Stray on Strike

Come at me!

We both walks fast down the hallway to Pulitzer's office. Nervously, I fiddle with my hands. Jack looks down and notice that I've been messing with my hands. "It's not to late for you to go back there. You can wait with those Brooklyn boys ya fond of." He was referring to Vic and Clyde.

"Jack I can do this. I'm freakin' Stray. I've been to the refuge. I've soaked Delanceys-" He stops walking and grabs both of my shoulders stopping me. He cuts me off from talking. "This is nothing like beating the Delanceys. These guys will make sure that you are locked up in that refuge for the rest of your life. We's a family. I don't want to risk it. You mean too much to everyone.....You mean too much to me."

I sigh and peal his hands off of my shoulders. "Jack....I am in this fight just as much as you are." I quietly says.

"Fine....But you have to stand your ground!" He says. Jack starts to walk back again. I am stunned for a second then I run after him

I don't get to say anything to him because he burst open the office doors and stomp right in there. Pulitzer is sitting at his desk. He looks at us confused.  The men in suits and the lady I saw when I came earlier are scattered around the office. One of the men tries to stop Jack. "You can't just barge in here!"

Jack pushes past him and I gain a whole lot of confidence which I will need no doubt. Jack takes a copy of the Newsies Banner and slaps it down on Pulitzer's desk. "How ya doin' this mornin', fellas?"

Pulitzer looks down at the paper and then at Jack. He becomes furious. "You're behind this? We had a deal!"

Jack them takes a wad of cash out of his other pocket and slams that on the desk. "And it came with a money-back guarantee." Pulitzer then notices me standing in the background. "And you! I offered you a career!"

I stroll up and rest my elbow on Jack's shoulder acting very casual. "I don't believe I ever gave you my résumé." Jack looks and me and smirks. I take my elbow off of him and he leans his arms on the desk. "Oh, and thank you for the lesson on the power of the press." He says.

Pulitzer's workers crowd around the desk reading our newspaper. Jack goes over to a big red velvet chair off to side so he can still see everything. I walk over beside the chair and sit on the arm rest of the chair.

One of the workers looks surprised. "Did you read this, boss? These kids put out a pretty good paper! Very convincing."

Old man Joe rubs his temple and pushes the paper away from him. He stands up and walks away from the desk. "It was written by my daughter no doubt."

They seemed to have forgotten we are here. So I am just going to remind them that we are not moving. "I would sign her before some other paper grabs her." I say and then smiling very cheekily.

Now that made old man Joe mad. He pounds his fist on his desk and then yells at us. "I demand to know who defied my ban on printing strike-related material."

"We're your loyal employees. We would never take our business elsewhere." Jack says very seriously. You have no idea how hard it was not to start laughing uncontrollably then.

One of his workers finally realized where we printed it. "That old printing press in the cellar..." He mumbles out. That hit Pulitzer like a truck.

Pulitzer starts to walk towards us pointing his finger at us. I hop up off of the arm of the chair. Jack does the same and walks towards Pulitzer so he doesn't try and stick his face in our business. "I gave you both the offer of a lifetime. Anyone who does not act in his own self-interest is a fool."