1I believe that everyone comes into our life for a reason. They come into our lives to teach us something we must know. Sometimes life thinks you deserve it, to have two people come into your life. They teach you each something different or the same thing each in their own way. I was lucky enough to have two people teach me something.
Race climbed up the side of the Eagle onto the roof. He saw someone sitting there looking out on the grimy city of Brooklyn. He walked closer to see it was Spot and him fumbling with the key around his neck. He sat down next to him,
"I heard you just found out about your brother," Spot whispered. Race nodded his head,
"Yeah. I have a question? How did you even meet me? I don't remember, I just know you have always been my best friend."
"It's kinda a long story."
"I have time. Jack doesn't expect me back until tomorrow." Spot sighed,
"Alright, it all started like this…"
"Spotty! We have to go!" I rolled over to see my little sister shaking me. I groaned and rolled back over,
"Blu, the morning bell ain't rung yet." She stuffed a shirt in my face,
"Put your shirt on Spotty." I groaned and pulled on my shirt, and sat up buttoning it.
"Spotty, I can't find my hat." I looked around for her hat.
"Here it is." I handed her hat to her and she jammed it onto her head.
"Hold on." I pulled the hat off her head and fished a ribbon out of my pocket. I pulled her hair into a ponytail and tied it with the old frayed ribbon. I looked over to the door to see our leader Ellie standing there. Her red suspenders stuck out against her grey shirt and brown skirt.
"Hey, bummas we got work ya do." She walked out as every newsie groaned, I heard her yell from outside,
"Quit your whining." I helped Blu out of our hammock and onto the floor. I climbed down the ladder and led Blu outside. I breathed in letting the cool, autumn air fill my lungs. I followed the crowd of Newsies to the front of the Eagle. I grabbed Blu's hand to keep her from getting lost in the crowd. We all waited in front of the gates to be let in.
"Ellie!" Blu ran over to our leader and jumped into her arms.
"Hi girly!" Ellie smiled as she held Blu in her arms. I watched the two of them for a while, Ellie pretended to know what little Blu's rambling meant which made me smile. Soon the huge iron gates opened to let us all inside. Ellie set down Blu next to me and the three of us walked into the Eagle. Soon Blu and I had our papers, and we walked around to find our spot and then I let Blu get to work. I watched her little four-year-old face sell every single paper we had. Soon the two of us were walking back to the square. Blu follows along after me, before stopping. She looked around a few times and then whispered,
"Spot I hear something." I looked around trying to figure out what she was talking about when I looked over to see her dashing into an alleyway.
"Blu! Where are you going!" I chased after her into the dark alley.
"Blu," I whispered looking around for her, I saw her come out from behind a crate and put a finger to her lips and then motioned to behind another crate. I quietly walked over to where she was pointing to see two little boys, both looked to be about three. Both of you had blond hair which was shaggy, and overgrown, and dirt covered every inch of your bodies. You both looked up at me with fear in your blue eyes, both pushing your backs further against the wall trying to get away from me.
"Hello," I whispered trying not to frighten both of you.
"My name is Spot." I continued to whisper crouching down to my knees.
"I'm not gonna hurt you." you looked up at me, I smiled at you trying to communicate that I was completely harmless.
"What are your names?"
"Anthony," you whispered
"Malachai." whispered the second one.
"How old are you?"
"Three." you two said in unison.
"Do you have any family?" You both looked at each other then back at me in fear.
"No." you both quickly replied. I suspected you were lying, but I needed to get you back to the lodging house. I looked at the one named Malachi, who's eyes were cloudy. He started to reach for me and I pulled my head away,
"He needs to feel your face."
"Huh?"
"He's blind, he needs to know what you look like."
"Ok…" I leaned my face close to his hands and let him place his hands on my face. He felt my nose and forehead until he was satisfied. A little confused I asked them.
"Are you hungry?" You both nodded vigorously and stood up.
"Follow me." I grabbed Blu's hand and led her back to the lodging house, with the two boys following after me. I opened the door to see Ellie standing there,
"Where have you been?" without saying anything I stepped aside for her to see the two boys. You both scooted behind me, seeming to be afraid of her.
"It's ok, it's just Ellie. She's really nice." You both peeked out from behind me to look at her. She looked back at me,
"Where did you find them?"
"In an alley near my selling spot."
"Names?"
"Anthony, and Malachi."
"Age?"
"Three, I think they are twins." Ellie looked back down at the boys who were still looking around.
"Can they stay for at least a little while?"
"Fine, but we need to find them a new home soon. Maybe they can go to Bulldog in Manhattan." I could tell Ellie was thinking hard about what to do with the small newcomers.
"Can I at least bring them inside?"
"Yeah, sorry." Ellie stepped out of the way for me to lead the three of you into the lodging house. I walked over to my hammock and pulled out an old loaf of bread and broke it into two pieces. I handed each a piece to both of you and watched you two snarf it down. I could see your ribs pressing against your threadbare shirts. I had so many questions, but I wasn't exactly sure how to ask you. Talking to Blu was hard enough since neither had had any schooling other than what Ellie had taught us. I watched the little boys looking around the lodging, it looked like they hadn't seen newsies before.
"What are you?" Malachi was looking at me,
"I'm a newsie."
"What's a newsie?"
"We sell papes."
"What are papes?" I looked around and grabbed an old newspaper off the ground and handed it to him.
"This is a pape." he felt it over confusedly before crumpling it into a ball and throwing it at you.
"Hey!" You ran over and tackled your brother. You two wrestled until Ellie came in and pulled them apart.
"Well if you guys are gonna stay here, you need nicknames." She looked them over trying to decide what a good nickname would be for you two. After a few minutes, she looked at Anthony,
"Run over there kid." You took off running to the other side of the room at an incredible speed for a three-year-old. He ran back over Ellie and skidded to a stop in front of her.
"Racetrack, we'll call you Race for short." You smiled seeming pleased with his new nickname. Ellie looked over to Malachi not really being able to figure out what to make of this quiet little boy. I looked at the top of his head, at his fluffy blond hair. I then looked over at his brother who's hair had more brown mixed into it, I looked back at him to see how blond his hair was. It was almost white, it reminded me of a cloud.
"Clouds."
"Huh?"
"Why don't we call him Clouds. His hair reminds me of a cloud."
"Clouds, I like it." The two boys ran around chasing each other the lodging house until the two of them collapsed on a makeshift bed and fell asleep. I lay awake that night thinking about you small little twins curled up in the hammock next to me. I didn't know exactly what was going to happen to them, all Ellie had told me was they might end up in Manhattan. I didn't know if they would be alright or if I'd ever get to see you two again. You would probably be gone in a few days, so I decided to get to know you now. I woke up in the morning to see an unfamiliar face in front of mine.
"Spot, I'm hungry." you were sitting next to me.
"I don't have anything."
"Oh," you mumbled disappointedly.
"Sorry buddy, in the life of a newsie we don't get to eat too often." you sighed,
"Ok." I dragged Blu and the twins out of bed and walked the three of you to the gates of the Eagle. It was harder for me now trying to take care of two three-year-olds and a four-year-old. Especially since Blu is a whole lot of trouble. I tried to corral the little kids, and I couldn't stop you from running around out of my sight. Soon I had dragged all of them to get our papes, and we walked out on the street. I bought a few extra papers today since I had a lot of cute little kids. I taught Race and Clouds on how to sell papers by being really adorable. We had sold all of our papes and were headed back to the Eagle when we were stopped by Ellie.
"I sent someone to Manhattan today. They said that Bulldog is able to take these two little rascals."
"Oh," I mumbled
"They are going to leave in a couple of days, I'm gonna take them myself and make they get there safe." I nodded trying not to show my disappointment that you weren't staying in Brooklyn. I walked them back to the lodging house where you played until Ellie forced you to go to bed. I eventually fell asleep still sad about the two new twins leaving. That night I woke up to a strange clunking noise, I rolled over to see small foot going out the window and up the ladder. I looked over to their bed to see a twin missing. I climbed out of bed and out the window. I climbed up the roof to see Cloud's blond hair flopping around in the wind.
"Clouds, what are doing up here." Clouds looked over to see me and then looked away,
"I miss mommy," he whispered. I sat down next to him,
"Do you know where your mom is?"
"Anthony told me mommy went to a place called heaven."
"I think my mom went there too."
"Do you miss your mommy?"
"I miss her a lot, she was the one who gave me this." I showed him the key around my neck,
"She used to say that there are lots of doors in life, we need to open them. Sometimes you need a key."
"Not having a mommy is hard."
"Yeah it is, that's why I came to the newsies. So I could sorta have a family again. Ellie is kinda like our mom." Clouds looked up at me and smiled,
"I think I want a newsie family."
"I think that can be arranged." We just sat there for a while in the silence, to be honest, it had been a while since I had thought about my own mom. I tried to stuff her memory away, to keep away the hurt. So I could take care of Blu, which is what I told myself but it was really because it hurt to think about her. I really missed her. Clouds scooted over closer to me,
"Thanks, Spot."
"It's no problem little buddy." I soon convinced Clouds to come off the roof and back into bed. I laid in bed, thinking about my mom, fiddling with the key around my neck. I woke up early in the morning to some tapping, I rolled over to see you running out the door. I jumped out of my hammock and ran after you.
"Race! Come back!" I yelled as I continued to chase you. You skidded to a stop and looked back at me before running into an abandoned building. I ran into the old building after you. I looked around to see rows of desks and old typewriters collecting dust. There were old stories on desks and rows of shelves,
"Race!" I walked among the old shelves, I heard something scutter along the walls and chased after it. I saw you peeking your head around the shelf looking for me.
"Race."
"No, you didn't find me."
"We have to get back to the lodging house."
"No, she's gonna make me go."
"Who is?"
"Ellie, she's gonna make me leave."
"You are going somewhere awesome."
"Not awesome if you and Blu aren't there." I looked at you st your small little three-year-old face, not wanting to leave me. That's when I realized that newsies really are a family. That it didn't matter if my real family was gone, I had you, Clouds, Ellie, and Blu. I have the Brooklyn newsies, my family that I get to watch over and protect every single day. I have the Manhattan newsies, even though I could do without Jack sometimes.
Race smiled at his joke.
I realized that I had all the family I needed. Later I had to say goodbye, and Ellie took you both to Manhattan. She told me that Bulldog would keep you safe, but then I found you on the streets of Brooklyn again, you were selling papes. At first I didn't recognize, you had grown up a lot in eight years. You and your smug attitude and cigar stickin' out of ya mouth.
"Hey! Who are you?"
"Who wants to know?"
"This is Brooklyn turf, and yous is out of place."
"Ooo sorry mista."
"Name." I growled,
"Racetrack, Racetrack Higgins." I looked at you a little more closely and remembered your name Anthony, Race.
"Race? Is that actually you? It's me Spot, Spot Conlon."
"Should I know you?"
"Come with me." I led you back to the lodging house, you met Ellie again. You were kinda freaked out by her since she remembered a lot about you. After that, it started to come back to you. You got to know me for a second time, and I got to know more about you. For a while, I wondered what happened to Clouds, but I thought that Bulldog had done a good job with raising ya.
Spot cleared his throat and stood up,
"Uh, yeah I gotta go. Gotta check on everybody." Spot climbed down off the roof. Race pulled out the picture of his brother and looked at it for a while. He was glad he had met Spot Conlon. That night Race decided, sometimes life thinks you need it, or you were good or something. Good enough to have someone like Spot in your life, that best friend, that brother. Sometimes life sends us curveballs, but sometimes life gives you gifts. Sometimes those gifts are in the form of a boy with a slingshot in his pocket and a key dangling around his neck.