STRIKE! ; davey jacobs

ELEVEN

xi. WE WON

JOSEPHINE STOOD WITH THE NEWISES,
her knee barely hurting now. the long few hours it took for the newsies to hand out the papers actually did her knee some good. david had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, holding her into his side. "you feeling better?" josephine just nodded her head before leaning it on his shoulder.

"so when are the other newsies coming?" mush asked, looking at jack. jack shook his head, "they ain't coming. ain't going to be nobody but us." some of the boys began to disagree with jack as he began to walk away from them. "don't lose hope. there's still time before the gates open." josephine stood against david, her fingers crossed as she prayed more people would show up.

les walked away from the group as he looked up at the world building, "when the circulation bell starts ringing will we hear it?" he was so quiet, but racetrack had followed and heard him. "nah." the other boy said, nudging the youngest jacobs kid. josephine smiled over at sarah and david. the only thought running through her head was that both older siblings must be proud of their little brother. "and if the delancey's come out swing, will we hear it?" racetrack asked, holding his fists up. les shouted back, "no!" "atta boy, les." josephine exclaimed, walking up to the boy. les smiled up at the girl as he hugged her.

it was then when the bunch of work kids showed up. all of them came from all the different directions. even spot came in leading his brooklyn boys. the group moves to the front of the building. seitz and group of policemen stood looking out at the newsies. "pulitzer wants to speak to you." seitz was pointing an accusing finger at jack. josephine grabbed onto his hand, "then david and i come too." "pulitzer only asked-" "it's either the three of us or none of us." josephine spat, cutting the man off. seitz nodded his head, allowing david and josephine to come inside too.

"extry, extry, joe. read all about it." jack pulled out a copy of the paper they wrote. pulitzer looked at the paper, reading over it. "i promised that if you defied me, i'd break you. i'll keep that promise, boy. now, i gave you a chance to be free. i don't understand. anyone who doesn't act in their own self interest is a fool." "what's that make you?" david asked. josephine tightened her grip on him as pulitzer turned to face david, "what?" "you heard him, joe." josephine said, glaring at the man. jack pointed at them, "oh, these are my pals, davey and jo. both are walkin' mouths." jack gave josephine a wink as she gave him a dirty look.

"you talk about self interest, but since the strike, your circulation's been down 70%. everyday you're losing thousands of dollars just to beat us out of one lousy tenth of a cent. why?" david asked. josephine unlinked her arm so that she could hold david's hand instead, "but it isn't about the money, is it? is it, joe? i think nicholas coburn would agree with his daughter that it isn't about the money." josephine knew that pulitzer knew her father and she knew that if she mentioned him that pulitzer would understand just exactly who he was dealing with. "if joe gives in to nobodies like us, it means we got the power. and he can't do that, no matter what it costs. am i right, joe?" jack asked.

"i sent for the police. they must be here by now. send them in, seitz. your father would be disappointed in you if he saw you standing here in my office like this." pulitzer said, pointing a finger at the girl. josephine shrugged, she knew her father would be proud of her for standing her ground. "i'm not going back to jail, joe. look out here. right out here is where the power is." jack had walked over to the window behind pulitzer and opened it. all the kids were outside shouting and being loud. pulitzer covered his ears as he shouted at jack, "close the window! close the window! go home! go home! go home!"