May of 1892. They're all pretty much the same age as they were in the last chapter. Antonio has been a newsie for around two months now. The title is odd, but it'll all be explained by the end. At least, hopefully. Actually, I'm not entirely sure. Anyway. Enjoy! :)
For two months now, Antonio has been carrying the banner. And now that he's been out in the world and such, some of the newsies don't hold back when they talk about soaking every sucker in the street that they can.
Soak 'im, soak 'em. Soakim is one. Soakem is many. That's how his mind handles it, at least.
And he'll talk about carrying the banner with them as well. The way that newsies speak is different to those who aren't used to it, but Antonio likes it. Now he feels as if he's one of them, truly. He had grown up with them all being newsies, and now he's finally one of them.
Almost a month into selling, Ray let Antonio go wherever he wanted to sell--as long as he knew how to get back to the lodging house from wherever he was, paid attention to his selling curfew Ray set, and most importantly stayed in Manhattan. Antonio agreed to abide by those rules. For now.
Sometimes, Antonio wishes he could remember everyone's face that he sells to. It would be easier that way to tell just who he sold a paper to a day or two ago, or heck, even earlier that day. He's gotten odd looks the couple of times when he's tried to sell the same edition of a newspaper to one person. In his offense, all those pale-skinned men with blue eyes in black suits all look a lot alike. He knows for a fact that he'll never look anything like them. Ever.
Antonio wonders what's outside Manhattan. He understands that Ray wants him to be close and safe, but how dangerous can it be? Maybe when he's older. He'll be 9 years old in 6 months. Maybe then he can go out and about further. If not? He can be patient until he's ten.
For now, though, he just hopes that he can sell the thirty papes he now has in his hands.
Antonio is becoming really good at selling papers. He knows all the tricks to appeal to different people to get them to buy his papers. And they seem okay with buying bad news, which is something that they've been getting plenty of, so it all works out for him in the end.
"E-excuse m-m-me, mister?" Antonio walks up to another potential customer. This is one of his most common tricks: orphan with a stutter. "W-would ya like to read about someone who might b-b-be one of the b-best gamblers New York has ever s-seen?"
The well-dressed man raises his eyebrow and grins. "Care to tell me more?"
Fortunately, this is a true story. And a cool one, in Antonio's mind. He opens up one the papers to the page to demonstrate the real headline. Then, getting super excited about talking about something that excites him, he drops his orphan-with-a-stutter trick and actually stutters occasionally when his words get ahead of him. "Wellyasee, mister, there's this man--and no one is quite sure who he is. They simply call him the Gambler. No one's caught his name, or his actual appearance. His intui-intuo-intui-intuition has helped him win in every horse race in which he bets on a horse. And-and-and now, he can do more: he won a game of cards with a blind fold on. Don't just take my word for it, oh no. You can read the whole thing, right here." He smiles. If that ain't selling, he doesn't know what is.
The man smiles at him. "Well, that is a fascinating story! And it's true!"
Antonio nods. "Yep."
"You know, there are many liars in this world. But those who tell the truth, those are the special ones. And they deserve something special as well. Tell me, boy, do you like cards?"
YOU ARE READING
I'll Always Look Out For You
Fanfiction15 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...
