Hidden Romances

Chapter 9

My dad said that he had some big news for me at dinner. "Ellie, I was talking to Mr. Pulitzer today. He agreed to let you go down to his office and see what he does at work. You'll go down there at eight o'clock tomorrow morning," he said.

"Okay," I said. I wasn't that happy about spending my day in an office with Mr. Pulitzer, but I don't have anything else to do. Plus, it might be better than I think.

***

I stepped into Mr. Pulitzer's building and to the front desk where a stiff-looking man sat reading the newspaper. "Hi, I'm Ellie. My father said Mr. Pulitzer was expecting me?" I said, more as a question.

"Oh, yes, Miss. Van Wyck, you can go up those stairs into Mr. Pulitzer's office," he said.

"Thank you, sir," I said as I stepped away from the desk and went up the stairs. I knocked on Mr. Pulitzer's office door and waited for him to respond.

"Come in," he boomed with a deep voice. I opened the door and stepped inside.

"Good morning Mr. Pulitzer," I greeted. He looked up from his paper, nodded, and went back to reading.

"Seitz! Get in here!" Mr. Pulitzer yelled. The man from the front desk walked into the office along with a tall man in a suit that I can only guess was the butler come in shortly after. "You call this a story?!" Mr. Pulitzer yelled.

"The news is slow, Mr. Pulitzer. The trolley strike is all we've got," Mr. Seitz said.

"It's all Mr. Randloph Hearst has, too, but look how he covers the strike! Look, look look!" Mr. Pulitzer yelled.

"We'll work on a new story right away," Mr. Seitz said. I took the paper from Mr. Pulitzer and sat down by the window. I tuned them out as I read the paper. I turned my attention from the paper and to the streets outside echoing with the voices of newsies shouting out headlines.

"We, need to find a new way to get more money, and I want an idea, tonight," Mr. Pulitzer said.

***

Around six o'clock, Mr. Pulitzer, Mr. Seitz, and the butler, Jonathon, all sat down to come up with an idea to make more money.

"I have several proposals. The first, increase the price of the paper-" Jonathon started.

"Then Hearst undersells me and I end up in the poorhouse. Brilliant," Mr. Pulitzer said sarcastically.

"Not the customer price, the price to the distribution apparatus," Jonathon continued. Uh oh.

"You mean charge the newsies more for their papers? Bad idea chief," Mr. Seitz said. Thank you. Somebody should listen to this guy.

"Wait, what do the newsies pay now- fifty cents per hundred papers? If we raise the price to sixty-" Mr. Pulitzer began.

"A mere tenth of a cent," Jonathon said.

"The numbers would add up quick," Mr. Pulitzer said.

"If we do this, every newsie we got will head straight for Hearst," Mr. Seitz argued.

"Not necessarily. If I know Willie Hearst, he's going to wish he had thought of this himself. If we do it, the other papers will do it," Mr. Pulitzer finished. He got up from the sofa in the middle of the office and sat at his desk to tell that the conversation was over.

Mr. Seitz, defeated, sighed and got up, "I'll call the distribution center and Mr. Hearst," he said.

After the two men left Mr. Pulitzer, I decided to chime in. "Mr. Pulitzer, all do respect, but don't you think that with what the newsies have, they're barely able to pay for their papers now. If you raise the price, they're not going to have enough money to buy your papers," I said politely.

"Ellie, this will teach those boys about the real world. Teach them to work harder. I'm doing them a favor, soon they'll be begging to pay even more. And if they don't buy papers, they don't make money. They don't make money, they starve, and we both lose. They can't afford that, I can't afford that either," he said. He looked at his clock, "You should go home, Your father will be expecting you," he dismissed me.

"Good night, Mr. Pulitzer," I said as I got up to leave, Mr. Pulitzer handed me one of his papers to give my father. I left the building made my way down the street to my house.

***

I ran into Mush on my way down to the distribution center. He didn't have any newspapers with him, and I know for a fact that he didn't sell all of his papers within ten minutes. Plus, he wasn't walking towards his usual selling spot.

"Hey, Mush," I greeted. Mush didn't stop walking.

"Hey, Ellie," he said. I walked backwards so I could face him.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, "You don't have any papers,"

"Pulitzer raised the price of the papers. We'se goin' ta get newsies all over New York ta join us. We'se goin' on strike," he said.

"So, where are you going?" I asked.

"Da Bowery," he said. I turned so I was walking next to him, "What ah ya doin'?" he asked.

"I'm gonna come with you," I stated. Mush finally stopped.

"Oh no ya not. It's too dangerous, ya don't know dese guys. They'se tough," he said.

"I don't care, Mush," I began, "listen, I feel like this is partly my fault," I said. He gave me a look of confusion. I took his hand and led him to a park bench. "Okay, so yesterday, I was at Pulitzer's building. My dad wanted me to learn about business. When I was there, Mr. Pulitzer was talking about wanting to make more money, so him and two of the men that work for him sat down to think of ways to make money," I explained "One of them said something about raising the price of the papers, and Mr. Pulitzer liked the idea. He said that you guys wouldn't do anything about because you guys need money as much as he does or else you'll starve," I finished. I looked up at Mush. "I'm sorry. I should've tried to talk him out of it more than I did," Mush pulled me into a hug.

"Hey, you tried, but Mr. Pulitzer filled your head with bad thoughts and that made you back down. You were thinking of us, Pulitzer was thinking of himself. It's not your fault," he reassured me. I pulled away.

"Soo.... can I come to the Bowery with you. Please?" I asked.

"No, Ellie. I don't want ya ta get hurt," he said.

"But, Mush, I won't be any trouble I promise! I'll stay behind you the whole time!" I begged. Mush sighed in defeat and stood up.

"You're not goin' ta give up are ya?" he said. I stood up with him.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'. Mush took my hand.

"Fine, you can come. But you'se have to stay with me the whole time!" he said.

"Yay! C'mon let's go!" I said, letting go of his hand and skipping ahead of him. Mush cleared his throat and I twirled around to face him. "Oh yeah, I forgot!" I laughed and walked back and grabbed his hand again.

"Yeah," he said and we made our way to the Bowery.