With some help from Rose
“Desy? Desy, wake up,” Rose said, gently shaking her friend.
Desy moaned softly as she rolled over. “What time is it?”
“Good question,” Rose replied. “Come on, Des. We’ve got work to do.”
Desy moaned again as Rose pulled her to her feet.
“Where’s Jean?” she yawned.
“She’s around here somewhere,” Rose answered. “Let’s see if we can find her.”
Desy ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to brush it and placed her hat on her head before following Rose out the door. They heard what sounded like Mike talking in a room to their right, so they headed that way.
“Oh, no, Mike. You take whatever you need. I’ve got plenty of instruments lying around here, so its really no problem,” Medda said as the girls reached the room.
Medda and Mike were standing next to a wall that was lined with various instruments. Davy and Jean stood silently nearby, listening to the conversation.
“Good morning, girls,” Medda said. “I’ll bet you’re all hungry. I’ll go see what I can find.”
“Thanks again, Medda,” Mike called as she left the room.
“What’s up?” Rose asked.
“I was just talking to Medda about the instruments,” Mike replied, looking over the selection.
“You know,” Jean commented, “I can’t figure out if we’re closer to or farther from home.”
“I know what you mean,” Rose nodded.
“You would,” Jean giggled.
“Where do you think the others are?” Mike questioned.
The group stood in silence, thinking.
“Maybe the same thing happened to them,” Desy said. “Maybe they’re even here somewhere.”
“Maybe. Maybe they’re in some other dimension,” Rose suggested.
“What happened anyway?” Davy wondered aloud.
“All I know is that we were running, fell into a hole of sorts, and landed in the world of the Newsies,” Rose replied.
Jean laughed, “I’ve always wanted to be in a musical, but I never thought I’d be in a musical!”
“Do you mind telling us a little about this place?” Mike said, still looking at the instruments.
“Well, it’s a musical called “Newsies” that was made in 1992. Its based on something that really happened in 1899. You see, Mr. Pulitzer, owner of the World, which is a newspaper and Mr. Hearst, owner of another newspaper called the Journal decided to up the price of their newspapers so that the newsies, or the boys that sell the newspapers on the street, had to pay more for their “papes”. The newsies decided that they didn’t want to pay the extra tenth of a cent, so they organized a strike. I don’t think its gotten that far yet, though, because Crutchy was holding newspapers yesterday,” Jean explained.
“What about this Medda woman?” Mike questioned. “Who’s she?”
“She’s supposed to be a friend of Jack Kelly’s father,” Desy answered. “Jack is sort of the leader of this group of newsies.”
“Why did we get sent ‘ere?” Davy asked.
“Maybe its because Desy, Jean, and I like the movie so much. I don’t know…” Rose responded.
Medda then returned with some food, which everyone ate gratefully. After the meal and the thank you’s, the inter-dimensional travelers decided that they should get to work while Medda left to do hers.
Mike found an acoustic guitar among the instruments and Desy found a violin. Davy spied a pair of maracas, while Rose dove for the clarinet. Jean just stood back.
“What’s wrong, luv?” Davy asked her.
“Nothing. I’m just not very muscially talented…” she answered.
Everyone stood in an awkward silence, trying to think of what to say or do next.
Davy finally handed Jean one of his maracas and got a large smile in return.
“Let’s get going,” Mike told the group, leading them to the door.
“So, Rose was with you when this happened?” Fuzzy asked.
The group was gathered around her table.
“Yeah. She was with us,” Nancy answered.
“What happened to her?” Fuzzy questioned, growing alarmed.
The four guests looked at each other.
“We don’t know…” Micky said slowly.
“Well, something happened to them because Metty said she and the others saw the beach chase scene on TV and she wanted to know if everyone was here, but…” Tippy trailed off.
“So they’re probably in another dimension as well,” Micky nodded.
“But which one?” Peter asked. “I hope they’re okay…”
“Well, we can be pretty sure that the aliens didn’t get them,” Nancy told him.
“Let’s turn on the TV and see where they might be,” Peter suggested. “Maybe they’re still at home.”
“I don’t think so,” Tippy said. “Metty said that they fell through the sand also and the screen went black. They’re guessing that they went to another dimension.”
The group sat thinking about the current situation.
“You think they’re in another television show?” Fuzzy asked.
“Maybe,” Tippy said thoughtfully. “We could look, at least…”
“Let’s do that. Its better than just sitting here…” Micky said.
“So they’re back?” Linds asked, trying to take all the information in. “All of them?”
“We’re not sure,” Metty answered. “Nancy, Tippy, Micky, and Peter made it to this dimension, but there’s no word yet from the others.”
“This is all way too strange for me,” Alex sighed, sitting down.
“Same here,” Tiff replied. “You kinda get used to it after a while, though…”
Metty turned her attention back to the robot.
“I’ll bet you know, don’t you?” she asked it.
The robot stared at Metty but said nothing.
“Fine,” she exclaimed. “We’ll just do this the hard way!”
She started digging once again for the “truth tube”.
Connie peered over her shoulder.
“A ‘Queen’ tube?” she asked it.
The robot shrugged.
“This looks like a good place to set up,” Mike said, stopping near Tibby’s resteraunt.
The rest of the group halted behind him.
“Anyone know any old songs?” Desy asked as Mike tuned the guitar.
“A few,” Jean answered.
“Same here,” Rose nodded.
“What shall we start with?” Davy questioned, setting his hat on the ground in front of them.
They thought it over for a moment.
“Down by the old mill stream,” Jean began singing, amazed at how nice her voice sounded. She decided that it was more movie magic.
“Where I first met you,” the others joined in.
As they continued the song they drew a small crowd of about twenty people. Above their singing they heard someone shouting.
“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” cried the voice, which the girls recognized as belonging to David.
Sure enough, David’s little brother, Les walked by carrying a single newspaper.
After they finished the song, the crowd slowly dispersed and Les approached Davy.
“Buy me last pape, misteh?” Les asked with a cough.
“Aww!” Jean smiled. “Hello, Les. David.”
David had walked up behind Les. He gave Jean a curious look.
“Do I know you?” David asked, looking as though he were slightly embarassed.
“You don’t know me, but I know you,” Jean answered, which got her another curious look.
“That sounded very nice,” he told the quintet.
“Thanks,” Desy replied. “Any interesting news today?”
“Not really. Everyone is still talking about the trolley strike,” David sighed.
“I figured,” Desy told him.
“Where’s Jack?” Rose asked, searching the street for the familiar face.
“Right here,” Jack said. He was leaning against the building behind them. “You sleep well last night?”
“It was fine,” Rose responded. “Thanks, by the way.”
“Aw, it wasn’t nothin’. No trouble at all,” Jack said. “Sell any papes yet, Les?”
“A few,” Les replied with a grin.
“That’s my boy!” Jack smiled, patting Les on the head.
“We should get back to work,” Mike told the others.
“So should we. Come on, Les,” David said.
“From this valley they say you are going,” Mike said.
“I will miss your bright eyes and your smile,” the others chorused.
Someone bumped into Mike, causing him to bump into Desy.
“Hey!” Mike said, getting annoyed by the interruptions.
“Hey yourself,” the offender replied.
The girls whirled around when they heard the voice.
“Oscar! Morris!” Rose cried under her breath.
“Good mornin’, ladies,” Oscar said, winking at the girls.
Mike shot him a dirty look and Davy moved closer to Jean. The girls’ facial expressions were that of a mixture of shock, disbelief, and suppressed laughter.
Oscar and Morris laughed and continued on their way.
“ ‘o was that?” Davy questioned.
“The Delancys. They’re the bullies in the movie,” Rose answered.
Mike sighed and said, “Let’s try this again, now…”
“Wait! Was that them?” Micky cried. “Turn it back! Turn it back!”
Fuzzy switched the television back to the station Micky wanted and the group stared at the show.
“I’m not seeing them, Mick,” Nancy said.
“Neither am I,” Tippy sighed, flopping back against the couch. “Where can they be?”
“Maybe they aren’t in television anymore,” Fuzzy suggested.
“Where else could they be?” Peter wondered.
“If I were an inter-dimensional hole in the ground, where would I send people?” Micky said.
Nancy gave him a look followed by a giggle.
“You know, finding the others isn’t our only problem,” Tippy said. “We’ll have to figure out how we’ll get you guys back to your dimension.”
“Which will probably be harder now since we’re in the real world where the good guys don’t always win,” Nancy sighed.
“We’ll figure it out, I’m sure,” Fuzzy smiled. “Right now I’m more interested in enjoying having two Monkees in my house.”
“Do I really look like that?” Peter asked, pointing to Fuzzy’s shirt.
Fuzzy nodded.
Peter nodded back and seemed to get lost in thought.
“I wonder about flights to the US,” Tippy said, breaking the silence that followed Peter’s question.
“Well, that would be easy to find out about. You do have passports, right?” Fuzzy questioned.
“No…” Tippy replied.
“Then we have yet another problem,” Fuzzy sighed.
The others sighed as well and sank farther into their seats.
“Can this adventure get any more inconvenient?” Micky groaned.
“You’re tellin’ me!” Tippy replied. “I’m sitting at home, playing cards with my friends when in walks this robot that blows us all into another dimension. There I meet my dream guy only to find out that I’ve only had a crush on him the whole time. I get chased by two insane aliens down the beach, which swallows me and drops me into a black box. The box then turns into a basement in Germany. We don’t know where our friends are, and now we’re stuck here because we have no passports!”
“Woah… Calm down, Tipp,” Nancy said, rubbing Tippy’s back.
“What are we going to do?” Micky asked.
“Okay, how many tubes can one robot have?” Metty sighed, slumping over on the chair.
The robot smirked.
“You’re not helping,” Connie told it.
“Come on, Metty. Come over here and have something to eat. You’ve been at that robot for hours now. Take a little break,” Linds told her.
Metty nodded and yawned. She felt that if she saw one more tube she’d scream.
Tiff put a plate of food in front of Metty, who sat down at the table.
“There’s got to be more that we can do,” Alex commented.
“There’s [zot] nothing you can do,” the robot replied.
Connie threw a roll at the robot.
“I’m getting sick of you,” she told it.
“It’s probably right, though,” Tiff responded quietly.
Everyone else frowned as they realized that Tiff had a point.
“I’m not giving up, though!” Metty said with determination.
The newly formed street band sat inside Tibby’s restaurant having a little lunch.
“How did you come up with those names yesterday, Mike?” Jean questioned. “I mean… ‘Schlafmann’? Where’d that come from?”
“I dunno. I think I heard it somewhere before or something,” Mike replied.
“We didn’t do bad for the first half of the day, did we?” Desy commented.
“Not too badly. We were able to buy a few sandwiches at least,” Rose answered, taking a bite of the ham sandwich she shared with Desy.
“I just thought of something,” Jean said.
“What’s that?” Davy asked.
“Trouble comes in the morn,” she answered.
“What makes you say that?” Mike asked her.
“Well, David and Les. They didn’t start selling papers in the movie until the day before the strike,” Jean responded.
“She’s right,” Desy nodded.
“This sounds like a good movie,” Davy said.
“Oh, it is!” Rose replied. “It’s a wonderful movie.”
Mush and Racetrack entered the restaurant after she said this. They saw the travelers and invited themselves over.
“Mind if we join you?” Mush asked.
“As long as you promise not to do Cagney,” Desy grinned, sending Jean into a fit of laughter.
“Who?” Mush looked confused.
Jean laughed even harder.
Mush and Race looked at Jean.
“I give up… What did he say?” Race asked.
“Nothing. Never mind,” Jean said, regaining her composure and sliding over to make more room in the booth.
“What did you say your name was?” Mush asked her with a smile, sitting down.
Race pulled a chair over and sat at the end of the table.
“I didn’t say. Its Jean, though,” she answered.
“I’m Davy,” Davy said, putting an arm around Jean’s shoulders.
“Oh, you’re… Nice to meetcha,” Mush said.
“Sell many papes today, Race?” Desy asked.
“I’d sell more if I had better headlines to work with,” he responded.
“Headlines don’t sell papes; newsies sell papes,” the girls told him in unison.
“You sound just like Jack,” Race commented.
The girls chuckled.
“Aren’t you going to ask me if I’ve sold many papes today, dollface?” Mush asked Desy.
Rose and Jean laughed and got dirty looks from Desy in return.
“Did you?” Desy asked him.
“Now she asks…” Mush pouted. “As a matter of fact, I’ve sold half already.”
“That’s nice,” Desy replied rather shortly.
“Bad day?” Race asked her.
“Not really,” she answered. “It’s this lousy skirt. I hate skirts.”
“Well, maybe we’ll have a better selling day tomorrow,” Mush said.
“Maybe,” Rose smiled.
“If we want to eat tonight, we’d better get back to playing,” Mike said.
The newsies stood to let them up.
“Nice talking to you,” Rose said politely.
“Likewise,” Race replied with a large grin.
Davy put his cap back on his head.
“This thing is getting bothersome,” he complained.
“I think its cute,” Jean replied.
“Really? Maybe I’ll keep it, then,” he smiled.
Mike and Desy rolled their eyes, causing Rose to laugh.
“What?” Davy and Jean asked.
“Nothing. Let’s go,” Rose replied, pulling her cyber-twin to the door.
“So you think we should go to the US Embassy with our passport problem?” Nancy asked.
“Why not?” Peter answered.
“Yes, Mr. Government man, sir. You see, we are having a little trouble here. Y’see, we don’t have any passports. How did we get here? Well, its very simple. We were running from these aliens back in 1967 in another dimension when we fell through this hole in the ground, which took us to a black box that turned into Fuzzy here’s basement,” Micky said.
“Won’t work,” Tippy sighed.
“One way ticket to the funny farm,” Micky nodded.
“Well, you think of something, then!” Peter said, offended.
“It was a good idea, Pete,” Tippy told him.
“I know what you all need,” Fuzzy said excitedly. “You need a tour of Kempen!”
“That would be fun,” Nancy nodded.
“Great! Let’s go, then!” Fuzzy smiled.
The others followed her to the door.
“Alright, robot! Talk!” Tiff cried.
Connie stood holding a flashlight in the robot’s unflinching face.
“What should I say?” the robot asked.
“Tell us where our friends are,” Linds said.
“Kempen, Germany,” the robot answered.
“All of them are there?” Metty questioned.
“This question does not compute,” the robot responded.
“What part do you not get?” Alex asked. “Are all of our friends in Germany, or is it just the ones that we know about?”
“This question does not compute.”
Connie turned the flashlight off and stomped out of the room.
“I hate robots with attitudes,” Alex said, following Connie.
“Let’s be reasonable here,” Metty said calmly. “Just tell us if they’re in this dimension.”
The robot stared at Metty for a moment.
“Well?” Tiff asked.
“This does not compute.”
“You’d think that they’d have given it a bigger vocabulary,” Linds remarked.
“Back to the tubes?” Tiff asked.
“Back to the tubes,” Metty nodded.
“Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise?” Rose smiled at Crutchy, who’d come to see the group.
“Thank you,” Crutchy answered. “I just came to see how you were getting on.”
“Pretty good for strangers,” Desy told him.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Crutchy smiled. “Medda’s a nice lady. I know she’ll take care of ya.”
“She’s very nice,” Jean said. “I like her.”
“Tell me about yourselves,” Crutchy said. “Where are you from?”
The travelers exchanged glances.
Mike cleared his throat and said, “Here and there…”
“Vagabonds?” Crutchy asked.
“You might say that,” Davy nodded.
“How long are you going to be in town?” Crutchy wanted to know.
“We’re not sure. Maybe another day or two… Maybe longer,” Rose answered.
Crutchy nodded. “Have you always played for your money?”
The group laughed.
“We –meaning Davy and myself- have. The girls are kinda new to it, though,” Mike responded.
“We do things a li’l different where we’re from, though,” Davy added.
“You do? What do you mean?” Crutchy asked.
“Well… How about if we show you?” Desy suggested.
“Good idea,” Mike nodded.
“Pleasant Valley Sunday?” Rose asked.
“Without an electric guitar?” Mike was doubtful.
“An electric guitar?” Crutchy questioned.
“Just try it,” Rose said to Mike.
“Alright,” Mike relented. He picked up the acoustic began the song.
After the song Crutchy applauded happily.
“Boy, that was great. That was just great,” he said. “What’s a ‘rock group’, though?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Desy told him.
“That sounds like Jack,” Crutchy said, hobbling over to the doorway. “It is Jack. Davey and Les too! Jack! Over here!”
“Hiya, Crutchy. What’s new?” Jack asked, slapping Crutchy playfully on the back.
“I was just talking to out new friends here,” Crutchy answered.
“Oh yeah? What about?” Jack asked, sitting in a chair.
“Just things,” Crutchy replied.
“Buy me last pape, misteh?” Les asked Mike, again coughing.
“Didn’t you pull that one earlier?” Davy asked.
“Hey, Les. We’re not working now,” Jack laughed.
“Hi, David,” Jean said when he walked into the room.
David was still a little wary of Jean. How did she know him? He nodded a hello and smiled politely. He gave a larger smile to Desy, who squirmed under his gaze.
“What brings you here?” Mike asked Jack.
“Snyder,” Jack replied.
“Who?” Mike looked confused.
“He’s the warden at the ‘Refuge’, which is a prison for kids,” Desy informed him.
“You know that?” Jack asked.
“We stay informed,” Rose replied with a grin.
“It’s getting late,” David said. “Les and I should get home now. Mother will be worried.”
“Alright. I’ll go with you,” Jack replied. “See you guys later. C’mon, Les.”
“I should go, too. I was just checking on ya,” Crutchy said.
“Thanks for coming by, Crutchy,” Jean smiled.
“Bye, everyone,” he said, following his fellow newsies out the door.
“What should we do now?” Davy asked.
“Sleep?” Jean suggested with a yawn.
“What about figuring a way out of this mess?” Desy said.
“There’s nothing we can do, I don’t think,” Mike told her.
“It seems to be a random thing,” Rose nodded. “We’ll just have to wait and pray.”
Desy sighed and nodded.
“Let’s get some rest now. We’ve probably got another long day ahead of us,” Mike said.
“If only you knew,” Rose replied, following the other girls to their room.
She grabbed her teddy bear and curled up next to her friends.
Through the open window you could hear the faint sound of Jack singing about Santa Fe.
Meanwhile, in the television dimension, the aliens were planning their next move.
“What’s the plan now?” the male asked.
“Shut up. I’m trying to think,” the female snapped.
“Maybe you should have done that in the first place. Then we wouldn’t have the problem we have now. I mean, your plan is working wonderfully. So far we haven’t gotten any of the humans,” the male pointed out.
“I said shut up!” the female growled. She began punching buttons in the spaceship.
“What are you doing?” the male asked.
“The only thing left for us to do,” the female replied.
The ship began to move.
“Not again!” the male cried as they entered another wormhole.
As they walked down the street, instruments in hand, they heard what sounded like a large group of boys singing.
“What’s that all about?” Mike asked.
“Sounds like the strike is on,” Jean said.
“Oh dear,” Rose sighed. “Well, things will be exciting now, won’t they?”
Desy nodded in response and Jean grinned. The guys looked confused and curious.
“Let’s go see what they’re up to,” Desy said, leading the troop towards the newsies.
When they got to the crowd, Jack was already asking for volunteers to go to Brooklyn. The make-shift street band pushed their way to the front of the crowd.
“Boots, you and me’ll go to Brooklyn. Dave here can keep us company,” Jack was saying.
Before she could stop herself, Jean impulsively said, “Jack! Let us come, too.”
Desy and Rose nodded in agreement.
The newsies stared at her in disbelief. A few gasped, while others chuckled.
“Jean, you don’t know about Brooklyn,” Jack told her.
“Spot Conlon’s territory. I know a bit about it,” Jean replied.
Jack raised an eyebrow and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I don’t think you understand, though. Spot don’t play. Its dangerous.”
“Aw, Jack, you can keep the ladies safe,” called a voice from the crowd.
Jack considered. “Might be nice to have you girls along.”
“We’ll come too,” Davy and Mike said. They weren’t sure what to think of these boys yet, so they weren’t about to let them loose with their friends.
“Alright,” Jack nodded.
“Now, you take our demands to Pulitzer, Jack,” David said.
“Me to Pulitzer?” Jack asked in disbelief.
“That’s right, Jack. You’re the leader…” David grinned.
Jack finally agreed and took Les with him through the doors of the World office.
As the newsies chanted the word “strike” and David spoke with Mr. Denton, a reporter for the Sun, the travelers stood off to the side talking amongst themselves.
“Who’s Spot?” Mike questioned.
“He’s the leader of the Brooklyn newsies. Tough cookie, he is,” Rose replied.
“What was that all about, Jean?” Mike asked her.
“I just thought it would be fun to go meet Spot…” Jean answered simply.
“Well, we’re going now,” Mike said.
The doors to the office burst open and Jack and Les were shoved out. Jack yelled at the person inside as the doors closed again.
David introduced Jack (and Les) to Denton and the quartet headed down the street together.
“I thought we were going to Brooklyn,” Davy said.
“We are,” replied Desy. “They’re going to go talk at Tibby’s first, though.”
“How do you know that?” Mike questioned. Desy gave him a look.
“Oh! That’s right. I forgot for a minute there. Well, what do we do in the meantime?” he asked.
“Make a li’l money?” Davy suggested.
The group nodded in agreement and found a place to set up again.
The group had just reached Brooklyn. The newsies there seemed a little rougher than Jack’s newsies.
Jack and Spot greeted one another with the traditional spit-in-hand handshake.
“That is who everyone thinks is dangerous?” Mike asked, staring at Spot’s somewhat small self.
“That’s him,” Rose nodded. “We watched this movie in school once. I was the only female member of the choir that wasn’t swooning over Spot, believe it or not.”
Mike quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing. Davy looked at Spot as if he were trying to figure him out.
“Who are they?” Spot asked, noticing the girls and their Monkee companions.
“Friends,” Jack replied.
“Friends, huh, Jacky boy? I ain’t ever seen ‘em around,” Spot said, looking the group over. “Where ya from?”
“We’re new in town,” Jean answered.
Spot stared at them for a moment longer, considering them before turning back to Jack to speak of the strike.
“How much longer ah we going to be here?” Davy wanted to know. It was getting late.
“Not much,” Desy told him. “This scene isn’t a long one.”
“That’s good. This doesn’t seem like the side of town you want to be in after dark when you’re new,” Mike said.
“You’re right,” Jean nodded. “Let’s just stay on Spot’s good side is what I say.”
“Let’s get outta here,” Jack said, coming over to them.
“Is he goin’ to help?” Mike asked as the group made their way back.
“I don’t know. He said he wants to be sure we’re really gonna go through with it,” Jack answered.
“Of course we are,” Boots said.
“Then we’ll just have to show him that, won’t we?” Jack smiled.
“’Ey, Jack! ‘Ey, Davey!” Race called.
“Heya, Race,” Jack replied.
David waved.
“’Ey, guys,” Boots nodded. “So how’d it go?” Crutchy asked.
“He doesn’t think we’re serious,” David sighed. “He said he’s not gonna join us until we prove we’re not gonna run the first time some goon comes after us.”
Mush grimaced. “Brooklyn ain’ the only place to find tough kids.”
“Well, if I’m any good at guessing, I’d say you’ll ‘ave plenty o’ chances to prove that,” Davy remarked.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Jack nodded.
“It’s getting late,” David said, looking at the sky. “We need to get home, Les.”
Rose suddenly fell heavily against Boots’ shoulder. “Sorry, Boots…” she apologized weakly as the guys quickly surrounded her.
“What happened?” Mush gasped.
“We’re sorry, hon,” Mike sighed, mentally kicking himself. “We lost track of time.
“What?” Desy looked around, confused. “What happened?”
“It’s suppertime…”
“Oh, no…”
“You okay, Rosie?” Boots squeaked.
“Here, I gotcha,” Race reassured her, pulling her arm around his neck and putting a steadying arm around her waist.
“Whattsamatta?” Jack asked.
“What’s wrong, Rose?” Crutchy frowned, noting her pale face.
“I just need to eat,” Rose replied.
“Understatement,” joked Race.
“Oh, man…” Jean smacked her forehead. “We completely forgot!”
“Will someone please explain…” David began.
“She’s got a liver condition that requires her to eat often,” Davy explained.
“A what?” frowned Boots.
“Tibby’s is only a couple of blocks,” Race told Rose.
Rose nodded weakly.
“I’m not hungry,” Desy declared.
Jean added, “I’m not either, really, but…”
“You guys go on,” Race interrupted. “I’ll look after ‘er.”
“Um…” Mike said uneasily.
“’Sokay, Mike,” Rose assured him. “Really.”
“Okay…”
Before they had time to protest again, Race started helping Rose toward the restaurant.
“It’s really okay, Mike,” Desy added. “Race can take care of her, and we’ve got to get this stuff back to Medda’s.”
“’Sides, they may have some things to talk over,” Jack continued.
Mush and Crutchy exchanged a knowing smile.
“I wanna go, too!” Les piped up.
“No,” said everyone else firmly.
“Man, you guys are no fun…”
“Let’s go,” David chuckled. “G’night, all.”
“G’night!” Jean grinned.
With an uneasy glance at Jean, David corralled his brother and headed off.
“’Ey, Mike,” Jack offered. “if you want, I can stick around and walk back with ‘em.”
“Uh, no… no, I… I guess it’s okay,” Mike answered. “Thanks anyway.”
But even Crutchy noticed that Davy and Mike went very slowly when packing up their instruments.
“Does dis happen often?” Race asked.
“I try not to let it,” Rose confessed. “But if I’m not careful, I’ll start getting shaky and, if I don’t notice it in time, the bottom drops out.”
Suddenly a face appeared over the back of the booth. “Evening, sweet face,” Oscar Delancy leered.
“Buzz off, yokel,” Rose said in her best Micky imitation.
Race chuckled into his drink and Oscar walked out with a bewildered look on his face.
“Dirty commie,” Rose growled and bit into a breadstick.
“ ‘Buzz off, yokel?’ Where’d that come from?” Race laughed.
Rose grinned. “Our friend Micky said it once. He was posing as a girl to help some hillbilly practice proposing to his girlfriend, and when Jud finished his speech and said, ‘Whaddaya say?’ Micky answered, ‘Buzz off, yokel!’”
Race pounded the table, trying to control his laughter. “Why didn’cha bring him along?” he gasped.
Rose grimaced. “We got separated on the way here. He and Mike and Davy and their friend Peter were in a band together, and Jean and Desy and I and a couple of other girls were visiting them when we had to leave town suddenly. We got separated, as I said, and the five of is wound up here. We have no idea where they could be.”
“Why’d you hafta leave so suddenly?”
“Some people were out to get us. They actually managed to kidnap Desy, but she escaped. Then they started chasing us and… well, we wound up here.”
“Why were dey chasin’ you?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Why?”
“Warum ist die Banana krumm? [Why is the banana curved?]” Rose sighed, trying to end the insistent questioning.
The impetuous Italian-American wouldn’t take no for an answer. “If you’re worried of what I might think…”
“You’ll think I’m insane, Race.”
“Insane?”
Rose nodded. “It’s a very strange story. I wouldn’t believe it myself if I hadn’t been through it.”
“Strange as in somebody killed somebody else and blamed it one someone else and so on? I see stuff like ‘at in de papes all de time.”
“Stranger than that.”
“Try me.”
Rose sighed, turned her class ring to where the year showed plainly, and held her hand over to him. “Look at my ring.”
Race stared at it for a moment. “I’m seein’ things.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Dat’s supposed to be an 8, right?”
“Nope.”
“But this is 1899.”
“I know that.”
“You graduated from high school in NINETEEN-“
Rose clapped her hand over his mouth. “Shh! I don’t wanna advertise this, y’know!”
The food arrived then, and Race fell silent for a few moments while Rose ate. Finally he asked, “So how did you get here?”
“We fell through a hole in the beach as we were running from the kidnappers.”
“The beach?”
“Yeah, the guys live in a house on the beach in Los Angeles.”
“When was dis?”
“Um… 1967.”
Race stared. “How did you get dere?”
“The kidnappers tried to kill us or something by causing an explosion. We wound up in the guys’ kitchen.”
“So you left from…”
“The year 2000.”
Race sat back and stared at her for a minute.
“Race, do me a favor, will ya?”
“What?”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
Race chuckled in spite of himself. “Rosie, dey’d never believe me!”
Rose laughed. “Now do you see why I said you’d think I was crazy?”
“Is there more to dis story?”
“Yeah, but it’s even more bizarre.”
“Then don’t tell me.”
Rose smiled. “Thanks.”
Race leaned his chin on his hand, digesting this information. “These people who were chasin’ you. You said dey actually got Desy?”
“Yep. That’s one reason Mike’s kinda overprotective of all of is, especially Desy. He promised her that we’d never leave her alone again. And he and Davy don’t know anything about y’all, so they don’t want to leave us alone with any of you.”
“Oh.”
“I can’t say I blame ‘em. I mean, if you suddenly found yourself in a strange city surrounded by a bunch of rough-lookin’ guys, would you want to leave your sister alone with ‘em?”
Race laughed. “Jack didn’t even want you guys goin’ to Brooklyn, an’ he hardly knows ya!”
“I rest my case.”
“So how do you girls know so much about us? I mean, Jack said you knew about the Refuge.”
“And how he escaped from it, but don’t tell him we know that.”
“This ain’t the kinda stuff dey put in history books, so…”
Rose grinned. “Been there, done that, seen the movie. Between the three of us, I think we have that movie memorized.”
“They made a movie out of this?”
“Yep.”
“Whoa…”
“No kidding!”
From there the conversation turned to light-hearted chatter about movies, Texas, and life in general. Rose finished eating, Race paid for the meal, and the pair left the restaurant. As they headed down the street, Race offered Rose his arm. She took it, and they walked a while in silence.
Suddenly, softly, the orchestration for “I Wanna Be Free” started playing. Rose hummed along lightly.
“What song is that?” Race asked.
“It’s called ‘I Wanna Be Free’. Davy sings it.”
“What’s it about?”
“Not wanting to be tied down by love. Not being ready for a serious relationship.”
“Oh.”
“That’s kinda how I feel, really.”
“Whaddaya mean?”
Rose sighed. “Someday my prince will come. Someday I want to get serious about someone, get married, all that. But I’m not ready for that yet. And I don’t want to give my heart away to the wrong person only to have it broken.”
Race’s face fell. “Oh.”
It was a few seconds before Race broke the silence again.
“Y’know, I’ve never met a girl like you before,” he said. “Someone with class who wasn’t afraid to be around people like me.”
Rose had the grace to blush.
“And I guess I got me hopes up.”
Rose looked him in the eye. “Race, believe me, I understand. And I’m truly sorry. I think the world of you- of all the newsies- but it just wouldn’t work. Especially since I don’t belong here. I fit fairly well, but I don’t belong. My place is two thousand miles away and a hundred years from now, enjoying the wide open spaces of Texas and going to college to learn. Yours is here and now, doing the things you’re doing.”
After another pause, Rose added, “Y’know what, Race?”
“What?”
“In the eyes of most people, you and the other newsies may look like nothin’ special. And I know y’all don’t lead the cleanest lives. But I’ve discovered that in this time and place, outside my own fellow travelers, I probably couldn’t find truer friends than the newsie crew.”
Race made a “yeah, right” noise.
“No, I’m serious. Look at the way you’ve accepted us, befriended us, helped us find work and get acclimated to our new situation, protected us, and done everything else y’all have done for us. D’ya think Herr Pulitzer would have done that?”
Race smiled. “Nah. But he doesn’t know a good group when he sees it.”
Rose smiled back and gave his arm a friendly squeeze.
They walked the rest of the way back to Irving Hall in silence. Then Race sighed and dropped his arm. “Well, here ya go, Rosie.”
“Thank you, Race,” Rose said, and meant it wholeheartedly.
Race, becoming uncharacteristically shy, shrugged and kicked at the cobblestones.
“Race?”
Race looked up. “Yeah?”
Rose lay a hand on his shoulder. “May the Lord bless you and keep you,” she quoted. “The Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.”
“Amen,” Race replied, involuntarily crossing himself.
“Goodnight,” she smiled and gave him a quick hug.
“G’night,” he smiled back, returning the hug.
Rose slipped quietly inside.
“There you are!” she heard Davy say from the stairwell.
“Alive and well,” she answered.
“Anything happen?”
“I explained. Not in depth, just enough to make him understand.”
“And?”
“He understands.”
Davy let out a sigh of relief. “Now all we ‘ave to worry about is Mush.”
Rose chuckled. “What, making sure Desy doesn’t kill him?”
Davy laughed. “C’mon, I’ll walk you up.”
“Thanks, bro.”
“No problem.”
“’Ey, Race,” the person called.
Startled, Race turned. “Oh!” he sighed in relief. “Don’t do that to me, Mush.”
“Sorry,” Mush shrugged.
“What are you doin’ here, anyway?”
“Jack wanted me to follow you guys back to make sure nuttin’ happened to youse.”
“Thanks.”
Mush frowned, noticing Race’s distracted manner. “What happened?”
“Nothin’.”
“Somethin’ musta happened. I ain’t never seen you this way.”
“You ever been around somebody who makes you feel a hundred years old?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s how Rose makes me feel.”
“Huh?”
“She don’t belong here, Mush. She needs wide open spaces, someplace where a girl with that kind o’ class can be free an’ be appreciated.”
“You ain’t makin’ sense.”
“Nothin’s makin’ sense to me right now.”
“So she turned ya down?”
“Yeah.”
“Aw. I’m sorry, man.”
“Don’t be.”
Mush thought for a moment, then posed a question that, to Race, came way out of left field. “Y’think maybe she’d talk to Desy for me?”
For once Race was at a loss for words. He simply stared at his friend for a moment. Finally, in exasperation, he bashed Mush’s hat down over his eyes and stalked away.
“’Ey!” Mush yelled. “What was that for? Race? ‘Ey, Race, waitaminit… ‘Ey, what’d I say? Race? Race…”
“I wish there was an air conditioner here,” she muttered, standing at the window, letting the cool air blow gently over her. She grinned in the darkness as an idea formed in her mind. She wanted to explore Irving Hall. It would be easy to do now that everyone was gone or asleep.
Quietly, she crept out the door. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and made her way down the stairs and headed for the stage. She paused in the center of the stage and stared out into the dark room. Just being on the stage gave her a little thrill. She did a few dance steps she remembered from watching the movie, but stopped short when she noticed that she wasn’t alone.
“Hi,” Jean squeaked, embarrassed.
“Hey, there,” Mike said. “That was a nice dance you were doing there.”
“Thanks. Just something I picked up watching the movie,” she replied, sitting down at the edge of the stage. Mike sat next to her.
They sat in silence for a minute before Mike started chuckling.
“Was it that bad?” Jean asked.
“No, it’s not that. I was just thinking of what happened back at the Pad,” he replied. “Davy was right; it is funny now.”
Jean laughed with him. “I can’t believe that happened.”
“Yeah, well…”
The pair eventually regained their composure.
“Can I ask you something?” Mike said.
“What?” Jean asked.
“Well, do you ever get homesick at all? I mean, the other girls all seemed happy to be at the Pad for a visit, but they talked of home and got a bit homesick sometimes. It didn’t seem to really affect you. Why’s that?” he quesitoned.
“It isn’t that I don’t miss home. I just adapt pretty easily to my surroundings. I make the most of it and have fun. It’s basically how I keep my sanity, such as it is,” Jean told him. “There are a lot of things I don’t share with people… You know, feelings and such. They’re there, but I don’t let them overtake me. I prefer to be happy and for everyone else to be as well, so I try my best to keep things that way.”
Mike nodded understandingly.
“I get a little bit of flack for it sometimes, but I get over that too,” she grinned.
“You like it here?”
“It’s alright,” she answered. “It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live here.”
“The guys here seem pretty friendly,” Mike commented.
“They are. I think I’ve managed to scare or confuse a number of them already. I believe Race thinks I’m crazy after the restaurant thing, and David, I’m sure is scared of me,” she laughed.
“Well, who you don’t scare away, Davy makes sure he does, I’ve noticed,” Mike chuckled.
Jean laughed again. “Yeah. I’ve noticed that. I didn’t know he was so jealous.”
“Well, he is. I’ve seen him jealous before, but man!” Mike said.
Jean grinned. “I’m not complaining.”
Mike chuckled again. “Don’t expect you to. Well, Jeannie, I think we ought to try to get some sleep now.”
“I think you’re right,” Jean agreed. They stood and headed off the stage.
As Mike started to go into his room, Jean said, “Mike…”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
Mike understood what she meant and smiled before closing the door. Jean made her way back to the girls’ room and lay down. She promptly fell asleep.
The boys followed this up by more wordless yells and ran through the World gates.
“Soak ‘em scene number one,” Rose said.
The other girls nodded.
“ ‘O’s that?” Davy asked, pointing down the street.
“Looks like police,” Mike commented. “On horseback, no less.”
The girls mentally ran through the movie.
“Crutchy!” they cried as one, dropping their instruments and running down the street.
“Wait!” Davy and Mike called, running after them.
Before the guys could catch them, the girls ran straight into the midst of the chaos contained within the World’s gates.
Go On to Part Fourteen!
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