The King of Brooklyn // Spot Conlon

The World Will Know

Sun's POV

  I wake up feeling all right the next morning, last night was mostly nightmare free. I go through the usual steps to get ready, and I make sure to grab the handkerchief from under my pillow. Once I'm ready for the day I start my walk with the other newsies to go see the headlines. 

  We're halfway there when Slip comes running up to me and Crutchy. Slip is one of the youngest newsies in Manhattan, and so he doesn't sell papers yet. Instead he takes messages all over for us, like a bird, and in return we pay him per message. We call him slip cause he's always leaving his show laces untied and slipping on them.

  "Sun! You have to come quick!" Slip exclaims, he grabs my hand and starts tugging me away. I turn to give Crutchy a shrug before letting Slip lead me to where a couple early newsies are sitting, they look mad. We're early, so the gate isn't even open yet, but I can see inside the sign listing the prices has changed. It's gone up 10 cents! 

  "Shit."

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  After a while of waiting, trying to figure out what to do, Jack finally shows up. He's late this morning. "They jacked up the price. You hear that Jack? 10 cents a hundred. You know it's bad enough we gotta eat what we don't sell, now they jacked up the price!" Blink tells Jack. "This will bust me, I'm barely making a living right now." Skittery complains. "I'll be back to sleepin on the streets." Boots says. 

  "It don't make no sense. I mean all the money Pulitzer is makin, why would he gouge us?" Mush wonders. "Because he's a tightwad that's why." Race explains, I light a cigarette and give it to him. More newsies start complaining before Jack cuts them off.  "Pipe down, It's just a gag." Jack tells everyone. He makes his way over to where Weasel is waiting behind the counter. 

  "So why they jack up Weasel?" Jack asks. "Why not?" Weasel says, he licks his finger and pretends to check the weather. "It's a nice day. Why don't you ask Mr. Pulitzer?" He teases us. 

  "They can't do this to me Sun." Blink tells me. "They can do whatever they want, it's their stinking paper." I tell him. "It ain't fair! We got no rights at all." Boots tells Jack. "C'mon it's a rigged deck, they got all the marbles." Race complains. "Jack we got not choice, so let's get our lousy papes while they still got some." Mush tells him. 

  "Now hold on! Nobody is goin anywhere!" Jack says, making us all come back. Everyone starts to argue about what we should do, until Les makes his way over. "Clear out, clear out. Give him some room, give him some room!" He says pushing people out of the way. "Let him think." He tells us, sitting down next to Jack. Blink hands Jack a cigarette, and he takes a drag. He doesn't say anything for a little while. "Hey Jack, you done thinkin yet?" Race asks him. 

  "Hey, hey, hey! World employees only on this side of the gate!" Weasel yells at us. Everyone starts shouting at him till he closes the window. "Well listen, one things for sure. If we don't sell papes, no one sells papes. Nobody comes through those gates till they put the price back where it was" Jack tells us. "What do you mean, like a strike?" Davey asks him. "Yea like a strike!" Jack decides. Everybody starts to disagree loudly. "Are you outta your mind?" Speed asks him. "It's a good idea!" Jack defends himself. 

  I see Davey crouch down and try to talk Jack out of it, they argue for a little while before Jack says something about a organizing and stands up. "Crutchy take up a collection." Jack tells him. "Swell, c'mon guys." Crutchy says taking his cap off to collect money. "Jack this isn't a joke!" Davey calls after him, "You saw what happened to those trolley workers." "Yea well that's another good idea, if any newsie don't join with us then we bust their heads just like the trolley workers." Jack decides.