The Road to Harlem

9. Katherine

Hi my lovelies!! Thank you so much to those of you that consistently read all my chapters and I'm so grateful that y'all enjoy my writing. I've decided to post once every week on Sundays, so keep an eye out for that. Anyways, I hope that y'all enjoy this chapter and come back next week for chapter 10!

P.S. Also there will def be more Sprace content so do with that info how you will. <3

(Muriel's POV)

We all piled into Jacobi's Diner. When I say piled, that's what happened. (A.N. Literally just imagine. You're probably imagining right.) Everyone took a seat, and I grabbed a seat next to Race and Albert. The diner looked closed. There was nobody else there but everyone seemed like they did this all the time so I assumed it was okay.

A man who I assumed was Jacobi walked in from a room that I assumed was the kitchen. He was wearing a dirty white apron and carrying a small board clip (clip board). He started going around to each newsie and asked them what they wanted. Most of them said water, but when Kid Blink told the man that he wanted seltzer, the boys around him looked surprised but didn't say anything.

When he asked me, I also asked for water. I wondered why they came here so much. Maybe because of the water? How much was the water anyways? I only had 30 cents but I'm pretty sure it was only a penny or something. When Jacobi came back, he was carrying a tray of glasses of water.

"Wate' for you," he said as he went around the room, "One for you, one for you, one for you, one for you, one for you, and one for you." He placed a glass in front of me. "And who was the brave soul who ordered the seltzer?" Kid Blink raised his hand.

"That would be me," he announced very nonchalantly.

"That would be two cents," Jacobi said, matching his tone.

"Two cents for a glass of seltzeh?" Blink said, "Just give me a wateh." I mean, what did he expect? They had to make it all the same.

Jacobi smiled, "How did I ever see that coming?" He switched the glass in front of Blink for the one that was still on his tray. I'm assuming he put that there for that very reason. Everyone chuckled softly. Race told me, "He does this a lot. He tries to orde' somethin' that actually costs money and then asks for a water," I smiled, "He does it all the time. It's pretty annoying."

Davey tapped his glass with a butter knife and it miraculously caught everyone's attention. He cleared his throat, "I'd say we launched our strike in the most auspicious manner."
"He definitely went to school," I whispered to Race.

"Oh yeah," He whispered back, and we both smiled.

"Okay, I don't know what that means, but we sure scared the bejebbers outta Weasel!" Tommy Boy said, and we all cheered.

"Did ya see the Delancy's?" Crutchie said, "They didn't know which way was up!" We all erupted in a mixture of cheering and laughter.

When that died down, Davey told us that we needed to split up and recruit the other newsies of New York.

Race yelled, "I'll take Harlem!" While other newsies claimed Midtown, the Bowery, and the Bronx.

Jack took over and assigned towns to the other newsies. I zoned out, but came back to my senses at the sound of Race saying my name, "Muriel!"

"Yeah?"

"Do ya want to come wit me to Harlem?"

"Yeah sure!" I've never been to Harlem before so it could be fun!

Finally, Jack asked who wanted Brooklyn. Everyone immediately flinched and looked away. Race got up and started aggressively rubbing his glass with a rag that he had found. Jack walked around the room slowly looking at every newsie, looking for an extra long time at Race. When he got to Finch, I realized that his eyes were fixed on Race. Why? What happened between them?

Jack continued walking until he got to Albert. "Albert," he said, " ya tellin' me ya scared of Brooklyn?"

"I ain't scared of Brooklyn," Albert said in protest, "Jus that Spot Conlon gets me a little jittery." My eyes drifted to Race and he was rubbing the glass so hard that I was scared it was going to break. I heard Jack say, "Fine. Me and Davey'll take Brooklyn."

"Why's everyone so scared of Brooklyn?"