the paper. He's fascinated by the ink left lingering on the page. He drags the fountain pen a little, and watches the ink spread out, even if just a little bit, creating a dark line on the glaring white paper.
"Wanna draw something, Antonio?"
But Antonio is already going. He loves pressing the pen to the paper. He draws lines, curves, any shape he can think of. It's magical, in its own sense. He loves it a lot. And if he presses hard enough, the pen will leave an indent in the paper. Not only will he be able to see it, he can feel it.
Crutchy notices how focused Antonio is on drawing. Sure, he likes it too. But this looks different. Not in a bad way or anything. Just different.
Different, just like Antonio.
Everyone has known for some time now that Antonio isn't like everyone else. He still hasn't spoken as much as they would expect him to. And sometimes he pays attention to them, other times it's really hard to get his attention. He's in his head a lot. Sometimes he focuses very little, sometimes he focuses too much. There's nearly no in between with him. He's sweet, though. He doesn't want to get in trouble. He loves it when one of the newsies holds him or hugs him. Sometimes. He'll love it until he wants to move again because that boy will never stay still.
"Crutchy, wanna play knucklebones?" Mush call out from across the room on the floor with Louis and Jack.
"Ain't it jacks?" Louis says.
"Who cares?"
"Bring Antonio with ya?" Jack suggests.
"Gimme a second!" Crutchy responds to them. He turns back to Antonio. "Antonio? Wanna play jacks? With Louis and Mush and Jack?"
Antonio doesn't respond. He doesn't even look up. His eyes are on the paper, and on the paper only.
"Antonio?"
YOU ARE READING
I'll Always Look Out For You
Fanfic15 years before the legendary newsies strike of 1899, a child was born. When he is 18 months old, he is brought to the Manhattan Newsies Lodging House. In time, he would be known as Racetrack Higgins. This is his story. This is the story of the news...
