Mom

Unlike most of the nicknames given out amoung the newsies hers was not given purposfully. It happened a few months after she first arrived, the boys still calling her by her first name as they had yet to settle on a nickname that suited her. Rover, a young boy of 8, was having a nightmare and in his desparation for comfort had called the name out as she came up to his side. By the time the word had left his lips at least 5 other boys were up to hear it and as she sat there rocking him in her arms and whispering words of strength and comfort to him they each agreed that no name was more perfect for the young woman, the next day every Manhattan newsie was calling her 'mom' and when she finally figured out what had happend all she could do was laugh.

MUSH.

Now Mush at 12, was old enough to remember his life before being a newsie, he could remember his his dad and the way he used to ruffle his hair and call him junior, he remembered his grandparents and how their house smelled of cigar smoke and peppermint, he could remember going to school and paling around with his friends between classes. Most of all he remembered his mother. She was a sweet woman who kissed his boo-boos and hugged him tight when he was scared, she smelled of flowers and sugar cookies, and she was his favorite person in the world. So when he heard the girls new name he could onlysmile and shake his head at how well it fit her. Now don't get him wrong he would never forget the woman who brought him into this world and he could never love another woman the same way he had loved his ma but when he sometimes forgot what it was like to have one, and she would sit by his side and hold his hand while rubbing his back and tell him stories of all the mischief her brother and his friend had gotten into trying to drive her mama crazy all he could do was smile and think how lucky he was to get two such amazing women as his moms.

BOOTS.

Boots couldn't really remember the first lady he had called mother. Sometimes he thinks he dreams of a woman who was dark like him with gentle eyes and a warm smile picking him up and dancing around the house with him on her hip, swinging and dipping and twirling without a care in the world but he's not sure if that's a memory or just something he thought up to make himself feel better. Though when he thinks about his mom hers is the face he pictures, dark hair framing her oval face, with her bright blue eyes that have gray flecks in them. He watches her as she finishes cleaning the boarding house and starts to fix up whatever scraps the other boys and he could bring her for dinner, all the while humming a nameless tune she's made up and then suddenly she's pulling him in to a dance, coming up with the steps as they go, not caring that they aren't even in the kitchen anymore and at least half the lodging house is watcing them. There are smiles a mile wide on both their faces, and It doesn't hurt now, not as much as it did, that he can't be sure if he remembers his mothers face or imagined the woman in his 'memories' because he has mom and he knows he'll never forget her face.

JACK.

At 17 years old Jack Kelly was to old to need his mother, which was a good thing because she had died sometime back. Sure as he got older he imagined going home one day and telling her that he had met the woman he was going to marry and he couldn't wait for them to meet each other, he could see her beaming at him with pride and saying how happy she was for him and how proud she was that he was her son, though he knew she would never say those words to him. Then he came home one night with a smile bright enough to light up all of New Yorks buroughs and Mom raised one eyebrow and asked what had him in such a good mood. Laughing as he picked her up off her feet and spun her in circles he told her he had just met a girl, the most amazing girl he'd ever seen, besides her of course, the woman he was gonna marry someday! She glared at him telling him to put her down, after he had she told him he better be planing to bring this young woman over to meet her one of these days! She said that even though she was postitive no girl would ever be good enough for her Jacky-boy, she would love this one because he did. He asured her that he couldn't wait for his two best girls to meet, cheekily adding that he would never marry a girl that didn't meet her approval as he kissed her cheek and she swatted at him with a dish towl laughingly. About two years later he thinks to himself that he doesn't need to wonder if his mom is proud of him anymore because she's standing infront of him fighting back tears of happiness as she strieghtens his tie and tells him she's proud of the man he's become, that she's proud to have been his Mom.