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- TEENAGE BOYFOUND DEAD
- You see that little girl there? In the brown dress? That's me, Hattie Parker. At least, it was. That was when I was about 7, still a sweet little girl, who used her charm to weasel people into buying papers. That older boy is my brother, Henry, who was 3 years older than me. He was my protector. Our parents had died in a carriage accident when I was 5. We grew up on the streets of New York, Manhattan to be exact. We sold papers to make a living. Then there was the accident.
- I was 9 when Henry had what we call now the "accident". He had borrowed money from a boy in Brooklyn, called Rails, as he sold at the trainyards. We was having some trouble selling because of the cold weather, and Henry couldn't pay him back. So Rails sent a couple o' guys to soak him. I was at the lodging house when it happened, so I didn't know there was a problem until he didn't come back that night. We got real worried. The next morning, I went out with Race, who was Henry's age, to look for him. Then there was his face in the papes, with the headline "TEENAGE BOY FOUND DEAD IN THE UPPER EAST SIDE". My brother was gone. I went to the police and told them about Rails. They caught him the next day.
- Years passed, and soon enough I was 13 and the year was 1899. Ironically, the place I had spent quite a bit of the time was the one place my brother had spent most of his life keeping me away from, the Refuge. The first time it wasn't even my fault. It was right after the accident, and me being just a kid, I wasn't the greatest at controlling my anger, in fact I was known to the Manhattan kids for my temper. I had gone after some of the Brooklyn guys that soaked Henry, to do what, I still don't know. I got myself beat pretty good, and ended up with Snyder pulling me to the refuge.
- After getting out of the refuge for the third time, I made my way back to the boarding house, where Race, who was a bit like another brother to me, had been keeping my stuff, which wasn't much, just a bag, a hat, and a bit of money, but it was important to me. After retrieving my things, I went to the distribution window, where everyone else already was. I walked through the gate, and was greeted by a chorus of "Hattie!" I headed for the back, but the guys pulled me up with them. "Hey, Hatt," Cowboy yelled from the front, "How was your time with the spider?" I laughed. "It was real nice, Jackie boy, you know he's such a softie," I got a glare for the "Jackie boy" comment, but it was worth it. That was when they decided what my name would be. "Aw, shut it, wise guy," Jack replied. "Hey!" Crutchie said, "Why don't we call her that?" There was a chorus of yesses. "We'll do the ceremony later," Race said, "after you sell all your papes, meet up at the roof of the boarding house."
- That night when I got back, Race told me to wait downstairs until he came for me. I waited for ten minutes, helping Kloppman file some papers. Race came downstairs, grabbed me by the arm and attempted to pull me upstairs, but he's kinda small, so that failed. "Dang*" he said, "There goes tradition." "What tradition?" I asked. "Tradition is the namee's sibling, or the closest thing, would bring them up." When I walked through the hatch in the roof, and saw the others standing to the sides, with Cowboy and Kid Blink at the front. Race pulled me up to them, and took a place at the side. "Is you, Hattie, ready an' willin ta take da name Wise Guy?" Blink says. "I am," I reply. "Good," says Cowboy, grinnin', "Cause if you ain't, we was gonna toss you off." I musta looked pretty scared, cause everyone else started laughing. "All o' ya shut it!" Blink says, "You, Hattie, is now Wise Guy, to all newsies now and future." They then proceeded to whack me with papes as we run downstairs.
- Next day, I went out selling with Race, having not been out in a while, I wanted to have someone nearby to help if I got myself into trouble. He dragged me along with im to Brooklyn. He told me he had to do some business, so I went to start selling. Then, I saw him walk up to someone, look around, then walk off. I decided to follow him. I found him in an alley with the guy, a Brooklyner about his height, and probably age too. I saw them hug. "You idiot," the Brooklyner said, "You shouldn't be here during the selling day, someone could see." Race grinned. "You know I don't much care for rules, Spot." "But Race, JAIL! They could lock us up!" Then, I knocked over a bucket, and they turned around and saw me. I tried to run, but fell. "Who's that?" asked Spot. "Just Wiseguy," Race replied, "Wise, how much did you see?" "Most of it," I replied. "Oh no," Spot started panicking, "She- she's gonna tell! We're dead!" "I'm ain't gonna tell nobody," I said, "I don't really care." Spot and Race looked relieved. "Forget everything you just seen, Wise," said Spot, "It's best for all of us." I nodded, "Y'know, Race, if ya want, I can cover for you tonight, tell Blink and Cowboy you got held up at the tracks and are spending the night at the boarding house here." "Yeah, Wise, that'd be great," Race said, grinning, "You go sell, though, or you won't have any money today." I ran off to sell.
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