It's a Cinch

Chapter 26: Seize the Day

I just sit on the ground and lean against the metal of the lamppost. Race plops down beside me and has the most annoyed look on his face. "Tell me Tulsa...." He drifts off, but snaps be back into thought. "What's got Davey rattled?" I never did answer Race.

I look over at Davey. He is walking up and down the sidewalk  with his hands in his pockets. Jack rolls his eyes at Davey acting so shook. "Is anyone else coming?" Davey says to the few of us who are at the gates this early.

"I got no clue." Jack admits to us. Race turns his head and we both share the same look of worry. Then he puts his hand on my shoulder and says rather loudly, "You seen Spot Conlon, right? What'd he say?"

"Sure we've seen him." Jack started to walk over to us. He is giving me a bit of an eye roll. I'm a little done with his teasing about Spot. There's nothing there, at least I think so. I stand up as fast as I can. That wasn't a good idea, I just got a head rush. Whoa.

Les pops back into the picture beside his brother and then said. "Him and about twenty of his gang. And dem Brooklyn boys is big." Race gets up and looks over at me. I try to avoid his face, but I can't look away, his cigar keeps falling out of his face.

"And I gotta say, Spot was very impressed, wasn't he?" Jack says to Davey and me trying to find false hope to the guys. I shake my head, silently telling him I wasn't going to lie.

Race saw my motion and caught on and frowned. Romeo on the other hand didn't get it, "So they're with us." He said excitedly.

"Depends." I drawl out. "It all depends on how you look at it. If you look and see Brooklyn, then they're with us." I try to tell them as upbeat and positive as I could. I didn't in fact lie, I just never told them everything. I wasn't going to be the one to make Jojo or Mush frown.

Jack had to give them the harsh reality at one point, "They want proof that we're not gonna fold at the first sign of trouble."

Finch took of his hat and nervously held in within his hands. "Are we?" He says slapping back on his head quickly before anyone noticed. Jack got a little offended and try to fix everything, "We are not! There's us, we got Harlem-" Mush off Jack off from saying any more.

"Not so fast, boss. Harlem wants to know what Brooklyn's gonna do." Mush say rubbing the back of his neck. This isn't good. Harlem ,from what I hear from the guys, are not Brooklyn tough, but pretty darn tough. They would've been a blessing.

Jack looks over at Specs and waves him over to us. Specs runs over to us as fast as he could. "What did Queens say?" He asked the newsie with the glasses. Specs stood up tall and smiled, as if he had to have something good to say. "Hey, Queens'll be right here backing us up, as soon as they get the nod from Brooklyn." Unbelievable. Queens won't even join the strike without Brooklyn's permission. That's ridiculous

Morris and Oscar Delancey walk over and unlock the world gates. Albert and I walk over to the gates. Jack follows us as we look inside to make sure everything's the same. Oscar and his big mouth just get on my nerves. He leans against the gate and looks us all over. "Looks like it was bum information we got about a strike happening here today. Not that I'm complaining, my skull-busting arm could use a day of rest."

I scoff loudly and roll my eyes causing Oscar to look over at me. "You know. I'm free later. Maybe after this, we could get a bite and you could come over to my place." He spits out disgustingly. He wraps his arm around my waist and then pulls me into him. "Hey!" I snapped at him. I try and push him off of me, but he of course is stronger. Jack grabs his shoulder and flings him off of me. "Listen you can punch me all you want. But never lay another hand on her, because if you do I won't go easy on ya."