The Grave Digger

Chapter 16: The Visits

   She was right. The next morning, she got up, washed her hair as best she could, and walked out with everyone else, tucking her hair beneath her cap. They got to the distribution center, and it was her turn to get her papers.    "50, please." She emphasized the please so they might just ignore her and give her the papers.  But it wasn't that easy. One of them said, "oh, look, Morris, it's the little whore." She rolled her eyes, and chuckled. "Good one. Is dat all ya could think of? I hear it abou' 20 times a day."  The two looked at each other, before Morris said, "well, you were missin' something much bigger than an ear the other day. And... I think it's right here." He held up her torn shirt, but she wasn't the one that jumped at them.
   Surprisingly, it was Race. He pounced, and nearly got close enough to sock each of them in the nose, before Bones and Jack pulled him back. "Ya joiks!" he screamed at the two. They pulled back, and Bones turned to face him. She was at a complete loss for words. She was glad he wanted to protect her on the one hand, but on the other, she had never seen him so riled up. He was so angry, and all the other newsies were thinking the same as her. When had Race become so... she couldn't find the word that would explain it. Angry wasn't right, protective wasn't either. He was so... vexed, indignant. It was as if he abhorred them.
   And he did. What they did to her was so inhumane, so barbaric. He knew they had made her feel less than a person, like she was nothing, as if she were a savage beast that needed to be tamed, and no matter how hard she tried to hide it, Race could see it. She had cried to him about it last night in the lodging house. She had sat on one of the couches on the bottom floor, and cried herself to sleep in his arms. He had never seen her feel so used. And that was why he was so mad at the Delancey's.
   Bones sold well that day, as did most of the newsies. They had a really great headline: Women Brand Him the Strangler. All day you could hear kids hawking out: "Jacob Tolker Caught Strangling Victim! Murdered Three Women!" Bones was so glad for that headline, she sold all but three newspapers. As she was walking back to the lodging house, Race was coming back from Brooklyn, and they ran into each other. "Hey," she called out, catching his attention. He smiled, and jogged over to her. "Hey. Spot wanted me ta tell ya summin', bu' I forgot." She looked at him, and shook her head and rolled her eyes. He nudged her, and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in closer to him. His arm slipped down to her waist, until he said, "oh! I ru-membah! He wanted ya ta meet him on da bridge tu-night. Like midnight. In da spot. He said ya'd know what dat meant." Bones looked up at Race. His face had an almost... pained expression, as if he was... no, he would never be, but his eyes looked so downtrodden. Maybe he was. "Race," she started out. "Uh huh?" He turned to her, and they stopped for a second. "Are you, I don' know, jealous of Spot?" He looked at his feet, but wouldn't meet her eyes. "Why... why would I be jealous?" he faltered. "Cause, he's also one o' my bes' friends." Race wouldn't answer. "Race, he ain't gonna make me think any less o' you. Honestly, afta tu-day, I think ya're much braver dan Spot evah was." Race finally looked into her eyes. "Really?" She nodded, and they went back to their earlier position and walked back to the lodging house in silence.
   Later that night, as she had kept all her clothes on, she pulled her hair up under her cap, grabbed her cane, and looked around, making sure everyone was asleep. She quietly made her way out the door, and to the bridge.  She kept looking back, making sure nobody was following her, until she reached the spot. He was already there. She went up and hugged him. "Spot! I feel like it's been forevah!" Spot smiled as he stroked the back of her hair. "I know, sweetheart," she wrinkled her nose, and he did the same, "so, ya're okay." He looked into her eyes. She smiled and nodded, then hugged him again. He always gave such great hugs, and she was going to cherish every second of any hug she could get. She'd had so many near-death experiences, she knew that by then. "So, why'd ya wanna meet up tu-night? Is ev'rything a'ight?" He nodded, and sat down. She sat next to him, looking worried. "It's jus' so diff'rent wit-out you. It's weird. Like, it's quiet, bu' really it's not. An' I jus' can' go wit-out seein' ya. It's jus' strange not sellin' wit ya. Maybe we could meet up here ev'ry night? We's can see each uddah, an' you won' get caught." She nodded. "Dat's fine wit me. Bu' we's gotta be real careful. No one can know, an' we can' bring no one else, as much as I wanna see Chuckles an' Pup, we can'." Spot hugged her, his head bobbing up and down in a nod. But it was late, and they both needed sleep, so they went their separate ways.
   Time went by, and they kept going back to the spot. Every night, they'd both go, talk a little, and go back to their lodging houses. But one day, Bones didn't show up. Spot was mad. He'd been waiting all day to get to see her, and she didn't come. He was upset, he knew it was the only time they'd get to see each other, and it was important to him. But he figured she just got busy, or fell asleep, and she'd come the next day. When he'd been saying that for a week, and he hadn't seen Race go over to Sheepshead for the same amount of time, he knew something was wrong, so he sent Ace to find out.