1Mom: The Story of the Woman Who Loved Them All.
Chapter 1
When she was little the only thing she wanted was her mother back, her mama had died in childbirth, her and the baby, when she was 9 and most of her young days were spent remembering what it had been like having a mother to tuck her in at night, and chase away the nightmares, and kiss the boo-boos away; not that her father and older brother didn't do their best of course! But sometimes a girl just needs her mother. She never got her mother back, or a new one, she became one instead; to hundreds of kids all over New York City! In every borough, on every street with a voice crying out some newspapers headline, every newsboy and girl became her children, and she became their Mom.
Her father Matteo Bracco, was an Italian chimney sweep who died by falling off a roof when she was only 13. She managed with Tommy, her older brother, for a bit but after her arm was broken by one of the factory machines she was fired and a few months later Tommy died of an illness. At 14 she was completely alone with almost nothing to her name, but she managed to survive a year and a half on the streets by herself, until she stumbled into the first two of her children; or more accurately, they stumbled onto her.
Mom
At 15 Abrielle was handling life pretty well, as far as living on the streets could be considered well. Then she got stepped on by two boys, one with an eyepatch and the other chewing on a cigar, and if she was paying attention she would have noted a distinct need to tell the young man with the cigar that he shouldn't smoking at such an age, as neither boy could be more than 13 or 14, but she was a bit preoccupied with the fact that him and his friend had stepped on her and what she had been planning on using as a blanket for the night, so much for that plan. Now it's obvious that they didn't mean to step on her and her things but she wasn't gonna let them off that easily, oh no!
She stood up, put one hand on her hip, and pointed her finger in their direction; it's an imitation of her mama that she's perfected over the years. She starts asking them what they thought they were doing, that they should be more careful and look where they were going, she told them that she demanded an apology because now that they had stepped on her bedding for the night she had nothing to keep her warm as she slept. The boys were shocked to silence for a few seconds before one of them, the one with the eyepatch began to apologize, then he introduced himself as Kid Blink and his friend as Racetrack, newsies she figured; ''only thing they can be with names like that'' she thought. Then Racetrack said if she needed a warm place to sleep tonight that she could come with them. He told her "The lodging house might not be the most glamorous place but it's warm and safe."
Well she couldn't say no to that could she? She agreed to go with them but warned them that if they tried any funny business they'd find out exactly how she'd survived so long on the streets by herself, and it wouldn't be pretty for them. So off they went, leading her to a safe place for the night or her doom, she couldn't wait to find out which it was. Turns out they weren't trying to pull anything shifty, cause they really did take her to a lodging house; a newsboys lodging house, she knew it. As they walked in the door she recognized some of the boys from the few times she's had to sell newspapers herself for some extra money, the ones who recognized her looked confused and she couldn't really blame them.
Race was talking to her saying how she had to get permission from Sprint, their leader before she could stay. Technically she needed Kloppleman's permission as well but as long as you had a penny he wouldn't care, and even if she didn't he wouldn't just kick her out on the streets. They lead her through the parlor into a living room where a bunch of boys were, some were playing jacks or lounging, a few were playing cards at a table off to the side; that's where Race and Blink were taking her apparently. All eyes were on her except the boy at the head of the table, his head was down acting like he didn't notice anything wrong but the way he tensed when they started walking up to him told her another story.
As they got closer to the head of the table she couldn't shake the feeling that she knew this boy from somewhere. When they reached him, he tilted his head still not lifting it, but now she could see more of his face and she couldn't believe it! ''Johnny?'' the name left her lips before she could think better of it. His head snapped up and when his eyes met hers his face broke into the biggest grin any of his newsies had ever seen on his face, "Abie?" He shot to his feet and enveloped her in a tight hug. She couldn't believe it! Tommy's best friend here leading the newsies, she hadn't seen him since her mama's funeral and he was standing in front of her, hugging her! He pulled away to look at her properly, and ignoring the awed faces of his newsies he asked "What are you doing here? And where's Tommy?" At that her face dropped she couldn't believe that she had to tell him, that this was how he'd have to find out. He looked at her curiously until she responded "He's dead John. He got sick, and we couldn't take care of it.''
His face drooped even further and he pulled her into another hug telling her ''I'm so sorry Abie." At that point he noticed the boys watching them and figuring there was more he needed to hear he dismissed them saying he'd explain later. The only two who didn't leave were Blink and Race, when Johnny or Sprint she supposed looked at them funny she giggled and told him it was ok, they were with her so he let them stay and asked her to tell him everything "leave nothing out, I need to hear it all." He said. So, she told him everything about papa and losing her job and Tommy before she demanded he tell her how he went from Johnny Regan to Sprint, leader of the Manhattan newsies!
And he did, he told her how after her ma had died his parents had gone down south to visit his dying grandma, and on their way home the train had derailed and both had died leaving him an orphan, he told her how one day he had been on his way to see Tommy and her to tell them when he got jumped, he was worked over pretty good and when he was found they patched him up but he was put in the refuge, when he got out he had tried to find them but it musta been after her dad died cause someone else was living in their home and nobody knew what had happened to her and Tommy, he told her how he had stumbled into Prosper the last leader of the Newsies and he took him in under his wing and trained him and made him the leader when he left last year.
She was so happy for him, really, she was and she told him as much of course but there was still the matter of her staying there for the night to tend to. So, she explained what had happened and how Blink and Race had told her that she could stay there if she wanted, she just needed his permission and he looked at her like she was crazy before saying "Are you kidding me? I've been looking for you for nearly 2 years now, of course yous is staying! And you'll be staying here for as long as yous needs to! Don't worry about Kloppleman, he's a big softie I'm sure we can get something worked out!" She was speechless and so happy! After all this time fending for herself and being on her own she had people around her again, this was one of the best days of her life, and she owed it to Blink, and Race, and Sprint and she would do whatever she could to repay them but she's not sure it'll ever be enough!