The Runaway Girlsie

Seize the Day

We arrived at the Brooklyn Bridge and got about halfway before Spot Conlon stood in front of us.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the princess and the cowboy. And a new kid. Who're you?"

"A friend of Jack's," Davey replied.

Spot scoffed. "I gathered that. I meant your name."

"Davey," he answered. "Are you gonna help us or not?"

I put my hand in front of Davey to stop him. Intimidating Spot did nothing. He didn't scare easy. "I know you'se heard about our strike. Are you gonna help us?"

Spot shrugged. "That depends."

"On what?" Jack asked irritably.

"If you'se gonna run," Spot returned.

"We ain't gonna run, Spot," I answered calmly, trying to prevent an argument, or worse, a fight.

"How do I know?"

"Trust us," Davey replied.

Spot shook his head. "I'm sorry, but until I know you won't run at the first sign of trouble, I can't help you. You got to prove yourself, and when you do, you can count on Brooklyn. But until then, I can't help."

We left even more dejected than before.

Davey went home and Jack and I headed back to the Lodging House. Neither of us was in the mood to talk, so we sat in silence until we fell asleep.

The next mornin', I joined the boys at the paper stand outside the gates.

"Is anyone else coming?" Davey asked.

"I got no clue," Jack answered sourly.

"You seen Spot Conlon, right? What'd he say?" Race asked.

"Sure, we seen him."

"Him and about twenty of his gang," Davey clarified.

"And them Brooklyn boys is big," Les added.

"I gotta say, Spot was impressed, wasn't he?" I replied as I tried to offer some positivity.

"I'd say," Davey agreed.

"So they're with us," Race stated hopefully.

"Well, that all depends on how you look at it. If you look and see Brooklyn, then they're with us."

Jack scoffed. "They want proof that we're not gonna run at the first sign of trouble."

"Are we?" Finch asked.

"We are not!" Jack yelled. "There's us, we got Harlem-"

"Not so fast, boss," Mush interrupted. "Harlem wants to know what Brooklyn's gonna do."

"What about Queens?" I questioned.

"Queens'll be right here backing us up, as soon as they get the nod from Brooklyn," Specs said.

Race nodded. "I got the same fish eye in Midtown."

Morris and Oscar Delancey appeared and Morris said, "Oh, hey, Oscar! 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."

The gates were opened and we walked through. Les stopped abruptly. "Are we doin' the right thing?"

"Sure we are," Davey reassured.

"Maybe if we just put this off a couple days," Race offered.

"No, we can't just put this off. Say something! Tell them if we back off now, they'll never listen to us again."