Newsies: The Movie

Chapter 7

Mayer sat at the table as Esther fiddled with something behind him, both overcome with worry.

The door opened, revealing David, Jack in tow with Les still over his shoulders.

"My lord, what happened?" Esther asked as she peered at Les, hugging David, Jack putting the small boy down.

"Nothing, Mama. He's just sleeping."

"We've been waiting dinner for you." Mayer said. "Where have you been?"

Esther picked Les up and he slumped in her arms as David set down a handful of coins from his pocket.

Mayer peered at it. "You made all of this selling newspapers?"

"Well, half of it's Jacks'."

David gestured to him as he closed the door. "This is our selling partner, uh...and our friend."

Jack mouthed "friend" at him with a smirk, and David fought his blush, though he still didn't know why he was flushing. He pointed to him. "Jack Kelly, my parents."

Mayer held out a hand, which the boy shook. "Hello."

David pointed over. "Uh, that's my sister, Sarah."

A girl that seemed a little bit taller than him looked up, squinting at David as if asking a question and David flushed, hiding it with a hand over his mouth. Jack raised a brow.

Sarah looked him up and down, then squinted again, and said in a surprising New York accent, "You got a hole in your pants."

Jack looked down, then blushed when he saw it was at his crotch, wondering how he hadn't noticed before.

"Ah, it must've...happened when we were, um, sellin'..."

Sarah smiled, though her eyes held humour.

"I could stitch 'em up?"

Jack flushed harder, and David felt a sense of pride at seeing Jack Kelly flustered.

Jack though of how all this could end badly, for starters getting kicked out if they found out one of his deepest secrets, that only the Manhattan Lodging House kids knew, plus a handful of others around.

He begrudgingly stripped off his pants, handing them to a pleased Sarah.

He looked around, finally pointing to a quilt on the couch and turning to David with a raised brow.

He nodded, and Jack wrapped it around his lower torso, making sure it covered the things he really didn't want the Jacobs' to find out he had.

Mayer turned to his wife, kissing her on the cheek. "Esther, maybe Davids' partner would like to join us for dinner." she nodded. "Why don't you add a little more water to the soup?" he kissed her on the cheek again.

Thunder sounded from outside a little bit later, after Sarah had given Jack back his trousers with a smirk and Les had fallen back asleep, both of the teenage boys sitting down at the table.

"So, I gotta say from what I saw today, your boys are a couple a bron Newsies." he patted Davey on the back. Sarah took the red headed boys' bowl, and Jack turned to her. "Can I have a little more?"

Sarah nodded. "Yes."

"Thanks." Jack pointed to the sleeping boy than the one beside him, as he thought about something that wasn't meant to be thought about at a table. "So, with my experience, and 'eir hard work, I figures we can peddle a thousand a week, not even break a sweat."

"That many?" Mayer asked, proudness in his voice.

"More when da headlines are good."

Sarah sat the bowl in front of him, sitting in the chair beside him as she thought of a reporter of her own only two blocks off the Brooklyn bridge.

"So, what makes a headline good?"

"Well, ya know, catchy words like, ya know, 'maniac', or 'corpse', or, um..." he looked at David and Sarah squinted at her twin again, who looked at his lap. "Let's see, 'love nest', or 'nude'."

Sarah hid a chuckle behind her hand as David looked away with his face alight, while Jack didn't even try to hide his.

He looked at Esther and Mayer's faces and cleared his throat. "Uh, excuse me. Maybe i'm talkin' to much."

Mayer smiled slightly, thinking about having a talk with his son as to keep him out of trouble with people that could actually do harm, then looked to his daughter.

"Sarah," he said, "go get the cake your mother's hiding in the cabinet."

Esther looked at him, swatting at him with a towel. "That's for your birthday tomorrow."

"Well, i've had enough birthdays. This is a celebration, huh?"

Sarah stood up, muttering something along the lines of: "If Mama keeps hiding cakes in the cabinets we're gonna get rats." and David let out a snort, proceeding to hide his face in the table when his parents looked over.

David pushed his seat back. "I'll get the knife."

"I got da plates!" Sarah said back.

David turned around. "It's only the beginning, Papa! The longer I work, the more money i'll make."

Mayer turned his head. "You only work 'till I go back to the factory, and then you three are going back to school like you promised."

David looked over at Jack, who shot him a smile and Esther put an arm around her sons' shoulders, steering him back to the table.

"'Appy birthday, Papa." Sarah said, kissing his cheek when she stood by him.

David placed the knife on top of the cake.

"This is going to heal," Mayer said, looking up at his son, "they'll give me back my job. I'll make them."

Esther cut a slice and placed it on a plate, saying, "Our visitor." Sarah set the plate in front of Jack.

"A piece for David," Esther said, handing a plate to her oldest son, as David handed Jack a fork.

"Thanks," he whispered.

David sat down next to him, just as there was a voice behind them.

"Come back, my lovry-dovey baby, and coochie-coo with me," Les sang, the whole room watching him.

David and Jack looked at each other, and both busted out laughing.