3Hello everyone! I know I have other stories to write, but this popped into my head and I needed to get it out! I hope you enjoy this cute little story!
Special thanks to:
Percie Jean, for being my Newsies muse. I really hope you enjoy!
StarBeloved, beta-reader, and fellow writer. Thank you for your input!
It was a wet and depressing afternoon that February 1st. Mush walked into the boarding house, pulled off his muddy shoes, and declared, "I hate February."
"Why?" Asked Les from the bunk he was sitting on. More and more often, Les and Davey found themselves spending the night at the boarding house if the weather was bad or they simply wanted to hang out with their friends. Their mother had objected at first, but, as Davey had pointed out, their dad still needed to use a wheelchair to move around, and the house was often filled with people who helped Mrs. Jacob cook, clean, and simply offer moral support. They didn't need two boys underfoot. Their mother had finally acquiesced.
Mush began to tick the reasons off on his fingers. "One, it's wet and cold. Two, everybody gets sick. Three, everybody thinks they have to celebrate Valentines Day the whole month."
"So why don't you like Valentines Day?" Pressed Les, puzzled.
"He's jealous, that's why," called Jack, walking out of the bathroom.
"I ain't jealous!" Snapped Mush. "I just don't like how everyone rubs the fact that you're single in ya face."
"Yeah!" Hollered Race, sitting up on his bench and pulling his cigar out of his mouth. "And everyone's tryin' ta palm off valentines and candy on ya."
"And ya can't get away from love songs no matter how hard you try," added Albert with a groan.
"It's not all bad," said Crutchie. "I get free chocolate sometimes."
"Valentines Day is the best!" Blurted Romeo.
Mush snorted. "Easy for you to say, you gotta girl. What's her name, Mandy?"
"Oh." Romeo blushed. "Um, Mandy and I broke up. I'm going out with Polly Barrow now."
Mush sighed. "All I'm saying is they should change the name of Valentines Day to Single Awareness Day," he finished gloomily, disappearing into the bathroom.
The next day, Mush was hawking newspapers when he heard somebody call him. "Mush!" The boy turned to see Elmer behind him. "I got a plan! Me and a couple of the boys are at Jacobi's."
"Oh?" Asked Mush casually, shouldering his almost-empty bag of papes and following Elmer to the deli, where Finch, Race, Specs, Albert, and Crutchie waited for them.
"Did you tell him yet?" Demanded Specs.
"Not yet! Sheesh!" Elmer turned to Mush. "We're gonna pull a little prank on Spot Conlon."
Mush grinned wide. "What're we gonna do?"
Crutchie piped up. "Well, we decided that we would write him fake love letters."
Mush's grin stretched wider still. "I'm in."
Jack glanced at the display window of a candy store. Chocolates in all shapes in sizes were stacked on red velvet pedestals and peeked out from bouquets of roses. Beyond the display, he could see a young man hand a chocolate to his girl and plant a kiss on her forehead.
Jack swallowed a pang of disappointment. He'd never thought much of Valentines Day, but as the holiday drew nearer, he found himself aching to give something to Katherine. He only had a couple nickels left over every day after paying for food, lodging, and setting aside what he needed for papes the next day.
He looked back into the window, pretending for a moment he had a hundred dollars to spend on Katherine. His eye fell on a large, red heart-shaped box. Inside, chocolates decorated with rainbow-colored squiggles and small, delicate macaroons were garnished with candied rose, violet, and pansy petals. Katherine would love that, he thought as his eyes moved to the price tag. Two dollars!
His phantom wealth vanished like smoke. How would he come up with two whole dollars in twelve days? He could buy something else, but no, bouquets reminded Katherine of the flower shows she'd been forced to write articles about in her early reporting days, and all the other chocolates and candies were pale in comparison. "Nuts to Valentines," sighed Jack, tearing his gaze away from the window and walking away.
"So we're writing him one every day from 'Ruby' until the day after Valentines?" Confirmed Finch.
"Yup. It'll be a cinch." Race pulled his cigar out of his mouth and began to gesture with it. "We'll write him letters from 'Ruby' and leave 'em at the boarding house. Twelve straight days of fake valentines!"
"What if he finds out?" Asked Mush cautiously.
"Then we blame it on Davey and Jack," replied Albert airily. He pulled a pencil and paper out of his pocket. "So who has the girliest handwriting?"
That night, Race was lying awake when he heard a soft shuffling noise. Sitting up, he peered into the darkness. He could barely make out the shape of Jack, rooting around under his bunk. "Jack?"
Jack abruptly looked up, and Race could see he held a stocking. "Race? What are you doing?" The boy ignored the question. Hopping out of his bunk, he padded silently over to Jack and reached for the stocking. His fingers brushed against it, but Jack snatched it back. Race heard a soft jingle. Money.
"What're you raiding ya savings for?"
Jack gave him a sharp look. "It's not important," he replied, tucking the stocking under his bed.
"It's Katherine, isn't it?"
"Race, not a word."
Valentines Day soon dawned. Jack was counting his money, a dark cloud over his heart. Davey and Les were having a serious bout with the flu, and the newsies had all chipped in to cover the papers the Jacobs boys hadn't been able to sell. All Jack had left was 40 lousy cents.
"Last one!" Cheered the group of newsies behind 'Ruby.' "Who wants to deliver this one?" Asked Race, smirking as he held up the folded paper.
"Me!" Demanded Finch, snatching the paper out of his hand. He energetically bounced out of the room, antsy from the anticipation of waiting.
"This last one," predicted Race, leaning back, "is gonna make the poor guy's head spin."
"Here's another one, Spot." Tuck, a young Brooklyn newsies, handed his leader a folded piece of paper. The name Ruby was written on it, surrounded with hearts and flowers like always. Spot sighed and unfolded the paper. Instead of the customary romantic message, however, what was written on the paper was different and shocking.
'Ha ha Spot! We fooled you!
~The Singlesies'
Jack walked to the Pulitzer mansion, ready for the Valentines dinner that Katherine had planned for them. He had managed to spend 20 cents on a spray of pink tulips, one of the few flowers Katherine liked. "Better than nothin'," he sighed quietly.
Two little boys, laughing, tore down the street, slamming straight into Jack. The three of them collapsed in a head. "Sorry, mister!" Called the two, jumping up and streaking away.
Jack stared down at the ground. "No," he choked out quietly. He had dropped the flowers in a mud puddle, and the boys had trampled them. The tulips were crushed beyond repair. Jack stood, swallowing the fist-sized lump in his throat, and shuffled away.
The Pulitzer mansion was huge and rambling. "Is he there yet?" Asked Albert.
"Yeah, Katherine's givin' him some tea or something. You got it?"
"Yeah, I got it! Ready when you are."
The boys knocked on the mansion door. After a moment, Katherine opened it, wearing a navy blue dress. "Oh, hello boys!"
Jack appeared behind her. "What're you bummers doin' here?"
Crutchie limped forward. "We gots something for you," he told Jack. He handed him a box.
The beautiful box of chocolates.
At first, Jack could only stare at it. After a moment, he regained his powers of speech. "How…"
"I told 'em you wanted to buy something for Katherine," admitted Race. "We scoured the city until we found something we thought she'd like. Everybody chipped in. Even Davey and Les."
"You boys…" Jack smiled. "I love you boys so much." He turned to Katherine. "I love you, Kath."
She grinned. Setting the chocolates aside, she wrapped her arms around Jack, pulling him in for a kiss. "And I love you too."
Please review!
