From Crutchie To Wheels (And a Little Les Trouble)

Hospital

They arrived at the hospital where Wheels's leg doctor worked. Being Newsies and all, they were pretty loud and rowdy coming in, which got a few other people's attention.

Jack ran up to the front desk and explained the situation. The nice lady behind the desk called for their emergency doctors. A group of 4 doctors ran to the front. One of them was Wheels's leg doctor.

The doctors ran over to the group of boys. Wheels's leg doctor recognized Davey and a few of the other boys, but not Wheels. He was so badly injured, his own leg doctor, who he had gone to for 13 years, didn't recognize him. They handed off Wheels and Les to the doctors, and they were put in wheelchairs and rolled to the elevators.

Davey was crying this whole time. He looked like a maniac, covered in his brother's blood, curled in a ball on the ground of the hospital floor.

The rest of the newsies were told to wait in the waiting room.

"Jack?" Davey muttered after being in the waiting room for 3 hours.

"Yeah, Davey?"

"You know how that doctor is Wheels's leg doctor?" Jack nodded. "Well, he's also a close friend of my father's. His nane is Dr. Prandin. He didn't recognize Les or Wheels, and that makes me really worried."

"Me, too, Davey. I just hope they're ok."
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After waiting in the waiting room for 16 long hours, a doctor came back out. It was Dr. Prandin. He walked over to Davey.

Davey sprung up, followed by every other newsie. "How are they doing, Dr. Prandin?"

"Well, the younger boy has a broken ankle, 5 broken ribs, a major concussion, and severe bruising. He also may be blind in one eye." Davey's heart dropped 100 feet. "The good news is he's alive." His heart rose about a foot. "The other boy doesn't seem in any better condition. He has a twisted knee, dislocated shoulder, minor concussion, and you probably already know, a broken arm. He came in with no blood flowing through it. He kind of looked like Crutchie, but I assumed Crutchie was sick because he missed his leg and arm appointment yesterday."

"Doc," Jack stammered. "I don't mean to alarm you, but that boy was Crutchie. And the younger one was Les."

Dr. Prandin stepped back in shock.

"W..whh...what? Davey, I'll need to call your parents immediatly. They need to know what's happened to him." Dr. Prandin turned to leave.

"Wait!" Jack yelled. Dr. Prandin turned around. "Can we go see them?" The doctor thought for a second.

"Fine. But only 3 of you. They're in room 318 on the 3rd floor."

Jack and Davey stepped forward. They would have brought up Race, but he had been asked to step outside because of his cigar. So they took up Specs instead.

All three stepped into the elevator and went up to see what had become of their friends.

(This is a really short chapter. Sorry for the suspense.)