Escaping Boredom

Three

The headline sent a ripple of hushed whispers through the boys. Some were excited; some scared and some confused but whatever the emotion it was all a shock to the boys; nobody thought it would happen this quickly. Rumors of a war approaching had reached every mouth, ear and brain across the nation starting with the newsies. 

"Easy money," Sid smirked, cracking his knuckles. 

 "First lad!" the merchant yelled as he unlatched his stall. Behind him stood stacks of newspapers all waiting to be distributed throughout the city. Rhodes grabbed the top bundle of newspapers from the pack and placed it on the counter with a noisy thud. "Fifty cent," he demanded to the first boy who stepped up as he held out his lanky hand for the payment. 

 "Right, see here Rhodes," a boy by the name of Ricky, said stepping up to the stall. He leaned against the wooden plank that was fastened across the cart. "Imma bit short today," he said with a nonchalant attitude and a shoulder shrug. "Give me uh…fifty paps for forty cent and I'll make it up to you tomorrow." He pointed to the newspapers and smirked, hoping that he would be let off the hook just this once. 

 Mr. Rhodes eyed Ricky with a great sense of apathy. "No can do my boy. See that?" He pointed to the sign that read, "Fifty Papers or Fifty Cents. NO MORE, NO LESS". "That's all I can do." Ricky stared at Mr. Rhodes with hatred but walked away, knowing that if he were to put up a fight, nothing good would come out of it. "Next!" Rhodes shouted. 

 Sid walked up to the stall and slammed his money down on the counter. "Fork over the fifty," Sid declared. 

 "Nice to see you too, Mr. Reed," Rhodes said bitterly. "I see you're still top of the social ladder," he chucked. He picked up the stack of newspapers and handed them over to Sid, who held a grimace on his face. 

 Sid grabbed the newspapers sharply and stuffed them into his burlap shoulder sack. Turning acutely on the heel of his black boot, he stormed off and headed to his typical selling spot. 

 "People gonna die!" he shouted, holding the newspaper above his head and shoving it into people's face as they walked by. Instantly, two people, one man and one woman, stopped and purchased papers. 

 Within five minutes, Franky, Bobby and Pat all arrived and set up camp within the surrounding corners. Soon shouts of "Extra, extra read all about it" in addition to variations of the real headline could be heard everywhere. With one boy on each corner in a block, it was impossible not to be bombarded with news. 

 With such a juicy story to be sold as this one, the four boys finished their work easily and quickly. By the time four in the afternoon rolled in, each paper had been distributed and left the seller five cents richer. 

 "Watta want to do now?" Bobby asked kicking a pebble down the street. 

 "We coulds get more paps," suggested Pat. 

 Bobby, Sid and Franky stared at Pat with curiosity and confusion. Their mouths hung open in shock and their eyes were wide. With the goal of selling as many newspapers as possible, it was not the worst idea ever to be presented, but it was not the idea way to spend the rest of the day. "What's wrong with you, stupid?" Sid asked, shoving Pat in the chest. 

Pat stumbled backwards a few feet and struggled not to fall on his bottom. Pat, with a stone cold attitude, was never one to stand for shoving and once he regained his balance, he pushed Sid back, harder. "Don't touch me!" he hissed, standing over Sid. 

 "Relax," Sid pleaded with his hands up in peace. Pat slowly backed away from Sid, cooling off. "Wanna go to the habour?" Sid proposed. 

 With nothing better to do, the three other boys agreed. They slowly made their way to the harbor, kicking every pebble in their way, shoving each other with every snide comment and bouncing off the buildings. Once they arrived there, they started chucking rocks as far as they could. "You throw like a girl," Pat crudely remarked to Bobby. 

 "Oh yeah? Bet I can toss it farther than you!" Bobby challenged. 

 "I in!" Sid said, picking up the closest rock he could find. 

 "Just don't hit any birds," Franky said as he too picked up a rock from by his feet. 

 Standing in a straight line, the four boys tossed the rocks in their hands to get a feel for how it would throw. They stood facing into the brutal wind and sun. Long shadows lined the rocks behind them and ran for miles. "One…Two…Three," Sid counted off. At two, each boy stepped into position and at three, flung their arms forward, let go and watched at the rocks soared. 

 "Yes!" Bobby shouted pumping his fist in the air. "In your dirty face," he yelled into Pat's face. 

 ‘I still tossed the hardest," Sid said with a pompous expression pasted on his face. He smirked as he crossed his arms. His friends eyed him with detestation. "What?" he asked tossing his hands in the air. 

***

"You really thinks we gonna go to war?" Bobby asked, sitting on a rock staring out into the harbor. 

A calm had fallen over the river. Steam boats with piles of coal, chugged along the water, expelling black clouds of exhaust into the air. Passenger boats bobbled into docks with immigrants spilling out at a mile a minute with dozens of languages all being spoken at rapid speeds. Fishermen, heading to Gloucester, docked for the night and brought in the oily smell of fish and the odor of wet copper. 

 "With the political and economical situation, we woulds die in a second," Franky replied. "Nation's poorer then me." He traced the jagged line of a rock's edge with his finger. 

 "I can see the headline now,' Sid held up his hands to help imagine his line. " 'Fuck; Nation Crushed'. Oh, that would gets me more paps than they can print 'em!" He chuckled staring directly at a barge floating leisurely through the river. 

 "Would you fight?" Pat asked standing up and holding a pretend gun in his arms. "I'd kill!" He made machine gun noises as he dragged his imaginary gun along the horizon. He jolted his body with each fake bullet that flew out of the gun.

Sid leaned back onto a rock behind him and sighed. "Yeah…"he drifted off, staring into the sky. "Get away from this crap life."